October 1943

Eastern Front

After a bloody, 4-day battle Zaporozhe falls to the 8th and 3rd Guards and 12th Armies, while the continuing threat to the dam poses by the 12th Army compels the Germans to abandon their bridgehead. Heavy fighting at Melitopol continues as the 6th Army fights vigorously.

The Stavka prepares to launch a major assault aimed at breaking through the German defenses on the west bank of the river line and crushing the 8th and 1st Panzer Armies. The Southwest Front is to attack between Zaporozhe and Dnepropetrovsk to pin the 1st Panzer frontally while the Steppe Front breaks through at the junctin of the two armies. For the operation the Steppe Front has the 5th Guards, 7th Guards, 57th and 5th Guards Tank Armies near Dnepropetrovsk and the 53rd, 4th Guards and 52nd Armies near Kremenchug. In defense the 1st Panzer Army deploys the XL and LVII Panzer Corps, XVII, XXX and LII Corps.