Internet and History: Ministry of Defence of Russia launched a historical multimedia section “Those Who Stepped over Dnieper”, dedicated to the liberation of Dnepropetrovsk in the Great Patriotic War

Ministry of Defence of Russia continues the series of historical projects based on the documents from the collections of the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, dedicated to the liberation of the cities of the Ukrainian SSR. A new multimedia section Those Who Stepped over Dnieper tells about the feats of Soviet soldiers, who liberated Dnepropetrovsk. It features operational documents of the Red Army formations, award materials of the liberators of Dnepropetrovsk, registration cards of military graves, letters from thankful Dnepropetrovsk residents, political reports on fascists’ and their collaborators’ atrocities towards civilians.

Featured in the section combat logs and reports of the formations, which participated in the liberation of Dnepropetrovsk, give a clear picture of the course of the operation, which involved the troops of the 46th and 8th Guards Armies. They consisted of about a hundred thousand soldiers, two thousand weapons and mortars, only five tanks. Based on the idea of the offensive, troops and formations of the 46th Army forced the Dnieper to the west of the city, troops of the 8th Guard Army – to the south. The night assault became a special feature of the operation.

The Dnepropetrovsk operation was successfully completed on December 23, 1943. By that time, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front have completely crushed the Panther-Wotan line and created a strategic lodgement about 400 km wide and 100 km deep on the right bank of the Dnieper, which formed favorable conditions for the liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine. Such result was preceded by two months of intense bloody battles that started from the heroic forcing of the Dnieper and the liberation of an important industrial centre – Dnepropetrovsk. The award materials, featured in the section, describe the heroic feats made in the first battles for lodgements on the right bank of the Dnieper.

The publication of declassified documents about the liberation of Dnepropetrovsk, fascist atrocities towards civilians, heroic feats of soldiers-liberators from the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defence aims to protect and to defend the historical truth, to counteract history falsifications.