Operation Büffel

Operation Büffel ("Buffalo") was a series of local retreats conducted by the German Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front during the period 1–22 March 1943. This movement eliminated the Rzhev Salient and shortened the front by 230 miles, releasing twenty-one divisions.[1] The withdrawals were accompanied by a ruthless security campaign, resulting in widespread destruction, deportation of able-bodied population for slave labour, and killings of civilian population.

Operational history

The 9th Army evacuated the Rzhev Salient in March 1943, as part of a general shortening of the line. Large-scale security sweeps, under the doctrine of Bandenbekämpfung ("bandit fighting"), were carried out in the weeks before the operation, in which an estimated 3,000 Russians were killed, the great majority of whom were unarmed, as shown by the inventory of the seized weapons: 277 rifles, 41 pistols, 61 machine guns, 17 mortars, 9 antitank rifles and 16 small artillery pieces. The withdrawal itself took two weeks, with minimal casualties or disruption in a move of an Army group numbering approximately 300,000 men, 100 tanks and 400 artillery pieces. In its wake, 9th Army leader Walter Model personally ordered the deportation of all male civilians, wells poisoned, and at least two dozen villages razed in a scorched earth policy to hinder the Red Army's follow up in the area.[2]

Effects

The shortening of the German lines allowed the Germans to create a reserve for operations elsewhere. These formations were later used during the 1943 summer campaign, resulting in the Battle of Kursk.[3]

The official Soviet report published on 7 April 1943 showed the effects of the German scorched earth policy. In Viazma, out of 5,500 buildings, only 51 small houses were still standing; at Gzhatsk, 300 out of 1,600; in Rzhev, 500 out of 5,400. 15,000 people were deported from the three towns alone. The rural areas suffered equally; in the Sychevka area, for example, 137 villages out of 248 had been burned down. British war correspondent Alexander Werth visited the area soon after the liberation and saw for himself the results of Model's orders. The report listed Model at the top of the list of the war criminals responsible for the "deliberate extermination policy" and noted that most of the killings of civilians were carried out by regular Wehrmacht units, not just the Gestapo or the SD.[4]

References

  1. ↑ David Schranck (19 January 2014). Thunder at Prokhorovka: A Combat History of Operation Citadel, Kursk, July 1943. Helion and Company. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-909384-54-5.
  2. ↑ Newton 2006, pp. 212–216.
  3. ↑ Robert Forczyk; Steve Noon (20 September 2014). Kursk 1943: The Northern Front. Osprey Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-78200-821-7.
  4. ↑ Werth 1964, pp. 630-631.

Bibliography

  • Newton, Steven H. (2006). Hitler's Commander: Field Marshal Walter Model – Hitler's Favorite General. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo. ISBN 978-0-306-81399-3.
  • Werth, Alexander (1964). Russia at War 1941–1945. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co.

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