Battle of Brody (1941)
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| Battle of Brody (1941) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Germany |
 Soviet Union |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist | Colonel-General Mikhail Kirponos | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 600 Tanks | 1,000 Tanks | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Heavy | All Soviet Tanks Destroyed | ||||||
| Eastern Front |
|---|
| Barbarossa – Baltic Sea – Finland – Leningrad and Baltics – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Belorussia – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans – Hungary – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague |
| Operation Barbarossa |
|---|
| Bialystok-Minsk – Brody – Smolensk – Uman – 1st Kiev – Yelnya – Odessa – Leningrad – 1st Kharkov – 1st Crimea – 1st Rostov |
The Battle of Brody was a major tank battle fought between the 1st Panzer Army and 5 Soviet Mechanized Corps in Ukraine. Although the Russians fought well and inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, the Germans out maneuvered the Soviets and destroyed the Tanks. This was among the most fiercest battles in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa.
[edit] Prelude
Army Group South was deployed in Southern Poland and Romania. Commanded by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Army Group South had 6th and 17th Army in Poland and 11th Army in Romania. Its armored force was the 1st Panzer Army led by Kleist. The infantry armies had 33 divisions and the Panzers had 5 armored and 3 motorized divisions. Supporting the Germans were several Romanian, Italian and Slovakian forces.
Opposing the Germans in the South was the Russian South-West Front. In the South the Russians had 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th Armies with 27 rifle and cavalry divisions, 12 Tank and 6 motorized divisions. Another Soviet front in the South was the Russian South front. The Soviets had 9th and 18th with 17 rifle and cavalry divisions, 6 Tank divisions, and 3 motorized divisions.
The left wing of the Army Group South was made up of the 17th, 6th and 1st Panzer Army. Opposite stood the Soviet 5th, 6th and 26th Armies. The German 6th and 17th Armies struck at the junction between the Soviet 5th, 6th and 26th Armies, the 1st Panzer Army drove its armored spearhead of 600 Tanks straight through the Soviet 6th Army towards the town of Brody.
[edit] The Battle
On June 26, 5 Soviet Mechanized Corps, the 4th, 8th, 9th, 15th and 19th with over 1,000 Tanks mounted massive counter attacks from the north and south. The aim was to cut through the flanks of 1st Panzer Army and meet near Dubno. The battle between the 1st Panzer Army and the Soviet Mechanized Corps was the fiercest of the whole invasion. Lasting a full 4 days. The Russians 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.
However, the Soviets seldom handled their tanks well or concentrated into powerful groups. The Soviet tanks could be isolated and after they had been immobilized by blowing off their tracks they could be destroyed at close quarters. Meanwhile the Luftwaffe was ranging freely over the battlefield smashing Russian tanks and armor wherever it was found. The Soviet Armored pincers 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.
