17-18th of July
As the battle at Kowel raged, other formations took up positions on the secondary defensive line just behind the pre-war borders. The 4th Army had completed its retreat from Lvov to Tarnopol, and was now resupplying, reorganizing and reinforcing, in preparation for larger future operations. While Kowel itself was temporarily secured, much of the outlying countryside was still german, and there was little hope of forcing Falkenhausen back over the Bug. But still, it was obvious that some sort of progress was made, as was visible at the dawn of the 17th, when a full Hungarian division broke when under attack by Soviet armour, routing back to the river.
Southwards, Operation Impaler was being wrapped up. The mobile elements of the 2nd Ukrainian Front were arriving back at Jassy, while the First CAS Fleet kept bombarding Bulgarian formations at Tulcea to prevent them from intervening in the retreat. Meretskov could finally start diverting his attention elsewhere now that the first large offensive operation would soon end as an inspiring success. The Black Sea Fleet was given the orders to sail back to Sevastopol to repair the slightly damaged Krasni Kavkaz.
Back at Kowel, Zhukov, sensing the weakness and weariness of the defending Panzergruppe, organized his 2nd Mechanized Army together for a massive assault to try to eliminate the threat at Kowel. The scale of armoured warfare at Kowel was unprecedented, as eleven Soviet tank divisions, supported by many brigades of BA-10 armoured cars and SU-76 self-propelled guns, struggled with eleven opposing Panzer divisions. Zhukov's edge, however, was that his hardware was relatively intact compared to the Germans, who were mostly at three quarters of their pre-battle strength. This, together with the few but valuable T-34 tanks, was deemed enough to give the push the necessary power to give a decisive defeat here and now.
This massive push finally seemed to crack the German defenders and perhaps give enough momentum to a Soviet offensive to reach the Bug once more. Zhukov was proven correct at nightfall, when he was finally informed of a large-scale German retreat, leaving only a small rear-guard to ensure the retreating units aren't caught between the Bug and the Red Army and squashed. At midnight of the 18th of July, Stavka could finally start boasting about the first string of victories for the Red Army, as with the arrival of the 81st Motorized Division at Jassy officialy ended Operation Impaler, which had been a stunning victory. Better still, the first division of the 7th Army, the 235th Rifle Division, was deemed ready for operations in Riga, hopefully signalling the turn of the tide in the Baltics where the Red army had been on a slow, although dignified, retreat.
Progress was not limited to just the Red Army however, as the Soviet economy began flexing its muscles as well. On the 18th, the first tank division to be formed during the war was fully equipped with T-34 tanks, and deemed ready for deployement. This new division, the 22nd Tank Division (leaving some officers sniggering at the name), was given under the command of Mj. General Solomatin, and placed under the overall leadership of Marshal Konev's 1st Mechanized Army, more specifically the 2nd Mechanized Corps of Lt. General Volskiy.
Not a moment too soon. At Siauliau, the 1st Mechanized Army was put under pressure by von Brauchitsch, who used thirteen divisions to probe and harass the reorganizing mechanized force. Konev knew that Siauliau was not of utmost importance, and that his men were too tired to fight tooth and nail for it anyway. Still, he offered some resistance.
At Kowel, Zhukov was once again to be dissappointed, as the gaps left by the retreating Germans were filled up with Hungarian infantry. This would have bothered him little if it wasn't for the supporting Soviet 8th Army's partial collapse during the offensive. The 8th Army needed rest quickly, but luckily the recently-retreated Soviet 4th Army was more than eager to take its place. Victory, if it could be reached at all, was once more delayed.