Operation Mars

Operation Mars
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Date 25 November – 20 December 1942 Location Rzhev and Velikie Luki salients, Russian SFSR Result German victory Soviet operational failure
Belligerents
Soviet Union	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Georgy Zhukov Ivan Konev Maksim Purkayev	Walter Model Günther von Kluge
Strength
702,923 personnel, 1,718 tanks	3 combined corps (with 13 infantry divisions and 2 paratrooper divisions) 2 panzer corps (5 panzer divisions, 3 motorized divisions) 1,615 tanks Total forces: ~ 350,000 troops.
Casualties and losses
Isayev: 70,373 irrecoverable 145,301 sanitary Glantz: 100,000 killed 235,000 wounded 1,600 tanks	Grossmann: 40,000 casualties

Operation Mars, also known as the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive Operation (Russian: Вторая Ржевско-Сычёвская наступательная операция), was the codename for an offensive launched by Soviet forces against German forces during World War II. It took place between 25 November and 20 December 1942 around the Rzhev salient in the vicinity of Moscow.

The offensive was a joint operation of the Soviet Western Front and Kalinin Front coordinated by Georgy Zhukov. The offensive was one in a series of particularly bloody engagements collectively known in Soviet and Russian histories as the Battles of Rzhev, which occurred near Rzhev, Sychevka and Vyazma between January 1942 and March 1943. The battles became known as the "Rzhev meat grinder" ("Ржевская мясорубка") for their huge losses, particularly on the Soviet side. For many years they were relegated to a footnote in Soviet military history.

In Operation Mars, planned to commence in late October, forces of the Kalinin and Western Fronts would encircle and destroy the powerful German Ninth Army in the Rzhev salient. The basic plan of the offensive was to launch multiple, coordinated thrusts from all sides of the salient, resulting in the destruction of the Ninth Army. The offensive would also tie down German units and prevent them from being moved south.

The Kalinin and Western Fronts were directed by Stalin and Zhukov "to crush the Rzhev-Sychovka-Olenino-Bely enemy grouping." The Western Front was to "take Sychovka no later than the 15th December." The Kalinin Front's 39th and 22nd armies were to take Olenino by 16 Dec. and Bely by 20 Dec.

Operation Mars was to be followed soon there after by Operation Jupiter, which was to commence two to three weeks later. The Western Front's powerful 5th and 33rd armies, supported by 3rd Guards Tank Army, would attack along the Moscow-Vyazma highway axis, link up with the victorious Mars force, and envelop and destroy all German forces east of Smolensk. Once resistance around Vyazma was neutralized, the 9th and 10th Tank Corps and the 3rd Tank Army would then penetrate deeper into the rear of Army Group Centre.

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