Yelets Operation

Yelets Operation
Part of Battle of Moscow, Great Patriotic War
Date December 6-16, 1941 Location Lipetsk Oblast Result Victory of the Soviet Union: Yelets and Efremov were freed, large enemy forces were destroyed
Belligerents
Soviet Union	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Semyon Timoshenko Fedor Kostenko	General Cochenhausen † (134th Infantry Division) General Fritz Schlieper (45th Infantry Division)
Strength
65,000 100 tanks 500 guns	20,000 45 tanks 100 guns 262nd, 95th, 45th and 134th Infantry Divisions

The Yelets Offensive Operation was a front–line offensive operation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, undertaken from 6 to December 16, 1941 by the troops of the right wing of the Southwestern Front during a counteroffensive near Moscow.^[1] The purpose of the operation was to encircle and destroy the enemy grouping in the area of the city of Yelets, and then strike into the rear of the troops of the 2nd German Tank Army. As a result of the Yelets Operation, the troops of the right wing of the Southwestern Front, advancing 80–100 km, liquidated the Yelets Ledge, surrounded and destroyed more than 2 divisions, inflicted a serious defeat on the 2nd German Army. They diverted part of the forces of the 2nd Panzer Army to themselves, thus providing substantial assistance to the troops of the left wing of the Western Front, who were performing the main task. A characteristic feature of the Yelets Operation was its preparation within a limited time frame. It was carried out at a relatively high rate in difficult winter conditions.^[2]