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Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Part 3

I have just finished writing my third novel in the Devils with Wings series, Devils with Wings: Frozen Sun. The Fallschirmjager, after their successful battle taking Crete in only 10 days, are shipped to Poland to partake in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

They leave temperatures in excess of forty degrees to be used, not in an airborne operation, but as a fire brigade, plugging gaps in the line around Leningrad. They were Army Group North’s strategic reserve.  They were quickly placed into the fray, fighting along the River Neva, where temperatures dropped to below -30 degrees, sometimes as low as -40. They were successful at plugging the gaps and preventing the Soviet Union from exploiting their bridgeheads over the River Neva, but at a price. Some units suffered up to 75% casualties. Many who had survived the assault on the Fortress Eben Emael, (Devils with Wings) and the fierce fighting on the Island of Crete (Devils with Wings: Silk Drop) met their fate in this bitter struggle with the atrocious weather and the never ending Soviet hordes.

The German Army, and the Fallschirmjager, were soon to experience the hostile Russian winters.

During the period of the 23rd – 27th June 1941, a major tank battle was fought between elements of General Hoepner’s 4th Panzer Group and the Russian 3rd Mechanised Corps, commanded by Major General Kurkin and the Russian 12th Mechanised Corps commanded by Major General Shestapolov.

4th Panzer Group advanced in two spearheads and broke through to the River Dubysa and Colonel General Kutznetsov ordered the two mechanised corps to take up counterattack positions ready to hit the German flanks.

By the end of the 22nd June, the German armour had penetrated 80 kilometres in their drive towards Leningrad. The next day, near a town called Raseiniai, Kutznetsov ordered his tanks to attack. Unfortunately for him, the Luftwaffe had detected the Russian armour and JU 88’s from Luftflotte 1 destroyed 40 vehicles, tanks and lorries. The battle lasted for 4 days, but he was eventually defeated.

It was here the German Army came across the KV heavy tanks for the first time, the Panzer 35(t) tanks and anti-tank weapons were practically ineffective against them. Below is a KV heavy tank.

Some of the types of equipment used in this biggest ever invasion of a country are shown below. Most of the photographs were taken at the Bovington Tank Museum.

Heavy Tank KV-1B. The tank that surprised the German Army.

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Armour 106mm, weighing 47 tons.

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One 76.2mm main gun with 3 x 7.62mm MGs.

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Large, crude, but very effective. Speed 34kph.

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StuG III Ausf G. 

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Built on the chassis of the Panzer III tank. 24 tons.

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Originally designed to fulfil an infantry support role..

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Crew of 4, top speed of  40kph.

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To combat the larger Russian tanks, such as the KV and T-34, it was later fitted with a high velocity 75mm stuck 40 L/43 gun.

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The German Army later had its own large tanks. Jagdtiger – Tank Destroyer.

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Jagdtiger SdKfz 186.  The official German designation was Panzerjager Tiger Ausf B

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Weighing 71.7 tons with a top speed of 34kph.

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250mm of armour and a 128mm PaK 44 L/55.

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 V-12 Maybach engine with Henschel suspension. 

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Tortoise, another massive self-propelled gun built at the end of the war, weighing 78 tons.

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Armour thickness of 225mm, 94mm gun and a top speed of 19kph.

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My intention is not to portray a particular message, but just share some of my photographs and information with you and help set the scene for my forthcoming novel.

Photographs are copyrighted to Harvey Black

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Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Part 2

I have just finished writing my third novel in the Devils with Wings series, Devils with Wings: Frozen Sun. The Fallschirmjager, after their successful battle taking Crete in only 10 days, are shipped to Poland to partake in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

They leave temperatures in excess of forty degrees to be used, not in an airborne operation, but as a fire brigade, plugging gaps in the line around Leningrad. They were Army Group North’s strategic reserve.  They were quickly placed into the fray, fighting along the River Neva, where temperatures dropped to below -30 degrees, sometimes as low as -40. They were successful at plugging the gaps and preventing the Soviet Union from exploiting their bridgeheads over the River Neva, but at a price. Some units suffered up to 75% casualties. Many who had survived the assault on the Fortress Eben Emael, (Devils with Wings) and the fierce fighting on the Island of Crete (Devils with Wings: Silk Drop) met their fate in this bitter struggle with the atrocious weather and the never ending Soviet hordes.

The German Army, and the Fallschirmjager, were soon to experience the hostile Russian winters.

Opposite Army Group North were two Soviet armies. The Group’s objective was to cross the River’s Neman and Daugava, the two largest obstacles barring their advance towards Leningrad.

