Therefore, Kirponos ordered Potapov to vigorously attack towards Dubno with the IX and XIX Mechanized Corps. The IX and XIX Mechanized Corps would be attacking Dubno from north and northeast, while the VIII and XV Mechanized Corps would be attacking towards Dubno and Berestechko from south and southwest. At the same time, Kirponos deployed the XXXVI and XXXVII Rifle Corps and bulk of the 2nd Antitank Brigade in line anchored on Kremenets and facing north to parry the expected German attack south. The offensive was planned for 0900 hours on June 26.
The attack of the VIII and XV Mechanized Corps against the Radzekhov enemy group of forces was designated as primary. The IX and XIX Mechanized Corps were delegated the supporting role. In a follow-up move, after destroying the Dubno enemy group of forces, Potapov was to turn northwest and attack the Lutsk German group of forces.[1]
After General Zhukov returned from his inspection tour of the Fifth Army, he approved Kirponos’ overall plan. However, Zhukov also wanted the XXXVI and XXXVII Rifle Corps to take part in the offensive, instead of remaining in static positions against the possibility of German flanking move.[2]
Kirponos’ staff spent the whole of the 25th gathering information about the status of the mechanized corps that were supposed to take part in the attack. Lieutenant General Ryabyshev, commanding the VIII Mechanized, reported that he would be ready for the offensive in the morning, but with only his two tank divisions. His motorized rifle division fell behind and would not be ready to start off on time.
Major General Karpezo, commanding the XV Mechanized, reported that only small part of his depleted corps would be able to participate in the offensive. He also requested that the time of the attack be postponed to allow the 8th Tank Division from the IV Mechanized Corps to link up with him. Karpezo was disappointed when informed that the 8th Tank Division would need at least another day to arrive. He was ordered by Kirponos to attack at the assigned time with whatever forces available.[3]
Potapov reported that the bulk of the IX and XIX Mechanized Corps would not be completely ready for attack until the afternoon of June 26. Like Karpezo, Potapov was ordered by Kirponos to attack with whatever was available.
Potapov’s reconnaissance finally confirmed that there were no large mobile enemy forces north of Kovel. With the loss of Lutsk, the center of the Fifth Army’s front lines was deep behind its right flank. In order not to have more of his forces suffer the fate of 87th and 124th Rifle divisions, Potapov ordered the troops holding Kovel to begin retreating east. All too happy, the 41st Tank Division and its supporting 285th Howitzer Regiment started pulling back.
At the same time, the XXIV Mechanized Corps began moving towards positions of the XXXVI Rifle Corps at Kremenets.[4] However, this weak formation did not arrive in time to take part in the fighting at Dubno.
LUTSK DIRECTION
While the situation on Potapov’s right flank in the area of the XV Rifle Corps was holding, his left flank was in tatters.
The forces which carried out the feeble initial counterattack the previous day, the 135th Rifle, 215th Motorized Rifle, and 19th Tank Divisions and 1st Antitank Artillery Brigade, not only were unable to destroy the Vladimir-Volynskiy enemy group of forces, they themselves were threatened with being cut off from Lutsk by the 13th Panzer Division. The Germans steadily advancing on Kovel from the west were beginning to work around the right flank of the XV Rifle Corps, threatening it with encirclement. Likewise, after collapse of the XXVII Rifle Corps, the XV Corps was also threatened on the left flank as well.
With the destruction of the 87th and 124th Rifle Divisions, 135th Rifle Division was holding the area of operations of the XXVII Rifle Corps. The rear echelon support services of Potapov’s army were in disarray. Many round-out units were not mobilized due to the suddenness of the German attack. Numerous supply depots that were positioned too close to the border fell into German hands.
Realizing the severity of the Fifth Army’s situation, command of the South-Western Front approved Potapov’s request to begin pulling troops from Kovel, at the same time transferring the IX and XIX Mechanized and XXXI Rifle Corps under his direct command. The 193rd and 200th Rifle divisions of the XXXI Rifle Corps began taking up positions along the Ikva River, from Dubno to Kremenets. These two divisions had been marching to the border on foot since June 18 and were thoroughly physically exhausted. In addition, as they got closer to the front, their strung-out columns were subjected to numerous air attacks and suffered casualties and loss of equipment. This corps, under Comcor (Corps Commander, an older Soviet rank, roughly equivalent to Lieutenant General. By the start of the war, some Soviet commanders had not yet received their new rank designations.) A. I. Lopatin, received its orders on June 16 to start moving to the border and concentrate in the area roughly five miles northwest of Kovel by June 28.[5]
The third division of the corps, the 195th Rifle, remained in the reserve of the South-Western Front.
Like probing pincers, three battle groups of the 14th Panzer Division were extremely active in the vicinity of Lutsk during June 25. Representing a mission-oriented balanced all-arms task forces, each of these combat groups was capable of carrying out independent tasks:
• Kampfgroup Stempel. 108th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (minus 2nd Battalion), 36th Panzer Regiment (minus one tank company), one battalion from the 3rd Artillery Regiment, one battery from 607th Mortar Battalion (corps assets, 210mm mortars), one battery from 60th Artillery Regiment (corps assets, 100mm cannons), one company of 4th Antitank Battalion, 2nd Company of 13th Motorized Engineer Battalion, and several smaller support detachments.
• Kamfgroup Falkenstein. 103rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment, one tank company of 36th Panzer Regiment, 2nd Battalion of 4th Artillery Regiment, 4th Antitank Battalion (minus one battery), and several small platoon-sized detachments.
• Kampfgroup Damerow, holding defensive positions near a bridge at Rozhysche. One battalion of 108th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, one battalion of 4th Artillery Regiment.
• Division was reinforced by corps artillery: 511th Artillery Regiment (150mm howitzers), 2nd Battalion of the 60th Artillery Regiment (100mm cannons), 607th Heavy Artillery Battalion (210mm mortars, minus one battery), 731st Heavy Artillery Battalion.[6]
Other German panzer divisions were similarly formed into mission-oriented combat packages, generously sprinkled with corps artillery. This would prove to be an all-important factor in the upcoming straggle over the next several days.
While pulling back the XV and XXVII Rifle Corps, Potapov began preparing plans for IX and XIX Mechanized Corps’ attack on June 26. Severe shortage of staff and communications officers prevented Potapov from setting up a command group to coordinate the activities of the two corps involved in the counterattack. To better exercise control of the attacking mechanized corps, Potapov moved his headquarters closer to the front line. He set up his command post roughly six miles north of Klevan, not far from the headquarters of Rokossovskiy’s IX Mechanized Corps.
Since the area west of Lutsk, assigned to the IX and XIX Mechanized Corps as starting positions, was already captured by the Germans, they were instructed to stage in the area roughly southeast of Lutsk. The two mechanized corps, along with units of the arriving XXXVI Rifle Corps, were to destroy the enemy in the area of Mlynuv and Dubno and capture those towns. Rokossovskiy’s two tank divisions began shifting there from their positions along the Lutsk-Rovno highway. The XIX Mechanized Corps under Feklenko was closer than Rokossovskiy to their new areas of concentration. However, as it moved into positions north of Mlynov, it became engaged with the forward German units and could not adequately prepare for the offensive on June 26.