The first battle for Tirgu-Frumos is part of the Uman-Botosha operation [9] or the first Yassy-Kishinev operation of the Great Patriotic War ; the battle that took place in April 1944 between Soviet troops led by Marshal I. S. Konev and German troops under the command of General O. Wohler. By that time, Soviet troops had already crossed the state border with Romania . By the beginning of April 1944, the Supreme Command Headquarters at the end of the Uman-Botosha operation directed the forces of the 2nd Ukrainian Front towards Tirgu Frumos and Botosani, ordering advance towards Tirgu Frumos from April 8.
| The first battle for Targu Frumos | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main conflict: Uman-Botosha operation | |||
 Division "Great Germany" in Romania (April 1944) | |||
| date | April 9 - 12, 1944 | ||
| A place | Targu Frumos , Romania | ||
| Total | Axis victory [1] [2] | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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The 4th Romanian army was set up against the Soviet troops with the support of the German 24th Panzer Division , which hastily erected defensive lines, but on April 9 the Soviet troops captured Tirgu-Frumos by the forces of the 27th Soviet Army . The Germans sent the Great Germany Panzergrenadier Division to help defend the city. By the evening of April 10, German tank units entered the city and entrenched there. Until April 12, the battles of the Soviet troops with the Germans continued, the Soviet troops were able to avoid the potential encirclement.
After the end of the battle, the Germans left Tirgu Frumos under control, starting to strengthen the northwestern and northeastern borders; a tank regiment was included in the garrison. In connection with the failure, Konev sent units of the 2nd Tank Army towards the village of Pod-Iloa .
Background
On March 5, 1944, Marshal I. Konev, commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, launched the Uman-Botoshan operation in the west of the Ukrainian SSR, breaking the link between the 1st Panzer Army Group North and the 8th Army by March 17 " [10] . As a result of the operation, Soviet troops reached the Romanian border [11] . By early April 1944, the Supreme Command headquarters ordered the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front to prepare for a large-scale strategic offensive against Western Romania [12] : The Supreme Command planned to repel Chisinau and seize Iasi , and then penetrate deep into Romanian territory and try to reach Ploiesti and Bucharest [13] .
By April 5, Konev's troops crossed the upper part of the Dniester and Prut rivers, took Khotyn and Dorokha , reaching Tirgu-Frumos and Botosani (approximately 50–100 km from Yassi) and met with almost no resistance from the Romanians [14] . On April 8, Konev ordered the 27th and 40th armies to prepare for an offensive in the direction of Targu Frumos together with the 2nd Guards Tank Army of General S. I. Bogdanov [15] . Konev's attack units went to Tirgu-Frumos, and the 52nd Army of General K.A. Koroteev and units of the 6th Guards Tank Army of General A.G. Kravchenko [16] supported Konev as they moved to Iasi, acting north of cities [15] .
Meanwhile, the 8th Army of O.Völer fought fierce battles for the villages of Popritsani, 14 km from Yass, where two Soviet corps fought against tank battle groups [17] and distracted German attention, forcing the Germans to miss the attack on Targu-Frumos, which is crucial for German and Romanian defense. Against the background of a number of successful tactical operations of the 52nd army in Iasi and its environs, Konev's three armies on the morning of April 8 moved towards the Iass to the south [18] . The advance slowed down due to bad roads, as did the crossing to the west bank of the Prut north-west of Yass [18] .
Planning an Operation
Initially, Konev planned to reach the line Targu Frumos - Pascani - Targu Neamt 50–100 km from Yass and capture all three cities, taking advantage of the effect of surprise and forcing the Romanians by surprise [18] . Three divisions of the 51st rifle corps advanced on Paskan, two other rifle divisions covered them from the north and north-west (Tirgu-Neamt direction) [18] . East of the seven rifle divisions (the 35th Guards Rifle and 33rd Rifle Corps of the 27th Army) advanced towards the southeast from April 7 to force the 8th Romanian Infantry Division to flee to Hyrleu (27 km north of Targu- Frumosa) [19] . Two more divisions of the 33rd rifle corps, with the support of two corps of the 2nd Tank Army, crowded the 7th Romanian infantry division to Tirgu-Frumos [19] .
The 4th Romanian Army from the 4th Army Corps was preparing huge forces for the front line of defense of Ruginos - Strung - Otselin , which stretched from Tirgu Nyamts southeast to Pascani and through Tirgu Frumos and Pod Iloaye south to Yassam [ 19] . The 6th and 8th Infantry Divisions were to manage the entire line of defense from Targu Neamt to Pascani, and the 1st Guards and 7th Infantry Divisions took over the sector from Pascani to Pod-Iloaya [19] . On April 8, the battle group of the 24th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht under the command of Maximilian von Edelsheim [5], which was located 14 km north-east of Podu Iloaya, was to help them.
