June 1941

Eastern Front

Reinhardt reaches and crosses the Dvina at Jekabpils, while Manstein begins the battle to break out from the bridgehead at Daugavpils despite having received no clear orders from group headquarters. The fighting on the river line succeeds in wearing down the XXI Mechanized Corps to such an extent that it has just 7 operational tanks, 74 artillery pieces and a little more than 4,000 men. Having failed to cut through the German lines on the previous day, the Soviet units go onto the defensive. At 0500 hours Manstein attacks, giving the exhausted Soviet units no time to catch their breath.

The renewed German attack endangers the junction of the 8th and 27th Armies and threatens to overwhelm Kuznetsov's hastily erected defenses along the Dvina line. In addition, the XXXVIII Corps of the 18th Army captures Jelgava and, after a bitter battle, the 291st Infantry Division finally captures Libau. The bulk of the XXVI Corps is closing on Riga, and in a daring effort, Kampfgruppe Lasch breaks into the city and seizes control of the vital railway bridge across the Dvina. Two rifle divisions of the 8th Army, falling back through Riga, launch a furious counterattack against Lasch in conjuction with elements of the XII Mechanized Corps. The German battle group is force to fall back. Four years later Lasch will be sentenced to death by Hitler for surrendering Konigsberg to the advancing Soviet armies. The Soviet high command, sensing the imminent collapse of the Dvina position, begins to build up additional reserves on the Velikaya River, south of Lake Peipus. The XXIV and XLI Rifle Corps take defensive positions.

The encircled garrison of Brest-Litovsk is finally crushed by a combined attack from ground and air forces with support from overwhelming artillery fire.

At this stage of the battle, Satlin and Timoshenko are aware of the encirclement of the West Front, mainly by listening to intercepts of German radio traffic. In an effort to find out the true situation, Gen Zhukov asks Gen Pavlov over the radio if it is true that the Germans have isolated two of his armies to the east of Minsk. Pavlov replies that he thinks this might well be true, clearly demonstrating he is not in touch with developments at the front. A short time later, Lt-Gen A. I. Eremenko, accompanied by Marshals Voroshilov and Shaposhnikov of the defense committee, arrive to take command of the West Front from the unfortunate Pavlov, who is informed he has been recalled to Moscow to report directly to Stalin.

After failing to halt Kleist's panzers and suffering heavy casualties, Kirponos calls off his counterattack. With his armor in tatters, he is compelled to order his armies to fall back but is hindered by a total lack of air support and a shortage of fuel for his vehicles. As the armies to his south fall back, Potapov's 5th Army is ordered to counterattack in an effort to support the IX Mechanized Corps, which continues to inflict heavy casualties upon the 13th Panzer Divison.

Despite Kirponos' orders to halt attacks against the 1st Panzer Group, the XIX Mechanized and XXXVI Rifle Corps continue their attacks in an effort to reach Dubno. On the southern wing of the attack, the VIII Mechanized Corps is sliced in two and begins the difficult task of extricating itself from a very dangerous situation.

Stuplnagel's 17th Army fights its way into Lvov and is in the process of clearing out the Red Army. As the Soviets fall back through the city they commit horrendous atrocities against the Polish-Ukrainian population, the NKVD murdering more thatn 3,000 political prisoners in a deadly blood bath.

With his armies suffering terribly, the Stavka authorize Kirponos to pull his forces back to a line Simovich-Novgorod Volynsky-Shepetovka-Proskurov-Kamenets Podolsky.

The Finnish Southwestern Army continues to attack the center of the 23rd Army and severs the junction of the two central rifle divisions, the 43rd and the 115th. The success of their attack prompts the Finns to puch the IV Corps rapidly forward in an effort to outflank the Vyborg defenses.

In the far north, Dietl renews his attack toward Murmansk with two mountain divisions. Fierce attacks strike the 14th and 52nd Rifle divisions of the 14th Army. After initially strong resistance the forward elements of th 14th Rifle Division begins to pull back to the Titovka River. In an effort to prevent a close German pursuit, the 52nd Rifle Division throws in covering forces behind the 14th Rifle Division.

With the armies in the field in total disarray, the Soviet defense committee issues harsh measures in an effort to slow the German advance. A scorched earth policy is to be introduced to deny the Germans any material gain in the occupied territories. Any livestock which can not be transported to the east is to be slaughtered and fields of crops burned, while entire factories are uprooted and loaded onto trains, to be taken east of the Urals out of the range of the Luftwaffe.

The first week of fighting in Russia sees the Luftwaffe meet with unrivalled success. An estimate by the OKL claims that air force units in Russia destroyed 4,000 Soviet aircraft and gained firm control of the skies for the loss of only 150 of their own planes.