At the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Army Group North was tasked
with the operational objective of Leningrad-what lay between it and
the city was 800 kilometers of the Baltic states, and 18-20
infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, and eight or nine
mechanised brigades of the Red Army. It was apparent that in order
to succeed they would have to race through to the western Dvina and
establish a bridgehead before the Russians exploited this natural
feature to organise a defensive front. Panzer Group 4, which
included LVI Panzer Corps and XLI Panzer Corps, was to lead the
way. By the end of the first day the group had pushed 70 kilometers
into enemy territory. Red counterattacks on their unprotected
flanks slowed them down, resulting in the tank battle of Raseiniai,
but the group managed to capture Dunaburg on the Western Dvina on
June 26, with a bridgehead established shortly thereafter. The
group then pushed northeast through Latvia to the Stalin Line. In
mid-July Hoepner was preparing to push the last 100 kilometers to
Leningrad, however Leeb, commander of the army group, had other
plans for the group and the advance did not continue for several
more weeks. This account of Panzer Group 4's advance was written by
Walter Chales de Beaulieu, chief of staff of Panzer Group 4.
Published in German in 1961, this is the first English translation.
Beaulieu not only gives a detailed account of the Panzer Group's
advance, but also offers an assessment of the fighting, an
examination of how Panzer Group 4's operations were affected by the
limitations imposed on Army Group North, and the lessons that can
be learnt from its experiences in the Baltic States. He concludes
with a discussion of whether Leningrad could ever have been taken.
General
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