Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May 1941
There was some surprise in administrative circles in Berlin when the latest military purchase was announced. Rather than a new panzer division Cabinet has authorised the acquisition of another 100 He 177 “Greif” heavy bombers. While effective, they have been shown to be vulnerable to counter-attack. Apparently Minister Göring explained that upgrades will soon be available and argued that the bombing of strategic reserves not only impacts the ability of the Red Army to fight, but also forces the VVS to keep fighters in reserve, protecting our bombers. I am not prepared to comment on the wisdom of the expenditure, but as the aircraft will not be ready for 261 days, one thing we can be sure of: it seems that the Cabinet accepts the war is not likely to be over this year.
General Cochenhausen started the day’s activities but his part was over by lunchtime. 161.Infanterie met little opposition from Romanov’s 17 Gorno-Kavaleriyskaya and Tul’chyn was abandoned. For once the casualty ratio was well in our favour: 26 to 106.
With the weather again overcast, bombing missions were carried out as possible. Löhr did manage several raids over Taurage, and reported after the second that Bagramian was now alone: his single tank division was all that was left to hold the province. After 20 days, can the slaughter nearly be over?
Crüwell’s men at least could rest. Aseichev could take no more and the Second Battle of Trembowla was over. As dawn rose over the Front, the battlefield was ours. Strewn with burnt out tanks, gutted trucks and the occasional crashed aircraft, the plains were also covered with thousands of corpses. A few more victories like this and we would be in hard pressed to replace our losses.
To the victors: our soldiers inspect an abandoned BT-5 tank on the flat plains of Trembowla
The Luftwaffe could be relied upon to do its best. Although a couple of raids got past our interceptors in the past few days, on Friday Khudyakov was met by Generalleutnant Waber. Unlike Christiansen’s weakened 4th Jagdfliegerkorps, Waber’s six geschwader were all at full strength and keen to show their skill. 12 and 13 BAD were soon fast disappearing east, their bombs harmlessly jettisoned to speed their escape.
Air Battle of Ratno: 8AM 9th May
With daylight, the Baltic Army began to stretch its muscles. Böttcher and 1st Sturm-Marine Division moved south from Jelgava into the forests of Saiuliai. Simultaneously, 31.Infanterie pushed south-west from Bauska. General Leselidze had three divisions but two are in a very bad condition. The unfortunate 132 Strelkovaya had retreated from Memel in order to recover, only to become involved in more heavy fighting. 36 Kavaleriyskaya was even unluckier: it had fled the fighting at Taurage only to run into the Sturm-Marines!
Von Brauchitsch and 24.Infanterie were also moving out of Jelgava, but they were heading northwest into Tukums. Again they were marching into deep forest, and again their opponent had three divisions, but that is where the similarity to Saiuliai ended. Lebedenko’s units were fresh and in prepared positions. They had dug trenches and set up road blocks along the forest paths: let us hope that von Brausitsch intends to pin them in place rather than drive them out.
A similar situation existed in Dobele. Brandenburger’s 1st schwere Panzer had one advantage: unless Kantov has some dedicated anti-tank gun or tank destroyer regiments his men will be dependent on their PTRD-41 anti tank rifles. Although support vehicles could be at risk, even the 60mm side armour of our VK 3601(H) heavy tanks should be enough to protect the crew from harm. However Kamkov has a motorised division so the panzers should be on the look-out for tank destroyers.
Battle for Dobele
Nearly buried in his concealed position, a Russian soldier armed with a PTRD waits for a good shot at our advancing vehicles.
The VVS was busy again, though it was the fighters who were active. Zhavaronkov hit 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps over Podhajce early in the morning, and his fighters were in a skirmish with Fisser’s Messerschmitts neat Berehomet late in the day. Not much damage was suffered in either clash.
