Kingisepp–Gdov offensive

The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army from 30 January to 1 March 1944. On 30 January, the 109th Rifle Corps launched an offensive that captured the town of Kingisepp on 1 February. The 18th Army was forced into its positions on the eastern bank of the Narva river. Forward units of the 2nd Shock Army crossed the Narva river and established several bridgeheads on the west bank, to the north and south of the town of Narva on 2 February. The 8th Army expanded the bridgehead in the Krivasoo swamp south of Narva five days later, cutting the railway behind Army Group Sponheimer. Govorov was unable to take advantage of the opportunity of encircling the smaller German army group which called in reinforcements. These came mostly from the newly mobilised Estonians motivated to resist the looming Soviet re-occupation. At the same time, the Soviet 42nd Army landed their units across Lake Peipus 120 kilometres south of Narva and established a bridgehead in Meerapalu village. By a coincidence, the Estonian Division headed for Narva, reached the area. East Prussian and Estonian Units of the Waffen Grenadier Regiments 44 and 45 and a squadron of the Luftwaffe destroyed the Soviet troops on 14-16 February. A simultaneous Soviet amphibious assault was conducted, as the 517 strong 260th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade landed at Mereküla coastal borough, behind Army Group Narwa lines. However, the unit was almost completely annihilated.

Combat activity

Launching the Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive on 30 January, the 2nd Shock Army's 109th Rifle Corps captured Kingisepp town on the next day. Units of the 18th Army fought a rearguard action until it reached the eastern bank of the Narva. Army Group Sponheimer blew up the ice on the southern 50 kilometre section of the Narva river from Lake Peipus to Krivasoo swamp. North of the town, the 4th Soviet Rifle Regiment reached the Narva river, establishing a small bridgehead across it on 2 February, 1944. The fighting to the east of Narva had left a large number of German troops stranded on the wrong side of the front. Simultaneously, the 122nd Rifle Corps crossed the river south of the town in Vääska settlement, establishing a bridgehead in the Krivasoo swamp 10 kilometres south of Narva town.

Ivangorod bridgehead

The main brunt of the Soviet attack was where the Germans had least expected it — the III SS Panzer Corps, positioned east of the strategically important town of Narva and holding the German bridgehead on the opposite bank. The Corps were mostly made up of SS volunteer formations. The Dutchmen of the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland and the various nationalities of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland began frantically digging in along what had become known as the Narva line. The defensive line ran for eleven kilometres, from the estate of Lilienbach two kilometres north-east from the highway bridge over Narva river, to the settlement of Dolgaya Niva three kilometres in the south, bulging eastwards from the river. The 4th SS Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland defended the northern half of the bridgehead while the 11th SS Division Nordland held the southern flank. Attacking them along the highway and railway were the four Soviet divisions of the 43rd and the 109th Rifle Corps. The Nederland Brigade, the 1st battalion of the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 24 Danmark, and the German artillery inflicted heavy casualties on the Red Army, who failed to reach their operational goal of destroying the bridgehead. The German defence was supported by the artillery being manoeuvred back and forth between the banks. In order to implement such tactics, the bridge over Narva river was hidden from numerous Soviet air attacks in a smoke screen.

Krivasoo bridgehead in first half of February

In the Krivasoo swamp ten kilometeres south of Narva, the Soviet 1078th Regiment and the ski battalion of the 314th Rifle Division crossed the river under a heavy German air and artillery attack in four hours. Despite the resistance of the 29th Estonian Police Battalion, the 314th Rifle Division approached the Auvere Railway Station 10 kilometres west of Narva, threatening to cut the railway behind the III SS Panzer Corps and the two division-sized units of Army Group Narwa. The Soviet author Fyodor Paulman depicts the battles for Auvere station as ferocious, causing serious casualties to the 314th Rifle Division. Two regiments of the 125th Rifle Division were sent to assist them. The renewed Soviet units captured the railway crossing near Auvere station on 6 February, losing it on the same day under the fire of the German coastal artillery. From then on, the Soviet forces remained passive in the direction of Auvere, giving Army Group Narwa valuable time to regain their strength. The Soviets forced the local women from Auvere, Kriivasoo, Sirgala, and the rest of the settlements in the bridgehead to slave work to carry ammunition and supplies to the front.

Omuti, Permisküla and Gorodenka bridgeheads in the south

Two Soviet platoons of the 147th Rifle Regiment volunteered to cross the river to the settlements of Omuti, Permisküla and Gorodenka forty kilometres south of Narva on 2 February. The bank was defended by the 30th Estonian Police Battalion. The defence was built as an array of small bridgeheads on the east bank, appearing to the Soviets as a carefully prepared defence system in front of the main defence line. Repelled for the first time, the Soviet headquarters took some hours to prepare the attack by the 219th and 320th Rifle Regiments. The Estonians pulled back to their bank during the Soviet attacks, stopping the advance of the Red Army and causing heavy losses. Despite the heroics of the Soviet commanders, only a small platoon commanded by Lieutenant Morozov fortified themselves on the west bank.

Soviet difficulties in February

The Soviet operations were accompanied by major problems in supply, as the major transport connections had been largely destroyed by the Germans and the remaining poor roads were threatening to fall apart in the thaw closing in. Another failure was in Intelligence, as all Soviet partisan troops that had been sent to Estonia were destroyed. In their report on 8 February, the War Council of the Leningrad Front saw the preparations for the landings across the Narva river as unsatisfactory:

The reconnaissance is unorganized in the army; in the corps and the divisions, there is a lack of a concrete decision on the order of battle and the line-out of batteries; entirely unsolved is the matter of the tanks crossing the river and conducting combat on the left bank; there are no schemes prepared of the engineering support for the attacks. The army (...) lacks an anti-air defence plan; (...)

