Belgrade Offensive - The Offensive

The Offensive

Before the start of ground operations the Soviet 17th Air Army (3rd Ukrainian Front) was ordered to impede the withdrawal of German troops from Greece and southern regions of Yugoslavia. To do so, from, it carried out air attacks on the railroad bridges and other important facilities in the areas of Niš, Skopje, and Kruševo lasting from 15–21 September.

The operations begun on the far southern flank of the Front with the offensive by the 2nd Bulgarian Army into the Leskovac-Niš area, and almost immediately engaged the infamous 7th SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen". Two days later, having encountered the Yugoslav partisans, the Army with partisan participation defeated a combined force of Chetniks and Serbian Frontier Guards and occupied Vlasotince. Using its Armored Brigade as a spearhead, the Bulgarian Army then engaged German positions on 8 October at Bela Palanka, reaching Vlasotince two days later. On 12 October, the Armored Brigade—supported by the 15th Brigade of the 47th Partisan Division—was able to take Leskovac, with the Bulgarian reconnaissance battalion crossing the Morava and probing toward Niš. The goal of this was to not so much to pursue the remnants of the "Prinz Eugen" Division withdrawing northwest, but to for the Bulgarian 2nd Army to begin the liberation of Kosovo which would have finally cut the route north for the German Army Group E withdrawing from Greece. On 17 October, the leading units of the Bulgarian Army reached Kursumlija, and proceeded to Kuršumlijska Banja. On 5 November, after negotiating the Prepolac Pass with heavy losses, the Brigade occupied Podujevo, but was unable to reach Pristina until the 21st.

The Soviet 57th Army began its attack on September 28 from the region of Vidin in the general direction of Belgrade. Its 64th Rifle Corps advanced from the area of south of Vidin to secure the crossing of the Morava river at Paraćin, while the 68th Rifle Corps advanced from Vidin toward Mladenovac, encountering elements of the Yugoslav 14th Corps south of Petrovac. The 75th Rifle Corps—advancing from the area of Turnu-Severin—covered the Army's northern flank by advancing toward Požarevac. The Soviet 57th Army enjoyed the support of the Danube Military Flotilla, which operated along the Danube on the northern flank of the Front, and provided river transport to troops and military equipment. The Yugoslav 14th Corps—supported by the Soviet 17th Air Army—broke through the enemy's border defense in the eastern Serbian mountains with heavy fighting. On 8 October, the Yugoslavs advanced to the Morava river, capturing two bridgeheads on the Velika Plana and Palanka, where on 12 October, the 4th Guards Mechanised Corps was introduced into the penetration after moving here from South-East Bulgaria for the development of the offensive toward Belgrade from the south. Meanwhile, the offensive was continued by the newly arrived Yugoslav 1st Proletarian Division and the 12th Slavonian Division which secured bridgeheads over the Sava river west of Belgrade.

On the northern face of the offensive, the Red Army 2nd Ukrainian Front's supporting 46th Army advanced in the attempt to outflank the German Belgrade defensive position from the north, by cutting the river and rail supply lines running along the Tisa. Supported by the 5th Air Army, its 10th Guards Rifle Corps was able to rapidly perform assault crossings of the rivers Tamiš and Tisa north of Pančevo to threaten the Belgrade-Novi Sad railroad. Further to the north the Red Army 31st Guards Rifle Corps advanced toward Petrovgrad, and the 37th Rifle Corps advanced toward, and assault crossed the Tisa to threaten the stretch of railway between Novi Sad and Subotica to prepare for the planned Budapest strategic offensive operation.