View source for Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive

{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive
|image=Krasnoe Selo-Ropsha.JPG
|image_size=300px
|caption=Soviet map of operations
|partof=[[Eastern Front (World War II)]]
|place=[[Leningrad Oblast]], [[Soviet Union]]
|date=14–30 January 1944
|result=Soviet victory
|combatant1={{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]
|combatant2={{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} [[Soviet Union]]
|commander1=[[Georg von Küchler]]
|commander2=[[Leonid Govorov]]
|strength1= One army<br>110 armoured vehicles
|strength2= Three armies<br>681 armoured vehicles <br>1200 artillery<ref name=baranov>{{cite book|url=http://www.rkka.ru/memory/baranov/6.htm|author=Баранов Виктор Ильич|chapter=Броня и люди|title=Танкисты в сражении за Ленинград|publisher= Лениздат|year= 1987}}</ref>
|casualties1=21,000 all causes<br>85 artillery<ref name=grechko/>
|casualties2=
|}}
{{Campaignbox Leningrad and Baltics 1941-1944}}
{{Campaignbox Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive}}
The '''Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive''', also known as '''Operation January Thunder''' and '''Neva-2''',  was a campaign between the Soviet [[Leningrad Front]] and the German [[18th Army (Wehrmacht)|18th Army]] fought for the western approaches of [[Leningrad]] in 14–30 January 1944.
==Background==
{{Main|Siege of Leningrad}}
The [[2nd Shock Army]] was moved from Leningrad and  [[Lisiy Nos]] to the [[Oranienbaum Bridgehead]] during a number of nights starting from November 1943. At daytime, the barges returned, disguised as committing an evacuation of the bridgehead. In charge of the bridgehead, Lieutenant General B.Z. Romanovskiy was replaced with Lieutenant General [[Ivan Fedyuninsky]].
==Design==
===Soviet===
As a part of the [[Leningrad–Novgorod Strategic offensive]], due to commence on 14 January 1944, the Soviet [[Volkhov Front|Volkhov]] and [[Leningrad Front]]s designed the Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive aimed at forcing the German [[Generalfeldmarschall]] [[Georg von Küchler]]'s [[Army Group North]] back from its positions near [[Oranienbaum, Russia|Oranienbaum]]. In the process, the attack was expected to encircle Generaloberst [[Georg Lindemann]]'s 18th Army.
===German===
The situation of the German Army Group North at the end of 1943 had deteriorated to a critical point. The [[Blue Division]] and three German divisions had been withdrawn by October, while the Army Group had acquired sixty miles of additional frontage from [[Army Group Center]] during the same period. As replacements, Field Marshal [[Georg von Küchler]] received the [[Blue Legion]] and three divisions of SS troops. In such a weakened state, the Army Group staff planned a new position to its rear that would shorten the front lines by twenty-five percent and remove the Soviet threats posed in many salients on the current lines. The plan, Operation "Blue," called for a January withdrawal of over 150 miles to the natural defensive barrier formed by the [[Narva River|Narva]] and [[Velikaya River]]s and Lakes [[Peipus]] and Pskov. This position, the so-called "[[Panther Line]]", was buttressed by fortifications that had been constructed since September. The retreat would be carried out in stages, using intermediate defensive positions, the most important of which was the Rollbahn Line formed on the [[October Railway]] running through [[Tosno]], [[Lyuban (town), Leningrad Oblast|Lyuban]] and [[Chudovo]]. There the two most exposed army corps, the XXVI and [[XXXVIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXVIII]], would regroup before proceeding farther back to their positions in the Panther Line.<ref name=anabasis/>
The fate of Army Group North turned for the worse in the new year, for [[Hitler]] rejected all proposals for an early withdrawal into the "Panther" position, insisting that the Soviet forces be kept as far as possible from Germany and that they be forced to pay dearly for each meter of ground. Finally, Hitler transferred three more first-rate infantry divisions out of Army Group North to reinforce [[Erich von Manstein]]'s [[Army Group South]] as it reeled back from the [[Dnieper River]] under continuous Soviet assault. Field Marshal von Küchler now held an extremely precarious position, and could only await events on the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts with great pessimism.<ref name=anabasis>Kenneth W. Estes [http://www.gutenberg-e.org/esk01/esk05.html A European Anabasis — Western European Volunteers in the German Army and SS, 1940-1945. Chapter 5. "Despair and Fanaticism, 1944-45"] [[Columbia University Press]]</ref>
==Combat activity==
[[File:ЛенТАСС № 44728 Уличные бои в городе Красное Село гвардейцы-автоматчики обстреливают немцев (page 1 crop).jpg|thumb|Soviet submachine gunners firing from a building in Krasnoye Selo at retreating German troops, January 1944]]
Fedyuninsky's [[2nd Shock Army]] and General [[Ivan Maslennikov]]'s [[42nd Army (Soviet Union)|42nd Army]] fell on the sector of [[Obergruppenführer]] [[Felix Steiner]]'s [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps]], hitting the area of the [[9th Luftwaffe Field Division (Germany)|9th]] and [[10th Luftwaffe Field Division (Germany)|10th Luftwaffe Field Division]]s. By the third day of the offensive, the 2nd Shock Army broke through the German lines with a penetration 23 kilometers wide.<ref name=grechko>{{cite book|author=A.A.Grechko|title=Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges (History of World War II. In German)}}</ref> The Luftwaffe units crumbled quickly, and Army Group North fell back to new positions along the [[Narva river]] in Estonia.<ref name=krivo>{{cite book|title=Битва за Нарву, февраль-сентябрь 1944 год (The Battle for Narva, February–September 1944)|author=Евгений Кривошеев|author2=Николай Костин|language=Russian|chapter=I. Sraženie dlinoj v polgoda (Half a year of combat)|pages=9–87|location=Tallinn|publisher=Eesti raamat|year=1984}}</ref> In a key Soviet assault on January 19, the [[63rd Guards Rifle Division]] seized German positions to the front of [[Krasnoye Selo]].<ref name=krivo/> On January 19, the 2nd Shock Army took Ropša and the 42nd Army liberated Krasnoye Selo.
==Aftermath==
By January 30, the Soviet attacks by the 2nd Shock and 42nd Armies cost the German forces around 21,000 casualties, captured 85 artillery pieces ranging in caliber from 15&nbsp;cm to 40&nbsp;cm, and pushed them back by between 60 and 100 kilometers.<ref name=grechko/> The Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive was part of the operations of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts that broke the [[Siege of Leningrad]] concluding an almost 900-day battle.<ref name=glantz>{{cite book|author=David M. Glantz|title=The Battle for Leningrad: 1941–1944|url=https://archive.org/details/battleforleningr00glan|url-access=registration|publisher=University Press of Kansas|location=Lawrence|year=2002|isbn=9780700612086 }}</ref> Launching the [[Kingisepp–Gdov offensive]] on 1 February, the 2nd Shock Army's [[109th Rifle Corps]] captured the town of [[Kingisepp]].<ref name=glantz/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krasnoye Selo-Ropsha Offensive}}
[[Category:Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War]]
[[Category:Military history of the Soviet Union during World War II]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1944]]
[[Category:Strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II]]
[[Category:Battles of World War II involving the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1944 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1944 in Russia]]
[[Category:Military operations of World War II involving Germany]]
[[Category:Leningrad in World War II]]
[[Category:Narva in World War II]]