In the first days of the war, from June 22, 1941, the shock offensive of the Nazis with tank wedges was directed at the 8th and 11th armies ("Betrayal of 1941: the turmoil of the first days"), as well as on the 4th and 5th.
Are we trying to trace what happened to these armies in the future during the Great Patriotic War?
4th Army of the Western Front
The 4th Army of the Western Front was suddenly attacked by the Nazis near Brest.
In their own Brest barracks, German artillery shot at once 2 divisions of this 4th army. The fact is that in the Belarusian Military District, the leadership and commander of the army did not send them by order to summer camps.
However, this army, despite the losses from artillery fire, resisted. She threw herself into battles. Its mechanized corps participated in the counterstrike operation. The 4th Army retreated, gnawing into every meter of its native land.
Recall that on the old border in the Mozyr fortified area, one of the divisions of the 4th Army defended and held positions almost until the end of August. The peculiarity of the Mozyr UR was that it consisted of underground fortresses - "mines", which have no analogues in Belarus. ("Mina" is a fire group of several pillboxes connected by underground passages). Some researchers report that it was just in time for this division, which was defending far to the west, that small groups that were encircled were making their way.
Some experts indicate that it was here that the headquarters of the 3rd Army broke through after the defeat.
There is a version that just on the basis of many groups that escaped into this area from the encirclement, on the basis of this headquarters and the same division of the 4th army, the 3rd army was revived again, which made up for the sunk.
In bureaucratic terms, this division has already been assigned to the 21st Army. But we only wanted to follow her path.
This is exactly the division that took on one of the main blows on the first day of the war. It was not only preserved, but on its basis the army was also restored, which had passed a long battle path.
And what was the fate of the remaining 4th Army?
Formally, July 24, 1941 was the last day of its existence.
But do not think, she was not defeated at all, and she did not surrender at all. It was simply reformed.
But before that, she fights, attacks, fights and tries to help the 13th Army units to get out of the ring.
To no avail. Sometimes, in the dark, the infantrymen of this army would squeeze the enemy out of the village or settlement. And in the morning the Nazis push the fighters back to their former positions. After all, the Germans had aviation, artillery and tanks. Here the front did not advance. But it took a long time to break through the corridor for the encircled Red Army men.
“The infantry made two or three transitions per day (sometimes the transitions were made at night, when the enemy stopped hostilities and was resting), went to the indicated lines, but did not have time to create a solid defense - the enemy was“hanging on his shoulders”, preempting our units at the expense of the best motorization.
The 4th army retreated in the direction of Kobrin, Baranovichi, Slutsk, Bobruisk.
The retreat of the army was accompanied by significant losses, but it managed to get out of the encirclement. Link
Finally, the top management makes a compromise decision. At that time, only the army directorate and the headquarters units of the rifle corps alone remained from the 13th Army. And nothing else. And in the fourth army, four divisions fought at that time. Here they were given to the 13th Army. And it was decided to turn the headquarters of the former 4th Army into the headquarters of the Central Front. This is the kind of reform that has been carried out.
Thus, the interim conclusion for this army is as follows.
The 4th Army underwent one of the most brutal blows of the German invaders in the first days of the Great Patriotic War in the direction of Brest.
She led the defense of the border borders of the Soviet Union in a very important and difficult area. Varshavskoe highway led to Moscow - to the heart of the country. And this army initiated offensive battles and provided assistance to captured colleagues. So, of course, there is no talk here about any defeat or capture, and cannot be, in principle.
Moreover, it was these formations that turned into the very backbone, around which 2 armies were able to recover. And it so happened that the headquarters of this army was transformed and transformed into a larger formation and became the headquarters unit of the newly formed front.
In this regard, the combat path of the Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, Colonel (in the future, Colonel-General) Leonid Mikhailovich Sandalov (1900-10-04 - 1987-23-10) is interesting. He went through the war on the front line from the first to the last day as a Soviet military leader, and devoted the post-war years to military history.
Ex-Chief of Staff of the 4th Army L. M. Sandalov during the Moscow counteroffensive will already be at the post of chief of staff of the 20th Army (the corresponding directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters, signed by Stalin and Vasilevsky, was given on November 29, 1941). But in fact, it was he who would then lead the 20th Army (instead of actually withdrawing himself under the guise of illness of the commander Vlasov) and, among others, will drive the fascists away from the capital of our Motherland. Further, in August 1942, he also became a participant in the successful Pogorelo-Gorodishchenskaya operation. Then in November-December 1942 - Operation Mars. And so - until the Victory.
