Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive
The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive was an offensive by the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front and elements of the 4th Ukrainian Front against the German 6th Army in the area of Nikopol and Krivoi Rog in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine between 30 January and 29 February 1944. It took place on the Eastern Front of World War II and was part of the wider Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, a Soviet attack against Army Group South to retake the rest of Ukraine that fell to Germany in 1941.
Army Group South commander Erich von Manstein, 1938
3rd Ukrainian Front commander General armii Rodion Malinovsky in the late 1940s
Soviet artillerymen firing at fortifications during the offensive
German Panzer IVs of 24th Panzer-division tanks on the move
The 6th Army was a field army of the German Army during World War II. It is widely known for its defeat by and subsequent surrender to the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad on 2 February 1943. It committed war crimes at Babi Yar while under the command of Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau during Operation Barbarossa.
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 183 B05284, Walter v. Reichenau
Image: Friedrich Paulus by Johannes Hähle
Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 101I 732 0118 03, Hermann Balck (cropped)