Battle of Brody (1941)

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Battle of Brody (1941) Part of World War II Date June 26, 1941 – June 30, 1941 Location Brody, Ukraine Result German victory Belligerents Germany Soviet Union Commanders Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist Colonel-General Mikhail Kirponos Strength 600 Tanks 1000 Tanks Casualties and losses Heavy All Soviet Tanks Destroyed[citation needed]

v • d • e Eastern Front Barbarossa – Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Blue – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Battle of Narva – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Baltic – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Lublin-Brest – Balkans (Iassy-Kishinev) – Budapest – Vistula-Oder – East Prussia – East Pomerania – Silesia – Vienna – Berlin – Prague

v • d • e Operation Barbarossa Brest – Bialystok-Minsk – Raseiniai – Brody – Smolensk – Uman – 1st Kiev – Yelnya – Odessa – Leningrad – 1st Kharkov – 1st Crimea – 1st Rostov

The Battle of Brody ( other names used are Battle of Dubna, Battle of Dubno, Battle of Rovne, Battle of Rovne-Brody etc.) was a tank battle fought between the 1st Panzer Group's IIIrd, XXXXVIII Army Coprs (mot.) and five Soviet Mechanized Corps in northern Ukraine between 26, June 1941 and 30, June 1941 known in Soviet history as the Ukrainian Border Defensive Battles. Although the Red Army formations fought well, and inflicted heavy losses on the German forces, they were outmaneuvered and suffered large losses in tanks. This was of the most intense armoured engagements in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa and remained the largest tank battle of World War II until the Battle of Kursk two years later.

[edit] Prelude

1st Panzer Group led by Kleist was ordered to secure the Bug river crossings, and advance to Rovno and Korosten with the strategic objective of Kiev. It deployed two Corps forward and advanced between Lvov and Rovno in the attempt to cut the Lvov - Kiev railway line.

Opposing the Germans in the Lvov - Kiev railway line sector of the front was the Soviet Southwestern Front's 6th Army and Front reserve trops.

[edit] The Battle

The primary German infantry formation operating on this sector of the front, IV Army Corps (von Schwedler) of the 17th Army (Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel) were advancing in the south-easterly direction with the objective of reaching the railway line by late on the 25th of June.

On June 26, five Soviet Mechanized Corps, (the 4th, 8th, 9th, 15th and 19th Mechanized Corps) and with over 1,000 tanks mounted massive counterattacks from the north and south. The aim was to cut through the flanks of 1st Panzer Army and meet near Dubno. The 9th and 19th Mechanised Corps were deployed north-west of Rovno, the 8th and 15th Mechanised Corps were deployed to the south-west and north-east of Brody, and the 4th Mechanised Corps was deployed between Sokal and Radekhov. The overall command for the the concentric attack intended to be delivered was with General Vlasov.^[1] The intention was for the Sovet Corps to execute a concentric attack and convert it into a pincer movement that med west of Dubno, intended to trap parts of the 6th and 17th German Armies (the northern flank of the Army Group). Seemingly the Front Staff were unaware that they were about to engage in combat the 1st Panzer Group's leading formations.

The battle between the 1st Panzer Army and the Soviet Mechanised Corps was the fiercest of the whole invasion, lasting a full 4 days. The Soviets fought furiously and crews of German tank and anti-tank guns found to their horror that the new Soviet T-34 Tanks were almost immune to their weapons. The new KV-1 and KV-2 heavy tanks were impervious to virtually all German anti-tank weapons, but the Red Army's supply had completely broken down due to Luftwaffe attacks.

The five Red Army Corps were mishandled while being concentrated into large powerful groups. The German troops sought to isolate individual tanks or small groups, and after they had been immobilised by blowing off their tracks, they could be destroyed by demolition charges or direct attachment of mines to their more vulnerable armour plating. Meanwhile the Luftwaffe was ranging freely over the battlefields, and although relatively ineffective against Soviet tanks, they were able to separate the supporting infantry and deny them resupply of fuel and ammunition.^[2] Ultimately due to lack of adequate planning and overall coordination the Soviet counter-attack failed to meet at Dubno.

[edit] After the Battle

Although 1st Panzer Army took a severe battering in the battles around Dubno, it survived the battle still capable of operation. The Soviets did not. The last substantial Soviet tank forces in the South had been used up clearing the way for the German drive deep into the industrial and agricultural heartland of the Ukraine.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Deichman, Paul, Spearhead for Blitzkrieg:Luftwaffe operations in support of the Army 1939-1945, Alfred Price ed., Ivy Books, New York, 1999
• Haupt, Werner, Army Group Centre: The Wehrmacht in Russia 1941-1945, Schiffer Military History, Atglen, 1997