In 1989, the book by L. M. Sandalova "The first days of the war: Combat operations of the 4th army June 22 - July 10, 1941".
Bone in the throat of the Nazis - 5th Army of the Southwestern Front
The 5th Army of the Southwestern Front was attacked by the enemy at the junction with the 6th Army.
Logically, she had to retreat, turning the front to the south.
The mechanized corps of this army in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine near Novograd-Volynsky took part in the counterattack.
At the Sluch River the Germans had to stand for a week without advance. At first, due to the desperate resistance of the Red Army soldiers, they could not break through the front of the 5th Army in any way.
A participant in those events, deputy chief of the operational department of the army Alexei Viktorovich Vladimirsky in his book “On the Kiev direction. Based on the experience of conducting hostilities by the troops of the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front in June-September 1941 (1989) writes:
“During its offensive, the 5th Army will have to fight with 6-8 enemy divisions. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the transition to the offensive of the 5th Army in order to divert as much enemy forces as possible and interrupt the main communication of the enemy, than weaken his attack on Kiev.
Formations of the left wing of the 5th Army occupy an advantageous overhanging position in relation to the northern flank of the enemy, allowing without complex regroupings to approach the highway, attack the enemy's moving columns and intercept his main communication. Link
With a tank wedge, the Nazis rushed to Kiev. The Germans tried to crash into the joint between the 5th and 6th armies. By that time, the 5th Army's front was facing south, stretching for three hundred kilometers. When the Germans did break through, the Red Army men launched a series of attacks on the flank, splitting this wedge. And they were even able to take control over the Kiev highway for some time. This delayed the advance of the enemy towards Kiev.
In addition, the fighters carried out a number of successful interceptions of enemy shells and communications. This led to a forced stop of enemy tank subunits in this direction. As a result, the Fritzes stalled at the Kiev fortified area, as they were literally left without shells. Isn't that a feat? To delay the advance of the enemy in a situation when there was simply no one to defend the ancient capital of Russia?
On the old border line in the Korosten UR, the army was entrenched. And the Germans had to deploy 11 of their divisions against it.
And this despite the fact that the Nazis sent only 190 divisions to the entire Soviet front. That is, this army alone took on 6% of the entire power of the fascist strike. And it didn't just break. On the contrary. For 35 days, this army carried out 150 strikes against the fascist invaders.
Just imagine that all this bulk was putting pressure on the one and only Soviet army under the number "five". And in the same period, the armies of the 19th, 20th, 21st, 37th, 38th and others were also sent to the front line from the rear of the USSR.
From the report of the command:
"The Military Council of the Army proudly reports that the 5th Army, despite the seriousness of the situation, as one person, is faithful to its duty, understands its historical role in the Great Patriotic War and will fight to the last fighter for the glory, honor and power of the Motherland." Link
Cleverly using the underground structures of the fortified area, the soldiers secretly maneuvering in the Pripyat forests, crushed the enemy and instantly hid from the retaliatory fire of Hitler.
The artillery of the 5th Army was competently used. Her blows were very sensitive for the Nazis. There was enough ammunition. Unexpected fire was inflicted both on the heap of the enemy's location, and on motor transport convoys and supply stations.
It was hard for the Germans there. The Red Army men possessed warehouses of weapons and ammunition in the UR. As well as stocks of spare parts, fuel, ammunition and food. There was no shortage of shells. Plus DotA. Although difficult to use in mobile warfare.
When in 1943-1944. The Red Army will drive the enemy away from our land and return to this area already during its offensive operations, then it turns out that most of those killed in the first months of the war will be Germans in the trenches, slain by artillery fire. In those days, the artillery of the 5th Army hit precisely the clusters of fascists and acted for sure - with precise aiming at the instructions of their reconnaissance and sabotage groups.
Definitely, the 5th Army became a bone in the throat of the Nazis from the first day of the war. The question of its immediate destruction among the Germans was literally equated in weight with the occupation of Donbass or the capture of Leningrad. Nothing less. This is how this army bit into the enemy.
