Battle of Smolensk (1943)

Second Battle of Smolensk
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
German troops near Smolensk, August 1943
Date 7 August – 2 October 1943 Location Smolensk region, Soviet Union Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany Axis allies	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Günther von Kluge	Andrei Yeremenko Vasily Sokolovsky
Strength
Soviet estimate: 850,000 men 8,800 guns 500 tanks 700 aircraft	1,252,600 men 20,640 guns 1,430 tanks 1,100 aircraft
Casualties and losses
German sources: Total: 70,593 3 panzer army 10.08 - 30.09.43: 765 KIA, 3,386 WIA, 270 MIA; 4 army 10.08 - 30.09.43: 8,825 KIA, 35,237 WIA, 4,127 MIA 9 army 20.08 - 30.09.43: 3,394 KIA, 12,688 WIA, 1,901 MIA Soviet sources: 200,000–250,000 casualties	Soviet sources: 451,466 overall (Including 107,645 killed, missing or captured 343,821 wounded and sick)

The second Battle of Smolensk (7 August–2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simultaneously with the Lower Dnieper Offensive (13 August–22 September), the offensive lasted two months and was led by General Andrei Yeremenko, commanding the Kalinin Front, and Vasily Sokolovsky, commanding the Western Front. Its goal was to clear the German presence from the Smolensk and Bryansk regions. Smolensk had been under German occupation since the first Battle of Smolensk in 1941.

Despite an impressive German defense, the Red Army was able to stage several breakthroughs, liberating several major cities, including Smolensk and Roslavl. As a result of this operation, the Red Army was able to start planning for the liberation of Belarus. However, the overall advance was quite modest and slow in the face of heavy German resistance, and the operation was therefore accomplished in three stages: 7–20 August, 21 August–6 September, and 7 September–2 October.

Although playing a major military role in its own right, the Smolensk Operation was also important for its effect on the Battle of the Dnieper. It has been estimated that as many as 55 German divisions were committed to counter the Smolensk Operation — divisions which would have been critical to prevent Soviet troops from crossing the Dnieper in the south. In the course of the operation, the Red Army also definitively drove back German forces from the Smolensk land bridge, historically the most important approach for a western attack on Moscow.

The Strategic Operations included smaller operations:

By the end of the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, Germany had lost all hope of regaining the initiative on the Eastern Front. Losses were considerable and the whole army was less effective than before, as many of its experienced soldiers had fallen during the previous two years of fighting. This left the German army capable of only reacting to Soviet moves.

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