Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th August 1941
I think this routine suits me more. Instead of a continuous procession of documents arriving in my office, all demanding urgent processing, I now get a summary from the various HQs every 5 days or so. Of course I still get other administrative reports, but they are a fraction of my normal workload. If things carry on like this I may be able to have a weekend off. Gisela has not been looking too happy.
The brightest minds in the Wehrmacht must be resigned to the war in the east continuing into next year. At least that is what I read into the latest publication from the General Staff. The subject is “Improved Mechanised Offensives”. The aim is to increase the organisational level of our mobile infantry, both motorised and mechanised. (There is mention of cavalry but as they are all on security in the occupied territories is unlikely they will be used in an offensive). I think it must be intended for operation in 1942 for the simple reason that we don’t have a single mechanised unit at the moment: the first is not due to be commissioned until late October. So it seems reasonable to assume that it be next spring that the lessons incorporated in this research pay off.
Another indication that our researchers are looking at a long war is the nature of the replacement project. Some sort of “electronic computing machine” is to be developed presumably to assist in the more mathematically challenging research. We are already world leaders in the field and this will put us years ahead of the rest of the world. But it will be the middle of next year before the project is completed, and then we will start to use it on these new projects. Are our leading scientists anticipating a war continuing into 1943? I really hope not: there must be an end to this soon. A country cannot be at war for years without dire consequences, as we found in 1918.
Konrad Zuse has convinced the Cabinet to give him hundreds of thousands of Reichsmarks to build this machine which he calls a “Computer”. He believes it could be useful in some way. Personally I doubt it – but let us see how it turns out.
A copy of a message to the Italian Government was intersting: we have asked Il Duce if his Army of Libia could concentrate on the Tel-Aviv – Yafo area. From the attached notes some very important people are getting annoyed at the Italian dithering on the west bank of the Suez Canal. We did not conquer Spain and close the Mediterranean to the Royal Navy so that the Italians could let them in the back door!
There were a few other items during the week, but nothing that sticks in the mind. I think I cleared up a lot of the flotsam and jetsam that had accumulated while I was submerged with paper-work. I do recall that Gisela and I had a couple of pleasant lunches and that one afternoon I exercised my supervisory powers and allowed her to have the afternoon off. I vaguely recall I didn’t return to the office myself that day.
The Hotel Adlon on Hermann Goering Straße. (I still think of it as Friedriich-Ebert Straße, even after 8 years!). I believe a Herr and Frau Müller booked a room during the week.
Then the thick bundles arrived from the east, some still covered in thick dust, I assume from being carried in motor-cycle pannier bags on the trip from the HQs to the nearest airfield.
Baltic Army (Kesselring)
Now that the non-performing “Condors” have left, Wever and his aircraft have more fuel and supplies. 8th Kampffliegerkorps was able at last to pay a visit to the Russians in Slancy who have been attacking our Sturm-Marines in Narva. The Junkers only managed one mission before Vorozheikin arrived with more than 200 Yaks and MiGs, but that was enough. Soon after dawn on Tuesday the guns to the east of Narva went quiet. (To the west of course, they had stopped the day before when Mustvee was captured by von Weichs and Kohlta-Järve fell into chaos as tens of thousands of demoralised soldiers crowded the roads). According to the report I read the Marines could hardly believe it: from the ruins of the city they materialised, covered in dust, half deaf from shelling and exhausted from lack of sleep. With 2,150 of their comrades entombed in the rubble, the survivors realised that they had finally outlasted the Red Army and Narva was ours. I saw that General Halder, commander of the 1st Marine-Sturmkorps, while acknowledging the sacrifice of his own men, paid tribute to the Kriegsmarine. “Without the dedication and bravery of the crews of the supply vessels that brought in food and ammunition during the siege, all our efforts would have been in vain. And we must not forget the sailors of 1st Schlachtflotte, and in particular the pilots of 1st and 2nd Trägergruppe, who kept the Red Navy at bay so that we might have this day of victory.” A moving, if rare, example of inter-service gallantry.
