The Red Army's Offensive in the Sychevsky Direction during Operation «Mars»

Abstract

The article is devoted to the offensive of the Red Army in the Sychev direction during Operation «Mars» in November-December 1942. This offensive was one of the bloodiest battles among all the private diversionary battles of Operation «Mars». It was here, northeast of Sychevka, that the troops of the 20th Army, focusing on the mass use of tanks reduced to tank corps, tried to cut the Sychevka-Rzhev railway, which would inevitably lead to the fall of Rzhev. However, the enemy, who had guessed the plan of the Soviet command, took serious measures to organize anti-tank defence, for the first time applied new effective means of combating Soviet tanks. This allowed him to achieve superiority over the Soviet tank corps, which tried in vain to break through the heavily fortified German positions. The positional deadlock formed near Sychevka became victorious for the enemy (he defended Sychevka and the railway to Rzhev). For the Red Army, the battles near Sychevka turned into great losses. Tactically, the troops of the 20th Army did not achieve their goal and did not fulfill their combat mission. However, operationally, they fought fierce battles exhausting the enemy throughout the operation, requiring constant reinforcements from him. As a result of Operation «Mars», the Red Army shackled huge enemy forces, including reserves that never fell under Stalingrad. In this regard, she successfully fulfilled her strategic task, contributing to the defeat of the Germans on the Volga.