Battle
Lieutenant-General of the 35th Guards Rifle Corps S.G. Goryachev continued his advance from the Hirleu zone to Tirgu Frumos on the morning of April 9: two rifle divisions were in the first echelon [5] . Romanian troops were quickly defeated by Soviet soldiers, who, taking Romanians by surprise, occupied the city with the support of the second echelon (airborne and rifle division) [5] . The 42nd Guards Rifle Division occupied Pascani 23 km from Tirgu Frumos and defeated the 6th Romanian Infantry Division [5] . The advanced units of the 2nd tank army of S. I. Bogdanov, advancing to the east, attempted to reinforce the infantry units of General S. G. Trofimenko, sending reinforcements to the region of Targu Frumos, but came across German resistance: unlike Romanians, the Germans were not only they unraveled the plan for the Soviet troops to reach the Iasi, but they also promptly reacted by pushing the Great Germany division into battle [4] . The tank division launched a counterattack from the south and entrenched itself during the day in a small sector in the south of the city [4] . The reinforcements of the 35th Guards Corps arrived at Trofimenko, and at night all three divisions passed through Targu-Frumos and penetrated another 5-11 km to the south and southeast of the city [20] .
Early in the morning of April 10, the “Great Germany” division of 160 tanks (40 Panther tanks and 40 Tiger tanks) attacked Soviet units from the west on the Poda-Iloaya-Tirgu-Frumos road with two columns from the north and south [1] . After artillery preparation and air support, the Germans broke into the city and attacked Soviet soldiers, who took up defensive positions in houses and other buildings [21] . The Germans cut off the Soviet units from the main forces and got to the west of the city, inflicting a counterstrike at a time when the 206th Rifle , 3rd Guards Airborne and 93rd Guards Rifle Division were going to continue the offensive [22] . The 1st Guards and 7th Infantry Divisions of the Romanian troops moved from the south, pushing the Soviet units north [7] . The Germans crowded the Soviet soldiers from the east, while the Romanians counterattacked from the south, and the 35th Guards Rifle Corps retreated [7] . At 22:00, 48 hours after the order, the German grenadiers occupied Tirgu-Frumos and its environs to the west and north [1] . The last battles in the region subsided by April 12 [7] .
Implications
After the end of the battle, the “Great Germany” division took up new defensive positions in the form of an arch, the extreme points of which were 8 km to the north-west, 10 km to the northeast, and 14 km to the east [7] . The Panzergrenadsky Regiment was sent to the left flank, the infantry regiment to the right flank, and the tank regiment remained in reserve not far from Tirgu Frumos by decision of Manteufel [23] . The remnants of the Soviet troops were driven out from the western part of the city by April 12, and defensive positions were also fortified in the south-west towards Helesteni (11 km from Tirgu-Frumos). The 1st Guards Romanian Division arrived on the defense line of Targu Frumos to form a powerful defensive line in the west [24] . On the right flank, there was a battle group of the 24th Panzer Division, which defended the sector of Podu-Iloaya - Leccani (16 km west of Yassi), adjoining the right flank with the 7th Romanian Infantry Division defending north-west Yassi [24] .
After the withdrawal of his troops, Trofimenko reorganized the line of defense of the 27th Army, stretching from the north to Tirg-Frumos to the east to the northern territory at Podoui-Iloaya [24] . By the end of April 12, Goryachev placed the 206th, 3rd Guards and 93rd divisions from left to right in defensive positions off the eastern coast of Siret near Pashkani (24 km west of Targu Frumosa), to the village of Munteni (16 km to the north- Tirgu-Frumos). Three more rifle divisions of the 33rd Corps were located 14 km north-west of Iasi. On April 12, Konev ordered Bogdanov to assemble two corps from the 2nd Tank Army south of Fokur (16 km north of Podu-Iloaya) and send them to Podu-Iloaya to knock out Germans and Romanians [25] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Glantz, 2007 , p. 66
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , pp. 100-102.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , pp. 60–63.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Glantz, 2007 , p. 63.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Glantz, 2007 , p. 62.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , pp. 63–66.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Glantz, 2007 , p. 68
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 102
- ↑ Grylev, 1970 .
- ↑ Crofoot, 2004 , p. 151.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 7
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 18.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. nineteen.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 29.
- ↑ 1 2 Glantz, 2007 , p. 52.
- ↑ Armstrong, 1994 , p. 450.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 56.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Glantz, 2007 , p. 60
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Glantz, 2007 , p. 61.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 65.
- ↑ Spaeter, 1995 , p. 312.
- ↑ Glantz, 2007 , p. 67.
- ↑ Spaeter, 1995 , p. 313.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Glantz, 2007 , p. 69
- ↑ von Senger und Etterlin, 1959 , pp. 60–62.
Literature
- Grylev A.N. Dnepr-Karpaty-Crimea. The liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine and the Crimea in 1944. Chapter 3. On Uman, Botosani - M .: Science, 1970
- Richard N. Armstrong. Red Army Tank Commanders. - Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, 1994. - ISBN 978-0-88740-581-5 .
- Craig Crofoot. Armies of the Bear. - Takoma Park: Tiger Lily Publications, 2004. - ISBN 978-0-9720296-3-6 .
- David M. Glantz. Red Storm Over The Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania. - Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007. - ISBN 978-0-7006-1465-3 .
- Helmuth Spaeter. The History of the Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland / David Johnston (translator). - Winnipeg : JJ Fedorowicz Publishing , 1995. - ISBN 978-0-921991-27-4 .
- Ferdinand M. von Senger und Etterlin. Der Gegenschlag. - Neckargemünd : Scharnhorst Buchkameradschaft, 1959.