The VVS are either remarkably astute or have good sources of information in our rear. With the assault on Narva over, General Kesselring asked Halder if his men were capable of immediate action. Halder of course said his men were always ready. (How that reminds me of my own days, the damn officers were always confident that we longed for more action!). A plan was quickly thrown together that at 9AM on Wednesday 1st Sturm-Marine Division would attack Kohtla-Järve, held by a completely worn out mountain unit. The plan was for Wever to co-ordinate his bombers with the attack, but while his aircraft were taxiing down the runways at Kholm, they were attacked by Russian fighters under Astakhov. Losses were heavy and the mission had to be aborted. General Böttcher, not one to be put off by a plan collapsing around his ears, sent his men forward anyway, and was rewarded with victory after only 7 hours.
Battle of Kohtla-Järve
At the same time, General Lüdke began the elimination of the Abja-Paluoja pocket. General Konev and 99 and 177 Strelkovaya are no real threat, but they are tying up too many troops and Kesselring is tired of waiting for the Russian commander to recognise reality and order his men to surrender. Lüdke has been told to make Konev see reason.
To ratchet up the pressure in Estonia even more, Brandenburger’s heavy tanks ground forward again, this time into Tapa. Here too, the Russians were desperate. 27 “Omskaya” and 47 Strelkovaya looked ready to collapse and Kesselring thought the sight of massive armour coming their way should do it. He was proved right when all resistance ceased during the night of the 13th August.
On Thursday the full impact of the Russian defeat at Narva became apparent. The divisions attacking from the east have not just stopped their assault, they have completely vanished. General Leeb of 13.ID, who advanced into Slancy, reported piles of abandoned equipment and burnt out vehicles, presumably those damaged and unable to be driven east. Not a single soldier remained. Aufklärungsabteilung in Sosnovyj Bor told the same story. The road to Leningrad was open!
Amazing sights in Slancy: wrecked and abandoned vehicles piled in heaps. It was impossible to tell which had been destroyed by our bombers and which by the Russian themselves.
Kesselring, still new as an army commander but as able as the next man to recognise an opportunity, ordered Leeb to head east as fast as he could. In Gadcina the road was blocked by 142 Strelkovaya, but Primakov’s men were never going to be able to resist 13.ID in full combat mode. They held Leeb’s men until 3PM then fled. In the meantime, 2nd Marine-Sturm occupied Sosnovyj Bor without any trouble at all. The Baltic Army now holds two provinces bordering Leningrad.
In Western Estonia things were just as positive. In Abja-Paluoja, Konev’s men were bombed into submission, and Keitel not only defeated the attackers from Risti, he sent 109.ID straight after them. There are only three worn-out rifle divisions opposing him and they had nowhere to go.
Then I caught my breath. Was that right? I re-read the short paragraph – I had read it correctly the first time. The Russians had captured Tallinn!! After all the hard work to defend the city for weeks while the Baltic Army fought its way from Lithuania, a Russian division had simply marched into the undefended city. Kesselring had some weak defence that he had not been instructed to hold the city, just to clear the remaining pockets. He claimed that when command of the Fallschirmjägers was handed to the Baltic Army that he did not realise that meant he had to garrison the city. Now the Russians have captured the stockpiled supplies on the wharves and the two pockets we had been crushing have been joined. Keitel’s trapped enemy in Risti have an escape route.
Loss of Tallinn
The next memo showed the immediate impact of the blunder. The three Russian divisions in Risti gave up any pretence of holding 109.ID and headed north towards Tallinn. One could sense Keitel’s frustration as he penned his report on the battle. 25,000 Russian soldiers should have been prisoners on Saturday night, instead they are marching north at full speed. To add insult to injury, the VVS has flooded the area with fighters, so there is no chance of bombing the exposed columns as they head for Tallinn.
After a brilliant start, Kesselring has managed to completely destroy his credibility as an Army commander. Unless he can recover the situation quickly he may get the dreaded recall the Berlin to discuss his future (or whether he has one). Maybe Böttcher and 1st Sturm-Marine can save him. They have started attacking the 56,00 Soviets crammed into Kivioli – a decisive win here could be seen as partially compensating for the loss of Tallinn.
Baltic Army: Situational Map at end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Polen Army Nord (von Manstein)
Nehring won his battle for El’nja, south of Smolensk, but did not seem to start moving north. In fact he remained in El’nja for four days, rebuilding supplies and resting his men, before taking 1st Panzer Division south-east into Semenovka. He did crush Alexandrov’s 18 Strelkovaya in a few hours, but von Mansteins’s curt comments on the report indicate he would rather have one of his best units back north assisting in the drive on Leningrad.
