Korsun Shievtchienkovskiy Pocket - The Controversy

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Minotauros
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Korsun Shievtchienkovskiy Pocket - The Controversy

#1

Post by Minotauros » 20 Sep 2003, 17:52

Dear Friends !

In his “Memoirs of a Front Commander 1943-1945”, Marshal of USSR Ivan Stiepanovitch Koniev claims that on 1 February 1944, his troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front have encircled in Korsun Shievtchienkovskiy and its area 80.000 German soldiers, 1.600 guns and mortars and 230 tanks, tank hunters and assault guns. He states that the following units were trapped:

11.ARMEEKORPS – General der Artillerie Wilhelm Stemmermann

42.ARMEEKORPS – Generalleutnant Theobald Lieb

5.SS-Panzer Division “Wiking” – SS-Brigadeführer Herbert Gille
5-SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade „Wallonien“ – SS-Sturmbannführer Lucien Lippert

Division Abteilung 112 (Kampfgruppe B) [Koniev calls it 112.Infanterie Division] – Oberst Hans-Joachim Fouquet
57.Infanterie Division – Generalmajor Adolf Trowitz
72.Infanterie Division – Generalleutnant Dr. Hermann Hohn
82.Infanterie Division – Generalleutnant Friedrich-August Weinknecht
88.Infanterie Division – Generalleutnant Georg von Rittberg
167.Infanterie Division – Generalmajor Hans Hüttner
168.Infanterie Division – Generalmajor Werner Schmidt-Hammer
332.Infanterie Division (? The division was disbanded in 1943)

213.Sicherungs Division – Generalleutnant Alexander Göschen

one Panzergrenadier Regiment from the 14.Panzer Division
one Infanterie Regiment from the 198.Infanterie Division
one Grenadier Regiment from the 389.Infanterie Division
one Kavallerie Regiment
108.Artillerie Regiment

three (unidentified) Sturmgeschütz Abteilungen

177.Sicherungs Bataillon
810.Sicherungs Bataillon
867.Sicherungs Bataillon

842.Schwere Artillerie Bataillon
848.Schwere Artillerie Bataillon

410.Bau Bataillon
678.Bau Bataillon

41.Brücken Bataillon
655.Brücken Bataillon

276.Flak Abteilung

According to Marshal Koniev’s memoirs, after the liquidation of the Korsun Shievtchienkovskiy Pocket on 17 February 1944, the Soviets numbered 55.000 Germans dead and 18.000 captured. Koniev admits that only a bunch of enemy soldiers and SS-Brigadeführer Gille could have escaped by plane or slipped between the front lines disguised in civilian clothes. Besides, more than 200 transport planes were shot by Soviet AA units and aircraft.

The Germans, from their side, claim that only 56.000 of their troops have been encircled and 32.000 managed to reach safely their own lines between 17 and 18 February 1944 in the Lysianka area.

According to Gordon Williamson, about 4.000 Waffen SS (the division numbered 14.600 men) from the “Wiking” survived the hell of the encirclement at Korsun Shievtchienkovskiy, losing absolutely all its armor, artillery and heavy equipment. The “Wallonien” suffered also heavy losses (about 70%): from 1.600 men, only 632 returned safe.


Can someone please help me to solve this controversy ? All comments are welcome...

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Andy H
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#2

Post by Andy H » 20 Sep 2003, 19:12

One of the Stug Abt's was the 239th serving as part of XI Korps.

Try and get hold of "Hells Gate" by Douglas E Nash a superb book on the subject for a German viewpoint

Andy H


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Minotauros
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#3

Post by Minotauros » 21 Sep 2003, 20:31

Dear Andy !

First of all, thank you for the precision about the StuG Abteilung.

I heard about the book you’re talking about. Unfortunately, I’m not able to purchase it. So that’s why I’ve posted a request in the forum ! :)

Regards

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Qvist
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#4

Post by Qvist » 23 Sep 2003, 21:50

I would be careful to rely much on such memoirs for points like these. If this critique of the Soviet General Staff Study on the Korsun operation is to be believed, the Soviets did not possess an accurate picture in all respects.

http://www.militaryhistory.nu/critiques/critiques.html

This passage might be of particular interest with regard to the specific questions you raise:
German sources: As noted above (see under 1. Statements on German strength, p. 41) the encircled forces numbered slightly more than 50,000, thus it can not have lost 63,000. However, the majority succeeded in escaping. The German created a special organization, Gruppe Mattenklott, to count and take care of the soldiers that broke out. From these records, it is clear that 36, 262 broke out and a further 4,161 wounded had been flown out before the break out. If we use the highest German figure on the number of soldiers encircled, 56,000, we see that at most about 15,000 can have been killed or taken prisoner, far less than the 63,000 claimed by the Soviet general staff study.

Also, it is interesting to note that the Soviet sources claim that the encircled forces were completely destroyed (e.g. p. 145). If they had 75,000 from the beginning and lost 52,000 killed and 11,000 missing, what happened to the remaining 12,000?

Douglas Nash has written an acclaimed account of this battle by the name of "Hell's Gate", based on very extensive research into German records. Niklas Zetterling is working on a book on the same subject currently.



cheers

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