The First Day on the Eastern Front: Germany Invades the Soviet Union, June 22, 1941

505 Pages·2018·7.18 MB·English

by  Craig W.H. Luther

The First Day on the Eastern Front

The First Day on the Eastern Front
Germany Invades the Soviet Union, June 22, 1941
Craig W. H. Luther
GUILFORD, CONNECTICUT
Published by Stackpole Books
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Blvd., Ste. 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK
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Copyright © 2019 Craig W. H. Luther
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Luther, Craig W. H., author.
Title: The First Day on the Eastern Front : Germany invades the Soviet Union,
June 22, 1941 / Craig W.H. Luther.
Description: Guilford, Connecticut : Stackpole Books, 2018. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018017491 (print) | LCCN 2018017951 (ebook) | ISBN
9780811767651 (e-book) | ISBN 9780811737807 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945—Campaigns—Eastern Front. | World War,
1939-1945—Soviet Union.
Classification: LCC D764 (ebook) | LCC D764 .L8765 2018 (print) | DDC
940.54/217—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017491
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for
Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
To my dear wife, Maria Therese, who has supported my many years of book-writing activity
with grace, dignity, and most of all, with a patience I did not deserve.
I am convinced that our attack will sweep over [Russia] like a hailstorm.
—Adolf Hitler to Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, February 1, 19411
If it were necessary to organize a provocation, then the German generals would bomb
their own cities. Hitler surely does not know about it.
—Joseph Stalin reacting to initial reports of Germany’s surprise
attack, June 22, 19412
22 June 1941: Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt: “An der sowjetrus-
sischen Grenze ist es seit den frühen Morgenstunden des heutigen Tages zu Kampfhan-
dlungen gekommen.”
—German Armed Forces High Command announcing the outbreak of
hostilities with Soviet Russia3
Contents
Notes on Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
List of Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xii
List of Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxi
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
Chapter 1: Planning for Armageddon—Adolf Hitler and His General Staff Prepare
to Unleash War on Soviet Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1: Prologue—France 1940 and the Nimbus of Invincibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2: Hitler and Russia I—The Führer’s Strategic (Political-Military)
Case for War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3: Hitler and Russia II—The Führer’s Programmatic (Ideological)
Case for War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
1.4: German General Staff Planning—July to December 1940
(A Concise Overview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
1.5: Aufmarsch Ost: The German Strategic Force Buildup in the East
(January–June 1941). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.6: The Status of the Red Army (Spring 1941). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 2: On the Cusp of War—Berlin, Moscow, and the Eastern Front . . . . .37
2.1: Berlin—A City and Its Führer on Edge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2: “Soldaten der Ostfront! ”—Three Million Men Are Poised to Strike! . . . . . . .43
2.3: Moscow—Stalin Still in Denial about the Impending German Attack . . . . .58
2.4: The Red Army Courts Disaster at the Western Frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Photo Essay: Commanders and Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Intermezzo: Operation Barbarossa Begins—From the Baltic to the Black Sea . . .89
Chapter 3: Armageddon Unleashed (I)—Army Group North Goes to War . . . .91
3.1: Opposing Forces and Battle Plans (Northern Axis). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.2: Sixteenth Army Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.3: 4 Panzer Group Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
3.4: Eighteenth Army Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.5: Abendlage: Précis of the Combat Actions of Army Group North. . . . . . . . 136
Chapter 4: Armageddon Unleashed (II)—Army Group Center Goes to War . . 139
4.1: Opposing Forces and Battle Plans (Central Axis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
4.2: Opening Acts along the Army Group Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4.3: 2 Panzer Group Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
4.4: Fourth Army Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
4.5: Ninth Army Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
4.6: 3 Panzer Group Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
4.7: Abendlage: Précis of the Combat Actions of Army Group Center . . . . . . . 212
Photo Essay: The Front—Operation Barbarossa Begins, June 22, 1941 . . . . . . 217
Chapter 5: Armageddon Unleashed (III)—Army Group South Goes to War . . 233
5.1: Opposing Forces and Battle Plans (Southern Axis). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
5.2: Eleventh Army Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
5.3: Seventeenth Army Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
5.4: Sixth Army Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
5.5: 1 Panzer Group Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
5.6: Abendlage: Précis of the Combat Actions of Army Group South. . . . . . . . 278
Chapter 6: Death from the Sky—The Luftwaffe Wreaks Havoc and Smashes
the Soviet Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
6.1: A Brief Primer on Luftwaffe Organization and Combat Aircraft. . . . . . . . 283
6.2: Luftwaffe Operations in Support of Army Group North . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
6.3: Luftwaffe Operations in Support of Army Group Center. . . . . . . . . . . . 293
6.4: Luftwaffe Operations in Support of Army Group South . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
6.5: Abendlage: Précis of Luftwaffe Operations in Support of Ostheer . . . . . . . . 310
Chapter 7: Berlin, Moscow, and the First Twenty-One Hours of War on
the Eastern Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
7.1: Berlin: The Reaction to the First Successes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
7.2: Moscow: The Response to the Initial Defeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Postscript: Reflections on Day One of the Most Destructive War in History
and the Ultimate Failure of Operation Barbarossa. . . . . . . . . . . 333
Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
viii
Appendices
1. Equivalent Military Ranks (German/American) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
2. Directive No. 21—Case Barbarossa (December 18, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
3. German 6 Infantry Division: Personnel and Weapons (June 20, 1941). . . . . . 365
4. Order of Battle of a German Panzer Division (June 1941). . . . . . . . . . . . 367
5. 56 Infantry Division’s Order No. 1 for the Attack across the Bug River
(June 19, 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
6. People’s Commissariat of Defense (NKO) Directives 1, 2, 3 (June 22, 1941) . . 376
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Select Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
ix