Barbarossa Phase 1 (August 1941)

General Heinz Guderian
August 1941

On 22nd June 1941, the first dive-bomber went in and the war with Russia finally, began. The panzer divisions successfully crossed the river with the waterproofing we tested during Operation Sea-lion and I made my way across on an assault boat in the neighbourhood of Kolodno. Prior surveillance has shown that they knew nothing about our plans and indeed, the Russians did not put up a fight and ran when they saw us coming. Undoubtedly, we had taken them by surprise.

During the Fuhrer conference back in June, I was asked how long it would take me to reach Minsk, and I answered, five to six days. General Hoth occupied the city on the 26th of June and on the next day, I arrived at Minsk. From the information provided by General Hoth’s panzer group, we were told that a large number of Russian forces were completely surrounded by our encircling pincers. The foundations were being laid for the first great victory of the campaign.

Army Group Centre’s objective in the month of July was to take Smolensk. On the month of July, my panzer group crossed the Dnieper, suffering only some light casualties. I see signs of the enemy strengthening its resistance and the battles are getting tougher, but nonetheless we were able to overcome the enemy. On 15th July, the 29th motorized Infantry Division reached the southern outskirts of Smolensk and General Hoth’s panzer group north of Krasnyi. We were making good progress on our objective, but the number of casualties was increasing greatly. Requests for replacements were made, both in terms of men and equipment. We captured Smolensk on the 16th of July. For the rest of the month, we encountered fierce enemy resistance but were able to complete the encirclement. On the 26th of July, we completed the encirclement and a large number of Red Army soldiers were captured. The enemy in our rear was also successfully eliminated.

The very next day on the 27th of July, I flew to Borissov for a conference to receive my next instruction. There I had the unpleasant surprise of learning Hitler’s new plans. I was expecting to be told to continue my advance on Moscow, but was told to go Gomel to help the Second Army. **** German Vulgarities**** It meant that I will be turning around and head in a south-westernly direction! Back towards Germany! Hitler believes in encircling small enemy forces which will be easier to destroy without suffering heavy casualties. This is nonsense! All the officers in the conference were of the opinion that this is incorrect! It will be giving the Russians time to strengthen their defenses! The primary task at hand is to finish this campaign quickly.

On 29th July, Colonel Schmundt, brought me the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross. From him, I heard that Hitler had three objectives in mind. The north-east (Leningrad), Moscow and south-east (Ukraine). I urged Schmundt to do all in his power to advise Hitler to go for the 2nd option (Moscow) and avoid any other operations that will slow us down. I also requested for him to bring the new tanks online as soon as possible.

Heinz Guderian

Tanks spearhead of panzer group 2