Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation: goals, objectives, result, losses. What were the real causes of the Rzhev-Sychev offensive operation?

The Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation is one of those offensive operations, which Soviet historians were silent on. It was not customary to talk about it, since it completely failed. The Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation is divided into the First and Second offensive operations. It is about them that will be discussed in this article.

The first Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation of 1942 (June 30-October 1): the goal

The purpose of the offensive operation was the defeat of the 9th German Army, Colonel-General V. Model, defending the ledge at Rzhev and Vyazma. After the Soviet troops heroically repulsed our capital, the Stavka fell into a triumphant euphoria. It seemed to all that the final turning point in the war had finally come. And since 1942 our army began offensive operations, which nullified all the victories of the end of 1941. The Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation was a continuation of the previous, Rzhev-Vyazma operation in the spring of 1942. During the latter we lost about 700 thousand people.

The Rzhev-Sychev offensive operation was carried out by the actions of the same two fronts, which carried out the Rzhev-Vyazma operation: Kalinin, led by Colonel-General I. S. Konev and Zapadnoye under the command of Army General G. Zhukov. The latter directed the entire operation.

Plan

The idea of the offensive was to surround the grouping of the Model with two fronts. On the left was the Kalinin Front on the Rzhev direction, on the right - the Western on the Sychevsky direction.

As a result of this operation, Soviet troops intended to take possession of Rzhev, Zubtsov, Sychevka, Gzhatsky, Vyazma. After this, it was possible to firmly consolidate at the turn of the Volga and close from the Germans the direction of Stalingrad and the Caucasian oil fields.

Components of the operation

The main operation is conditionally divided into several local ones:

• Rzhevskaya - was conducted by the 30th Army of the Kalinin Front.
• Rzhev-Zubtsovskaya - was conducted by joint flank forces of two fronts.
• Pogorelo-Gorodishchenskaya - troops of the Western Front (the 20th Army).
• Gzhatskaya - was conducted by forces of two armies of the Western Front (5th and 33rd).

Forces of the Soviet side

A total of six combined arms, two air armies and five corps participated. Without regard to the corps, the two fronts had at their disposal 67 artillery units, 37 mortar divisions, and 21 tank brigades. All this grouping numbered about half a million people and more than 1.5 thousand tanks.

The beginning of the advance of the Kalinin Front

June 30th the offensive of the 30th and 29th armies began. It was a heavy rain that day, but the plan was not abandoned. As a result, the army broke through the defense at a width of 9 km and a depth of 7 km. Before Rzhev there were some 5-6 kilometers. Then the armies regrouped and on August 10 they again went on the offensive.

Offensive operation differed methodically slow - up to 1-2 km per day - gnawing into the well-fortified defense of the enemy and huge losses. This later, taking into account all the experience of 1942, Soviet troops will rapidly advance in unexpected places, using sudden tactics (operations "Bagration", "Saturn", "Uranium", etc.). And in 1942 our troops went into frontal attacks on well-fortified positions without the support of aviation and artillery. Only by August 21 the 30th Army occupied Polunino.

The offensive of Zhukov's army (the Western Front)

The front of Zhukov was to take advantage of the impetuous attack of the Kalinin Front, after which, according to the plan of the Soviet command, the Germans had to transfer reinforcements from one section to another, weakening one of the flanks. It was for this purpose that the forces of the Western Front were to strike on August 2.

However, the Kalinin Front had very modest successes in weakening the German defense. To this one could add strong torrential rains, which made the offensive difficult. Zhukov decided to postpone the advance of his front on 4 August.

On August 4, the forces of the Western Front struck in the vicinity of Pogoreliy Gorodische. Successes were better than those of Konev's troops: within two days, the front stretched for a width of 18 km and a depth of 30 km. The 161st German Infantry Division was defeated. However, the ultimate goal of the strike - the capture of Zubtsov and Karmanovo - was not achieved.

From August 4 to August 8 there were battles to cross the Vazuza, and on August 9, a major battle of tanks took place, in which up to 800 Soviet and 700 German tanks in the Karmanov area participated. The defeat here threatened the left flank of our second front. As a result, the Soviet group was reinforced with reinforcements from other sections of the front.

As a result of the maneuvering of the German forces, the Soviet attack choked. It was decided to take Karmanovo main forces, weakening the blow to Sychev.

Throughout August and September, Soviet troops conducted stubborn battles to seize heavily fortified small settlements. The most interesting thing is that after the defeat of the Soviet troops and the destruction of entire armies for insignificant villages and villages, the Germans themselves left them without a fight, in order to align the line of defense.

September 27 Rzhev managed to take, but German reserves with ease knocked out our troops from the city. October 1 battles are over.

Losses

As a result of a senseless Rzhev-Sychevsky operation, losses reached 300 thousand people. Most people died. The loss of tanks was more than 1 thousand cars.

In total, the Germans lost about 60 thousand people, but almost 50 thousand of them were wounded, i.e., returned to service after the hospital. The difference in losses is enormous.

Second Rzhev-Sychevsky operation

The second operation took place from November 25 to December 20, 1942, by the same two fronts as the First. And the same Zhukov guided the actions of our troops, but this time he gave the Western Front to Colonel-General M.A. Purkaeva. The whole operation was code-named "Mars".

The purpose of the operation was the same as that of the First: the capture of a well-fortified Sychevka, where V. Model's headquarters were located.

The operation ended in the complete rout of the Soviet forces, but there is a version that the Germans were specifically notified of the operation to transfer all available forces to this sector. As a result, it became possible to encircle the German grouping near Stalingrad (Operation Uranus) to the detriment of Zhukov's almost one million army. And the Germans simply did not have the strength to unblock Paulus at Stalingrad, since almost all the reserves were concentrated under Rzhev.

The loss of the parties after the operation "Mars"

The Soviet side lost more than 420 thousand killed during the second Rzhev-Sychevsky operation. Taking into account the wounded, these figures reach 700 thousand - 1 million people.

The losses of the Germans were 40-45 thousand people, including those killed and wounded.

Results

The entire offensive campaign of 1942 practically offset the advantage that was achieved by the counteroffensive under our capital. Success near Moscow seemed to cloud the mind of the military leadership of our country, and it forgot about the strength of the German military machine. Only the irretrievable loss of about one and a half million soldiers again made a sober assessment of the entire catastrophe of the fascist invasion. It was the failures of 1942 that became the preconditions for the issuance of Order No. 227, known as "Not a step backward". Also, the unsuccessful campaigns of this year led to the capture of the famous general A. Vlasov, who received a high award for the Battle of Moscow.