Battle of the Dukla Pass

Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

Dukla Pass battle monument

Date	8 September – 28 October 1944
Location	Dukla Pass, present-day Slovakia-Poland border
Result	Indecisive - Soviet halt, Axis withdraw, liberation of Ukraine

Belligerents

Germany

Hungary

Soviet Union

Czechoslovakia

Commanders and leaders

Gotthard Heinrici

Béla Miklós (8-16 Sept 1944)

Dezső László (16 Sept-28 Oct 1944)

Strength

100,000 soldiers
2,000 artillery pieces
350 tanks

120,000 - 150,000 Soviet soldiers
16,700 Czechoslovak soldiers
1,517 artillery pieces
1,724 mortars
1,000 tanks

Casualties and losses

30,000 Total

80,000–123,000 Total

The Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla / Carpatho-Dukla / Rzeszów-Dukla / Dukla-Prešov Offensive was the scene of bitterly contested battle for the Dukla Pass (borderland between Poland and Slovakia) on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September–October 1944. It was part of the Soviet East Carpathian Strategic Offensive that also included the Carpathian-Uzhgorod Offensive. The operation's primary goal to provide support for the Slovaks was not achieved, though it concluded the full liberation of the Ukraine in its modern borders by the occupation of the Subcarpathian region as a territory of the former Carpatho-Ukraine.

The German resistance in the eastern Carpathian region was much harder than expected. The battle which began on 8 September would not see the Soviet forces on the other side of the pass until 6 October, and German forces would stop their heavy resistance in the region only around 10 October. Five days to Prešov turned into fifty days to Svidník alone with over 70,000 casualties on both sides. Prešov that was to be reached in six days remained beyond the Czechoslovaks' grasp for four months. The battle would be counted among one of the most bloody in the entire Eastern Front and in the history of Slovakia; one of the valleys in the pass near villages of Kapišová, Chyrowa, Iwla and Głojsce would become known as the Valley of Death.

In summer 1944, Slovaks rebelled against the Nazis and the Czechoslovak government appealed to Soviets for help. On 31 August, Soviet marshal Ivan Konev was ordered to prepare plans for an offensive to destroy Nazi forces in Slovakia. The plan was to push through the old Slovak-Polish border in the Carpathian Mountains via the Dukla Pass near Svidník to penetrate into Slovakia proper.

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Wikipedia