Eastern Front 1943-45 some details

Of the more than 1,000 heavy explosive charge carriers built, 318 were still on strength at the end of February 1945. Many explosive charge carriers were destroyed by explosions in the course of the sporadic remote-control missions that still took place during the defensive battles. The majority, however , were blown up as a result of lack of fuel. At the end of January 1945 the 302nd ( Fkl ) Panzer Battalion was forced to destroy all of its remaining 65 B IVs for this reason on orders of the "Grossdeutschland" Panzer Corps.

From German remote-control tank units 1943-45 by Markus Jaugitz

 

Flown by Hauptmann Erich Hartmann Stab I./JG 53, Weszperem/Hungary, February 4, 1945. The Black Tulip!

Final Interview with Erich Hartmann

Final Interview with Erich Hartmann | MiGFlug.com Blog



Some aircraft of the ninth Staffel of JG 52, with whom Hartmann flew, bore the name Karaya (Sweetheart) and a red heart motif. Ursel was the less formal version of Erich’s wife’s name, Ursula.

 

The most direct consequence of the Anglo-American air campaign to the forces in the east was its impact on the Luftwaffe. German anti.aircraft artillery and related ammunition represented about a quarter of German artillery and munitions output by 1944, due to the demands of Reich defence. This had a direct impact on the ability of the industry to supply the artillery demands of the German army. Also as the tempo of Anglo-American strategic air attacks intensified, a larger and larger proprortion of tactical aircraft were withdrawn from the eastern front for Reich defence.

Bagration 1944
Steven J Zaloga

 

By June 1944 seven of the German panzer divisions were committed to France, and additional units were held back from the Eastern front so they could be moved either east or west as the circumstance demanded. In the summer of 1943 about 80% of German tank strength had been concentrated in the East;in 1944 this proportion was only a little more than half.

Bagration 1944
Steven J Zaloga

 

Air superiority was never in doubt during Operation Bagration: The Luftwaffe had only 40 fighters at the beginning of the campaign.

Bagration
By Zaloga

 

Eastern Front operation Bagration and Luftwaffe:
The Luftwaffe had been building up a strategic bomber force of the new Heinkel He-177 Greif bombers in anticipation of raids on major Soviet industrial centres. One of these, KG I Hindenburg, with 40 He-177s, was committed to the Byelorussian campaign. It took part in some ineffective raids against Soviet railway marshalling yards. In early July it was ordered by the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, to take part in low-level attacks against Soviet tanks approaching Minsk. At low altitude these ungainly aircraft were horribly vulnerable to Soviet fighters and AA fire. After a quarter of the force was shot down by Soviet fighters, the bombers were finally allowed to resume high-altitude missions. However, there was so little high octane fuel available that the bomber campaign sputtered to a halt.

Bagration
By Zaloga

 

The PzKpfw IV was the most common German tank during operation Bagration, as several of the Panzer divisions committed to AGC were having one of their two regiments re-equipped with Panthers at the time. The small number of Panther tanks was due to the higher priority that had been afforded the Western Front since November 1943.
From Steven Zaloga Bagration 1944

 

The original plan by the Soviets for Operation Bagration had called for it to start on 19 June 1944. However, by Mid-June the congestion on the railways leading into the Byelorussian staging areas west of Smolensk was causing serious delays in deploying key units. Stalin threatened the leaders of the railway system, but the main attack had to be postponed four days, until 23 June 1944.
From Bagration 1944 by Steven Zaloga

 

The fire plans for the four fronts differed considerably in detail, but the barrages lasted over two hours on average. Most began with a 10-20 minute period of intense shelling against the initial German trench lines, to a depth of 6 km. This was intended to crush the forward trenches and destroy the German infantry before they could withdraw to deeper defence lines. Each artillery piece fired at an increasing rate, so that by the last five minutes of the initial barrage, each weapon was being fired at the technical limit of its endurance. In some sectors, where the German defences were especially dense, a double rolling barrage was conducted. This tactic consisted of assigning the artillery to two groups; the first conducted a rolling barrage sucessively against the main and intermediate defence lines; the second concentrated only on the main defence line, beginning with the second trench line. This was the first time a double rolling barrage had been used on the Eastern front, and it was made possible by the density of Soviet artillery in Bagration.
Bagration 1944 by Zaloga

 

Alex Büchner: The German defensive battles on the eastern front 1944

" Hitler placed no value in such positions in the rear areas and was often against them ( "They encourage the Generals to have an eye to the rear!" he once observed ). As a rule the available reserves were one division for each army, one battalion for each division and a company for each regiment- a laughable number."

 

Bagration:

The Luftwaffe had been building up a strategic bomber force of the new Heinkel He-177 Greif bombers in anticipation of raids on major industrial centres. One of these, KG I Hindenburg, with 40 He-177s, was committed to the Byelorussian campaign. It took part in some ineffective raids against Soviet railway marshalling yards. In early July it was ordered by Hermann Göring to take part in low-level attacks against Soviet tanks approaching Minsk. At low altitude these ungainly aircraft were horribly vulnerable to Soviet fighters and AA fire. After quarter of the force was shot down, the bombers were finally allowed to resume high-altitude missions. However, there was so little high octane fuel available that the bomber campaign sputtered to a halt.

Zaloga and Bagration 1944

 

For being a high IQ person, Goring did some stupid things. His long range bomber program was discarded in favor of a tactical air force and his long range fighter (Me-110) was a flop. Both flaws showed during the Battle of Britain.

 

Well, what can you expect from a cocaine addict? Not much. Being Hitler's friend made it sure he would not be sacked.

 

In all honesty, it is unlikely that long-range bombers would have made any difference to Germany, except to decrease the number of aircraft built. Their existing bombers could reach the whole of the UK (including Northern Ireland*), what was lacking was a long-range escort fighter. Which is exactly the role they tried the 110 in, but it failed


* Apparently a German bomber accidentally bombed Dublin, damaging a synagogue. Because Germany wanted Eire to be friendly they paid for its repair!

 

Bagration:

In less than a week of fighting, the 1st Byelorussian Front had captured or destroyed 366 armoured vehicles and 2,664 artillery pieces, killed 50,000 German troops and captured a further 20,000.

Bagration 1944 by Zaloga

 

The German retreat after Stalingrad and Manstein´s slap afterwards....

 

In the spring 1944, Nibelunwerke, which had been manufacturing Panzer IV´s since April 1941, was the only remaining manufacturer of that type of medium panzer.

Panzer gunner by Bruno Friesen

 

In March 1944,General N.F. Vatutin, the commander of First Ukrainian front, drove through snow covered fields to visit one of his subordinate armies. Without warning the partisans opened fire on the General´s car which was in the lead. His car and one of the escort vehicles was set on fire and a fight beegan between the partisans and the escort. During this exchange of shots the General was wounded in the hip, and he was carried away for medical attention. Despite the care of the best available surgeons he died on 15 April at the age of 42.

Hitler´s greatest defeat by Paul Adair

His influence on the Red Army strategic planning, operational, and tactical techniques continued even after his death. Following the post-Cold War decline in Germanocentric analyses of the Eastern Front, Vatutin has won recognition among Western military experts as one of World War II's most creative commanders.

Nikolai Vatutin - Wikipedia