July 1942

Eastern Front

Left-wing units of the West Front begin to attack the 2nd Panzer Army. The fighting will rage for a week without any appreciable Soviet success.

The 21st and 40th Armies begin to abandon their positions and fall back toward the Don. Both the 4th Panzer and 6th Armies, not realizing that the Soviet forces are withdrawing, and under direct orders from the Führer, turn their attacks in to envelop the Soviet forces on the west bank of the Don.

In the Crimea, the Germans pound the Soviets around Sevastopol. Fierce Luftwaffe and artillery attacks soften the Soviet positions around the city in preparation for the infantry assault. A large part of the garrision, however, has abandoned Sevastopol and fallen back to the Khersonnes peninsula.