page_title: Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation
section_title: Offensive Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation / Offensive Operation
caption_attribution_description: English: Battle of Kursk, southern sector. Operation Zitadelle + Operation Rumanyantcev 5.7.43-23.8.43
context_page_description: The Belgorod-Bogodukhov Offensive Operation was a combat operation executed as part of Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht forces. It was one of the operations that was launched in response to the German offensive Operation Citadel.
context_section_description: Early on 3 August 1943, the Forces of the Voronezh and Steppe Fronts advancing on a wide front between Sumy and Volchansk (175 km), crossed the Vorskla river & quickly penetrated the defences of the 332nd Infantry Division & 167th Infantry Division to a depth of 100 km between Tomarovka & Belgorod on the northern flank, and as far as Bogodukhov sweeping aside the weakened 19th Panzer Division. By 5 August Belgorod which was defended by XI Armeecorps (Raus) was also being surrounded and isolated, requiring attempts by the German Armeeabteilung Kempf and 4th Panzerarmee Armies to relieve the garrison which was ordered by Hitler to defend the city. General Raus explains:
   On 3 August after Soviet artillery had fired heavily for one hour, the enemy offensive began along the Belgorod–Kursk highway, with the aim of pushing through the salient around Belgorod where the boundary between the 4th Panzerarmee & Armeeabteilung Kempf was situated and thereby dislocate the entire defensive line. In this they succeeded completely. Their heavy barrage hit the 167th Infantry Division, which had taken up positions in a former soviet antitank ditch, located a few kilometres in front of the fortified line. Within a short time massed Red Army tanks had crossed this ditch; by noon they passed the corps command post and poured into the depth of German positions, all the while firing on our fleeing trains. On the following morning (6 August), after a night time forced march, Russian spearheads had reached the surprised headquarters of the 4th Panzer Army at Bogodukhov. Since Colonel General Hermann Hoth's army had no reserves available to close the ten-kilometre gap in his front between Tomarovka & Belgorod, or even to stop the flood of enemy tanks that had already broken through to a depth of 100 kilometres, Russian spearheads reached the area north-east of Poltava and Akhtyrka on 7 August.These illustrate the dangerous situation into which this development thrust XI Armeecorps which had been fighting with its front to the east.On the very first day of the offensive, XI Armeecorps had been attacked in the rear by enemy tank forces situated thirty kilometres in the depth of our positions. These tank forces exerted crushing pressure on our unprotected left flank. At this critical moment, XI Armeecorps had not only been left to its own devices but also had been handicapped by a direct fuehrer order, which had arrived at the last minute & insisted that Belgorod was to be held under all circumstances. The Corps front now formed a deep salient into enemy territory, which might have disintegrated with complete encirclement as its final destiny. This would have meant a widening of the existing Belgorod–Tomarovka gap from 25 to 80 kilometres and the immediate loss of several divisions. With these considerations I decided-Hitler's order notwithstanding-to fight a delaying action in successive positions until the withdrawal reached Kharkov and then hold the city. During the night of 5–6 August, I ordered the 168th Infantry Division (on the corps left & resisting heavy pressure North of Belgorod) to pivot 180 degrees around the city. We evacuated the city after heavy street fighting and occupied a new defensive line prepared on the high ground immediately south of Belgorod.
  While the German intention was to "pinch off" the Red Army's offensive thrust at the base of the penetration between Borisovka and Grayvoron south of Vorskla river, the rapid tempo of the Steppe and Voronezh Fronts offensive meant that by the time the counter-attacks were executed the city had been evacuated on 6 August, and German forces were now defending Kharkov. The Wehrmacht's Mobile Forces were heading into an encounter with the main thrust of the Soviet Front tank armies. The German counter-attacks were carried out by the III Panzercorps of the Armeeabteilung "Kempf" in the Olshany area, and the XLVIII Panzercorps of the 4th Panzerarmee in the two-pincer manoeuvre of the Krasnokutsk and Akhtyrka areas. In the fighting that took place on both sides of the Merla & Merchik rivers, 
caption: Location of Belgorod
exif: {}