Читаем Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt полностью

Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941-1942: Schwerpunkt

The German panzer armies that swept into the Soviet Union in 1941 were an undefeated force that had honed their skill in combined arms warfare to a fine edge. The Germans focused their panzers and tactical air support at points on the battlefield defined as Schwerpunkt – main effort – to smash through any defensive line and then advance to envelope their adversaries. Initially, these methods worked well in the early days of Operation Barbarossa and the tank forces of the Red Army suffered defeat after defeat.Although badly mauled in the opening battles, the Red Army's tank forces did not succumb to the German armoured onslaught and German planning and logistical deficiencies led to over-extension and failure in 1941. In the second year of the invasion, the Germans directed their Schwerpunkt toward the Volga and the Caucasus and again achieved some degree of success, but the Red Army had grown much stronger and by November 1942, the Soviets were able to turn the tables at Stalingrad.Robert Forczyk's incisive study offers fresh insight into how the two most powerful mechanized armies of the Second World War developed their tactics and weaponry during the critical early years of the Russo-German War. He uses German, Russian and English sources to provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of armored warfare from the German and Soviet perspectives. His analysis of the greatest tank war in history is compelling reading.

Robert A. Forczyk

Военная история18+

Robert A. ForczykTANK WARFARE ON THE EASTERN FRONT, 1941–1942<emphasis>SCHWERPUNKT</emphasis>List of Plates

A mixed German armoured Kampfgruppe begins the attack into the Soviet Union.

Abandoned Soviet T-26 light tanks from Oborin’s 14th Mechanized Corps in Kobrin, 23 June 1941.

A knocked-out T-26 light tank and a victim of the early border battles.

A Pz.38(t) light tank from the 12.Panzer-Division, which was part of Hoth’s Panzergruppe 3.

A German infantryman approaches a dead Soviet tanker next to his burning BT-7 fast tank, Ukraine, June 1941.

A 15cm sIG 33 (sf), probably from 1.Panzer-Division, passes an abandoned KV-2 heavy tank in June 1941.

During the Battle of Dubno on 26 June 1941, the Soviet 12th Tank Division attempted to attack the German-held village of Leshnev, but advancing into marshy terrain along the Syten’ka River they lost three T-34 tanks that got bogged down.

A T-34 Model 1941 which overran and crushed a German l.FH18 10.5cm howitzer.

A StuG III assault gun crossing a river in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa.

The hull of a KV-1 with at least four medium-caliber anti-tank round hits, which failed to penetrate, but a large-caliber artillery round, either 10.5cm or 15cm, has damaged the track.

A KV-1 heavy tank from the 124th Armored Brigade ambushed a German column northeast of Ivanovka on 9 October 1941.

Soviet tankers examine a Pz.38(t) light tank from the 7.Panzer-Division, abandoned near Yartsevo.

The onset of mud slowed down, but did not stop, German operations.

Soviet T-26 light tanks lead Timoshenko’s counterattacks during the fighting near Smolensk in August 1941.

A Pz.III medium tank from 10.Panzer-Division, knocked out near Skirminova, east of Volokolamsk in mid-November 1941.

The last stage of Operation Typhoon began with German panzers attempting to batter their way through Rokossovsky’s final layer of defense outside Moscow.

A Soviet white-washed T-34 in hull-down position awaits the German panzers, near Volokolamsk, November 1941.

Polkovnik Mikhail G. Sakhno’s tanks from the Moscow Proletarian Motorized Rifle Division move to a new position in the vicinity of Naro-Fominsk, December 1941.

Two overturned Matilda II tanks near Volokolamsk, 1 December 1941.

A T-34 tank moving at speed in deep snow.

The crew of a Pz.III tank from the 14.Panzer-Division watch German infantry clearing a village, mid-1942.

The interior of Hube’s command vehicle, 16.Panzer-Division.

A Pz.III tank from 11.Panzer-Division in action during the opening stages of Operation Blau, 28–30 June 1942.

An 8.8cm flak gun employing direct fire against Soviet armour.

A Pz.IV tank destroyed during the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942.

A Pz.III Ausf J with long 5cm gun.

An American-built Lend-Lease M3 Lee tank, shattered by 8.8cm anti-tank fire.

Tiger I heavy tank in August 1942.

A T-34 tank moving over rough terrain with infantry in desant role.

A Pz.IV Ausf G with long 7.5cm cannon in mid-1942.

A KV-1 heavy tank that overran a German reconnaissance car at the Battle of Ostrov.

A German Tauchpanzer III in testing.

List of Maps

Overview – disposition of major German and Soviet armoured units at start of Barbarossa, 22 June 1941 and major battle sites, limit of German advance Von Schweppenburg’s XXIV Armeekorps (mot.) crosses the Bug River and defeats Oborin’s 14th Mechanized Corps, 22–23 June

Cherniavsky’s 1st Mechanized Corps versus Reinhardt’s XXXXI Armeekorps (mot.); Soviet 3rd Tank Division counterattack against 1.Panzer-Division at Ostrov, 5–6 July and delay back to Pskov, 7–9 July

Panzergruppe 1 executes the Uman encirclement against the Soviet 6th and 12th Armies, 15 July–3 August

Yeremenko’s Deep Battle, 30 August–7 September; Group Ermakov, including 18th Tank Division attacks Lemelsen’s XXXXVII Armeekorps (mot.) in order to ‘smash Panzergruppe Guderian’

Overview – the front line, 28 June 1942. German objectives, major tank battles of 1942 on the Eastern Front

Tank battles west of Voronezh, 28 June–6 July 1942; Hoth’s 4.Panzerarmee versus multiple Soviet tank corps

Tank battles north of Orel, 5–12 July 1942

Hube’s 16.Panzer-Division’s drive to the Volga, 23 August, and Soviet armoured counterattack, 26 August 1942

Kravchenko’s 4th Tank Corps Advance to Kalach, 19–23 November 1942

Glossary

ABTU – Auto-Bronetankovoe Upravlenie (Main Tank Directorate), 1934–40.

AFV – Armoured Fighting Vehicle.

AOK – Armeeoberkommando (Army).

AP – Armour Piercing.

APBC – Armour Piercing Ballistic Cap.

APHE – Armour Piercing High Explosive.