The east flank of Polen Army Nord is still a concern, and von Wietersheim was told to create a buffer for the airbases around Dmjansk. There was a possible threat from General Kamkov in Derglets who had about 30,000 men available. Whether they were capable of an attack will never be known: 11.ID stormed into Derglets, carrying all before them. After a day’s fighting (and losing more than 1,500 men to bombing) 123 and 126 Strelkovaya, 205 Motorizavannaya and 36 Kavaleriy were not capable of anything other than fleeing the battlefield.
Wonderful though the performance of 11.ID was, it was overshadowed by the dash of Feige’s 8.ID. After a forced march across the province of Simsk, abandoned by the retreating Russians, the lead elements of the division entered Novgorod and found it a ghost town. A HQ detachment put up a short resistance and fled. More of Feige’s men arrived and when an enemy rifle division was met early on the 14th, there were enough of our soldiers to chase them from the city. For just 26 men we have taken the city that even the Mongols were never able to capture.
2nd Battle of Novgorod
Among other news, General List is bringing 18.ID back northwards, but he is doing it the hard way, via Novoselki. Through some strange coincidence, the Russian commander in the area is a General Novoselski, leading to some confusion at first. Regardless of his name, he has done a good job preparing his position and List is not making much progress. Perhaps it did have some good effect though. It may have been word of the attack to his south made General Bulatov decide that his situation in Nelidovo was worse than he thought. Whatever the cause, he has ordered his 50,000 troops to retreat, leaving the battle field to Generals Hänicke and Gallenkamp. Nearly 5,500 men died in the 8 days of fighting in Nelidovo, 2,400 of them from 56 and 87.ID.
Not that you could tell that from General Hänicke. While Gallenkamp was still marching his men into Nelidovo, 56.ID was already in combat again, in Azanovo. With less than a day’s respite, they were chasing an estimated 83,000 Russians across the endless plains. So far the only opposition has been their aching legs and blistered feet. It probably doesn’t help when they look up and see Kitzinger’s aircraft effortlessly crossing the sky. While no doubt grateful that the enemy is being slowed by the bombing, in my opinion every footslogger will be thinking that those aircrews will be sleeping in proper beds tonight, after a real meal. And with no blisters. Even the sight of an occasional dogfight between Kutakhov’s fighters and the Focke-Wulfs of JG 72 would not detract from the envy.
Air Battle of Azanovo: there is no lack of targets for 3rd Kampffliegerkorps if they survive the VVS
Von Manstein must have a good Luftwaffe liaison officer, as most of his attacks receive air support. Even General Wünnenberg, fast becoming known as the luckiest commander in the Wehrmacht because of his easy victories, got the benefit of a mission from Keller’s Kampffliegerkorps. (Of course there are some unkind persons who say Wünnenberg’s success is because of favouritism shown by von Manstein. All I can say is those spreading such rumours have never met the commander of Polen Army Nord. If they had, they would never believe he would breach his professional responsibilities in such a way.) As usual, 9th Panzer was at rest within a day: late on Saturday Polnovo was quiet and the division was waiting for supplies to be brought up.
One general who could do with some air support is Kalmukoff, whose 10,000 men are deep in the forests of Krestnyy, engaged in sometimes hand-to-hand fighting with 20,000 Russians. 88.ID is struggling, even though one of the Russian divisions is a second line garrison unit. The combination of good defensive terrain, two to one odds and prepared positions is proving deadly to our infantry.
Tucked right at the bottom of the Polen Army Nord report was a small item about Khitino. I was sure that this had been cleared last week, so I checked. I was right, 68.ID claimed success after two battles for the province. But it was clear from the final paragraph that von Sodenstern’s 60.ID, assisted by Löhr’s dive-bombers, had been involved in combat operations against Russian cavalry. It wasn’t a long battle, just hours, but who were they fighting? A close review of all the records in the bundle showed that Kesselring was not the only commander to make a mistake. After the second victory, General von Both had been ordered to take his division south. Nobody had thought to garrison Khitino, and the Russian cavalry division had just ridden in. Not as serious as Tallinn, and now corrected, but a sobering reminder that all our generals are fallible.
