Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt

Meanwhile, after brutally shoving the remnants of Oborin’s 14th Mechanized Corps out of the way, Guderian’s Panzergruppe 2 achieved a clear breakthrough at Pruzhany and pushed rapidly northward toward a link-up with Hoth’s panzers. With unusual alacrity, Pavlov managed to shift the 47th Rifle Corps over 160km to establish a blocking position at Slonim, while the cadre-strength 17th Mechanized Corps dug in at Baranovichi. When Generalleutnant Hans-Jürgen von Arnim reached Slonim with the vanguard of his 17.Panzer-Division late on 24 June, he found that the Soviets had burned the wooden bridge over the Shchara River and were entrenched on the far side. Guderian was faced with the daunting task of conducting an opposed river crossing against a foe with significant artillery support. Nevertheless, pioneers from the 17.Panzer-Division’s Brücko B column were able to bridge the Shchara during the night, and the next day the XXXXVII Panzerkorps fought its way into Slonim and then Baranovichi. At this point, Guderian split his panzer group up into three sections, attempting to simultaneously accomplish multiple missions. He directed the 29.Infanterie-Division (mot.) to turn westward and establish a blocking position to prevent the escape of the Soviet 3rd and 10th Armies from the rapidly shrinking Bialystok pocket, while the rest of the XXXXVII Panzerkorps advanced northeast toward Minsk. Von Schweppenburg’s XXIV Panzerkorps was sent due east toward Slutsk, which Model’s 3.Panzer-Division overran on 26 June. Although Guderian clearly had the Red Army on the run, he also effectively dispersed his panzer group on divergent axes, which complicated his already tenuous logistic situation.

The second-echelon Soviet 13th Army made a futile last-ditch effort to defend Minsk with the understrength 20th Mechanized Corps and several reserve rifle divisions, but Hoth was able to concentrate the 12 and 20.Panzer-Divisionen on the northern outskirts of the city by 26 June. Minsk was surrounded by a pre-war Fortified Region that had 580 bunkers, including 45mm anti-tank casemates, but it was garrisoned by only four fortress battalions. The 13th Army managed to get two rifle divisions of the 44th Rifle Corps into position to reinforce the Minsk fortified line north of the city just before Hoth’s panzers arrived, but they were spread thinly across a 50km-wide front. The Luftwaffe also bombed the city mercilessly, setting more than half of Minsk afire – which added to the defender’s chaos. At 0300 hours on 27 June, both the 12 and 20.Panzer-Divisionen began assaulting the Minsk Fortified Region with their motorized infantry – a total of just eight battalions. A number of concrete bunkers with 76.2mm howitzers proved particularly troublesome. The Soviet troops fought tenaciously, but both German panzer divisions were gradually able to fight their way through the 2–3km-thick fortified belt by the end of the day.

Interestingly, heavy rain was already creating mud and waterlogged roads around Minsk, hindering German mobility. On 28 June, Hoth resumed the attack and the Soviet defense crumbled; Generaloberst Josef Harpe’s 12.Panzer-Division was able to reach the center of Minsk before noon. Once it became clear that Minsk could not be held, most of the Soviet 13th Army succeeded in escaping east to the Berezina river, where they began establishing a new line. The rapid seizure of a large city by panzers alone – repeated at Orel in October – gave the Germans the false impression that even larger urban areas, such as Moscow and later Stalingrad, could be seized by a bold armoured coup de main.

Thanks to the relentless advance of Hoth’s and Guderian’s panzers, the Wehrmacht had achieved a major victory that encircled and then smashed the bulk of Pavlov’s Western Front within six days of Barbarossa’s start. Boldin and Mostovenko managed to herd the remnants of the 6th and 11th Mechanized Corps into several semi-effective combat groups by gathering up all remaining fuel and operational vehicles, and ruthlessly abandoning everything else. Despite heavy losses in the fighting around Grodno, these armoured battle groups succeeded in evading the encroaching German dragnet for a time by moving eastward along forest tracks near Volkovysk. However, their luck ran out when they discovered the German 29.Infanterie-Division (mot.) blocking their escape route at the town of Zel’va. Several BT-7 tanks attempting to ford the Shchara River were shot up by German Pak guns, forcing the remainder to divert 10–15km south to cross the river near Klepachi. Although the Soviet armour managed to ford the river on 27 June, they found that the Germans had already established blocking positions near Klepachi and Ozernitsa as well. An anti-tank ambush quickly claimed four more Soviet tanks. Major Iosif G. Cheryapkin, commander of the 57th Tank Regiment, led a determined breakout attempt with ten tanks and, despite being wounded, succeeded in escaping the encirclement.