Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive
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Image:Eastern Front 1942-11 to 1943-03.png Template:Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War
The Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive (codenamed Operation Mars) was a strategic offensive launched by Soviet forces against German forces during World War II. It took place between 25 November-December, 1942 in a salient in the vicinity of Moscow. The offensive was one in a series of particularly bloody and mostly futile engagements collectively known as the Battles of Rzhev, which occurred near Rzhev, Sychevka and Vyazma between January 1942 and March 1943. The Battles became known as the "Rzhev meat grinder" ("Ржевская мясорубка") for their huge losses, particularly on the Soviet side.
The offensive was a joint operation of the Soviet Western Front and Kalinin Front coordinated by Georgy Zhukov. Many details of the offensive are virtually unknown, largely due to Soviet efforts to expunge any account of the extremely costly operation from historical accounts of fighting on the Eastern Front.
However, the American historian David Glantz consider that the offensive was more important in STAVKA planning than the near-simultaneous Operation Uranus, on the basis that despite mounting losses, the objective was to prevent possible Army Group Center reinforcement of Army Group South at Stalingrad.
Casualties
- Soviet: varies; Glantz puts total losses at 500,000 men and 1,705 tanks, while the archives of the Ministry of Defence of Russia quote 70,400 men and 1,366 tanks.
- German: 40,000 men
References
- Glantz, David M. Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942 (1999). ISBN 070060944X.