Operation Phoenix: Day 3 (17th of July, 1941) The Kessel of Bialystok, part I
Vehicles of the Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 59 enroute to Alytus
The Memel river (german name) connects the two towns of Alytus and Grodno. It was reached by the forward elements of the 8. Panzerdivision in the afternoon while the fighting in the town was still ongoing. A huge stone bridge crossed the Memel to the south east exit of the town and taking it had been a priority of the Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 59.
A lone Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz.231 stood directly in front of the bridge and it's commander had dismounted and looked at the mess. The Russians had attempted to blow up the bridge but somehow not all charges had detonated. The middle part of the bridge looked still passable and was broad enough for even a Panzer III to carefully drive past it. Gunfire could be heard from the other side. A hastily deployed defence position with a MG had to be taken out and his men were busy doing just that when his operator looked out of the turrent of the car and passed him the handset.
“Yes? Really? Why, of course I have understood. I will give the order.”
He handed the handset back and looked up. “Withdraw our men from the other side,” he said to the operator. “We take up positions here.”
Emblem of the 8. Panzerdivision
The divisions of the 4. Panzergruppe had been stopped by a Führerbefehl, a direct order of Hitler himself. The reconnaissance had reported heavy dug-in soviet resistance around Grodno and the Führer had done what most of his generals feared: he had intercepted directly and brought the offensive to a halt. Chief of the OKW Alfred Jodl and Generalfeldmarschall von Bock had tried in vain to convince him of the tactical necessity to continue the advance and use the remaining forward momentum of the Panzers but the Führer would not have it. After a second attempt to change his mind his generals had given up, frustrated. The 4. Panzergruppe would wait in Alytus until the 3. Panzergruppe would have taken Slonim and could race northward to assist with the attack on Grodno. As long as Slonim was not taken, the 4. PG would wait in Alytus and in the meantime the russian General Pavlov and his four tank divisions would gain precious hours to further strengthen their defence. The closing of the Kessel of Bialystok would have to wait. Meanwhile General Konev of the Belorussian Front witnessed the sheer angst of his soldiers of an encirclement. He had given the order to support the defence of Grodnos and some units were marching towards the town when panik had struck and more and more divisons started to flee east to reach the still open Grodno. Signs of disintegration where everywhere, equipment left along the way. The worst case happened when two rifle divisions who were ordered to stand and fight by their political commissars had simply disarmed and shot them before they had dissolved and fled. General Konev could hardly believe it.
At 2130 hours finally came the awaited signal from the 6. Panzerkorps of von Manstein: “Slonim taken!”
Just half an hour later, as darkness crept across the battlefield at Slonim, it happened: the Russian Central Front of General Malinin started the counter-offensive against the town! The general had received Stalin's orders and threw his last mobile reserves against the german lines. The 8th and the 16th Mechanized Corps were tasked to achieve a breakthrough and eventually retake Bielsk. The flank they attacked was protected by two units of the 7th Panzerkorps of von Kleist, one of them being the 20. Infantriedivision (mot) with the Panzerjäger-Abteilung 20. They fought like madmen during the night and shot down tank after tank. In the early morning light the attack lost it's strength and crumbled,the survivors fleeing east. Malinins counterattack had been a failure but the battle for Grodno had just begun.