At his disposal, Ritter von Lieb, the commander of Army Group North, had three armies and one air fleet, Luftlotte 1. The three armies, 16th Army, 18th Army and the 4th Panzer Army fielded 29 divisions between them.

Some of the types of equipment used in this biggest ever invasion of a country are shown below. Most of the photographs were taken at the Bovington Tank Museum.

Panzer II. Used mainly as a reconnaissance tank. A top speed of 40 kph and a 20mm main gun.

Panzer II. This tank served with 10th Panzer Division in North Africa. It weighed 9.5 tons.

Panzer II. A crew of three with 33mm of armour for protection.

Panzer IV D/H with its 75mm main armament. 

Panzer IV. A German medium tank, weighing 25 tons.

Panzer IV. Armour thickness 30mm – D,  80mm – H.

Panzer IV, top speed of  38kph.

Panzer IV. The spaced armour around the turret  was to help reduce the effect of Russian anti-tank rifles.

Panzer IV had a crew of 5.

Hetzer Jagdpanzer 38(f). A compact and effective tank destroyer with its 75mm gun 

Hetzer Jagdpanzer 38(f). 15.75 tons, armour 60mm, crew 4, speed 42kph.

SU-76M, light mechanised gun. Zis-3, 76.2mm gun mounted on a T-70 chassis.

 SU-76M.10.2 tons, crew of 4 and top speed of 45kph. 

SU-76M. Armour 33mm. This one is a later model used by the Communist forces during the Korean War.

On the first day, Panzer Group 4’s 600 tanks crossed the River Neman and penetrated up to 80 kilometres. On reaching the area Raseiniai, the armoured units were counter attacked by 300 tanks of the 3rd and 12th Soviet Mechanised Corps. It took the German forces four days to encircle and destroy the Soviet armour. By the end of the first week, the Soviet Mechanised Corps had lost 90% of its strength.

My intention is not to portray a particular message, but just share some of my photographs and information with you and help set the scene for my forthcoming novel.

Photographs are copyrighted to Harvey Black

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Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Part 1

I have just finished writing my third novel in the Devils with Wings series, Devils with Wings: Frozen Sun. The Fallschirmjager, after their successful battle taking Crete in only 10 days, are shipped to Poland to partake in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

They leave temperatures in excess of forty degrees to be used, not in an airborne operation, but as a fire brigade, plugging gaps in the line around Leningrad. They were Army Group North’s strategic reserve.  They were quickly placed into the fray, fighting along the River Neva, where temperatures dropped to below -30 degrees, sometimes as low as -40. They were successful at plugging the gaps and preventing the Soviet Union from exploiting their bridgeheads over the River Neva, but at a price. Some units suffered up to 75% casualties. Many who had survived the assault on the Fortress Eben Emael, (Devils with Wings) and the fierce fighting on the Island of Crete (Devils with Wings: Silk Drop) met their fate in this bitter struggle with the atrocious weather and the never ending Soviet hordes.

The German Army, and the Fallschirmjager, were soon to experience the hostile Russian winters.

Beginning on the 22 June 1941, nearly 4 million Axis troops invaded the USSR along a front that extended for nearly 4,000 kilometres.

Some of the types of equipment used in this biggest ever invasion of a country are shown below. Most of the photographs were taken at the Bovington Tank Museum.

Panzer I. Command Tank. Fitted out with communications equipment for use by a senior German Officer 

Panzer I. Command Tank. Entered service in 1934. Often seen in large numbers in pre-war parades. 

Panzer I. Command Tank. Rear view

SdKfz 251 Armoured Personnel Carrier

SdKfz 251 Armoured Personnel Carrier. Crew of 2 + 10

SdKfz 251 Armoured Personnel Carrier. Designed by Hanomag and Bussing-NAG in 1937

SdKfz 251 Armoured Personnel Carrier. Weight 7.8 tons. Top speed 53kph

Luchs PzKfw II Ausf L, a key reconnaissance vehicle on the Russian Front.

Luchs PzKfw II Ausf L, 30mm of armour and a crew of 4.

 Luchs PzKfw II Ausf L, with a top speed of 60kph and weighing 13 tons. 

SdKfz 234/3 Heavy Armoured Car

The 234 was unusually diesel powered. 

SdKfz 234/3.  Crew of 4 and 30mm armour. Markings are for 116th Panzer Division.

SdKfz 234/3.  Fitted with a short 75mm gun.

SdKfz 234/3.  Used in a close support role.

SdKfz 234/3.  Gun mounted in an open barbette rather than a turret.

A technically advanced 8-wheeler.

My intention is not to portray a particular message, but just share some of my photographs and information with you and help set the scene for my forthcoming novel.

