Battle of Raseiniai

Battle of Raseiniai
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

(Top) Map of the battle (Bottom) A BT-7 tank
Date23–27 June 1941
LocationRaseiniai, Lithuania
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Germany  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Gen. Erich Hoepner Soviet Union Col.-Gen. Fyodor Kuznetsov
Strength
235–245 tanks[1][2][j] 749 tanks[3]
Casualties and losses
Light 704 tanks[3]

The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group (General Erich Hoepner) and the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps (Major General Alexey Kurkin) with Major General Nikolai Shestapolov's 12th Mechanised Corps,[4] in Lithuania, 75 km northwest of Kaunas.[4] The commander of the Soviet Northwestern Front, Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov, tried to contain and destroy the German troops that had crossed the Neman River (Nemunas), but was unable to prevent them from advancing. The result of the battle was the destruction of most of the Soviet armoured forces of the Northwestern Front, which cleared the way for the Germans to attack towards the crossings of the Daugava River (Western Dvina). The fighting around Raseiniai was one of the main battles of the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa, referred to in Soviet historiography as the Border Defensive Battles (22–27 June 1941), and formed part of the larger Soviet Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.

Prelude

Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, and staging in East Prussia prior to the commencement of the offensive, was the northern of three Army Groups participating in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Army Group North controlled the 18th Army and the 16th Army, along with General Erich Hoepner's 4th Panzer Group. The Germans had 20 infantry divisions, three Panzer and three motorized infantry divisions.[5] Air support was provided by the Luftflotte 1 (1st Air Fleet).[6]

The Soviet military administrative control over the Baltic republics area where the Army Group North would be deployed was exercised by the Special Baltic Military District which after the invasion was renamed into the Northwestern Front, commanded by Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov. The front fielded the 8th and 11th Armies with the 27th Armies in its second echelon. All together, the Northwestern Front had 28 rifle, 4 tank, and 2 motorized divisions.[7]

A key part of Northwestern Front's defensive potential were the two mechanised corps deployed with it. On 22 June 1941, Major General Alexey Kurkin's 3rd Mechanised Corps had 31,975 men[8] and 669[a] – 672 tanks.[b] The same day, the 12th Mechanized Corps, under Major General Nikolai Shestapolov had 28,832 men[8] and 730[e] – 749 tanks;[c] only BT-7s and T-26 tanks were available.[d]

Battle

Initial assault

Location map of Lithuania showing Raseiniai

At the start of the battle, the German 4th Panzer Group advanced in two spearheads, led by the XLI Panzer Corps and LVI Panzer Corps. Their objective was to cross the Neman and Daugava, the most difficult natural obstacles in front of the Army Group North, and to drive towards Leningrad. German bombers destroyed many of the signals and communications centers, naval bases, and the Soviet aerodromes from Riga to Kronstadt. Šiauliai, Vilnius and Kaunas were also heavily bombed. Soviet aircraft had been on one-hour alert, but were held on their airfields after the first wave of German bombers passed.[9]

At 9:30 AM on 22 June, Kuznetsov ordered the 3rd and 12th Mechanized Corps to take up their counterattack positions, intending to use them in flanking attacks on the 4th Panzer Group,[10] which had broken through to the river Dubysa (Dubissa). By noon, the Soviet divisions began to fall back. The German columns then began to swing towards Raseiniai, where Kuznetsov was concentrating his own armor for a big counterattack on the next day. By the evening, Soviet formations had fallen back to the Dubysa. Northwest of Kaunas, forward elements of Erich von Manstein's LVI Panzer Corps reached the Dubysa and seized the vital Ariogala road viaduct across it. [11] Without this crossing, Germans tanks might have been trapped in what was a giant natural tank ditch. A dash to Dvinsk would have been wholly ruled out. Southwest of Vilnius more armor from the 3rd Panzer Army, which had defeated the Soviet 11th Army, crossed the Niemen River.

By the end of 22 June, the German armoured spearheads over the Niemen had penetrated 80 kilometres (50 mi). The next day, Kuznetsov committed his armoured forces to battle. Near Raseiniai, the XLI Panzer Corps was counter-attacked by the Soviet 3rd and 12th Mechanised Corps. The concentration of Soviet armour was detected by the Luftwaffe, which immediately attacked tank columns of the 12th Mechanised Corps south west of Šiauliai. The attacks were unopposed by Soviet fighters and were a great success. The Soviet 23rd Tank Division sustained particularly severe losses, Ju 88s from Luftflotte 1 attacking at low level, setting ablaze 40 vehicles, including tanks and lorries.[12]

