THE VISTULA-ODER OFFENSIVE OPERATION (January 12 – February 7, 1945): ARMORED AND MECHANIZED TROOPS - THE MAIN POWER OF SUCCESS DEVELOPMENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.19.233828Abstract
The purpose of the research is to investigate the armored and mechanized troops’ combat employment during the Vistula-Oder offensive operation and their contribution to operational art development in the theory and practice of dispersal and large enemy groups destruction . The research methodology is to use a set of methods: dialectical, analytical, historical, biographical, comparative. The methodological approach made it possible to analyze retrospectively the large mobile formations (unit) improvement employing methods while engaging into battle of mobile groups of armies and fronts and during dispersal and large enemy groups destruction, which took place as a single process. As well as the mobile groups’ employment during the battle for the tactical zone of the enemy’s defense. The scientific novelty of the results is a comprehensive analysis of the process of preparation and conduct of the offensive operation of the two fronts with the use of four tank armies, due to the lack in domestic historiography of special historical generalizations on certain topics within these chronological limits. An objective assessment of the importance of the Vistula-Oder offensive operation for the development of the military art in operations for their massive use of rapid and maneuverable nature, which led to the dispersal of the enemy group into parts and their rapid defeat. The Conclusions. The Red Army offensive from the Vistula to the Oder was a model of the largest strategic offensive. It developed almost without pauses with an average daily rate of 25 – 30 km per day, and tank armies – up to 70 km. The armored and mechanized troops made a significant contribution to the success of the operation. The tank armies, individual tank and mechanized corps were the main force for the development of success and were a powerful vanguard of the 1st UF and 1st BF, which operated at a significant distance from the combined arms forces. The armored and mechanized troops’ combat employment’s peculiarity was the use of two tank armies in one operational direction, which increased the strength of the strike groups of the fronts.
Key words: the Vistula-Oder offensive operation, front, tank army, corps.
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