As the Germans retreated from Poltava in northeastern Ukraine in the Soviet Union on September 23, 1943, they carried out a burning of Poltava civilians to death while still alive. Dozens of charred corpses of Poltava citizens were piled on the streets.

　　On the Eastern Front of World War II, German troops carried out the burning alive of Poltava civilians as they retreated from Poltava in the northeastern Ukrainian region of the Soviet Union on September 23, 1943. Dozens of charred corpses of Poltava citizens were piled on the streets. The citizens of Poltava surrounded and gazed at the charred corpses.

  　The town of Poltava in the Ukrainian region was severely damaged on the Eastern Front during World War II, when German troops occupied Poltava during Operation Barbarossa on September 18, 1941, and then held it for almost two years. Approximately 22,000+ Jews were massacred in Poltava after being falsely summoned to an entire suburb by the Einsatzgruppen,  in September 1943, Soviet Steppe Front units launched an offensive and forced their way through the Vorskla River. On September 23, 1943, after about three days of fierce fighting, Soviet troops captured the town of Poltava, the center of the Ukrainian region and a strong German defense base east of the Dnieper River.

　The battle of the Dnieper in the Ukrainian region was particularly intense in Poltava. Poltava was heavily fortified by the Germans and the garrison was well-prepared. After several days of fighting that greatly slowed the Soviet offensive, the Soviets bypassed Poltava and rushed toward the Dnieper River. After about three days of intense urban fighting, the German garrison of Poltava was defeated; by the end of September 1943, the Soviets had reached the lower Dnieper River. Casualties of the Battle of the Dnieper were approximately 290,000 Soviet troops killed or missing in action and 102,000 German troops killed or missing in action.

　To the Soviet soldiers who operated in the battle to liberate the town of Poltava, Stalin said, "I express my gratitude to all the troops under your command. Eternal glory to the heroes who fought for the freedom and independence of their country. Death to the German invaders!" . Poltava became one of the air bases used by American fighter planes in Operation Frantic, the shuttle bombing of the German mainland, beginning in June 1944.