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Rostov-on-Don iberated from Nazi occupation
On February 14, 1943 during the North Caucasus offensive operation, Soviet troops liberated Rostov-on-Don, which had been under Nazi occupation since July 24, 1942 (205 days), during which 53 thousand Rostovites were taken to forced labor and shot about 40 thousand civilians and prisoners of war.
The first occupation of Rostov-on-Don lasted 8 days (November 21–29, 1941) and went down in history as the “bloody week”. The SS men of the Life Standard Adolf Hitler division shot and tortured hundreds of civilians: old people, women and children. One of the many victims of the invaders was the boy Vitya Cherevichkin. A photograph of him holding a white dove went around the world at the end of 1941. On November 29, 1941 Soviet troops liberated the city, however, during the Wehrmacht’s advance into southern Russia and the Caucasus, Rostov-on-Don was again captured by the enemy on July 24, 1942.
At the end of 1942, the situation on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front changed. The Red Army troops successfully developed a counteroffensive in the directions towards Rostov-on-Don and Salsk, creating a real threat of encirclement of the North Caucasian Wehrmacht group. By the beginning of 1943, the Stalingrad (from January 1 - Southern) and Transcaucasian fronts were opposed over a distance of 130 km by the main forces of Army Group Don and Army Group A, numbering 764 thousand people, 700 tanks and 530 aircraft. In the Rostov direction alone, the Germans deployed five tank, two motorized divisions and other units and formations. The Soviet group consisted of over 1 million personnel, 1,278 tanks, and 900 aircraft.
The operational plan of the Supreme High Command Headquarters was to deliver the main blow by the armies of the right wing of the Southern Front under the command of General A. I. Eremenko to Rostov-on-Don, and the left wing to Salsk and Tikhoretsk, towards the troops of the Transcaucasian Front with the aim of jointly encircling the enemy group in the interfluve Kuban and Manych. Then it was planned to block the escape routes of the enemy’s North Caucasian group, encircle and destroy it near the Caucasus ridge. Offensive actions in the Caucasus, combined into Operation Don, subsequently became known as the North Caucasus Strategic Offensive Operation.
The offensive of the Soviet troops began on January 1, 1943. Overcoming fierce resistance from the Wehrmacht, the right-flank formations of the Red Army advanced 150–200 km in two weeks of fighting and reached the bend of the Don and the Manych Canal, engaging in protracted battles at a distance of 50–60 km to Rostov-on-Don. on-Don. By January 14, the troops of the right flank of the Southern Front crossed the river Manych and captured the bridgehead. On February 7, the troops of the Southern Front managed to break the enemy’s resistance and liberate Bataysk, Shakhty and Novocherkassk. On the night of February 8, the cavalry-mechanized group of General N. Ya. Kirichenko and the troops of the 44th Army, having crossed the river on the ice. Don and Dead Donets, cut off the communication of the Rostov enemy group with the rest of the troops across the road to Taganrog. On February 9, the 28th Army crossed the Don south of Rostov-on-Don, and on February 14, together with formations of the 51st Army, after fierce battles, they completely cleared the city of Nazi invaders.
Of the 567 thousand residents, about 170 thousand Rostovites met the liberating soldiers. A special state commission that investigated the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices classified the city of Rostov-on-Don among the fifteen cities of the USSR that suffered most from the occupation during the Great Patriotic War. For services during the war and great contribution to the Victory, on February 25, 1982, Rostov-on-Don was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. On May 5, 2008, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Rostov-on-Don was awarded the honorary title of the Russian Federation - “City of Military Glory”. On May 6, 2010, the memorial complex “City of Military Glory” was opened in Rostov-on-Don.
Лит.: Великая Отечественная война 1941–1945 годов: в 12 т. Т. 3. Битвы и сражения, изменившие ход войны. М., 2012; Ростов-на-Дону в годы Великой Отечественной войны // Официальный портал Правительства Ростовской области. Режим доступа: https://www.donland.ru/activity/2318/.
Based on the Presidential Library's materials:
Память о Великой Победе: [цифровая коллекция];
РГАКФД. Арх. № 0-144394. Бойцы Красной армии форсируют реку Дон. 1941 г.;