Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive
The Lvov–Sandomierz offensive or Lvov–Sandomierz strategic offensive operation (Russian: Львовско-Сандомирская стратегическая наступательная операция) was a major Red Army operation to force the German troops from Ukraine and Eastern Poland. Launched in mid-July 1944, the operation was successfully completed by the end of August.
| Lvov-Sandomierz strategic offensive operation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
Soviet soldiers advancing in Lvov | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Germany Hungary | Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Josef Harpe Erhard Raus Walther Nehring Ferenc Farkas Otto Dessloch |
Ivan Konev Mikhail Katukov Pavel Rybalko Dmitry Lelyushenko Vasiliy Gordov Nikolay Pukhov Kirill Moskalenko Pavel Kurochkin Stepan Krasovsky | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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440,512 personnel in total (as of 1 July 1944) 420 AFVs1,000 aircraft |
1,002,200 men 1,979 AFVs 11,265 guns | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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- 16,438 killed - 69,895 wounded - 57,500 missing - 143,833 in total 30,000 killed, wounded and missing in total |
65,001 killed, missing or captured 224,295 wounded 289,296 overall 1,269 tanks and SP guns 289 aircraft | ||||||
The Lvov–Sandomierz offensive is generally overshadowed by the overwhelming successes of the concurrently conducted Operation Bagration that led to the destruction of Army Group Centre. However, most of the Red Army and Red Air Force resources were allocated, not to Bagration's Belorussian operations, but the Lvov-Sandomierz operations. The campaign was conducted as Maskirovka. By concentrating in southern Poland and Ukraine, the Soviets drew German mobile reserves southward, leaving Army Group Centre vulnerable to a concentrated assault. When the Soviets launched their Bagration offensive against Army Group Center, it would create a crisis in the eastern German front, which would then force the powerful German Panzer forces back to the central front, leaving the Soviets free to then pursue their objectives in seizing western Ukraine, the Vistula bridgeheads, and gaining a foothold in Romania.
The offensive was composed of three smaller operations:
- Lvov offensive operation (13–27 July 1944)
- Stanislav offensive operation (13–27 July 1944)
- Sandomierz offensive operation (28 July – 29 August 1944)
In Soviet propaganda, this offensive was listed as one of Stalin's ten blows.