Preparation
3 Encirclement
Hube now ordered the pocket to be reduced in size, shortening the positions lines to increase defence density. As
the 1st Ukrainian Front prepared to complete the encirclement Hube requested the authorization to use mobile defence tactics, a request which was quickly denied.
However, once the encirclement was complete, the situation changed. Manstein had been arguing with Hitler for
the trapped Army to be allowed to attempt a breakout,
and for a relief force to be sent to assist them. With the
loss of the entire Panzer army in the balance, Hitler nally
gave in and ordered Hube to attempt a breakout.
The rst objective of the breakout was to be the capture of crossing sites over the Zbruch River. Corps
Group Chevallerie was to establish contact with the 1st
Panzer Division at Gorodok and Task Force Mauss in
the area between the Ushitsa and Zbruch Rivers. It was
then to cover the northern ank of the army between
the Ushitsa and Zbruch Rivers and establish a bridgehead across the latter at Skala. Corps Group Breith
was to recapture Kamianets-Podilskyi, regain control of
the Kamianets-Khotyn road, and establish a bridgehead
3
across the Zbruch River northwest of Khotin. Task Force
Gollnick, in close contact with the south ank of Corps
Group Breith, was to delay the Soviets below the Dnestr
River and was to retire to and hold a bridgehead at Khotin.
Breakout
Division
(Generalleutnant
5
82nd Infantry Division
Hans-Walter Heyne)
(Generalleutnant
(Generalleutnant
der
References
Citations
[1] BA-MA Rh-1/371
[2] Glantz (1989), p. 332 - situation map, 1 March 1944
[3] Glantz (1989), p. 334
[4] Glantz (1989), p. 335
Bibliography
Glantz, David, Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War, Frank Cass, London, (1989) ISBN
0-7146-3347-X
Alan Clark, Barbarossa, Harper Perennial, New
York, 1985 ISBN 978-0-688-04268-4
John Erickson, The Road To Berlin: Stalins War
With Germany Vol.2, WESTVIEW PRESS, London, 1983
Perry Moore (Design), Warren Kingsley, C.
Rawling (Development), Against the Odds:
KesselSchlacht (Ukraine Spring 1944), LPS, 2002
Bryan Perrett, Knights of the Black Cross: Hitlers
Panzerwae and Its Leaders.
Carl Wagener, Der Ausbruch der 1. Panzerarmee
aus dem Kessel von Kamenez-Podolsk Mrz/April
1944.
Encirclement of a Panzer Army Near KamenetsPodolskiy (chapter 6 of Operations of Encircled
Forces, United States Department of the Army).
Coordinates:
26.5000E
9.1
Text
9.2
Images
9.3
Content license