Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1943-1945: Red Steamroller

The three lead Matildas appeared from behind a hillock and came straight across the field. A minute later we were staggered by what we saw: the muzzle flashes of artillery fire and two burning tanks. The guns were firing direct lay. Three men from my company rushed over to the artillery unit. While they were running in that direction, the artillery unit managed to fire off a second volley. A third Matilda was stopped in its tracks, the rounds having disabled its suspension. The crews of Knyazev’s company reacted appropriately, firing high explosive rounds. Two artillery pieces were turned into twisted heaps of metal, their crews killed.¹⁷⁰

Loza’s brigade lost a platoon of tanks in this incident because Soviet artillerymen were unfamiliar with the Matilda and assumed them to be German tanks. Nevertheless, the commitment of 5 MC added impetus to the 10 GA attack and Spas-Demensk was liberated on the same day. Yet it was not the commitment of more armour that gradually weakened Heinrici’s defence, but the relentlessly pounding of the Soviet artillery which ground up the German infantry. Between 7–21 August, AOK 4 suffered over 28,000 casualties, including 7,239 dead or missing. After the capture of Spas-Demensk, the Western Front continued to slowly grind its way through the German defences, but the offensive was temporarily suspended on 21 August in order to resupply and replenish depleted units. In 14 days of heavy combat between 7–21 August, the Western Front had advanced only 35–40km – roughly equivalent to what Hoth achieved during Zitadelle.

At this point, the Stavka realized that the Western Front could not hope to seize Smolensk in a single push and decided to restructure Suvorov as a multi-phase operation that would gradually slice up the German defences into digestible pieces. The next logical objective was Yelnya, in the centre of AOK 4’s line. Despite the fact that the Yelnya sector was heavily wooded and marshy, Sokolovsky asked for – and received – additional armoured support. Polkovnik Aleksei S. Burdeiny’s 2nd Guards Tank Corps (2 GTC) was transferred from Voronezh Front to reinforce Sokolovsky. After a week of refitting, the Western Front recommenced Suvorov on the morning of 28 August with a 90-minute artillery barrage, accompanied by airstrikes from 1 VA. Soviet artillery tactics were improving and the German front-line defences were badly chewed up. Attacking on a 25km-wide front, the 21 A, 33 A and 10 GA were able to penetrate 6km on the first day and extended the penetration to 12km on the second day. At that time, Burdeiny’s 2 GTC was committed and his tanks advanced 30km in a single day. On 30 August, the battered German forces were forces to abandon Yelnya. Sokolovsky continued pushing until his troops reached the Dnepr River, then halted the offensive on 7 September for another week.