User:Ryan.opel/Chernigov-Poltava Strategic Offensive

The Chenigov-Poltava Strategic Offensive (26 August - 30 September 1943) was a strategic offensive conducted by the three Fronts of the Red Army in World War II. The operation was the first phase of the Battle of Dnieper. The operation ended with the German Army almost completely driven from the Left-bank Ukraine and the capture of bridgeheads over the Dnieper River. The strategic offensive is divided into three distinct operations;
 * Chernigov-Pripyet Offensive on the Central Front
 * Sumy-Priluki Offensive on the Voronezh Front and the
 * Poltava-Kremenchug Offensive on the Steppe Front

Soviet Union
The three fronts consisted of 1,581,300 troops, 30,300 guns and mortars, 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns, 690 rocket launchers, 1,450 aircraft. The fronts actions were coordinated by STAVKA Representative Marshal G. Zhukov

Central Front (Field Marshal Rokossovsky)
579,600 troops assigned.
 * 65th Army (Lieutenant General P Baht)
 * 2nd Tank Army (Lieutenant General AG Rodin)
 * 60th Army (Lieutenant General Ivan Chernyakhovsky)
 * 13th Army (Lieutenant General Nikolay Pukhov)
 * 61st Army (from STAVKA Reserve on September 6, Lieutenant General PA Belov)
 * 48th Army (Lieutenant-General PL Romanenko)
 * 70th Army (September 1 put in STAVKA Reserve, Major General VM Sharapov)
 * 9th Tank Corps
 * 16th Air Army (Lieutenant General Sergei Rudenko)

Voronezh Front (Army General Vatutin)
665,500 troops assigned.
 * 38th Army (Lieutenant General Nikandr Chibisov)
 * 40th Army (Lieutenant General Kirill Moskalenko)
 * 3rd Guards Tank Army (Lieutenant General Pavel Rybalko)
 * 5th Guards Army (until September 6, General Zhadov)
 * 47th Army (General FF Zhmachenko)
 * 27th Army (General Sergei Trofimenko)
 * 52nd Army (General Konstantin Koroteev)
 * 4th Guards Army (Lieutenant General AI Zygin, September 27, Lieutenant-General Ivan Galanin)
 * 6th Guards Army (General IM Chistyakov)
 * 1st Tank Army (from September 9 to STAVKA Reserve, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces Mikhail Katukov)
 * 4th Guards Tank Corps
 * 1st Guards Cavalry Corps (Lt. Gen. VK Baranov)
 * 2nd Air Army (Lieutenant General SA Krasovskiy)

Steppe Front (General of the Army Konev)
336,200 troops assigned.
 * 37th Army (Sept. 6 from STAVKA Reserve, the general MN Sharokhin )
 * 5th Guards Army (received on 6 September from the Vorenzh Front, General Zhadov )
 * 7th Guards Army (General Mikhail Shumilov)
 * 46th Army (Sept. 6 received from the Southwestern Front, General Vladimir Glagolev)
 * 53rd Army (General Ivan Managarov)
 * 69th Army (General Vasily Kryuchenkin)
 * 5th Air Army (Lieutenant General SK Gorunov )

German
The German forces were composed of 38 divisions, including eight armored and 2 motorized. They had 700,000 soldiers and officers, 7,200 guns and mortars, 1,200 tanks and assault guns, more than 900 aircraft.

Army Group Center (Field Marshal Günther von Kluge Hans)

 * 2nd Army (commanded by infantry Walter Weiss)
 * elements of the Luftflotte 2 (Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen)

Army Group South (Field Marshal Erich von Manstein)

 * 4th Panzer Army (Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici)
 * 1st Panzer Army (General cavalry Eberhard von Mackensen)
 * 8th Army (Infantry General Otto Wohler)
 * 6th Army (Colonel-General Karl-Adolf Hollidt)
 * Luftflotte 4 (Colonel-General Otto Dessloh)

Overall superiority of forces on the side of the Red Army. Soviet troops outnumbered the German personnel by 2.1 times, aircraft - by 1.4 times, in guns and mortars - 4 times, the tanks forces were equal.

During the battle, both sides continuously increased their strength. The Soviets added 1 Mechanized Corps, 2 cavalry corps, 14 divisions, and 5 teams(?), the German side - 27 divisions, including 5 panzer and 1 motorized.