Air Battle of Berehomet: 8PM 9th May
The dying moments of the 9th May saw the end of the bloodiest battle of the entire war. Nearly 12,000 men died in the twenty days of the Battle of Taurage. At its peak, we had 50,000 men involved, while the Red Army committed 67,000 troops to the defence of the province. While we have won, with the Russians pulling back, it is a Pyrrhic victory. More than 6,500 men from our five divisions were lost. Some of the units such as Kreß von Kressenstein’s 30.Infanterie and von Both’s own 86.Infanterie will require more than a week to recover from their efforts.
The weather did clear on the 10th, but many of our bomber units were busy repairing damage and were not able to take advantage of the clear skies. Where they did manage to make sorties they were successful and the one attempt by the VVA to interrupt was decisively thwarted by Waber with 900 aircraft. A recent promotion ensured that Waber was able to control the huge number of planes quite effectively, though it will of course make it harder for him to gain experience.
Air Battle of Botosani: 10th May 1941
Agricola’s 72.Infanterie was the first to enter Taurage, hot on the heels of the fleeing Russians. He chased 306 Strelkovaya into Raseiniai where Beloberodov tried to rally his men and form a defensive line. It was an impossible dream and after just 8 hours his men were again heading east as fast as they could, all thought of resistance gone.
4th Panzer, fully recovered from the drawn out battle for Brzesc Litewski, was also moving in chase of fleeing Russians. Unfortunately von Sponeck’s information was faulty and when he entered Wolkowysk he found two fresh divisions lead by General Dalamatov. Instead of a quick clash followed by an unimpeded advance, it looks like another struggle in the forests for our panzertruppen.
Von Sponeck, I am sure, would have preferred the situation that faced General Altrichter. On the brad flat plains of Lopatyn, 107 and 108.Infanterie (mot) are rolling forward, looking to drive out 9 Tankovaya and 87 Strelkovaya. Numbers are about equal, but some of Glazonov’s men are from the 37th Corps HQ who will not be of much use against our infantry. The Russian tanks may cause some problems, but Völcker’s 108.Infanterie does have a Marder IIIM regiment. Its 7.5cm Pak 40/3 gun can destroy any Russian tank we have met so far.
Having seen off Beloberodov at 5PM, at 11PM Agricola was surprised to have his forward units report coming under fire from Russian troops. It took only minutes of interrogation to identify the enemy as another division: 140 Strelkovaya, commanded by General Smirnov. This division was last heard of in the battle for Marijampole to the south. It must have fled across Jurbakus, desperate to avoid the fighting around Kaunas, only to be hit on its flank as it tried to head north. Not surprisingly, Agricola did not request assistance.
Second Battle of Raseiniai
The Red Army is not retreating everywhere. In Horodenka, General Warlimont was attacked just before midnight on the Saturday. He informed General Guderian that the enemy formation was believed to be 9 Krymska Kaveleriyskaya, the same unit that had stolen Horodok from General Ruoff. The Russians will find that Horodenka is a much tougher proposition. Ruoff’s men were exhausted and had been fighting continuoiusly for weeks. 45.Infanterie is keen to get into action and Kiselev’s cavalry could learn a lesson in the next day or so.
Last news of the day was from Spain. The Catalon revolt is spreading throughout the hills and mountains of north-east Spain. Now Boltaña has risen to join the rebels. Some of our units are moving in response, but it will be some time before they reach the area.
The next day it was apparent that General Kiselev is a quick learner. After losing 17 men he ordered his cavalry to retreat from Horodenka. It did not take a military genius to realise that his 7,000 lightly armed cavalry and armoured cars had no chance of defeating Warlimont’s 9,000 regular infantry backed by a full artillery regiment. If he had any doubts about the wisdom of deciding to pull back, they were dispelled Warlimont’s actions. Not satisfied with Kiselev breaking off his attack, Warlimont ordered 45.Infanterie to start an attack of its own, to retake Horodok. Kiselev had another division close by to support him, but that did not slow Warlimont and his men. They were helped enormously by Schwartzkopff’s bombers, who flew 4 missions during the day, killing nearly 1,000 men.