German forces encountered a unit equipped with the Soviet KV heavy tanks for the first time. On 23 June, Kampfgruppe Von Seckendorff of the German 6th Panzer Division, consisting of 114th Panzergrenadier Regiment (motorized infantry), Aufklärungsabteilung 57 (Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 57), one company of Panzerjäger Battalion 41, and, that morning only, Motorcycle Battalion 6, was overrun by Gen. Yegor Solyankin's 2nd Tank Division from the 3rd Mechanised Corps near Skaudvilė.[13][j] The German Panzer 35(t) tanks and antitank weapons were ineffective against the Soviet heavy tanks—some of them were out of ammunition but closed in and destroyed German antitank guns by driving over them.[14][15][g]

The Germans concentrated on immobilising the Soviet tanks by firing at their tracks and then by tackling them with artillery, anti-aircraft guns, or by blowing them up with explosive charges of the sticky bomb type. A report of the Thuringian 1st Panzer Division later described the engagement:

The KV-1 and KV-2, which we first met here, were really something! Our companies opened fire at about 800 yards, but it remained ineffective. We moved closer and closer to the enemy, who for his part continued to approach us unconcerned. Very soon we were facing each other at 50 to 100 yards. A fantastic exchange of fire took place without any visible German success. The Russian [sic - Soviet] tanks continued to advance, and all armour-piercing shells simply bounced off them. Thus we were presently faced with the alarming situation of the Russian tanks driving through the ranks of 1st Panzer Regiment towards our own infantry and our hinterland. Our Panzer Regiment therefore about turned and rumbled back with the KV-1s and KV-2s, roughly in line with them. In the course of that operation we succeeded in immobilizing some of them with special purpose shells at very close range 30 to 60 yards. A counter attack was launched and the Russians were thrown back. A protective front established and defensive fighting continued.[16]

The lone Soviet tank

A KV-2 tank; one, in some accounts, held up the 6th Panzer Division for a day.[17]

A KV-1 or KV-2 tank (accounts vary) advanced far behind the German lines after attacking a column of German trucks. The tank stopped on a road across soft ground and was engaged by four 50 mm anti-tank guns of the 6th Panzer Division's anti-tank battalion. The tank was hit multiple times by these guns but fired back, disabling all four guns. A heavy 88 mm gun of the division's anti-aircraft battalion was moved about 730 metres (800 yd) behind the tank but was knocked out by the tank before it could score a hit. During the night, German combat engineers attempted to destroy the tank with satchel charges, but were unable to, despite possibly damaging the tracks. Early on the morning of 25 June, German tanks fired on the KV from the woodland while an 88 mm targeted the tank from its rear. Of several shots fired, only two penetrated the tank. German infantry then advanced, with the KV opening machine-gun fire against them.[18] The tank's resistance was finally ended by grenades thrown into the tank's hatches. According to some accounts, the crew was buried by the German soldiers with full military honors; in other accounts, the crew escaped during the night.[18]

General Erhard Raus was Commander of the 6th Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe,[f] the unit delayed by the lone vehicle. He described it as a KV-1, which was damaged by several 88 anti-tank gun shots fired from behind the vehicle while it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65, and the KV-1 crew were killed by pioneer engineer unit who pushed grenades through two holes made by the gun while the turret began moving again, the other five or six shots having not fully penetrated. Apparently, the KV-1 crew had remarkably only been stunned by the shots which had entered the turret. Afterwards, they were buried nearby with military honors by the German unit.[19][lower-alpha 1]

Conclusion of the battle

In the south, by 23 June, 11th Army commander Lieutenant-General Vasily Ivanovich Morozov ordered the units falling back to the old fortress town Kaunas on the Niemen to move on to Jonava some 30 mi (48 km) to the north-east. By the evening of 25 June, the Soviet 8th Army fell back towards Riga and the 11th towards Vilnius to the Desna. A breach gaped in the Soviet front from Ukmergė to Daugavpils. By 26 June, the 1st Panzer Division and 36th Motorised Infantry Division of the XLI Panzer Corps and following infantry divisions had cut through the rear of the Soviet mechanised corps and linked up. The Soviet 3rd Mechanised Corps had run out of fuel, and Gen. E.N. Solyankin's 2nd Tank Division was encircled and almost completely destroyed.[21] In the encirclement, Solyankin was killed in action.[22] The 5th Tank Division and 84th Motorised Division were severely depleted due to losses in vehicles and personnel.[23][h] The 12th Mechanized Corps pulled out of the trap, but by now was very short of fuel and ammunition.[24][i]

The Soviet Baltic Fleet was withdrawn from bases in Liepāja, Windau, and Riga by 26 June and LVI Panzer Corps dashed for the River Dvina and in a remarkable coup seized bridges near Dvinsk intact.[25]

