June 1941

Eastern Front

The German 18th Army marches deeper into Lithuania. At Libau, in a direct assault upon the town the XXVI Corps is bloodily repulsed by the 67th Rifle Division. The Germans quickly invest the garrison and resume their advance. Reinhardt's XLI Panzer Corps struggles against the III and XII Mechanized Corps around Rasainiai. The Soviets repeat their attacks but to no avail. Despite their setbacks, the Soviets throw additional forces into the attack, slowing the advance of Reinhardt's panzers. To the east, Manstein pushes his units toward the Dvina against disorganized but stubborn Soviet resistance. Countless firefights take place along forest tracks as struggling Soviet units stand and fight. They are all eventually overcome by the weight of the German attacks. Ukmerge is taken during the course of the fighting cutting the road to Daugavpils.

Busch's 16th Army also develops its attacks successfully. Kaunas, Lithuania's second city falls to the X Corps as the Nieman is crossed. Morozov has to give up Kaunas without a fight due to the 8th Army's inability to hold the line of the Nieman. He had planned to fall back to the east, but orders from Kuznetsov calls for the recapture of Kaunas and an advance to the German frontier. The 23rd Rifle Division attempts to recapture the city attacking along the Ionava to Kaunas road. The attack fails despite heavy fighting. The lead elements reach the city's outskirts only to be destroyed by the Germans. A furious counterattack by the XVI Rifle Corps east of Kaunas is also thrown back. As the battle fizzles out, Morozov loses contact with Northwest Front headquarters.

Supporting the German ground forces, aircraft of the 1st Air Corps continue to be extremely active. Since the beginning of operations, this corps has attacked 67 Soviet airfields destroying 1,500 aircraft, 1,100 of these on the ground.

Fighting intensifies as the Red Army fights stubbornly to hold up the German advance. The leading units of Kuntzen's LXVII Panzer Corps enters Vilnius while the XXXIX Panzer Corps pushes east toward Minsk, into the very heart of the West Front. As the 3rd Panzer Group surges forward, the 9th Army suppresses the by-passed elements of the Soviet 3rd Army that are still operating to the rear of the advancing tanks. Gen Ivan V. Boldin, deputy of the West Front, organizes a group and counterattacks between Grodno and Bialystok. The close support of the Luftwaffe helps suppress this effort by the Soviets. The attacking units lose more than 100 tanks during these raids. Within hours the Soviet assault is brought to a halt.

On the southern flank of Army Group Center, Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group makes great gains. The 17th Panzer Division takes Slonim after pushing units of the Soviet 4th Army out. The 18th Panzer Div pushes toward Baranovichi, while the 29th Motorized moves to support the 17th Panzer at Slonim. On the right wing of the 2nd Panzer Group, panzers force back the extreme left wing of Gen Aleksandr A. Korobkov's army, separating it from the main components that were being enveloped inside the pocket. Korobkov issues orders for his troops to fight their way to the line Yaselda River-Slonim but this position is already in danger. As a result the 4th Army faces a critical situation, compelling Korobkhov to begin the difficult task of extricating his forces from the Yaselda and moving them back to the Shchara.

The withdrawal of Golubev's 10th Army from the Bialystok pocket places increasing pressure upon the ever-lengthening left flank of the 2nd Panzer Group. Guderian is forced to commit his reserve XLVI Panzer Corps to this flank to contain the Soviet forces. To the rear, the Germans launch yet another attack against the encircled Soviet garrison in Brest-Litovsk, while on the extreme right wing of the army group there is involved in heavy fighting at Maloryta.

Pavlov assigns the XXI Rifle Corps of three divisions to the 13th Army. The 13th also collects the remnants of a tank division at Molodechno.

Developments in this sector are less dramatic compared with the battles to the north but no less successful. Both Reichenau's 6th Army and Kleist's 1st Panzer Group punch holes through the junction of the 5th and 6th Armies and push eastward. As the panzers rip through the Soviet defenses, infantry follows in their wake, mopping up pockets of Soviet resistance. The first indication of a Soviet counteroffensive is felt as two divisions of the XXII Mechanized Corps attack the 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions of the III Panzer Corps east of Vladimir Volynsky. With the panzers involved in close and heavy fighting, German infantry moves up to support their flanks and rear. As the fighting erupts, troops of the XIV Panzer Corps reaches Lutsk. The XV Mechanized Corps also attacks but fails to halt the continued advance of the 11th Panzer Division. Troops of the 297th Infantry Division move to protect the panzer's line of communication.

On the southern wing of the attack, Stulpnagel's 17th Army also meets with success. Having opened a 20-mile gap between Gen Ivan N. Muzychenko's 6th and Gen Fedor I. Kostenko's 26th Armies, the Germans press on and capture Nemirov.

Despite these setbacks, Kirponos presses ahead with the concentration of his armor against Kleist but experiences increasing disruption from Luftwaffe attacks. The Soviets are compelled to carry out much of their movement at night, as they are at the mercy of the Luftwaffe during the day. In preparation of the counterattack, the IV and XXII Mechanized Corps are ordered to remain with their parent units, while the VIII, XV, IX and XIX Mechanized Corps assemble at Lutsk, Rovno, Dubno and Brody, to strike the flanks of the German 6th Army and the 1st Panzer Group.

On the extreme southern flank, opposite the Rumanian border, the Red Army high command activates the South Front around the pre-war Odessa Military District. This front is commanded by Gen Gen Ivan V. Tyulenev from his headquarters at Vinnitsa and consists of Gen Yakov T. Cherevichenko's 9th and Gen Andrew K. Smirnov's 18th Armies. The 18th had only recently been formed from elements of the 9th and 12th Armies.

Finnish forces land on Aaland and take control from the Soviet garrison. In the Arctic north, on the Russo-Norwegian border, Dietl's mountain corps begins to advance from the Petsamo mining region toward Murmansk.

Slovakia joins the axis coalition and sends force into Russia to fight alongside Army Group South./