Global InformationBattle for Narva Bridgehead information
| Battle for the Narva Bridgehead | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
 Soviet plan of the attempted break-out, February – April 1944 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany |
 Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Johannes Frießner |
Leonid A. Govorov | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
123,541 personnel[1] 32 tanks[2] 137 aircraft[1] |
205,000 personnel[3] 2,500 assault guns 100 tanks[4] 800 aircraft[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Contemporary estimates: 12,000 dead, missing or captured 46,000 wounded or sick |
Contemporary indirect estimates: 65,000 dead or missing 235,000 wounded or sick 130 armoured vehicles 230 aircraft[2] | ||||||
The Battle of Narva Bridgehead (Estonian: Narva lahingud, German: Schlacht um den Brückenkopf von Narva, Russian: Битва за плацдарм Нарва; 2 February – 26 July 1944) was the campaign that stalled the Soviet Estonian operation in the surroundings of the town of Narva for six months. It was the first phase of the Battle of Narva campaign fought at the Eastern Front during World War II, the second phase being the Battle of Tannenberg Line.
A number of volunteer Waffen SS units from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium fought on the German side. Several Western authors dealing with the foreign national units nickname the campaign as the "Battle of the European SS".[nb 1] The involved Estonian conscripts fought to defend their country against the looming Soviet reoccupation.[6]
The Soviet Estonian offensive was a follow-on of the Leningrad–Novgorod offensive. Its aim was to reconquer Estonia, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.[7][8] Although Narva was not the main direction of the Soviet offensives on the Eastern Front in 1944, the Baltic Sea seemed the quickest way to Joseph Stalin for taking the battles to the German ground and seizing control of Finland.[9][10]
The Soviet Estonian offensive stalled after securing several bridgeheads over the Narva River and facing the Nazi German Wotan Line. The fierce fighting starting in February stopped at the end of April. With the Narva offensive, 24–30 July 1944, the Red Army captured the town of Narva, as the German troops retreated 16 kilometres to the southwest to continue fighting at their prepared positions. The German forces managed to block the Soviet advance to the Baltic ports for nearly six months due to the nature of the terrain and the resistance of the international troops.[citation needed]
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
hiiowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
laarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hannes Walter. "Estonia in World War II". Mississippi: Historical Text Archive. Archived from the original on 17 March 2006. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
paulmanwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ George Stein, The Waffen SS Cornell University Press 1966, ISBN 0-8014-9275-0, page 137
- ^ Mole, Richard C. M. (2012). The Baltic States from the Soviet Union to the European Union. Routledge. p. 48. ISBN 9780415394970.
- ^ Иван Иванович Федюнинский (1961). Поднятые по тревоге (Risen by Anxiety). Moscow: Воениздат. p. 192.
- ^ David M. Glantz (2002). The Battle for Leningrad: 1941–1944. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1208-4.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
newtonwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ В. Бешанов (2004). Десять сталинских ударов (Ten Shocks of Stalin). Minsk: Харвест.
Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).