[Vashugin] halted. His voice has a barely perceptible confusion:
“Who ordered you to cede territory? What are you babbling about? General Ryabyshev, report!” Ryabyshev made his report while [Vashugin] paced in front of him…. [Vashugin] understood that he was not on solid ground, but was not giving up. Consulting his watch, he ordered Ryabyshev: “You have twenty minutes to report your decision.”[45]
It is interesting that while describing this encounter in his memoirs, Popel never called Vashugin by his name. He always referred to Vashugin by his rank of “Corps Commissar” or duty position “Member of Military Council.”
While Ryabyshev and his staff officers gathered to quickly hash out possible course of action, Popel noted how Ryabyshev’s “hands were shaking and eyes were moist.”[46] One can appreciate the courage that Ryabyshev summoned several minutes later to give Vashugin bad news: “[VIII Mechanized] Corps could be ready for action only by tomorrow morning.”[47]
Barely containing his anger, Commissar Vashugin ordered Lieutenant General Ryabyshev to immediately renew his offensive. He gave Ryabyshev two choices: begin offensive now or be relieved of duty and court-martialed. With members of military tribunal and a platoon of enforcers present at their command post, neither Ryabyshev nor Popel had any illusion as to what would happen if Ryabyshev were to continue insisting on inability to advance. With their own side more fearsome than the enemy, Ryabyshev and Popel made “suicidal decision—commit the corps into combat piecemeal.”[48]
After another brief conference, the following decision was made. A mobile group under command of Popel would be formed from Colonel Vasilyev’s 34th Tank Division, Lieutenant Colonel Volkov’s 24th Tank Regiment, and 2nd Motorcycle Regiment. This task force would advance immediately, followed the next day by the rest of the VIII Mechanized Corps. As a send-off encouragement, Vashugin told Popeclass="underline" “If you take Dubno by evening, you’ll get a medal. If you don’t, you’ll be expelled from the [Communist] Party and shot.”[49]
After thoroughly demoralizing everyone present, Vashugin finally departed, allowing Ryabyshev and his staff to breathe easier and get to work. At the same time, Ryabyshev ordered his combat engineers to begin setting up a new command post just south of Sitno. The headquarters of the VIII Corps stayed put, awaiting arrival of the rest of the 12th Tank Division and the 7th Motorized Rifle Division.
Not long after Vashugin’s departure, another representative from the headquarters of the South-Western Front arrived at Ryabyshev’s command post. This was Maj. Gen. R. N. Morgunov, chief of Armored Forces of the South-Western Front. He informed Ryabyshev that he [Morgunov] was in charge of coordinating actions of VIII and XV Mechanized Corps in destroying the enemy group of forces around Dubno. More information delivered by Morgunov surprised Ryabyshev:
I found out that Major-General K. K. Rokossovskiy’s 9th Mechanized Corps [would] be attacking the enemy from Klevan area and Major-General N. V. Feklenko’s 19th Mechanized Corps—from the vicinity of Rovno towards Dubno. This information was not only news to me, but also unexpected…. [Morgunov] set off for the 15th Mechanized Corps. We were not to meet again. He did not relay any instructions for us.[50]
It would not be hard to imagine Ryabyshev’s thinking. His corps fought bravely on the 26th, sustaining heavy losses in the progress. What fury he must have felt being lambasted by that party hack Vashugin! What frustration he must have felt finding out that significant results could have been gained if his efforts were coordinated with the northern pincer of the offensive!
Commissar Popel found Colonel Vasilyev’s 34th Tank Division in its old positions. Receiving neither the initial orders to withdraw and nor their reversal, Vasilyev was blissfully unaware about the night’s travails. After Popel brought him up to date, they worked out their plan of action for the day. The attack would be led off by the Major Trubitskiy’s 2nd Motorcycle Regiment and Lieutenant Colonel Volkov’s 24th Tank Regiment, advancing along the highway and the railroad. Vasilyev further detached two units from his own 34th Tank Division to go round the woods southwest and west of Dubno to attempt to further expand the attack frontage.
The attack began shortly after 1400 hours. Initially it met with success. A small German detachment in Granovka village was brushed aside, and the Soviet tanks and motorcycle troops reached the highway. Some rear echelon units of German 11th Panzer Division were caught in a surprise attack and almost wiped out. In some cases, the Soviet motorcyclists raced along the German truck columns and hosed them down with their machine guns. Several Soviet tanks rammed German trucks, turning the enemy vehicles into bloody wrecks.
A small German artillery detachment opened fire upon the attacking Soviets from the outskirts of Verba village, but Popel and Vasilyev continued pushing their men and machines forward. Racing past Verba, Lieutenant Colonel Volkov’s T-34 was knocked out, and he, wounded in arm, climbed into another tank, this one without a radio.
A spirited fight developed around Tarakanov village, roughly six miles southwest of Dubno. When Lieutenant Colonel Bolokhvitin’s 67th Tank Regiment struck the village from the west, the pendulum of the fight swung in Soviet favor. The struggle was costly, with Bolokhvitin’s own tank being one of the lifeless burned-out hulks left in the oat fields.
Aftermath of the fight for Tarakanov was brutaclass="underline"
Dead bodies are everywhere—in the street, in the smoking wrecks of cars, motorcycles’ sidecars. Pieces of bodies in shreds of gray-green uniforms are even in the trees…. It’s terrible to look at our tanks now. It is difficult to believe that their initial paint scheme is green, and not reddish-brownish, which even the light rain cannot wash off.”[51]
Maj. A. P. Sytnik, who replaced Lieutenant Colonel Bolokhvitin at the helm of the 67th Tank Regiment, reported to Popel that Germans fought very stubbornly, refusing to surrender.
That night Popel’s task force could not move any farther than Tarakanov and took up defensive positions around the village. The soldiers from the units that fought that day were so exhausted that Popel released them to rest, while utilizing the men from support units to work on creating defensive positions.
By late evening, the situation southwest of Dubno resembled a layered cake. Rear echelons of German 11th Panzer Division, leading elements of 16th Panzer Division, rear elements of Vasilyev’s 34th Tank Division, and approaching small units of the VIII Mechanized Corps became intermixed in the dark.
Despite its best efforts, the main body of the 7th Motorized Rifle Division could not link up with Popel’s force. Two battalions from this rifle division’s 27th Motorized Rifle Regiment that did reach him became cut off with Popel.
While the 34th Tank Division fought southwest of Dubno and the 7th Motorized Rifle Division raced to reinforce it, their sister 12th Tank Division remained behind the lines of the XXXVI Rifle Corps, not receiving notification for renewal of the offensive. Even if it would have, the 12th Tank could not move. Its tanks and other vehicles were nearly out of fuel, and division’s commander Colonel Mishanin was urgently requesting that fuel tankers be sent to him.
By the early morning of June 28, Lieutenant General Ryabyshev’s corps was effectively cut into three parts. The 34th Tank Division was cut off immediately southwest of Dubno, the 7th Motorized Rifle Division was strung out along the Dubno-Brody highway, and the 12th Tank Division bivouacked near the town of Kremenets.