Polen Army Nord: Situational Map at end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Polen Army Sud (Rommel)
It now seems inevitable that Guderian will beat Rommel to Brjansk. There seem to be more and more Russian troops blocking Polen Army Sud, and many of its units must rest before further combat. General Ott’s 43.ID has been recovering and is now able to take its place at the front. It has been assigned to take Desna, held by General Kurochkin, a survivor of the Great Purge. Although his force is of questionable quality, exhausted and drained after weeks of fighting and retreating, nevertheless he has got two armour divisions and plenty of soldiers. Ott’s men face an uphill battle, but late on the 13th it was officially announced that Smolensk has fallen. Several divisions will be freed up just to the north of Ott’s area, and he may be fortunate enough to get some reinforcements.
One unit he will definitely not be receiving is 4th Panzer. Von Sponeck took his tanks straight through the main roads of Smolensk and out the other side, in hot pursuit of the defenders. He caught up with them in Verkhnedneprovskiy, where he had to slow to handle the rearguards left by General Konoteev.
Battle of Verkhnedneprovskiy
The only other activity reported by Rommel’s HQ was an attack into the Pripyat. Svyetlahorsk is the province west of Homyel’, the city that holds the door open for escaping Russian units. It must be that Rommel hoped a surprise attack (we have ignored the swamps for weeks) would catch the Russians off-guard. If that was the case, it didn’t work. Keppler’s 1st leichte Panzer and the attached 104.ID (mot) barely entered the marshlands before they were bogged and under attack from three well armed and equipped rifle divisions. If they don’t evacuate soon they could be slaughtered in the mud.
The Pripyat is impossible terrain for anything with wheels and not much better for tracked vehicles.
Polen Army Sud: Situational Map at end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Note the Sinkiang cavalry unit: the Red Army is calling on its allies for help
1 Hadtest (Shvoy)
General Shvoy is still under orders to simply hold his ground and, if attacked too strongly, to withdraw. His only task is to prevent (or slow) a Russian breakout to the west. The word in Berlin, however, is that very soon he will be ordered to send his men into the swamps to dig out the Russians. Not a task anybody else wants to do.
1 Hadtest: Situational Map at end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Balkans Army (Guderian)
There was an attempt by Russian bombers to hit our rear recovery areas in Zgurovka, but Felmy and nearly a thousand fighters were able to show the enemy aircraft the way home. Otherwise the Luftwaffe kept up its rotation of bombers over Shishaski, Buryn and Borzna. Our bombers did report an increase of enemy fighter activity, but not enough to impede their operation.
Air Battle of Zgurovka
Several of Guderian’s units are still south, in the area now delegated to the Italian Expeditionary Army. One of these is Geyr von Schweppenburg’s 2nd leichte Panzer Divsison. Like some many of our panzer leaders, he tends to interpret orders to fit his own wished, and on being requested to bring his division north to assist in the drive on Brjansk, he moved north-east. This of course brought him into Khorol where he was immediately in action against three Russian rifle divisions. Guderian, having done similar things himself, was not amused by von Schweppenburg’s protestations of innocence that he was simply obeying orders. However, with 2nd leichte engaged in fighting, he could not do much. The Italians, still moving east, must be overjoyed – that’s three divisions they will not have to shift.
Guderian would have been far more pleased with General Höpner. 4th leichte’s advance was on a straight line to Brjansk, driving over the plains of Altuhovo. He would also have been pleased with the Luftwaffe’s response: Kesselring had dive-bombers over the battlefield within an hour. It paid off, as within hours the Soviets were streaming north east, with Höpner’s men racing after them. Although 4th leichte had minimal losses, the bombers were not so lucky. Several raids by enemy fighters saw at least 25 Henschels shot down.
In further good news for the Italians, Bieß defeated the Soviets in Shishaki (with, it must be said, the assistance of Gamondi’s bombers). It was not this that made the Italians grateful, it was that our advancing troops ran into the rear areas of Rokossovsky’s two divisions which were busy attacking the Italians in Zin’kiv. Needless to say, when General Crüwell arrived with 13th Panzer and 386.ID (mot) Rokossovsky had no choice but to halt his own attack and beat an ignominious retreat.
