Mius-Front

The Mius-Front was a heavily fortified defensive line created by the Germans in October 1941 under direction of General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist along the Mius River during World War II.

Soviet troops twice tried to break through this line, first from December 1941 to July 1942 and from February to August 1942. By the summer of 1943, the Mius-Front consisted of three defense lines with a total depth of 40-50 kilometers. The Soviets finally succeeded in August 1943 during the Donbass Strategic Offensive when troops of the Southern Front broke through near the village of Kuybyshevo.

Fortifications

The main line of defense started off the coast of the Azov Sea to the east of Taganrog, then ran along the river Mius, which gave its name to the line.

The depth of the line of fortifications reached up to 11 kilometers in places.

The defense involved some 800 settlements located in the strip.

In order to build the fortification, rails from local mines, and wood from local homes and building were used. The Germans used local forced labor to build the positions.^[1]

The line contained pillboxes and bunkers, machine gun nests and mobile artillery positions. The line also contained mine fields, trenches, tank traps and barbed wire. The minefields were at least 200 meters deep backed up by 20-30 pillboxes and bunkers per square kilometer.

References