In his very first directive on military operations on the Eastern Front (directive number 33 of 1941-19-07), Hitler points out:
"The enemy 5th Army must be quickly and decisively defeated."
But Hitler did not succeed quickly and decisively. And his next directive No. 34 of 1941-30-07 again prescribes to the German troops:
"5th Red Army … to force into battle to the west of the Dnieper and destroy."
Two weeks pass and Hitler again irritably reminds his subordinates that:
"The 5th Russian army must be … finally destroyed."
(Appendix to Directive No. 34 of August 12, 1941).
Finally, on August 21, Hitler again issues an order, in which he repeats three times the idea of the need to destroy the 5th Army. But the main thing is that for the first time he is ready to allocate for this task
"As many divisions as necessary." Link
In his book General Staff during the War (1968) General of the Army Sergei Matveyevich Shtemenko (1907 - 1976) recalls the following:
“The 5th Army, headed by Major General M. I. Potapov, firmly held Polesie and the area adjacent to it.
She became, as they say, a thorn in the eye of Hitler's generals, put up strong resistance to the enemy and inflicted significant damage on him.
Fascist German troops did not manage to quickly break through the front here. Potapov's divisions knocked them off the Lutsk-Rovno-Zhitomir road and forced them to abandon an immediate attack on Kiev.
Curious admissions of the enemy have survived.
On July 19, in Directive No. 33, Hitler stated that the advance of the northern flank of Army Group South was delayed by the fortifications of Kiev and the actions of the 5th Soviet Army.
On July 30, a categorical order followed from Berlin: “The 5th Red Army, fighting in a swampy area northwest of Kiev, should be forced to take a battle west of the Dnieper, during which it must be destroyed.
Timely to prevent the danger of its breakthrough through the Pripyat to the north …"
And then again: "With the interception of the approach routes to Ovruch and Mozyr, the 5th Russian army must be completely destroyed."
Contrary to all these plans of the enemy, the troops of M. I. Potapov continued to fight heroically.
Hitler was furious.
On August 21, signed by him, a new document appears, obliging the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces to ensure the commissioning of such forces of Army Group Center, which could destroy 5th Russian army … Link
Yes, this is our "fifth Russian army", in fact, among other things, forced the Nazis to suspend the offensive on Moscow. And even forced the Nazis to deploy Guderian's tank army in a southern direction against the Kiev group of forces.
Even when the Fritzes launched a targeted offensive against the 5th Army on August 5, 1941, it still did not stop incessantly crushing the enemy with strikes on communications.
And with this very Hitlerite offensive, in general, there was an incident. Our team intercepted a packet with an order (directive) to start the attack on August 4. Exclusively thanks to the efforts of the Soviet reconnaissance and sabotage group. Only for this reason, the date of the German offensive was then, in fact, disrupted. And therefore it began a day later.
And this army of ours was not smashed to smithereens. She only melted in battles, losing manpower.
Its legendary commander, General Mikhail Ivanovich Potapov, all this time sent dispatches to the front headquarters with a request for replenishment. And did not receive it. But, despite this, the 5th Army tore to pieces with its tenacious blows eleven full-fledged German divisions. At the same time, having at that time only about 2400 active bayonets for 300 kilometers of the front.
Note
Output
As a result of the massive blow of the enemy forces of the army, which accounted for the lion's share of the attacks of the German troops in the first days of the war, not only were they not defeated, but on the contrary, they concentrated, opposed the many times superior enemy and demonstrated remarkable fortitude and ingenuity when they began to smash the Nazis, retreating …
Therefore, the statement made by some experts that the Germans allegedly outnumbered the Red Army men in everything turned out to be incorrect. No, they didn't. In the ability to defend the Motherland and our motherland.
And although we were not strong at that time, our armies were powerful, as they say, with a special skill of the spirit. By the strength of the spirit. And the quality of this spirit.
This is the quality of the Russian armies (as they were called then) and this quality of the spirit of the Soviet soldiers came as a complete surprise to the enemy. And it was precisely this qualitative advantage that even then, in those first days and months of the Great Patriotic War, became the leaven of our future Great Victory.
In the next part, we will consider different versions of military historians about who, how and why surrendered at the initial stage of the war.
