Timeline 1941
June
June 22nd: OPERATION BARBAROSSA, the German invasion of the Soviet Union begins at 03:15 CET. German, Rumanian and Finnish forces comprising 166 divisions (4,306,800 men), 4171 tanks, 42,601 guns and 4846 aircraft launch the biggest military operation in history along a 1800 mile front, from 'Finland to the Black Sea'. Three German Army Groups go into action against 190 Soviet divisions (3,289,850 men), 15,687 tanks and 10,743 aircraft.
The overall objective of the campaign is to destroy the Soviet forces in western Russia by the autumn and to occupy the European part of the Soviet Union up to the line Archangelsk - Urals - Volga - Astrachan. In the first few hours of the attack, the Luftwaffe destroys 800 Soviet aircraft on the ground and 400 in the air. The Red Army forces along the border seem unprepared for the assault and offer only limited resistance.
June 23rd: German forces of Army Group Centre, cross the Bug river in southern Poland and capture Brest.
June 24th: German troops of Army Group North capture Kaunas and Vilnius in Lithuania.
June 25th: German armoured forces of Panzergruppe 1 capture Lutsk and Dubno in the western Ukraine.
June 26th: German forces of Army Group North capture Dünaburg in Latvia. The Luftwaffe carries out raids on Leningrad. Finland declares war on Russia.
June 27th: German forces encircle several Russian divisions near Minsk and capture Riga, Bobruisk and Przemysl.
June 28th: German troops of Army Group Centre capture Minsk.
June 29th: In northern Finland, the German 20th Gebirgsarmee launches Operation Silver Fox, an offensive to capture the Russian port of Murmansk. Several Russian divisions are encircled near Bialystok.
June 30th: German forces of Army Group South capture Lvov.
July
July 1st: Forces of Panzergruppe 4 cross the Dvina river and capture Riga, while units of Panzergruppe 2 reach the Berezina River near Borisov.
July 2nd: On the southern front, troops of the German 11th and the Rumanian 3rd and 4th Armies begin an offensive from Moldavia toward Vinnitsa and the Black Sea port of Odessa.
July 3rd: For the first time since the beginning of the German attack on the Soviet Union, Stalin speaks to the Russian people over the radio. Demanding utmost resistance 'in our patriotic war against German Fascism', he calls for a policy of scorched earth if the Red Army is forced to yield ground and the formation of 'people's partisan' groups behind enemy lines, as well as the summary execution of all cowards and shirkers.
July 5th: Units of the German 6th Army break through the Stalin Line east of Lvov, while Panzergruppe 1 continues its advance toward Zhitomir and Berdichev in the Ukraine.
July 6th: Army Group North continues its advance, reaching a line from Lake Peipus through Reval to Parun, north of the Gulf of Riga.
July 8th: Panzergruppe 4 captures Pskov and advances toward Novgorod and Leningrad.
July 9th: Vitebsk is captured by troops of Army Group Centre.
July 10th: Panzergruppe 1 repulses a fierce Russian counter attack in the area of Korosten west of Kiev. The Finnish Karelian Army begins an offensive toward Lake Ladoga, northeast of Leningrad.
July 11th: Panzergruppe 1 advances to within 10 miles of Kiev. Stalin replaces 3 Front commanders, appointing Voroshilov for the northern, Timoshenko for the central and Budjenny for the southern fronts.
July 12th: The Luftwaffe launches its first bombing raid on Moscow, but with minimal results.
July 13th: Troops of Army Group North continue their advance from Pskov toward Luga, 75 miles from Leningrad.
July 15th: German forces of Army Group Centre complete the encirclement of 300,000 Russian troops in the Smolensk-Orsha pocket. On the outskirts of Leningrad, hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians, mostly women and teenagers, begin constructing over 300 miles of trenches and field fortifications.
