Chapter XXI: Into the East (I)
As soon as the last snow stopped falling on Polish soil, reconnaissance units and engineers brigades located at the frontlines were ordered to start with the first tasks to prepare "Operation Hindenburg", and after a few hours the German Spearhead began the major offensive against the invading hordes of the USSR. With such a perfect timing that only the Wehrmacht could achieve, the armored and motorized divisions began crossing the bridge and anticipated to the surprised Soviet defenders, and while the rest of the infantry attacked many strongpoints and resistant corps that the Soviet Union had distributed along the southern parts of the border.
Bruckenpionere getting ready to cross a river
Further west, the Luftwaffe decided to concentrate all its defensive power in the basin of the Rhine and around Hamburg, and while that decision entailed a constant bombardment of Cherbourg that was hardly stopped by the interceptors stationed in France, in the Eastern Atlantic shore 16 interceptor squadrons mercilessly pounded the American bombers in two consecutive victorious air battles. Although sometimes lonely allied aircraft managed to break through the new air wall, the wound inflicted was severe and forced the Americans to temporarily stop its bombing campaign, allowing large numbers of German aircraft to be repaired. As a preemptive measure, the german Government launched a major propaganda campaign to warn the Germans about the dangers of night bombings.
A poster warning of the dangers of night bombings
For his part, and after several days of terrible struggle, the motorized units of Lieutenant General Hausser penetrated the Russian defenses and captured the province of Lublin, the first point on the road marked for the campaign towards the heart of Soviet Russia. Upon arrival, Hausser was forced to fend off the desperate attacks of the Russians trying to regain control of the province, and OKH decided to strike with all his strength the nearby province of Radom in order to liberate Lublin from the Russian pressure.
Hausser had to defend fom the Russian counter-offensive
The undisputed tactical and technological superiority of the Wehrmacht would cause a general flight of Russian troops, who suffered enormous casualties by being constantly bombarded by the powerful Stukas led by Kesselring. However, the Wehrmacht would also suffer heavy losses, and certain officers commented with concern how many Russians did not surrender under any circumstances and fought to the last man. Finally, relief units arrived to the province of Lublin and stopped the Soviet counterattack, also allowing the capture of the territory of Radom and a large number of Russian prisoners of war. The first major combat action from the Russian front closed with 150,000 Soviet soldiers dead and 40,000 Germans heroes killed or missing in action.
More than 200.000 Soviet soldiers died in the Torun and Radom battles
The tenacious and sometimes incomprehensible Soviet resistance to surrender, continued even when defeat was certain and no retreat was possible, was not casual and responded to Stalin´s "Order 227", which established the death penalty for any soldier that retired from combat and even created special detachments with the task of shooting those who fled from the unstoppable German advance. Such a decision would condemn hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers to a certain death, and prevented any chance of developing an in depth defense against the German Schwerpunkt.
In the north, the German army would follow a similar strategy than the one used in Lublin, and while von Leeb launched a massive assault against Warsaw in order to divert Soviet forces to that battle, von Blomberg and Guderian prepared the second major encirclement maneuver in Eastern Prussia. While the offensive against Warsaw forced the Soviets to relocate some troops in the city, the clever and experienced Marshal Zhukov guessed the German plans and rushed to the defense of Allenstein more than 180 divisions, including several T-34 Armored Divisions. But, once again, the German superiority was incontestable, and despite the apparent numerical and technical superiority of the Soviet tanks the German Panzers destroyed many Soviet tanks, apparently more resistant but manned by inexperienced soldiers. According to the battle report of a German officer, the Russian tanks always attacked with its hatches closed, preventing any effective capacity to aim and leaving them defenseless against the German units.
Von Blomberg faced a massive concentration of Soviet troops
Finally, von Blomberg´s offensive forced Zhukov to retreat and allowed the capture allowed of Allenstein, and once Guderian seized Torun more than 60,000 Russians were entrapped in the city of Danzig. For several days, the entire German transport capacity would focus on transporting troops to stop the Russian counteroffensive, but the tenacious defense of von Blomberg allowed the Wehrmacht to consolidate their control of the city and to capture more than 20 Russian divisions still in retreat; Stalin´s senseless order began to produce its painful effects to the Red Army.
Status of the northern pocket by mid April
In less than a week, 200,000 Russian soldiers had been killed, and the world was beginning to wonder if Stalin did not overrate the combat ability of the Red Army. Without wasting any time, German engineers began to resupply forward units, who were preparing to continue their offensive to enclose more Soviet troops in Ukraine and Belarus. Would the German spearhead penetrate into the seemingly endless Russian reserves, or would Stalin achieve victory even at the cost of sacrificing an entire generation? Only the Gods of War knew...