A Change Of Orders

The Soviets 2nd Ukrainian Front launched a major offensive in late December of 1943 in southern Russia. The attacks began in earnest on 5 January 1944 with the goal of breaking through the German lines in the Kirovograd area. These …

1944-01-07

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The Soviets 2nd Ukrainian Front launched a major offensive in late December of 1943 in southern Russia. The attacks began in earnest on 5 January 1944 with the goal of breaking through the German lines in the Kirovograd area. These caused multiple gaps in the German lines. On the evening of January 7 Grossdeutschland units were close at hand and were called upton to help remedy the tenuous situation. The next day units of I Battalion, Grossdeutschland Regiment, fought its way into Muchartovka, blocking a serious threat to the German right flank. Tlieir assault guns were key to this push, temporarily stabilizing the line in this village. Yet due to even more intense Soviet pressure to the north, the StuG Ill’s were requested as assistance, right in the middle of the ongoing fight. At this very moment the Soviets were initiating another attack at Muchartovka. Despite GD's tenuous hold here the StuG's were ordered out and sent north to Anninska. The remaining panzergrenadiers now faced a very desperate situation indeed.

Muchartovka, Ukraine

The Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, also known in Soviet historical sources as the liberation of right-bank Ukraine, was a strategic offensive executed by the Sovietist, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, along with the 2nd Belorussian Front, against the German Army Group South and Army Group A, and fought from 24 December 1943 – 17 April 1944. The battles on the right-bank Ukraine and in the Crimea were the most important event of the 1944 winter-spring campaign on the Eastern Front.

Wikipedia: Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive

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