Second Battle of Horodok
To the southeast there was another example of Russian cavalry attempting to fight regular infantry. Again it did not look promising for the Red Army. Herzog’s division was nowhere near full strength, with at least 1,000 men missing. But the combination of heavily armed motorised infantry backed by a regiment of Sturmpanzers would be far too strong for Baranov’s 6,000 cavalry.
General Agricola was probably overjoyed to report his second victory in 24 hours, as the remnants of 140 Strelkovaya scrambled to get out of Raseiniai. His elation was short-lived, as soon after midday he again found his way forward blocked by armed Russian troops. Tis time they were from Chibisov’s 37 Strelkovaya, another division that survived Marijampole only to wander into more danger. The constant fighting is taking its toll on 72.Infanterie, even though the opposition is not impressive. The Battle of Taurage took a lot out of the unit, and the lack of rest and reinforcements is starting to impact its performance.
Third Battle of Raseiniai
At 10AM another of the massive set piece battles was concluded, as Gorodnianskij accepted defeat in Orhei. Losses were high, but nowhere near the level of Taurage. Obviously our panzers saved many lives. Geyr von Schweppenburg also claimed victory in Rezina, but his casualties were surprisingly high considering there were just 18,000 defenders. Perhaps the Russian tanks with motorised infantry support were tougher than we expected. It definitely seems to have caught 2nd leichte as their tank regiments lost 500 men between them. There is a push to do away with our leichte divisions and convert them to medium tanks. Until now it has been thought the light tanks are sufficient, but perhaps this will need to be reconsidered.
Brand new Kpfw 38(t)G light tanks await transfer to the east as replacements for losses incurred by our leichte panzer regiments. Should we consider converting these units to standard medium tanks?
General Brennecke is one of the few of our generals to have had the luxury of numerical superiority. He had a total of 30,000 men as he swept into Skidel, while his opponent General Pukhov has just two divisions totalling 14,000. Pushing directly east towards the important airbase of Lida (and the even more important regional capital of Minsk) from Grodno and Mosty, Brennecke’s three divisions should quickly overcome the defenders.
General der Chevallerie certainly had no superiority: 95.Infanterie faced four times their number in Drohiczyn Poleski. Luckily for them Kamkov had just one battle-ready division: the rest of his men were a rabble fleeing from defeat 64 Strelkovaya from Kowel, 91 Strelkovaya from Brzesc Litewski, 53 Ural’skaya from Stas’k and 159 Strelkovaya from Kobryn.
Battle of Drohiczyn Poleski
Guderian is relentlessly pushing his generals to keep advancing. Von Förster was ordered to take Khme’nyts’kyy, and immediately took 25.Infanterie from Dunayivtsi north. Bieß joined the attack with 10.Infanterie (mot) “Bitburg” from Zhmnerynka. General Budyho was in a similar position to so many other Red Army officers: he had one good division (75 Strelkovaya) and two that in better circumstances would be given extended rest. 12 Tankovaya survived the Battle of Dunayivtsi in fairly good condition, but 21 Gorno-Kavaleriyskaya escaped with just it s men and its horses: all supplies and ammunition (and much of its morale) left behind, along with hundreds of its horsemen.
Battle of Khmer’nyts’kyy
Artamenko is another general with many troops but only one effective division. He is perhaps a bit luckier in that his good unit is a motorised division, 7 Motorizavannaya. His one tank division, 3 Tankovaya is useless, having given its all in the pointless counter-attacks in Ratno, where 237 Strelkovaya also suffered greatly. This was Bergmann’s first battle in the east, and everyone expects him to show the form that enhanced the reputation of 14.Infanterie (mot) in Poland and Frankreich.