Photographs are copyrighted to Harvey Black

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General Erich Von Manstein, Part 3.

During the battles around southern Leningrad, in October and November 1941, in temperatures reaching -40 degrees, the 3rd Fallschirmjager Regiment, FJR3, 7th Flieger Division, commanded by General Student, was dispatched to defend parts of the River Neva and repulse any Russian attempts at creating a bridgehead. They were used in battalion-sized units in a fire-fighting role and consequently some elements suffered up to 75% casualties. The setting for my third novel, Devils with Wings: Frozen Sun

This unit was just a small piece of the jigsaw of Army Group North’s push through the Balkans during Operation Barbarossa, launched by Hitler on Sunday, 22nd June 1941.

With Operation Sea lion, the Invasion of Britain cancelled, Hitler’s eyes were already turning east. Manstein was to prove his worth yet again in one of the largest battles ever…

For the drive east, Operation Barbarossa, the subjugation of the Soviet Union, Manstein was put in command of a motorised corps, LVI AK (mot), assigned to Generaloberst Erich Hopner’s 4th Panzergruppe, part of Army Group North. He was assigned the 8th Panzer Division, 3rd Infantry Division (mot) and the 290th Infantry Division, a key problem being that one of his divisions would have to move by the age-old method of travel, by foot.

He received his instructions from Hopner and, along with General Reinhardt, was ordered to punch through the thinly held Russian defences, then, encircling any units on their way, particularly the Soviet 6th Army, secure crossings over the Dvina River.

In the early hours of the 22nd June 1941, Manstein struck at the army boundary between the Soviet 8th and 11th Armies, advancing over 40 miles in the first day. Although General Reinhardt’s XLI AK (mot) Corps, had been held up by a surprise attack from the Soviet 3rd Mechanised Corps around Raseiniai, Manstein continued his dash across Lithuania and made rapid progress down the Dvinsk highway. After an advance of nearly 200 hundred miles in less than 5 days, he secured the Dvinsk road and rail bridges across the River Dvina intact.

The drawback to this speedy advance meant that Manstein’s forces were well ahead of the rest of Army Group North and his Infantry were still two days away. Along with that, his lack of experience in commanding armoured units meant his advanced units were practically immobilised through lack of supplies, particularly fuel. He had used up to 100 tons of gasoline per day.

After an unsuccessful counterattack on Manstein’s bridgehead on the 28th June, by Soviet General-Major Lelyushenko’s 21st Mechanised Corps, Manstein’s Corps refuelled, the rest of Army Group North reached the Dvina River, and Manstein was again able to continue his advance, pursuing Lelyushenko’s retreat northeast, supported by the SS-Division ‘Totenkopf’, now attached to his Corps.

Although his advance proved sluggish, Reinhardt having much more success in his drive for Leningrad, his Corps eventually marched northeast towards Novgorod with his 8th Panzer Division in the lead.

In the meantime, Soviet General-Major Lazarev, gathered a force in the woods north of Soltsy, the 21st Tank Division and 70th Rifle Division, and three weaker rifle divisions south of Soltsy.  On the morning of the 15th July he struck, mounting a pincer attack behind 8th Panzer Division in an attempt to cut them off from the rest of their Corps, the German panzer division was soon surrounded.

Provided with limited supplies from the air, 8th Panzer Division was ordered to break out. After two days of fighting and incurring heavy casualties, they succeeded, but had to be withdrawn and switched to being a reserve unit while refitting.

In early August, Manstein, reinforced by two Infantry divisions, conducted a frontal action against the Soviet defences around Luga. Just as he was on the verge of linking up with Reinhardt’s enveloping Panzers the Soviets counterattacked again.

On the 12th August, the Soviet 11th and 34th Armies’ ten divisions attacked the three divisions of the German X AK, in Staraya, Russia. This was a major catastrophe for Army Group North. Manstein, on the 19th August, with his SS-Division ‘Totenkopf’ and 3rd Infantry Division, mounted a two-division pincer attack against Kachanov’s 34th Army to relieve the trapped Corps.

Manstein not only re-established communication with the encircled Army Corps, but encircled the elements of five Soviet divisions capturing up to 12,000 prisoners. The Soviet High Command considered the defeat so serious; Kachanov was executed for his failure.

Generalfieldmarschall Ritter von Leeb, commander of Army Group North, then attached Manstein’s Corp to 16th Army Corps to continue the push eastwards towards Demyansk. But, on the 12th September, very close to Demyansk, Manstein was given the command of 11th Army Corps in Army Group South. He left the next day to join his new command. The Crimea his next destination…