Battle of Kovel

The Battle of Kovel was a World War II military encounter, which was fought between the Red Army and 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking” from March to April, 1944. The battle began when the Soviet Army conducted a pincers movement which surrounded and trapped most of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking in Kovel, located in northwestern Ukraine, during the Second World War. This encirclement is known in history as the Kovel Pocket. However, the Germans launched a counterattack from outside to open up a corridor for their comrades to get out of the Red trap.

In March 1944, the commander of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking, Herbert Otto Gille, had been ordered to proceed and assist in the defence of the Ukrainian town of Kovel, which was under threat from the advancing Red Army. On March 29, the 5th SS Wiking started to set up a defensive perimeter around the town, but Kovel was soon encircled by four Soviet divisions, trapping the SS-Waffen forces inside. Nevertheless, the Germans decided to defend the city at all cost, even if they had to fight to the last man.

At this point, the 2nd Battalion, SS Panzer Regiment 5th Wiking, and the 3rd Battalion, SS Panzergrenadier Regiment Germania, arrived at the front. These units were elements from the 5th Panzer Division Wiking. They were not there at the time of the encirclement because they had been delayed for refitting and reequipment in Germany. They were under the command of Obersturmführer Karl Nicolussi Leck who inmediately launched a fierce assault on a weak point in the enemy lines, using only five Panther tanks and stubborn and vehement attacks.

The German warriors pounded hard on the Red Army’s positions until they gouged out a hole in the Soviet lines. Thus Leck and his men fought his way through the Russians, destroying several enemy armored vehicles as they penetrated into Kovel. Once a corridor was established, the trapped German troops began to withdraw and managed to escape with most of their military equipment intact.

Below, German troops from the 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking engaging Russian units.

Battle of Kovel (1944) – footage