Gerneral Rommel was reportedly incensed when he heard that Russian cavalry have occupied Holoby without firing a shot. Somehow the province was loft without a garrison and two cavalry brigades under General Kachanov just rode in. While we did not suffer huge losses to capture the ground, it was still a hundred lives that now appear to have been thrown away. At least he can see from General Herzog’s win in Bershad’ that Russian cavalry cannot hold territory: 40 Kavaleriy fled after losing 100 men.
Loss of Holoby
Although the Soviet cavalry charged into Holoby, there was no need. Somehow we had left the province undefended
Von Manstein has accepted that the defenders of Kaunas are too well protected for a frontal assault. He has told von Pannwitz to recall his division: there is no point in sending more brave young men to their deaths. The defenders hurled taunts across the shattered bridges and corpse-filled Memel, but they should look to their defences. This is unlikely to be the last Battle of Kaunas.
The battle for Kodyma may be one of the most lopsided contests of the war so far. On the one side is General Engelbrecht with the 9,600 men of 4th Gebrigsjäger Division. On the other is General Savkin with the 42,000 men of 117,129, 134 and 144 Strelkovaya, 109 Motorizovaya and 34 Corps, 11ya Armiya and 49ya Armiya HQ. But the lopsidedness is in Engelbrecht’s favour. Savkin has not one division capable of defending itself, let alone the province.
Still smarting from the humiliation of being ordered to withdraw in defeat from Novyi Rozfil, General Gallenkamp has been given a chance to gain some glory. Aided by the armour of 1 Táboni Páncélosh, he has been told to clear Kamionka Stramilowa. There are only 13,000 Russians in the province and the open terrain should not present too many challenges.
Battle of Kamionka Stramilowa
The final battle of the day saw another of our leichte panzer divisions up against a Red Army tank unit, 5 Tankovaya. Of course the Russians had 3 infantry divisions in support, with a further division in reserve, while Höpner had just his own 4th leichte. To make it worse, our tanks must cross the Siret in order to get to grips with the enemy in Skalat. This looks as if it could turn into a debacle unless Höpner is very lucky or receives considerable assistance. Things must be already in chaos - no battle map made it to Rommel's HQ.
Saiuliai: Leselidze would not be pleased with the assistance he is getting: 132 Strelkovaya snd 36 Kavaleriyskaya have both left his 123 Strelkovaya to fend for itself. Now 78 Strelkovaya has arrived, still not recovered from forced marching all the way from Memel. To make matters worse, Böttcher has achieved a breakthrough at the front. (79%)
Sigulda: The heavy tanks of 2nd schwere have been placed in reserve, but otherwise no change. (64% complete)
Tukums: With 3 Marine-Sturm Division now attacking from Jurmala, von Brauchitsch has started an assault. (64% complete)
Dobele: Rokossovsky has taken charge, and has gratefully welcomed 70 Strelkovaya. (59% complete)
3rd Raseiniai: No change (97% complete)
Skidel: General Brennecke is grateful that Rommel has allowed 104.Infanterie (mot) to join the Polen Army Nord battle, as it has allowed him to shock the enemy with the intensity of his attack. (83% complete)
Plunge: Only 215 Motorizovannaya remains, 146 Strelkovaya having fled. Kleinheisterkamp has encircled some of the defenders and the end is close for the others. (95% complete)
Drohiczyn Poleski: General Batiuk now commands the defence, reduced to just 3 divisions. 317 Strelkovaya is the only useful unit he has, thoug 64 Strelkovaya remains in the front line. 159 Strelkovaya is in reserve but will be of no assistance: having been bled dry at Brzesc Litewski and then chased out of Kobryn it is totally disorganised. (54% complete)
Kamien Koszyrski: Pushkin is holding firm, but Müller now has 105.Infanterie at the front and 106.Infanteries moving up from Kowel. (70% complete)
