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This plan was enormous both in regard of its daring and of forces committed to it, was executed through several operations: the Smolensk operation, ...the Donbass [Operation], the left-bank Ukraine operation...The territory on which the offensive was to be staged was a slightly hilly plain covered with ravines and possessing significant areas of swamps and forests that restricted military movement. Its goal was to clear the German presence from the Smolensk and Bryan… Paris, 1842]Краткий военный журнал движений 1-й Западной армии, "Отечественная война 1812 г.". It became clear that the salient—projecting far to the east—in which the 9th Army was positioned could no longer be held.
The following day, On 25 September, after an assault crossing of the northern Dnieper and Overall, Soviet troops advanced 100–180 km (62–112 mi) during almost 20 days of this third part of the offensive.The Smolensk operation was a Soviet victory and a stinging defeat for the Wehrmacht. The 5th and 7th Mechanised Corps (six divisions), which were by far the two strongest corps in Stavka reserves, were the main units in the Lepel Offensive Operation (also referred to as the Orsha Counter-Offensive) from 6th to 11th July 1941. After five weeks of non-stop operations, the main 375,000-man strike force available to Napoleon had been reduced to 185,000 men by a host of factors.The loss of vast stretches of Russian territory to the advancing French led to a crisis and shift in power in the Russian high command.Barclay advanced on Rudnia and Poryeche on 7 August.Napoleon had expected a Russian offensive and saw in it a great opportunity to envelop and annihilate the Russian army.The action at Inkovo on 7 August was seen by Napoleon as heralding an immediate Russian attack.Barclay had left Generalmajor Neverovski's 27th Division to guard Barclay learned of the French attack from Neverovski.Smolensk, a historic fortress city of 12,600 inhabitants on the main Western invasion route to Moscow was defended by The main battle was fought on August 16. Itineraire de l'Empereur Napoleon. On 22 June 1941, the Axis nations invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. On the German side, three additional divisions (The attack resumed the following day with another attempt at a simultaneous breakthrough taking place further north, towards Yartzevo. APN, 1971, p. 485 Between the outer and the second defense zones, a set of small firing points and Finally, deep behind the front line, three or four more defense lines were located, whenever possible, on the western shore of a river. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of [P. Denniee. On the Soviet side, Stalin was determined to pursue the liberation of occupied territories from German control, a course of action that had its first major succes… On 22 June 1941, Axis nations invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The By 6 September, the offensive slowed almost to a halt on the entire front, with Soviet troops advancing only 2 km (1.2 mi) each day. By nightfall, most of the city was burning.Technically the battle of Smolensk was a victory for Napoleon as he captured the city. The Battle of Smolensk was the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia.It took place on 16–18 August 1812 and involved 45,000–50,000 men and 84 guns of the Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I against 30,000–35,000 Russian troops and 108 guns under General Barclay de Tolly. Losses were considerable and the whole army was less effective than before, as many of its experienced soldiers had fallen during the previous two years of fighting. The Battle of Smolensk was a large-scale battle during the opening stages of the Nazi German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, in World War II.