July 16th: Finnish troops break through Russian positions north of Lake Ladoga. On the central front, German forces begin the destruction of several Russian divisions encircled in the Uman pocket. Stalin's son, Lt. Jacob Dugashvili, is taken prisoner near Vitebsk.
July 17th: Units of Army Gruop Centre cross the Dnepr river near Mogilev, while in the south the Rumanian 4th Army captures Kishinev on the lower Dnestr.
July 19th: In a major change of operational plans Hitler issues Directive No. 33, ordering the German 4th Army and 2nd Panzergruppe to suspend their attacks toward Moscow and join 6th Army and 1st Panzergruppe, with the objective of destroying the Russian 5th, 6th and 12th Armies west of the Dnepr-Dnestr line. The idea behind this directive is to begin exploiting the great agricultural and mineral riches of the Ukraine for the German war effort..
July 20th: Stalin appoints himself People's Commissar for Defense.
July 22nd: In the East, armored spearheads of Panzergruppe 4 advancing toward Leningrad reach Lake Ilmen.
July 23rd: Brest-Litovsk is taken by German troops after a month-long siege.
July 26th: Three Russian armies are encircled and destroyed in the Mogilev area.
July 27th: Guderian's 2nd Panzergruppe is renamed Panzergruppe Guderian in recognition of his successes. Further, he is no longer subordinate to Kluge, but answers directly to Bock, Commander of Army Group Centre. Smolensk is encircled by German forces, while fierce battles continue to rage 25 miles east of the city. Tallin, the capital of Estonia, is liberated by German troops.
July 28th: German troops begin to clear Russian forces trapped in the Smolensk pocket.
July 31st: Army Group North, advancing toward Leningrad, reaches Lake Ilmen.
August
August 1st: Army Group Centre continues its liquidation of the Smolensk pocket. Russian troops put up fierce resistance near Orsha and Vitebsk west of Smolensk. A powerful counter-offensive is launched at Gomel south of Mogilev against German bridgeheads over the Dnepr River.
August 3rd: 38,000 Russian prisoners are taken by Army Group Centre after the Roslavl battle of encirclement.
August 5th: Army Group Centre concludes the battle of encirclement at Smolensk and takes 310,000 Russian prisoners.
August 8th: Army Group Centre ends the battle of encirclement at Uman, taking 103,000 Soviet prisoners.
August 12th: Russian forces mount a counterattack at Staraja Russa, south of Lake Ilmen.
August 16th: The 56th Panzerkorps of 4th Panzergruppe captures Novgorod on the road to Leningrad. German and Rumanian forces of Army Group South capture Nikolaev, an importat Russian naval base on the Black Sea.
August 17th: Army Group North, in its drive toward Leningrad, captures Narva.
August 18th: The 1st Panzergruppe estalishes a bridgehead across the Dnepr at Zaporozhe. From Kairala in northern Finland, 20th Gebirgsarmee begins an offensive with the objective of capturing the vital Lend-Lease port of Murmansk.
August 20th: The 11th Army, of Army Group South captures Cherson on the Black Sea.
August 25th: Army Group South advances from the Gomel area toward Kiev in the Ukraine. The 3rd Panzer Corps, part of the 1st Panzergruppe, establishes a bridgehead across the Dnepr River at Dnepropetrovsk.
August 26th: Army Group North surrounds and destroys Russian forces in the area of Velikije Luki.
August 29th: Russian forces evacuate the Karelian Isthmus in the Crimea.
September
September 1st: Russian forces of the Central Front continued counter attacks in the Gomel sector.
September 5th: Estonia completely occupied by German forces.
September 7th: The offensive by 20th Gebirgsarmee in northern Finland to capture the vital Lend-Lease port of Murmansk comes to a halt. Mobile units of 6th Army achieve a breakthrough at Konotop in the Ukraine.
September 8th:
Leningrad is completely surrounded after German troops close the land
bridge at Schluesselburg.
