March 1943

Eastern Front

The Kalinin and West Fronts conlude their Rzhev-Vyazma Operation. Of 876,000 men whe began the operation, some 38,862 have been killed or reported missing and 99,715 wounded.

The Red Army and Navy have lost 726,714 killed and missing in action and 1,425,692 wounded during the first quarter of 1943.

During March the Germans withdraw the 1st Mountain Division and disband the 8th Luftwaffe Field Division. The 167th, 327th, 333rd and 335th Infantry Divisions and 12th Luftwaffe Field Division enter the combat line, bringing German strength to 16 panzer, 15 panzer grenadier and 143 infantry divisions. The Panzerwaffe deploy 2,374 tanks but only a fraction of thest are operational. Soviet armored forces total more than 7,200 vehicles. The Germans make a number of minor formation adjustments, renaming Army Detachment Hollidt the 6th Army.

Germany's allied still deply 33 divisions in the east (10 Rumanian, 5 Hungarian, 1 Slovak, 1 Spanish and 16 Finnish). Most, excepting the Finns, are held in the rear echelon on security duties.