Battle of the Dnepr: One of the Biggest Military Operations in 20th Century

Along both banks of the Dnepr River, Soviet soldiers created defensive strips, bridge fortifications, numerous pillboxes and bunkers.

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler understood very well that the loss of Ukraine would deprive the Third Reich of supplies of bread, iron and coal.

The Red Army command planned to throw the enemy out of the region, completely clear out the Donbass region, liberate Kiev and then the entire right bank of Ukraine.

At the end of September 1943, Soviet units liberated Chernigov and reached the Dnepr River, later liberating Kiev from the Nazi Germans. The battles for Kiev became one of the most intense and bloody of the entire Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).

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Telephonist Ulyana Potapenko repairing damage to a communication line under enemy fire.

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Residents of the Dnepropetrovsk region return to their destroyed village, liberated from the Nazi German invaders.

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Soldiers of the 4th Guards Army ferrying 76-mm ZIS-3 guns over a bridge across the Dnepr.

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Soviet airborne troops crossing the Dnepr River, continuing the fight to expand the bridgeheads.

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A Soviet soldier reads a notice posted by the Germans, which says: “This cemetery is a shrine of those nations whose dead rest here. Whoever makes any changes or even damages the graves without special instructions will be strictly punished for damaging them. Parents are responsible for the deeds of their children.”

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On September 21, 1943, troops of the 136th Rifle Division of the Voronezh Front liberated the town of Baryshevka in the Kiev region. A local survivor and her child sit among the ashes of her home destroyed by the Germans during their retreat.

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The liberation of Zaporozhye from Nazi invaders by troops of the left wing of the South-Western Front during the Battle of the Dnepr. The dam of the Dnepr hydroelectric power plant, named after Lenin, was blown up by the Nazis during the retreat.

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Soviet soldiers preparing rafts to cross the Dnepr. The sign reads: "To Kiev!"

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Kiev is liberated from the Nazis. Soviet infantry marching through the city's main Kreschatik Street.

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Soviet marines during a battle for a bridgehead.

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Lieutenant General Pavel Batov (right), commander of the 65th Army, with Soviet officers at a command post.

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A Soviet soldier on the bank of the Dnepr River mourns a murdered child.

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Soviet KV-1S tank of the 65th Army crossing the Dnepr River.

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Soviet soldiers crossing the Molochnaya River and reaching Melitopol.

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Soviet heroes of the Dnepr assault.