XV Mechanized Corps, Col. G. I. Yermolayev Commanding
After receiving Kirponos’ original orders about the pullback behind defensive lines of the 37th Rifle Corps, Colonel Yermolayev ordered his 10th and 37th tank divisions to disengage. His 212th Motorized Rifle Division remained in place, covering the withdrawal of tank formations. However, it paid dearly for the rear-guard action, struck again and again by punishing German air attacks.
At around 1000 hours a liaison officer from the headquarters of the South-Western Front arrived at Yermolayev’s command post. He informed Yermolayev that pullback orders were cancelled and he was to turn around his tank divisions once again and attack toward Berestechko. It took over two hours to relay the new orders to commanders of the 10th and 37th Tank Divisions and turn their units around. Exhausted by marching and countermarching, the tank divisions could not attack during June 27.
Task Force Lukin, Ostrog
General Lukin had not been idle the previous night, moving whatever forces he had available to engage the Germans at Ostrog. In addition to the 173rd Reconnaissance Battalion, which already engaged the Germans the previous night, Lukin was able to concentrate at Ostrog the following forces from the 109th Motorized Rifle Division: the 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment (three battalions) under Lt. Col. A. I. Podoprigora; 2nd Battalion from the 602nd Motorized Rifle Regiment; 229th Engineer Battalion; six tanks from the 16th Tank Regiment; and the 404th Artillery Regiment; however this unit was still en route and not available for operations in the morning. The rest of the division, along with the rest of the Sixteenth Army, had already departed for Byelorussia.
Leaving one rifle battalion in reserve on the east bank of Viliya River, the other three battalions, without artillery support, advanced on Ostrog across the one available bridge. However, the small bridge was not able to accommodate timely advance of the three battalions, and some of the men had to commandeer whatever boats were available or swim across the narrow river.
The 2nd Battalion of the 602nd Motorized Rifle Regiment under Captain Morozov met with initial progress and soon was disputing the south edge of town near a Catholic monastery. The two battalions from the 381st Regiment had tougher going against Germans entrenched in basements and upper floors of buildings. Only after the regimental artillery battery, brought up into direct-fire mode, suppressed some of the more stubborn German positions were the battalions able to advance.
The 173rd Reconnaissance Battalion, barely hanging onto the northeastern edge of town, was under heavy German pressure. After its commander Major Yulborisov was killed, the 3rd Battalion from the 381st Regiment was sent to reinforce it.
While visiting Lieutenant Colonel Podoprigora’s command post, roughly two miles east of Ostrog, commander of the 109th Motorized Rifle Division, Col. N. P. Krasnoretskiy, was struck down by a shell fragment. His deputy, Col. N. I. Sidorenko, took over. The seriously wounded Colonel Krasnoretskiy was evacuated to the rear, where he partially recovered and returned to duty, only to fall in battle near Moscow in October the same year.
Since the early morning, the German forces at Ostrog numbered one infantry regiment and some reconnaissance elements from 11th Panzer Division. More help was on the way, namely the 15th Panzer Regiment of that division, which spent the night in Mizoch, approximately twenty-five miles west of Ostrog. Gustav Schrodek, after dropping off his damaged tank at the repair shop, joined a reconnaissance platoon, tasked with scouting the route of advance for the regiment.
Traveling in darkness over roads not indicated on the map, the platoon cautiously probed its way forwards, constantly on alert for Soviet opposition: “Contact with enemy could happen at any instant, so keep machine-guns clear.”[31]
Sometimes losing their way, they drove on to the sound of the guns:
Far away from us on the left, we observed night combat and saw flashes of artillery and tracers. We became more careful, halting from time to time and listening with our engines off…. After a long travel, we arrived at dawn and began to discern some buildings ahead of us…. Suddenly, a rifle shot rang out. We immediately stopped and positioned machine guns….
In the meantime, Lt. Karge shot towards the houses with his machine gun. It came to life over there. Rifle and machine-gun shots whipped through the area and came perilously close over our heads. We also returned fire immediately. There was a flash over by the houses, and immediately thereafter it hit close to us. Afterwards all hell broke loose. Shells exploded all around us. I believed that several cannons were zeroed in on us. “Mount up and withdraw!” ordered Lt. Karge. The drivers immediately jumped to their vehicles and started them, while the other men grabbed their weapons and began jumping aboard. A scout car and two motorcycles were unfortunately left behind. Their drivers and riders were picked up by other vehicles. More steel greetings followed us from over there, but caused no more damage, with company putting a good distance between us.[32]
After being appraised by the scout detachment of contact with the Soviets, the 15th Panzer Regiment entered the fight in earnest, vigorously attacking the Red Army defensive positions north of Ostrog. Arrival of the panzers permanently tilted the fight in German favor.
Colonel N. I. Sidorenko, replacing the fallen Krasnoretskiy, cobbled together a stop-gap force of seventeen BT-7s, fifteen armored cars, and several companies from rear-echelon units and sent them in to support the crumbling center. It was too late, and the 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment began falling back in disorder. The retreat over narrow bridge was verging on panic, with German mortar and artillery shells falling among the withdrawing men. Some men drowned, falling off the bridge or unable to swim the river. Casualties were heavy, including 1st Battalion’s commander Senior Lieutenant Hayrutdinov.
The remnants of the 173rd Reconnaissance Battalion and the 2nd Battalion of the 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment were not able to disengage and became trapped in town.
In the afternoon, retreating Soviet units rallied in the woods near Vilbovnoye village on the east bank of Viliya River. In the late evening, the 404th Artillery Regiment and the 229th Engineer Battalion finally arrived in the area. However, the engineer battalion, having already sent off its heavy equipment and part of personnel to Byelorussia, numbered roughly two-companies–worth of men. Colonel Sidorenko posted them several miles north of Vilbovnoye, guarding a nearby railroad bridge at Mogilyany across Goryn River and covering division’s right flank.
Giving his men a chance for brief rest, Colonel Sidorenko made a second attempt at Ostrog in the afternoon. Leaving one rifle battalion in reserve, the remaining two battalions, this time supported by fire of the 404th Artillery Regiment, threw themselves at the hard-fought-for town, attempting to reach the survivors of the other two battalions trapped in Ostrog. Despite friendly artillery support, the two Soviet infantry battalions ran into serious German opposition and could not make progress. With nightfall, they fell back across the river once more, in the relative safety of the woods around Vilbovnoye.