In fact the only rationale behind Herzog’s attack on Sumy is a desire to assist the Italians. Is there an instruction to Guderian to allow the Italians an easy path? I could quite understand Ministers von Ribbentrop, Goebbels and Frick coming up with a devious stratagem to convince the Italians to send more men. Could they have won over the Führer and caused him to issue a secret order to OKH? 36.ID is not moving anywhere near the objective of the Balkans Army, it is moving at 90 degrees to the axis of advance. As if that were not bad enough, 36.ID (mot) is now locked into a battle that does not look as though they will win without substantial assistance.
Balkans Army: Situational Map at end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Italian Expeditionary Army (Pintor)
Just after midnight on the Tuesday the Italians made their first major assault as part of Unternehmen Barbarossa. General Bambini sent “Firenze”, “Parma” and “Pinerolo” into their baptism of fire. (“Pinerolo” has been involved in fighting previously, in Kyiv, but not as part of an Italian command). Zin’kiv would not prove too difficult, held as it was by a single Soviet rifle division. To make it even less dangerous, the Russians were already badly weakened. Just to make sure, however, Müller-Michels and Schwartzkopff took their Junkers over the area, bombing anything that moved. As a result, by dawn on Wednesday the Italians had their first victory in the east.
Wreathed in smoke, Italians of “Parma” division storm a farm building in Zin’kiv. Although not a hard fought battle, it was valuable experience for our allies. With our manpower problems, we may need to rely on Italy and Hungary.
They didn’t have long to savour the moment: just before daylight on Friday General Garboldi was attacked by General Rokossovsky. Garboldi had just two divisions (“Firenze” and “Pinerolo”), both of which were still shaken from their first large battle. It is hard to say how the battle might have gone had not Rokossovsky been attacked in the rear by Crüwell’s panzers. As it was, the Italians had another victory within days of their first.
Italian Expeditionary Army: Situational Map at the end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Österreich Army (von Kluge)
There was a sombre tone to the first couple of items in the report from Österreich Army HQ. 26.ID had taken Dniprodzerzhyns’k, but at a cost of just under 800 men. Even more depressing was the news that victory in Snihurivka had come at an even higher cost (1,402) and that the Russians had immediately counter-attacked Brämer’s crippled division. Fighting went on during the night but the exhausted men of 12.ID could not match the enthusiasm of General Kirponos and 62 Turkestanskaya and were forced to abandon the hard-won territory in the morning. By the time its soldiers made it back to Bashtanka, 23.ID had less than 8,300 men remaining from its paper strength of 10,000. Just as important, it had lost all its supplies and much of its morale.
1st Battle of Snihurivka
Von Kluge was not about to just hand over the province for which his men had paid such a price. As soon as word of the Russian attack reached his HQ, Generals Friedrich-Willich and von Roques had been sent urgent messages: move your men into Snihurivka and do it now! Like all the units in Österreich Army, 2nd Gebrigsjäger and 46.ID are getting used to the vast distances of the Ukraine and a long march through the night was, if not welcome, at least not unusual. Rokossovsky’s advancing troops were met by nearly 20,000 men ready for a pitched battle. There was no real battle: by 9AM the Russians were heading back east.
There was no similar happy ending in Krasnodom. 7th Gebirgsjäger was forced to give up its attempt to take the province. With a thousand men dead, against Russian losses of less than 300, General Förster had no choice but to call back his lead troops. Frustratingly, soon after the decision, 1a Divisione Alpina “Taurinese” arrived with 7th SS-Freiwilligen Gebirgsjäger Division “Prinz Eugen”. If they had arrived a few hours earlier the battle may have gone the other way.
The less than encouraging news did not affect von Kluge’s determination to keep moving east. Volkmann was ordered to take Nova Kokhova, a task that seems well within the reach of 1st Gebrigsjäger. The other attack authorised on Friday was not so well thought out. Von Roques and 46.ID, newly arrived in Snihurivka, was instructed to cross the Dniepr into Novooleksandriya. Von Bock was ordered to support the attack from Mykolayivk, but Lapshov has a first rate rifle division and can expect some help from 17 Tankovaya. While not writing off the attack, here in Berlin the strategic analysts seem to think von Roques will need either a massive air bombardment. It is not as if von Kluge is not aware of the risk of underpowered attacks, as he had to admit to OKH that he had allowed Heunert to call back 61.ID form Oleksandriya. 880 men died in the five days we spent trying to evict two Soviet rifle divisions. A complete waste of lives that should never have been allowed to take place.
