Russia

80 Years Ago: Beginning of Donbass Strategic Offensive

12:45 GMT, 13 August 2023
80 years ago, Nazi forces were driven out of the Soviet Donbass region as a result of a strategic military operation launched by the Red Army.
Sputnik
Sunday marks the 80th anniversary of Red Army troops starting the Donbass Strategic Offensive during the Second World War.
The goal was to defeat the Nazi troops' "South" battle group and liberate the territory of the Donbass region in then-Soviet Ukraine, including the cities of Donetsk, Taganrog and Mariupol. The operation ended with a Soviet victory on September 22, 1943.
And now, when just like 80 years ago, the Russian Armed Forces are fighting the enemy to de-Nazify Donbass, it is important to see how the land was liberated from the enemy.
Scroll through Sputnik's gallery to see images related to the 1943 Donbass Strategic Offensive.
1 / 7

Soviet tank-borne infantry fight on the South-Eastern front amid the Donbass Strategic Offensive.

© Sputnik / Anatoliy Garanin
/
Go to the mediabank
2 / 7

A destroyed mine in the city of Gorlovka in Donbass.

© Sputnik / Samaryi Guraryi
/
Go to the mediabank
3 / 7

Locals bury fellow villagers brutally tortured and killed by the Nazis.

© Sputnik / Vladimir Ivanov
/
Go to the mediabank
4 / 7

A Red Army soldier is seen in the liberated Ukrainian town of Zmiyev.

© Sputnik / Anatoliy Garanin
/
Go to the mediabank
5 / 7

Soviet troops take part in the the 1943 Donbass Strategic Offensive.

© Sputnik / Yakov Ryumkin
/
Go to the mediabank
6 / 7

The Red Army's artillery unit soldiers hold a Communist Party of the Soviet Union meeting in rare moments of calm.

© Sputnik / Olga Lander
/
Go to the mediabank
7 / 7

A unit of Nazi POWs is on the move on the outskirts of Zmiyev.

© Sputnik / Anatoliy Garanin
/
Go to the mediabank
RussiaRussiaUSSRDonbassDonetskterritoryVladimir Putin
Discuss