Battle of Raseiniai
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The Battle of Raseiniai (23 June 1941 and 27 June 1941) was a tank battle fought between the elements of the 4th Panzer Army and two Soviet Mechanized Corps in Lithuania 75km north-west of Kaunas in the attempt by the commander of the Northwestern Front to contain, and destroy German troops that had crossed the River Neman. The result of the battle was the almost complete destruction of Soviet armored forces of the Northwestern Front, clearing the way for the German continued offensive towards Daugava River (or Western Dvina) crossings. This was one of the major battles during the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa known in Soviet history as the Border Defensive Battles (22 June 1941 - 24 June 1941) as part of the larger Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.
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[edit] Prelude
Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, and staging in East Prussia prior to the commencement of the offensive, was the northern of three Army Groups participating in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Army Group North controlled the 18th and 16th Armies, along with the 4th Panzer Group commanded by General Erich Hoepner. In total, the Germans had 20 infantry divisions, three Panzer and three motorized infantry divisions. Air support was provided by the 1st Air Fleet.
The military administrative control over the Baltic republics area where the Army Group North would be deployed was exercised by the Special Baltic Military District which after the invasion was renamed into the Northwestern Front, Commanded by Colonel General Kutznetsov. The Northern Front fielded 8th and 11th Armies with 27th Army in its second echelon. All together, Northwestern Front had 28 rifle, 4 tank, and 2 motorized divisions.
[edit] The operation
Army Group North's had two armored spearheads of 4th Panzer Army. These were the XXXXI Panzer Corps and LVI Panzer Corps. Their objectives was to cross the River Neman and River Dvina, the most difficult natural obstacles in front of Army Group North's drive towards Leningrad.
German bombers destroyed many of the signals and communications centers, naval bases, and the Soviet aerodromes in particular; from Riga to Kronstadt, on Šiauliai, Vilnius and Kaunas the bombs rained on carefully selected targets. Soviet aircraft had been on one-hour alert, but were held on their airfields after the first wave of German bombers passed.
At 9.30 AM June 22, Colonel-General Kuznetsov, ordered 3rd and 12th Mechanised Corps to take up their counter-attack positions in intention to use them in flanking attacks on 4th Panzer Army which had broken through to the River Dubissa. By noon, Soviet divisions began to fall back. The German columns then began swung against Raseiniai, where Kuznetsov was concentrating his own armor for a major counter-attack for the next day. By the evening, Soviet formations had fallen back to the River Dubysa. North-west of Kaunas, forward elements of von Manstein's 56th Panzer Corps reached the River Dubysa and seized the vital Ariogola road viaduct across it. Without this crossing, Germans tanks might have been trapped in what was a giant natural tank ditch. A dash to Dvinsk would have been wholly ruled out. Meanwhile south-west of Vilnius more armor from 3rd Panzer Army, which had ripped through the Soviet 11th Army, moved across the Niemen River over the intact bridges.
By the end of the 1st day, the German armored spearheads had crossed the River Neman and penetrated 50 miles. The next day, Kuznetsov committed his armored forces to battle. Near Raseiniai, the XXXXI Panzer Corps was counter-attacked by 300 tanks of the Soviet 3rd and 12th Mechanised Corps. The battle would last for 4 days.
In the south, by June 23 Lieutenant-General Morozov, 11th Army commander, ordered the units falling back to the old fortress town Kaunas on the Nemen to move on to Jonava some 30 miles to the north-east. By the evening of June 25th, the Soviet 8th Army fell back towards Riga and the 11th towards Vilnius to Desna. A breach gaped in the Soviet front; from Ukmergė to Daugavpils there was nothing but huge hole.
By June 26th, the German Panzer Divisions cut through the Soviet Mechanised Corps and linked up. The Soviet 3rd Mechanised Corps severely depleted due to losses in vehicles and personnel[1] and 12th pulled out of the trap by now very short of fuel and ammunition.
The Soviet Baltic Fleet was withdrawn from bases in Liepāja, Windau and Riga by June 26th. Meanwhile, von Manstein's 56th Panzer Corps dashed for the River Dvina and in a remarkable coup seized bridges near Dvinsk intact.
[edit] After the operation
After the seizure of the Dvina bridges and the fall of Dvinsk, the leading formations of LVI Panzer Corps furiously set about enlarging the bridgehead. On June 25th, marshal Semyon Timoshenko ordered Colonel-General Kuznetsov to organize a defense of the West Dvina, by deploying 8th Army on the right bank of the river from Riga to Livani while 11th Army would defend Livani-Kraslava sector. Colonel-General Kuznetsov also decided to use Major-General Berzarin's 27th Army. Berzarin was to pull his troops off the Dago and Osel islands and out of Riga and bring them to Daugavpils. At the same time Stavka released Major-General Lelyushenko's 21st Mechanized Corps from Moscow Military District to cooperate with 27th Army; Lelyushenko had 98 tanks and 129 guns.
At 5:00 AM, on June 28th, Lelyushenko attacked upon Kuznetsov's orders in attempt to destroy the German bridgehead near Daugavpils. von Manstein halted on Dvina but on the next day he attacked, striking along the Daugavpils-Ostrov highway. At Riga on the afternoon of June 29th, the Germans crossed the railway bridge over the Dvina and on 30 June Soviet troops withdrew on the right bank of the river and by July 1st were in retreat to Estonia. A priceless opportunity now offered itself to the Germans. An immediate drive forwards would make it almost impossible for the Soviets to defend Leningrad. However, it was not to be, orders received with disbelief by the tank men were to wait for the infantry to arrive, in the end the wait would last almost a week.
Colonel-General Kuznetsov was removed as Front commander by Timoshenko and Sobennikov, 8th Army commander, took over the Front, effective from July 4th. Timoshenko issued a directive on June 29th to the North-Western Front stipulating that in the event of a withdrawal from the Western Dvina, the next river line, the Vilikaia, was to be held and every effort made to get Soviet troops installed there. Despite this the river Vilikaia line had fallen rapidly at July 8th and the rail and road bridges remained intact. Pskov itself fell on the evening of July 9th. The 11th Army commander was therefore ordered to move to Dno. The crumbling of the North-West front on the Velikaya and the German sweep to Luga were grave set-backs and the 8th Army was being rammed inexorably towards the Gulf of Finland. But the German pause had given time for the Soviets to rush in more troops to defend Leningrad and the battle for the city would be long and hard.
[edit] Sources and References
- ^ Boyevoye Doneseniye No.1, HQ North-western Front, July 2, 1941, 24:00// Sbornik boyevykh dokumentov vol. 34, Moscow, Voyennoye Izdatelstvo Ministerstva Oborony, 1958 and E. Drig, "Mekhanizirovannye korpusa RKKA v boyu", AST, Moscow, 2005 , via http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/formation/mechcorps/3mk.htm