Siivertsi bridgehead in Mid-February

The 98th and the 131th Soviet Armoured Divisions established a bridgehead on the west bank near the settlement of Siivertsi further north from Narva on 12 February. The bridgehead soon became the most critical position on the whole Narva front. If the Soviets succeeded there, Narva city would fall quickly and the Narva bridgehead on the east bank of the river would be cutoff. All available units were thrown against Siivertsi bridgehead.

The Soviet artillery opened fire on the 16th Company, SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 23 Norge in the Siivertsi cemetery on 13 February, simultaneously attacking from across the ice. The attack was repelled under the command of Hauptsturmführer Günther Wanhöfer. This allowed the 336th Regiment with the tanks of lieutenant Carius at their command to reduce the bridgehead into a smaller unit, but that was all the German side had strength for. The trenches, gained by Generalmajor Maximilian Wengler's 336th Regiment during the day, were retaken that night by the constantly reinforced 2nd Shock Army.

First attack of Soviet main forces

Until the second week of February, the two armies of the Leningrad Front had deployed only vanguard elements. Army General Leonid A. Govorov of Leningrad Front ordered the 2nd Shock Army to break through the German defence line north and south of Narva town, move the front fifty kilometres westwards and continue towards the town of Rakvere. The artillery of the 2nd Shock army opened fire on all German positions on 11 February. The 30th Guards Rifle Corps, an elite unit usually used in breaching defence lines, joined the Soviet units attempting to seize the Auvere station. The guards riflemen widened the bridgehead to ten kilometres along the front. The remains of the German 227th and 170th Divisions retreated. General Major Romancov ordered an assault at Auvere settlement by the Air Force and artillery on 13 February, with the 64th Guard Rifle Division seizing the village in a surprise attack.
Half a kilometre westward from Auvere station, the 191st Guard Rifle Regiment cut through the railway two kilometres from the Tallinn highway, which was the last way out for Army Group Narwa, but was repelled by the 170th Infantry Division and the 502nd Tank Battalion.

Soviet landing operations on 14 February

The situation on the Narva front was turning into a catastrophe for the German Armed Forces in mid-February. The Leningrad Front had formed two bridgeheads north and south of Tallinn highway, the closest of them a few hundred metres away from the highway. Army Group Narwa was in direct danger of getting besieged. The defence of the highway was held only by small infantry units formed of the field divisions of the Luftwaffe, supported by Panther tanks after every few hundred metres along the highway. They obscured direct observation of the highway by placing branches of spruce trees along it, however, this did not distract the Soviet artillery from keeping the highway under constant bombardment. The faith of the Army Group Narwa, that the defence could go on like this, started to diminish.

Meerapalu landing operation

Seeing the condition of the front, Hitler ordered the 20th Estonian SS-Volunteer Division to be replaced on the Nevel front and transported to the Narva front. The arrival of the Estonian Division coincided with the prepared landing operation by the left flank of the Leningrad Front to the west coast of Lake Peipus, 120 kilometres south of Narva. The Soviet 90th Rifle Division seized Piirissaar island in the middle of the lake on 12 February, with a major South Estonian city of Tartu as the goal. The Estonian Division was placed at the Yeršovo bridgehead on the east coast of Lake Peipus. The 374th Soviet Rifle Regiment crossed Lake Peipus on 14 February, seized the coastal village of Meerapalu in a surprise attack, and formed a bridgehead. Additional Soviet units attacking across the lake were destroyed by 21 German Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers. On the next day, the Soviet units were expelled from the west coast by the I.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 45 Estland and an East Prussian unit of the 44th Grenadier Division. Estonian sources estimate the Soviet casualties to be in the thousands. A battalion of the 44th Grenadier Regiment regained Piirissaar island on 17 February.

Mereküla landing operation

To break the last resistance, simultaneously with preparing the Meerapalu landing operation, Govorov ordered the 260th Independent Naval Infantry Brigade to prepare for an amphibious attack to the German rear in Narva. This was an elite unit, especially trained for an amphibious assault. They were transported to the Narva front by a navy unit of 26 vessels. The troops were to assault from the Gulf of Finland, landing several miles behind the German lines near the coastal settlement of Mereküla. The first company were to destroy the railway and Auvere station, the second company to occupy the railway east from Auvere, and the third company to cover the left flank and to blow up the railway bridge east of Auvere. Estonian sources claim that as the instructions for later action, Major Maslov ordered to slaughter the civilians which was confirmed by the murder of a family. Another amphibious unit was intended to land after them. However, Estonian Counterintelligence had acquired data on an amphibious operation being prepared to land in Mereküla in 1939. Preparing the Panther Line in 1944, the Germans placed their artillery on the coastal battery built by the Military of Estonia specifically against such a landing. The 517 troops commenced their operation on 14 February, landing directly in front of the German coastal artillery. The Norge Regiment and the coastal guards, supported by three Tiger tanks quickly responded. While the 8th Army artillery placed near Auvere failed to begin their attack at the agreed time, in seven and a half hours of fierce fighting, the Soviet beachhead was annihilated.

Aftermath

Further information: Battle of Narva (1944)