Österreich Army: Situational Map at the end of Saturday 16th August 1941
Finalised Battles during the period Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th August 1941
El’nja: 318 (11,460): 536 (19,440)
Narva: 2,149 (33,980): 4,167 (44,871)
Snihurivka: 1,402 (39,673): 1,078 (18,984)
Dniprodzerzhyns’k: 796 (19,991): 495 (25,991)
Zin’kiv: 92 (27,945) (Italian): 180 (16,996)
2nd Snihurivka: 12 (8,301): 48 (8,999)
Kohtla-Järve: 29 (9,609): 58 (7,944)
Novgorod: 0 (9,993): 7 (464)
Tapa: 55 (11,992): 165 (16,788)
Smolensk: 804 (29,963): 1,315 (42,359)
Buryn: 490 (29,984): 143 (38,077)
3rd Snihurivka: 22 (19,995): 41 (18,998)
2nd Novgorod: 26 (10,000): 54 (8,420)
Nelidovo: 2,376 (29,991): 3,106 (56,703)
Krasnodom: 1,068 (9,995): 274 (60,650)
Derglets: 324 (19,987): 545 (38,011)
Altuhovo: 80 (9,999): 82 (35,985)
Pärnu: 427 (18,096): 1,237 (16,116)
Risti: 106 (8,823): 72 (24,934)
Shishaki: 1,052 (29,982): 661 (48,214)
2nd Zin’kiv: 222 (11,995) (Italian): 120 (26,127)
2nd Shishaki: 109 (19,992): 225 (15,828)
Oleksandrivka: 880 (9,994): 892 (16,997)
Polnovo: 42 (9,992): 117 (16,995)
Abja-Paluoja: 332 (21,999): 601 (17,584)
Semenovka: 29 (11,920): 143 (9,995)
Khitino: 12 (9,995): 97 (5,995)
Total Battle Casualties for the period Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th August 1941
Hungarian: Nil
Italian: 314
German: 12,940
Russian: 16,459
Prior Casualties
Hungarian: 6
Italian: 737
German: 265,896
Russian: 279,691
Total Battle Casualties to date
Hungarian: Nil + 6 = 6
Italian: 314 + 737 = 1,051
German: 12,490 + 265,896 = 278,386
Russian: 16,459 + 279,691 = 296,150
Bombing Summary for the period Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th August 1941
Shishaki: Gamondi with 1st Italian Exp. Air Force: 73, 178, 73, 239, 80 (643)
Buryn: Müller-Michels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps: 104, 196, 51 (351)
Buryn: Schwartzkopff with 2nd Kampffliegrkorps: 109
Buryn: Kesselring with 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps: 161
Slancy: Wever with 8th Kampffliegerkorps: 142
Zin’kiv: Schwartzkopff with 2nd Kampffliegerkorps: 314
Zin’kiv: Müller-Michels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps: 206
Derglets: Wever with 8th Kampffliegerkorps: 225, 341, 303 (869)
Derglets: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps: 212, 350, 274, 161 (997)
Borzna: Müller-Michels with 5th Kampffliegerkorps: 232, 135, 143, 98, 129 (737)
Borzna: Kesselring with 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps: 234, 138, 272 (644)
Abja-Paluoja: Löhr with 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps: 187, 108 (295)
Azanovo: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps: 207, 350, 408, 156 (1,121)
Polnovo: Keller with 7th Kampffliegerkorps: 192
Khitino: Löhr with 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps: 189
Total Bombing Casualties for the period 12th to 16th August 1941
German: Nil
Russian: 6,970
Prior Bombing Casualties
German: 3,501
Russian: 195,140
Total Bombing Casualties to date
German: Nil + 3,501 = 3,501
Russian: 6,970 + 195,140 = 202,110
Supply Status of the Eastern Front at the end of 16th August 1941
Total Casualties for the period 12th to 16th August 1941
Hungarian: Nil
Italian: 314
German: 12,490 + Nil = 12,490
Russian: 16,459 + 6,970 = 23,429
Prior Casualties
Hungarian: 6
Italian: 757
German: 269,397
Russian: 474,831
Total East Front Casualties to date (not including surrendered and overrun units)
Hungarian: 6 + Nil = 6
Italian: 314 + 737 = 1051
German: 12,490 + 269,397 = 281,887
Russian: 23,429 + 474,831 = 498,260
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Originally Posted by Forster
