page_title: Battle of the Dnieper
section_title: Initial attack
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Dnieper / Description of the strategic operation / Initial attack
caption_attribution_description: English: The Wehrmacht delivers fire across the Dnieper during the Battle of the Lower Dnieper in 1943.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. It was one of the largest operations in World War II, involving almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a 1,400 kilometres long front. During its four-month duration, the eastern bank of the Dnieper was recovered from German forces by five of the Red Army's fronts, which conducted several assault river crossings to establish several lodgements on the western bank. Subsequently, Kiev was liberated in the Battle of Kiev.
  2,438 Red Army soldiers were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union which was more than had been awarded previously since the award's establishment and never again were there so many laureates.
context_section_description: Despite a great superiority in numbers, the offensive was by no means easy. German opposition was ferocious and the fighting raged for every town and city. The Wehrmacht made extensive use of rear guards, leaving some troops in each city and on each hill, slowing the Soviet offensive.
caption: German soldiers manning defensive positions on the Dnieper
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