June 1941

Eastern Front

Leeb pushes forward relentlessly as the German advance forces back Kuznetsov's Northwest Front. The divergent withdrawal of Sobennikov's 8th and Morozov's 11th Armies places the Northwest Front under intense pressure, the gap between the two armies growing larger with every hour. Kuznetsov calls upon the High Command to release Gen Nikolai E. Bezarin's 27th Army to help defend the Dvina line in an effort to plug the threatening hole in his defenses. Gen Dmitry D. Lelyushenko's XXI Mechanized Corps is attached to the new army and is deployed around Daugavpils. Lelyushenko has only 98 tanks and 130 artillery pieces and he is ordered to halt Manstein's powerful LXI Panzer Corps. As the day progresses and the LVI Panzer Corps moves up to the Dvina, they begin to encounter elements of the XXI Mechanized, becoming embroiled in skirmishes with outlying Soviet units.

To the rear, the XLI Panzer Corps continues its hard fought battle at Rasainiai. Under heavy attack, the Germans are forced onto the defensive, attempting to hold the Soviet attacks frontally. The XII Mechanized Corps now brings the main part of its strength into the battle, attacking with its small complement of KV and T-34 tanks. These new weapons cause the Germans considerable frustration, especially the KVs which seem impervious to all manner of German anti-tank weapons.

Along the Baltic coast the 291st Infantry Division is involved in further heavy fighting with the 67th Rifle Division near Libau. The main part of the XXVI Corps continues its advance inland toward Riga as the 291st throws siege lines around the port.

With enemy forces close to the Dvina, Kuznetsov undertakes measures to prevent the German exploitation of their advance north of the Dvina. Sobennikov's 8th Army, having suffered heavily but still intact, is ordered to bring its forces back to the river and establish a defensive line from Riga to Livani. Bezarin's 27th Army is to dig in between Livania and Kraslava. Farther to the rear, the Red Army is taking additional precautionary steps as Gen Popov, Northern Front commander, issues instructions for the fortification of a defensive line south of Leningrad, between Kingisepp and Lake Ilmen. Gen Konstantin P. Pyadyshev begins the task of trying to create defenses on this line from the scant resources in the area.

With disaster staring Gen Pavlov in the face, Marshal Timoshenko intervenes, ordering the 3rd, 10th and 4th Armies to pull back to the line Lida-Slonim-Pinsk, a position that has in fact already been breached by German units. At this stage of the battle, Pavlov realizes that his command has been less than spectacular. In an effort to restore the potentially disastrous situation, he nervously issues orders to units that in some cases no longer exist, and to reserve units far from the combat area. Gen Pyotor M. Filatov's 13th Army is ordered to hold onto the Molodechno sector and protect Minsk, while the 3rd Army is to stop the Germans at Lida. The 10th Army is to cover Slonim, which has already fallen to the Germans, and the 4th Army is to cover Pinsk and the line of the Shchara River. It is too late, however, to prevent the German exploitation of the rear areas, the bulk of the 10th and 3rd Armies being in virtual isolation around Bialystok and Volkovysk.

The 13th becomes involved in a bitter contest with elements of Hoth's panzer group to the north of Minsk. The XXXIX Panzer Corps takes Molodechno and Lida, while to the south Guderian meets with equal success, capturing Baranovichi after a brief battle. The leading German units are only a few miles apart, threatening to isolate those elements of the West Front that remain in the Bialystok salient.

As the battle for Minsk begins, the XXIV Panzer Corps strikes east, moving up to the Berezina. All that stands in front of the XXIV Panzer Corps and the Dniepr are the ragged remnants of the 4th Army, fighting running battles as they retreat together with misellaneous divisions supposedly destined for the 13th Army.

Near Grodno, deep inside the developing pocket, Boldin's ad hoc combat group resumes its attack against Strauss's 9th Army.

By dusk the situation throughout the West Front sector has deteriorated dramatically. Both the 3rd and 10th Armies are in operational isolation around Bialystok, the inner pincers of the 4th and 9th Armies drawing ever closer together. A narrow corridor remains open to the east, between Skidel and Volkovsky, through which thousands of desperate soldiers, ragged and short of the most rudimentary equipment, try in vain to escape. Outside this first pocket, the headquarters of Filatov's 13th Army, located near Minsk, is brought under sustained attack, many of its key personnel being killed or wounded. The survivors flee toward Minsk, leaving the tattered remnants of the 13th Army to fight their desperate final battle inside the cauldron. While its forces fall apart, Pavlov allocates the XLIV and II Rifle Corps to the 13th Army.

With the threat to the forces in the center growing, Marshal Timoshenko orders the 22nd Army to move from its position in the rear and deploy on the northern wing of the crumbling Western Front. The 22nd, 19th, 20th and 21st Armies of the Stavka reserve are ordered to form a Reserve Group under Budenny, establishing defensive positions along the line Nevel-Vitebsk-Mogilev-Zhlobin-Gomel-Chernigov.

Kirponos continues to concentrate his armor in preparation for the planned assault upon the 1st Panzer Group. Potapov has been assigned the command of two mechanized corps and instructed to attack long the line of the Lutsk-Brody railway north from Brody and Toropuv in the direction of Radekhov. To the north, another two corps are to advance from the Klevany area in a southerly direction. The attack is scheduled to begin at 0900 June 26. As Kirpinos prepares, the German 6th Army advances slowly but steadily into his northern wing despite stubborn resistance from the 5th Army. The 1st Panzer Group penetrates deeper into the Soviet lines as the 11th Panzer Division enters Dubno. On the dawn of Kirponos' attack, the III Panzer Corps is situated around Rovno, the XIV near Dubno and the XLVIII around Kremenets.

During the heavy fighting this day the Germans take Lutsk. In the south, the 17th Army fights a bloody campaign with the 26th Army around Lvov, both sides suffering heavy casualties during all these battles as they fight for control of the city environs.

500 Soviet bombers strike Finnish cities and airfields. War is declared upon the Soviet Union by an emergency session of the Finnish parliament. The immediate aim of the Finns is the recovery of the territory lost during the Winter War.