September 12th: German forces in the Kremenchug
bridgehead across the Dnepr in the Ukraine advance north to aid in the
encirclement of Kiev. The first snows on the Eastern front begin to slow
German advances.
September 15th: General Kleist and General Guderian have their armored forces meet at Lokhvitsa, trapping four Russian armies.
September 17th: The US allocates $100,000,000 to the Soviet Union for the purchase of war materials. Stavka finally orders Russian forces to begin withdrawing from the Kiev area.
September 18th: Units of Army Group South capture Poltava in the Ukraine. Germans forces contintinue to annihilate Russian forces trapped in the Kiev pocket. Over 665,000 Russian troops are forced to surrender and four Russian Armies, the 5th, 21st, 26th and 37th are destroyed.
September 19th: Kiev finally falls to German forces.
September 24th: Army Group South begins an offensive against the vital land bridge to the Crimea at Perekop.
September 25th: Hitler orders all attacks by Army Group North on Leningrad to be halted. The city is to be besieged and after its eventual surrender, levelled to the ground.
September 29th: The attacks by Army Group South to force an entry into the Crimea are halted.
September 30th: Armored forces of Army Group Centre launch an attack to capture Orel.
October
October 1st: Conclusion of a conference at Moscow between Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union with promises of enormous amounts of aid to the Russian war effort, mostly from the United States.
October 2nd: Army Group Centre begins Operation Taifun (Typhoon), the final attack on Moscow. Army Group South begins its advance towards Kursk and Kharkov. Hitler, in a special order of the day, announces: 'Today begins the last decisive battle of this year.'
October 3rd: Units of Army Group Centre capture Orel.
October 5th: Advancing in the southern Ukraine, Panzergruppe 1 reaches the Sea of Azov.
October 6th: Units of Army Group Centre capture Brjansk on the road to Moscow. The Russian 9th and 18th armies are trapped near Melitopol in the southern Ukraine and 106,000 Russian prisoners are taken.
October 7th: On the central and southern fronts, German forces capture Viazma, Berdjansk and Mariupol. The Bryansk and Vyazma pockets are cut off by German armored spearheads.
October 8th: Orel falls to Germans, but heavy rain begins to hamper advances.
October 10th: Army Group South ends the battle of encirclement along the Sea of Azov and takes 100,000 prisoners.
October 12th: Units of Army Group Centre capture Kaluga.
October 13th: German forces Army Group Centre of capture Kalinin, 100 miles west of Moscow.
October 14th: German troops capture Rzshev, 100 miles west of Moscow.
October 16th: Following the evacuation of the Russian government and diplomatic corps from Moscow to Kuibyshev panic begins to spread among the civilian population and thousands flee the city. Stalin however decides to remain as a show of strength to the Russian people. Rumanian forces capture the Black Sea port of Odessa.
October 20th: Army Group Centre concludes the dual battles of encirclement at Vyazma and Briansk and takes 673,000 Russian prisoners. German forces advance into Mozhaisk, only 40 miles from Moscow.
October 21st: In the Ukraine, units of 6th Army capture Stalino in the industrial Donets Basin. General Zhukov is appointed commander of Moscow's outer defenses.
October 24th: The 6th Army, part of Army Group Centre, captures Kharkov after five days of heavy fighting.
October 27th: Units of 11th Army force a breakthrough at Perekop, thus opening the gate to the Crimean peninsula.
October 28th: President Roosevelt approves the appropriation by Congress of an additional $6 billion in Lend-Lease aid to Britain and the Soviet Union.
October 30th: German forces under Bock, attack Moscow from north-west.
November
November 1st: In the East, units if 11th Army capture Simferopol in the Crimea.
November 4th: Advancing in the Crimea, units of 11th Army capture Feodosia. Finnish forces recapture the Baltic naval base of Hangö, that Finland was compelled to lease to the Russian's in 1940.
November 7th: Speaking in Moscow's Red Square, Stalin predicts that the Fascist German invaders are facing disaster.