Kamionka Strumilowa: No change, other than the sight of the Hungarian armour has shocked the enemy. (73% complete)
Iwacewicze: Other than 3 Tankovaya pulling out of the province, no change. (68% complete)
Wolkowysk: No change (61% complete)
2nd Novyi Rozdil: Bondarev has just 35 Chapaevskaya left fighting, and that is close to collapse. Of his original force, he still has 41 and 612 Strelkovaya in reserve, but these are also of little use. 80 Strelkovaya has arrived from Zydaczów: although it lost some men in that battle it is not in too bad condition. It is doubtful, however, that Buhle will allow it enough time to reach the front: he has launched an assault to crush the few terrified defenders. The only downside is that he has been forced to place 1st leichte in reserve. (75% complete)
Lopatyn: No change (67% complete)
Podhacje: Meise now has 3rd leichte Panzer with him, and 2nd Panzer moving up. Ryzhow has started a tactical withdrawal: he has received no further reinforcements and 124 Strelkovaya is still in the rear areas. (87% complete)
Khmel’nyts’kyy: von Förster has begun to assault the defenders (64% complete)
Skalat: 5 Tankovaya has pulled out of the province, but Höpner and 4th leichte Panzer are still in trouble. (16% complete)
Horodok: No change (73% complete)
Kodyma: Savkin has added 8 Tankovaya and 131 Motorizavannaya to his reserves (both having made their way from defeat in Rezina), and the HQ units have managed to withdraw. It matters little: Engelbrecht’s Gebirgsjägers are forcing their way forward. (79% complete)
Finalised Battle Casualties Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May
Tulchyn: 26/9,991: 106/5998
Trembowla: 3,211/39,355: 3,249/65,560
Taurage: 6,542/49,649: 5,202/66,961
1st Raseiniai: 44/9,165: 80/9,588
Horodenko: 5/9,991: 17/6,994
2nd Raseiniai: 26/9,121: 66/7,864
Orhei: 2,680/39,670: 3,516: 88,747
Rezina: 1,483/35,758: 1,109/17,992
Bershad’: 21/8,999: 102/6,000
Kaunas: 422/17,348: 133/28,151
Total Battle Casualties for Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May
German:
14,460
Russian:
13,514
Prior Battle Casualties
German: 38,870
Russian: 52,064
Total Battle Casualties to date
German: 14,460 + 38,870 =
53,330
Russian: 13,514 + 52,064 =
65,578
Bombing Summary
Kaunas: Weise with 5th Schlachtfliegerkorps: 146,136, 155, 135, 170, 151, 101, 128, 153, 185 (1,460)
Plunge: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps: 187, 229, 239, 177, 189, 247, 122, 230, 309 (1,929)
Taurage: Löhr with 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps: 175, 166, 175 (516)
Trembowla: Müller-Michels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps: 148 (148)
Podhacje: Kesselring with 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps: 189, 208, 367, 161 (925)
Kamien Koszyrski: Grauert with 4th Kampffliegerkorps: 155, 197, 247 (599)
Horodok: Schwartzkopff with 2nd Kampffliegerkorps: 267, 311, 285, 129 (992)
Total Bombing Casualties for Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May
German:
Nil
Russian:
6,569
Prior Bombing Casualties:
German: 874
Russian: 43,502
Total Bombing Casualties to date
German: Nil + 874 = 874
Russian: 6,569 + 43,502 = 50,071
Total East Front Casualties for Friday 9th to Sunday 11th May
German: 14,460 + Nil =
14,460
Russian: 13,514 + 6,569 =
20,083
Prior East Front Casualties
German: 39,744
Russian: 95,566
Total East Front Casualties to date
German: 14,460 + 39,744 =
54,204
Russian: 20,083 + 95,566 =
115,649
While I was shocked to see the casualty figures, others at OKH were more sanguine. They argued that 10,000 of the dead resulted from just two battles, Taurage and Trembowla. Both these dated from the first days of the war. With many units of the Red Army now either routed or near exhaustion, such pitched battles should occur rarely and with decreasing frequency. I really hope they are correct.