Lembit PärnĪgainst the Soviet forces, a few tired German regiments without any reserve troops stood at their positions, battered by the Soviet artillery. Separate Corps and Divisions (possibly subordinated to one of the above-mentioned Armies): Total: 28,000 infantrymen, 518 pieces of artillery, 174 tanks and 44 self-propelled guns Total: 26,850 infantrymen, 458 pieces of artillery, 112 tanks The Soviet order of battle (available data as of 28 July 1944): The forces were supported by the 576-strong 13th Air Army. The weakness of the tank was its limited ammunition capacity (only 28 rounds) and long reloading time for its main gun.
The armored forces included the brand-new IS-2 tanks with extra armor and a 122mm gun. The positions of the 11th Infantry Division were mainly attacked by the 35,000-strong 8th Army with their 112th Rifle Corps, two fresh tank regiments and 1,680 assault guns, deployed in nine artillery regiments and 150 armored vehicles.
The 109th and 117th Corps were concentrated close to the Sinimäed, while the 122nd Rifle Corps was sent to the southern section, near the church of Vaivara Parish. The delivery of Soviet heavy artillery complimented the nine divisions of the 109th, the 117th and the 122nd Rifle Corps.
The Soviet units that had suffered losses were brought up to strength with fresh manpower. For the attack on 29 July, Govorov concentrated all of the capable Soviet units, consisting of 11 divisions and six tank regiments. There is no complete overview of the order of the Soviet forces or the detachment sizes in the Battle of Tannenberg Line. To accomplish this, Govorov was ordered to destroy communications behind the German forces and conduct air assaults on the railway stations of Jõhvi and Tapa on 26 July. The goal set by the War Council of the 2nd Shock Army was to break through the defense line of the III SS Panzer Corps at the Orphanage Hill, force their way to the town of Jõhvi in the west and reach the Kunda River by 1 August. Ivan Fedyuninsky, commanding the 2nd Shock Army. Additional 122nd, 124th Rifle Corps and divisions from 117th Rifle Corps were subordinated to Gen. The Soviet Marshal Leonid Govorov considered the Tannenberg Line as the key position of Army Group North and concentrated the best forces of the Leningrad Front. Another front section manned by the East Prussians of the 11th Infantry Division was situated a few kilometres further south, against the 8th Army in the Krivasoo bridgehead. The 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland started digging in on the left (north) flank of the Tannenberg Line, units of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) in the centre, and the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland on the right (south) flank. The formations of Gruppenführer Felix Steiner's III SS Panzer Corps halted their withdrawal and moved into defensive positions on the hills. The heights have steep slopes and rise 20–50 m above the surrounding land. The central was the Grenaderimägi (Grenadier Hill Grenadierhöhe) and the westernmost was the Tornimägi (Tower Hill, also known in German as or 69.9 or Liebhöhe (Love Hill)). The eastern hill was known to Estonians as the Lastekodumägi (Orphanage Hill Kinderheimhöhe in German). View from the summit of the Grenadier Hill towards the Orphanage HillĪfter defending the Narva bridgehead for six months, the German forces fell back to the Tannenberg Line in the hills of Sinimäed ( Russian: Синие горы) on 26 July 1944. As the Soviet forces were constantly reinforced, their overall casualties are estimated by Estonian historian Mart Laar to be 170,000 dead and wounded. The German force of 22,250 men held off 136,830 Soviet troops. Roughly half of the infantry consisted of the personnel of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian). Waffen-SS forces included 24 volunteer infantry battalions from the SS Division Nordland, the SS Division Langemarck, the SS Division Nederland, and the Walloon Legion. The strategic aim of the Soviet Estonian Operation was to reoccupy Estonia as a favorable base for the invasions of Finland and East Prussia. The battle was fought on the Eastern Front during World War II. They fought for the strategically important Narva Isthmus from 25 July–10 August 1944. The Battle of Tannenberg Line ( German: Die Schlacht um die Tannenbergstellung Russian: Битва за линию «Танненберг») or the Battle of the Blue Hills ( Estonian: Sinimägede lahing) was a military engagement between the German Army Detachment Narwa and the Soviet Leningrad Front. This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva (1944).
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