Battle of the Dnieper
The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) front. Over four months, the eastern bank of the Dnieper was recovered from German forces by five of the Red Army's fronts, which conducted several assault river crossings to establish several lodgements on the western bank. Kiev was later liberated in the Battle of Kiev. 2,438 Red Army soldiers were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for their involvement.
| Battle of the Dnieper | |||||||||
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| Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||||
Map of the battle of the Dnieper and linked operations | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Soviet Union |
Germany Romania Slovakia | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Georgy Zhukov Aleksandr Vasilevsky Nikolai Vatutin Ivan Konev Rodion Malinovsky Fyodor Tolbukhin Konstantin Rokossovsky |
Erich von Manstein Ewald von Kleist Günther von Kluge | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
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1st Ukrainian Front 2nd Ukrainian Front 3rd Ukrainian Front 4th Ukrainian Front 1st Belorussian Front |
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| Strength | |||||||||
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26 August: 2,633,000 men (1,450,000 reinforcements) 51,200 guns and mortars 2,400 tanks and assault guns 2,850 combat aircraft |
On 1 November 1943: - 85,564 personnel. | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Krivosheev: 1,285,977 men
Frieser: 1,687,164 men
- 290,000 killed or missing - 1,000,000+ in total |
Germany Forczyk: - 102,000 killed or missing - 372,000+ in total Romania Unknown | ||||||||