Aftermath

Known in Soviet historiography as the Border Defensive Battles (22–27 June 1941), and forming part of the larger Soviet Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation, in the aftermath of the battle the leading formations of LVI Panzer Corps furiously set about enlarging the bridgehead, after the seizure of the Dvina bridges and the fall of Dvinsk. On 25 June, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko ordered Kuznetsov to organize a defense of the Western Dvina, by deploying the 8th Army on the right bank from Riga to Livani while the 11th Army would defend the Livani–Kraslava sector. Kuznetsov also used Major-General Nikolai Berzarin's 27th Army, pulling troops off the Hiiumaa and Saaremaa islands and out of Riga and bring them to Daugavpils. At the same time the Soviet (Stavka) released Major-General Dmitry Lelyushenko's 21st Mechanised Corps (98 tanks and 129 guns) from the Moscow Military District to co-operate with the 27th Army.[26]

At 5:00 AM, on 28 June, upon Kuznetsov's orders, Lelyushenko attempted to destroy the German bridgehead near Daugavpils. Manstein halted on the Dvina but attacked the next day, striking along the Daugavpils–Ostrov highway. At Riga on the afternoon of 29 June, the Germans crossed the railway bridge over the Dvina. On 30 June, Soviet troops withdrew from the right bank of the river, and by 1 July retreated towards Estonia. The Germans now had a priceless opportunity--an immediate forward drive would have made Leningrad almost indefensible. However, on orders received with disbelief, the tankers were to wait for infantry re-inforcement, which ultimately took almost a week.[27]

Kuznetsov was sacked by Timoshenko and Major-General Pyotr Sobennikov, 8th Army commander, took over the front on 4 July. On 29 June, Timoshenko directed the Northwestern Front that in the event of a withdrawal from the Daugava, the next river line, the Velikaya, was to be held and every effort made to get Soviet troops emplaced there. Despite this, the line at Velikaya fell rapidly on 8 July, with rail and road bridges remaining intact. Pskov itself fell on the evening of 9 July. The 11th Army commander was therefore ordered to move to Dno. The crumbling of the Northwestern Front on the Velikaya and the German sweep to Luga were grave setbacks for the Soviets, as the 8th Army was forced inexorably towards the Gulf of Finland. But the German pause had given time for more troops to be rushed to the Siege of Leningrad, a long and hard battle.[27]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In 1965, the remains of the crew were exhumed and reburied at the military cemetery in Raseiniai. According to research by Russian military historian Maxim Kolomiets, the tank may have been from the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion, 4th Tank Regiment, part of the 2nd Tank Division. It is impossible to clarify the crew's names because the relevant documents were buried in the woods north of Raseiniai during the retreat.[20]

Citations

  1. ↑ Rosado & Bishop 2005, p. 66.
  2. ↑ Taylor 2003, p. 14.
  3. 1 2 Glantz 2002, p. 32.
  4. 1 2 Glantz 1998, pp. 155–156.
  5. ↑ Kirchubel 2005, p. 26.
  6. ↑ Buttar 2013, p. 75.
  7. ↑ Kirchubel 2005, p. 30.
  8. 1 2 3 Glantz 1998, p. 155.
  9. ↑ Anušauskas et al 2005, p. 162.
  10. ↑ Forczyk 2014, p. 39.
  11. ↑ Buttar 2013, p. 78.
  12. ↑ Bergstrom 2007, p. 23.
  13. 1 2 Raus 2003, p. 13.
  14. ↑ Zaloga, Kinnear & Sarson 1995, pp. 17–18.
  15. ↑ Raus 2003, pp. 21–25.
  16. ↑ Carrell 1964, pp. 23–24.
  17. ↑ Raus 2003, p. 33.
  18. 1 2 Buttar 2013, p. 85.
  19. ↑ Raus 2003, pp. 32–33.
  20. ↑ Dobrovolsky, Alexander (29 April 2015). "Один день из жизни «Климента Ворошилова»" [A Day in the Life of a Kliment Voroshilov]. Moskovsky Komsomolets (in Russian). Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  21. ↑ Glantz 2002, p. 33.
  22. ↑ Forczyk 2014, p. 42.
  23. 1 2 Glantz 1998, p. 126.
  24. 1 2 Glantz 1998, p. 128.
  25. ↑ Glantz 1998, p. 133.
  26. ↑ Taylor 2003, p. 43.
  27. 1 2 Glantz 2005, p. 70.
  28. ↑ Glantz 2010, p. 36.
  29. 1 2 Zaloga 2015, p. 102.
  30. ↑ Forczyk 2014, p. 30.
  31. ↑ Raus 2003, pp. 24–25.
  32. ↑ "6th Panzer Division, Order of Battle of 22 June, 1941" (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2016.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 55°21′N 23°17′E / 55.350°N 23.283°E / 55.350; 23.283

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