Saturday, November 20, 2010

Barbarossa Derailed

"Barbarossa Derailed, The Battle for Smolensk 10 July-10 September 1941, Volume I," by David Glantz.

Finally received Glantz's latest book Barbarossa Derailed.  The publisher kept dangling this one in front of me for 6+ months.  But it is here and quite the volume.  In Glantz's day-by-day style, this tells the story of the German Army Group Center advance after their initial encirclements.  But unlike previous books on the topic, it also tells the story of the Soviet defense and counterattacks.  And also unlike earlier works, the story is not just told as so many milestone markers going beneath the panzer treads but describes the constant clashes in terms of German and Soviet units involved and the outcomes.  It is the accumulation of these clashes and the attrition and delay they impose on the seemingly inexorable German advance, that add up to a critical Soviet strategic defensive victory early in the war.

From a wargaming perspective, I'll try to capture many of these interesting early war clashes in enough detail to translate them to the tabletop battlefield.

Battle for Borisov, 30 June- 1 July 1941
Nehring's 18th  Panzer closes on the Berezina River and attempts to grab the bridge at Borisov.  Surprisingly, it encounters fortified defenses manned by remnants of 13th Army and units of the Borisov Tank School equipped with several tanks and under the command of Corps Commissar I. Z. Susaikov.  Susaikov was ordered by Eremenko to destroy the road and rail bridges at Borisov.  Nehring concentrates his division for a frontal assault on 30 June, forming Kampfgruppe Teege with a tank battalion and elements of the motorcycle and recon battalions.  The Kampfgruppe fails to dislodge the Soviets on 30 June but the next day after units of the 52nd Infantry Regiment and additional panzers reach the scene, the assault is successful and the infantry storms the bridge moments before the Soviets can set and activate the demolition charge fuzes.  Borisov was captured later on the 1st of July.

Battle East of Borisov 3 July 1941
The 18th Panzer division is east of Borisov and has been warned by the Luftwaffe of endless columns of motorized infantry and tanks, including KV's, along the road to his east.  This is Kreizer's 1st Motorized Division of the 7th Mech Corps.   Kreizer began his assault on 3 July with his division's 12th Tank Regiment with a company of KV's in the lead and protected on each flank by his motorized regiments.  Germans were surprised by the scale of the attacks and the heavy tanks caused panic.  88's and the Luftwaffe eventually stopped the assault but Nehring's took losses, losing 90 of his180 panzers and many of his panzer grenadiers according to the exaggerated Soviet sources.

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