November 8th: On the Leningrad front, units of Army Group North advance across the Volchov river and capture Tichvin.
November 9th: The German 11th Army captures Yalta.
November 15th: Army Group Centre begins the second phase of the battle for Moscow, employing the forces of three Panzergruppen, the 2nd (Guderian), 3rd (Reinhardt), and 4th (Hoepner), as well as three infantry armies, the 2nd (von Weichs), 4th (von Kluge) and 9th (von Küchler).
November 17th: Units of 11th Army capture the eastern Crimean port of Kerch. General Lopatin launches a counter-attack at Rostov with the 37th Reserve Army.
November 21st: The 3rd Panzerkorps, part of the 1st Panzergruppe captures Rostov-on-Don. The German offensive in the Moscow sector continues with Hoth's Panzer Divisions capturing Klin. German forces are within 35 miles of the Russian Capital.
November 24th: Rostov is evacuated of German units in the face of being cut off in their rear. Field Marshall Von Rundstedt make this move in the face of express orders from Hitler to stand fast.
November 27th: In their advance toward Moscow under extremely difficult winter conditions, units of 9th Army reach the Volga Canal 60 miles northwest of the capital. Some patrols have penetrated the western suburbs of the city and are now only 19 miles from Moscow.
November 28th: Under fierce attack from Russian forces, overextended and short of supplies, the 3rd Panzer Corps of Panzergruppe 1 evacuates Rostov-on-Don and withdraws to the Mius river 30 miles to the west.
November 29th: Depleted by continuous savage fighting and extreme weather conditions in below-zero temperatures, German forces of Army Group Centre in positions less than 50 miles from Moscow suspend all offensive operations.
December
The
T-34 Model 1942 is introduced into service. It
featured a new gun cradle and a new cast turret, which was up-armoured
to 52mm. It was also fitted with a new 5-speed gearbox and external fuel
tanks to increase its operational range to 270 miles (430km). The overall
number of parts on the vehicle was also decreased to simplify production.
Again the tracks were further widened to improve mobility in harsh terrain.
December 1st: Russian forces begin a counter-attack at Tula.
December 2nd: Russian troops evacuate the last territory (near Leningrad and in Carelia) taken from Finland in the 1939-1940 war.
December 5th: Russian forces begin a counter-offensive in the area of Kalinin, northwest of Moscow. German forces go on the defensive in an attempt to straighten their lines and build reserves.
December 6th: Three Russian armies, including some 18 Siberian divisions from the Russian Far East, with 1,700 tanks and 1,500 aircraft, begin a massive counter-offensive to throw back and destroy the German forces of Army Group Centre before Moscow.
December 8th: The Russian offensive against Army Group Centre before Moscow succeeds in breaking through the German lines in many places, causing hasty withdrawals by ill-prepared and frost-bitten troops that are forced to abandon much heavy equipment immobilized by the below-zero weather.
December 9th: Russian forces recapture Klin and Tikvin.
December 13th: Russian forces launch a counter-offensive from the Kalinin area toward besieged Leningrad. German forces of Army Group Centre evacuate Tula.
December 14th: German forces evacuate Kalinin.
December 16th: German forces of Army Group Centre are ordered by Hitler to defend their positions at all costs and any withdrawal is forbidden.
December 18th: Field Marshal Von Brauchitsch resigns as head of OKH, Hitler himself assuming personal command of the Heer, especially of its operations on the Eastern front.
December 20th: German forces of Army Group Centre retreating from the front before Moscow reach new defensive lines more than 100 miles to the west, where, following strict orders by Hitler, they are to stand and fight off any further Russian advances.
December 26th: Russian forces land on the Kerch peninsula.
December 29th: In the eastern Crimea, German Army Group Centre evacuates Kerch and Theodosia.
December 31st: German Army Group B halts all further attacks against the Crimean fortress of Sevastopol.
