Zhitomir-Berdichev Offensive (Video)
by Andrius Dirmeikis
On Christmas Eve, 24th December 1943, Erich von Manstein had gone forward to celebrate Christmas with one of the reserve divisions. These celebrations were cut short by a surprising and powerful new offensive, launched by Nikolai Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front. Manstein wrote that "another serious storm was brewing on the same wing of the Army Group. It broke loose on 24th December." This new offensive, named Zhitomir-Berdichev Offensive, symbolized the beginning of the great Dnieper-Carpathian Strategic Offensive. It became the main event of the entire 1943-44 winter-spring campaign on the Eastern Front and played a major, if usually unappreciated, role in shaping the subsequent course of events in both Normandy and across the Eastern Front during the summer of 1944. To shore up its front in the Ukraine, the Wehrmacht was compelled to divert huge amounts of men, equipment, and reinforcements that were urgently needed to prepare the forces in France for the forthcoming Allied invasion, and whose diversion critically weakened Army Group Center. Heinz Guderian wrote the following in his memoirs: "The Eastern Front was given only a short breathing-space, until June 22nd. Our expenditure of force during the winter campaign had been heavy. There were no reserves available. The severe casualties suffered during the heavy winter fighting had utterly confounded the High Command. They produced no program for the building up of our forces in the West against the invasion that could be anticipated with certainty for the spring of 1944." While defeat was inevitable by this stage in the war, these hastened the collapse of the Third Reich and thereby saved the Allies a great deal of time, blood, and treasure. This video shows a footage taken from this offensive, that is, between December 1943 to January 1944. near the areas of Zhitomir, Vinnitsa and others.
On Christmas Eve, 24th December 1943, Erich von Manstein had gone forward to celebrate Christmas with one of the reserve divisions. These celebrations were cut short by a surprising and powerful new offensive, launched by Nikolai Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian Front. Manstein wrote that "another serious storm was brewing on the same wing of the Army Group. It broke loose on 24th December." This new offensive, named Zhitomir-Berdichev Offensive, symbolized the beginning of the great Dnieper-Carpathian Strategic Offensive. It became the main event of the entire 1943-44 winter-spring campaign on the Eastern Front and played a major, if usually unappreciated, role in shaping the subsequent course of events in both Normandy and across the Eastern Front during the summer of 1944. To shore up its front in the Ukraine, the Wehrmacht was compelled to divert huge amounts of men, equipment, and reinforcements that were urgently needed to prepare the forces in France for the forthcoming Allied invasion, and whose diversion critically weakened Army Group Center. Heinz Guderian wrote the following in his memoirs: "The Eastern Front was given only a short breathing-space, until June 22nd. Our expenditure of force during the winter campaign had been heavy. There were no reserves available. The severe casualties suffered during the heavy winter fighting had utterly confounded the High Command. They produced no program for the building up of our forces in the West against the invasion that could be anticipated with certainty for the spring of 1944." While defeat was inevitable by this stage in the war, these hastened the collapse of the Third Reich and thereby saved the Allies a great deal of time, blood, and treasure. This video shows a footage taken from this offensive, that is, between December 1943 to January 1944. near the areas of Zhitomir, Vinnitsa and others.
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