CHAPTER 7
Creaking to the Sound of the Guns, June 22
IN THE EVENING OF JUNE 22, summoned by orders from headquarters of the South-Western Front, Soviet forces began concentrating towards their staging areas for the counterattack. On paper, the Soviet mechanized forces slowly advancing to meet the German armored thrust looked very formidable. However, the six mechanized corps earmarked for the offensive on June 24 were a mixed bag of older and new combat vehicles, experienced soldiers and raw recruits, suffering shortages of vital equipment, supplies, and armament.
Some of these formations belonged to combined-arms armies covering the border. The XXII Mechanized Corps belonged to the Fifth Army; the IV and XV Mechanized, to the Sixth Army; the VIII Mechanized, to the Twenty-Sixth Army. Two more mechanized corps, the IX and XIX, were part of reserves of South-Western Front and were moving up from the areas of pre-1939 border.
In addition to the above units, six more large formations were on the move: the 1st Anti-Tank Artillery Brigade and five rifle corps: XXXI, XXXVI, XXXVII, XLIX, and LV. Out of these five rifle corps, only two, the XXXI and XXXVI, were approaching the area of operations of Soviet Fifth Army. The other three were aimed farther south. In accordance with orders received from Moscow on June 15, the reserve rifle corps of Kiev Special Military District began marching towards the border on June 17. In order to ensure that Germany was not aware of their move, these corps upon arrival at their designated areas were to be deployed in concealed positions, usually in the woods, within several days’ march from the border. They were to move only at night, needing eight to fifteen days to arrive at their predetermined locations. The XXXI Rifle Corps was to concentrate near Kovel, behind the right flank of the Fifth Army; the XXXVI Rifle Corps, around Dubno, behind the left.[1]
XXII MECHANIZED CORPS
As previously mentioned, the 41st Tank Division was located relatively close to the border and lost contact with its parent XXII Mechanized Corps right at conflict’s opening. In addition to being away from its parent formation, the division itself was widely separated. Its main body, comprised of two tank regiments, the artillery regiment, and division’s support units, was located in Vladimir-Volynskiy, while the motorized rifle regiment was at Lyuboml.
From the very beginning, the division began being pulled apart. Its 41st Motorized Rifle Regiment entered the fight near Lyuboml in support of the XV Rifle Corps, and its survivors were eventually absorbed into the 45th Rifle Division of that corps. A tank battalion was detached to support Soviet infantry fighting west of Vladimir-Volynskiy, losing over half of its combat vehicles in the process.
Out of touch with each other, the 41st Tank Division and the rest of the XXII Mechanized Corps began converging on Kovel. Colonel Pavlov, commander of the 41st Tank Division, wrote in an after-action report:
Since morning, the 41st Tank Division was subjected to heavy artillery fire, but despite being under heavy fire and [suffering] heavy casualties… division reached its assigned staging area… by 1400 hours after completing 50–55 km march along wooded and swampy roads. Division did not receive instructions from commander of 22nd Mechanized Corps for four to five days, even though he knew location of our staging area. Division was under direction of commander of 5th Army and commander of 15th Rifle Corps.[2]
In the evening of the same day, commander of the Fifty Army, Major General Potapov, directly involving himself in managing a division, detached two tank companies to chase down alleged small groups of German parachutists. Potapov also assigned the heavy tank battalion containing all the KV-2 tanks, minus several that became disabled during the march to Kovel, to set up defensive positions across the Brest-Kovel road to guard against enemy advance from that direction. Lacking ammunition for their cannons, the KV-2s were nothing but giant slowly moving machine-gun–armed pillboxes.
In the same report, Pavlov mentioned that his howitzer regiment, armed with 122mm and 152mm cannons, did not have a single tractor to move them. He is silent on the subject of whether any of them were moved by any other means or left behind in their garrison in Vladimir-Volynskiy. Judging from the fact that he no longer mentioned his artillery regiment in the report, it is a safe assumption that these powerful weapons were left behind and subsequently lost when the Germans took Vladimir-Volynskiy by the end of June 22.
The rest of the XXII Mechanized Corps was on the move west along the Vladimir-Volynskiy–Rovno highway. The 19th Tank Division, leaving behind 12 percent to 15 percent, or roughly twenty, vehicles inoperable in its garrison, led the way. From the very beginning, divisions began experiencing a large number of mechanical breakdowns. Many of these disabled tanks were older models, for which no spare parts were available. With mobile repair shops and recovery vehicles in short supply, many of those tanks that suffered breakdowns were left abandoned at the side of the road.
The 215th Motorized Rifle Division, being “motorized” in name only, largely marched on foot. Its tank regiment was experiencing similar problems with its tanks, albeit on much smaller scale.
VIII MECHANIZED CORPS
Commander of the VIII Mechanized Corps in Drogobych, Lt. Gen. Dmitriy I. Ryabyshev, returning home shortly after midnight on June 22, still tired from his two days of commander’s reconnaissance, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He wasn’t allowed to rest long. Around 0400 hours he woke from pounding on his apartment door. The duty runner, a young private, out of breath, reported: “Comrade General, you are urgently asked to come to the telephone at the headquarters.”
Ryabyshev rushed to his headquarters. While waiting for the call from the Twenty-Sixth Army’s headquarters, he sent out the word for his staff officers to gather in his office.
Like Ryabyshev, commissar of the VIII Mechanized Corps, Nikolai Popel returned to his apartment late. He was tired after a long day and decided to take a shower. As the warm water washed over him, weariness began leaving his body. His mind kept wondering what the Germans were doing at this very moment, there on the other bank of the San River.
A call from corps headquarters interrupted his relaxation. The duty officer informed Popel that Ryabyshev asked him to come to headquarters right away. These late-night recalls were commonplace enough as of late that Popel did not become concerned.
“What’s going on?” His wife was worried nonetheless.
“Nothing much. Dmitriy Ivanovich [Ryabyshev] is calling me in for prayers.”
The headquarters of the VIII Mechanized Corps were located in a former church and Popel thought his joke would cheer up his wife.[3]
As staff officers gathered in Ryabyshev’s office, he informed them that he just received a telephone call from Lt. Gen. F. Y. Kostenko, commander of the Twenty-Sixth Army, advising them to “be ready and wait for orders.”[4] Not sure what was going on, Ryabyshev ordered his divisions to “stand to” and move out to their staging areas.
He called Maj. Gen. T. A. Mishanin, commander of the 12th Tank Division, first. This unit was located in Striy, a small town twenty-five miles east of Drogobych. Ryabyshev’s message was short.