This Ukranian-language newsreel shows the WWII era victory of the Soviet Army at Stalingrad, the Caucasus, and Orel-Kursk Salient Battle which changed the course of the war. The film begins in 1943 with the Battle of the Dnieper River. Soviet troops began the liberation of Eastern Ukraine.
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 on both sides and stretching on a 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) 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.
One of the costliest operations of the war, the casualties are estimated at being from 1,700,000 to 2,700,000 on both sides. One of the most tragic events took place during the establishment of so-called Bukryn lodgement near the village of Malyi Bukryn (Myronivka Raion). The Soviet writer and war veteran Viktor Astafyev in his memoirs was recalling that 25,000 soldiers who entered the Dnieper from one side, would exit the river on the other side in amounts of 5-6,000.
2,438 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 was there such a big number of laureates.
The narrator says: The German staff was confident that the mighty fortification so-called “eastern shaft”, the main part of which runs along the Dnieper – was impregnable. “The Dnieper River will flow backwards before the Russians overcome us” boasted Hitler.
But Soviet Army Lieutenant Yuri Melkov wrote: “The Dneiper is a natural barrier. I can not say that this is nonsense. The steep, high banks that the Germans strengthened for two years. But Kiev is awaiting us, and we will come.”
Yuri commanded a unit of well-known Katyusha rockets. He was a Knight of the Order of the Red Star. After his commander was killed in battle by the Germans, he became the battalion commander. The General told him: “You are now a commander, you need to have a shave.”
It was important not to allow the Germans to recover, and for us to cross the Dnieper River to the east and grab a foothold on its right bank. At the end of September 1943 the main forces of the Voronezh Front began to cross the Dnieper. Troops seized a bridgehead in the mouth of Pripyat. The troops of the Southwestern Front began the crossing at the city Dnipropetrovsk.
As a result of fierce battles the troops, with the active help of the local population and the guerrillas, created 23 bridgeheads on the right bank. Two of them were at Bukrin Lyutizh and played a crucial role in the liberated Kiev. The Nazis tried to push our troops back into the Dnieper River.
Every piece of land has been watered with the blood of Soviet soldiers. On October 10, 1943, in the battle for Lyutizh, Lieutenant Yuri Melkov died a heroic death. The Motherland will never forget the names of all the living and the fallen heroes, as well as not to forget the name of Yuri Melkova. Here in Lyutizhi, we erected a monument. The school museum contains his personal belongings, letters, photos and all his medals are preserved. “No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!”
The End.
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