Lviv-Chernivtsi strategic defensive operation

Fighting by the parties during the operation was conducted on the territory of Western Ukraine and Northern Bukovina. The dividing line of the advance of Army Group South went along the line from Lublin to the mouth of the Danube . As part of this operation, units of the Army Group Center advanced northward, and further north, Soviet troops carried out the Belarusian strategic defensive operation

Period

The operation was carried out from June 22, 1941 to July 6, 1941 .

Before the operation, hostilities were not conducted. The immediate continuation of the operation, without a break, was the Kiev strategic defensive operation .

Germany

Before the start of the operation, an army group “South” (the 6th , 17th and 11th field armies and the 1st tank group ) unfolded on the front stretching from Lublin to the mouth of the Danube . Her actions were supported by the 4th Air Fleet .

USSR

The Kiev direction covered the South-Western Front as part of the 5th, 6th, 26th and 12th combined arms armies.

• The 5th army covered the Lutsk direction . On the site from Wlodawa to Krystynopol ' to the south.
• The 6th army in the Lviv direction Krystynopol , Grabovets ( 6th , 37th rifle, 4th and 15th mechanized and 5th cavalry corps , 4th and 6th fortified areas ).
• 26th Army ( 8th Rifle Corps , 8th Mechanized Corps , 8th Fortified Area - Przemyslsky).
• The 12th army covered west of the city of Stanislav .

According to the Barbarossa plan, the troops of the South group were ordered: having tank and motorized formations ahead and delivering the main left-wing strike on Kiev , destroy Soviet troops in Galicia and western Ukraine, timely capture the crossing on the Dnieper in the Kiev region and further south to ensure a further offensive east of the Dnieper ^[2] . The 1st Panzer Group, in cooperation with the 6th and 17th Armies, was ordered to break through between Rava-Russkaya and Kovel and through Berdichev , Zhytomyr go to the Dnieper in the Kiev region. Further, moving along the Dnieper in a southeastern direction, it was supposed to prevent the withdrawal of the defending Soviet units on the Right-Bank Ukraine and destroy them with a blow from the rear.

According to the Directive of the USSR Non-profit Organization No. 3 of June 22, 1941 , the Southwestern Front was required to firmly hold the border with Hungary, concentrating in the general direction to Lublin with forces of 5 and 6A, at least five mechanized corps and all the aviation of the front, to encircle and destroy the enemy group advancing at the front, Vladimir-Volynsky, Krystynopol, by the end of 26.6 take control of the Lublin area.

At 3:30 on June 22, 1941, German aircraft struck at airfields, as well as at areas of concentration and retreating convoys of troops. At 4:00, short-term artillery preparation began. At 5-6 hours, German troops went on the offensive and a border battle began.

As planned, the 1st tank group delivered a strike in the general direction of Ustilug - Zhytomyr - Kiev , partly attacking the south. The 17th Army, striking at Lviv and Przemysl, adjoined it from the south. The 11th Army operated on the southern flank, striking north of Stanislav . The 6th Field Army followed the 1st Panzer Group a little to the north - directly to Kovel .

The Germans struck the main blow north of the Lviv ledge. The balance of forces in principle allowed the Soviet troops to repulse the offensive, but most of them were located away from the direction of the German main attack and were stretched in depth, which made it difficult to realize the available capabilities. Using 15 - 20-kilometer gaps between the border Soviet divisions and overwhelming superiority in forces in the direction of the main attack, 6 infantry and tank divisions of the enemy on the first day of the war broke through to a distance of 30 kilometers in depth of Soviet territory ^[3] .

At the beginning of the offensive, units of the Soviet 5th Army basically occupied their defensive lines on the border. Border guards in the offensive zone were crushed during the day, and by 12-00 (mostly earlier) on June 23, 1941, the defense of Soviet troops on the border was broken through everywhere. Units of the 5th Army retreated mainly to the northeast and east.

The main blow was delivered by the tank units of the Wehrmacht, breaking through the defenses and not stopping for battles with dismembered Soviet units, advanced east. So, by the end of the day, June 23, 1941, the 3rd motorized corps reached Vladimir-Volynsky, but was detained for almost a week during the tank battle at Dubno-Lutsk-Brody . However, the Soviet counterattack turned into disparate actions of tank formations: some launched an attack, others completed it, and still others only approached. Many Soviet units and formations, including the main forces of the 8th mechanized corps , were surrounded ^[3] .

Thus, as a result of the attack of the tank units of the Wehrmacht , on the very first day of the war, the Southwestern Front was divided up almost along the line of demarcation of the 5th and 6th armies. As for the southern, 3rd motorized corps, it broke into the operational space and, almost without resistance, advanced to Zhitomir along the road from Dubno . On June 23, the 11th Panzer Division entered the fighting on the outskirts of Radekhov, where it occupied the 36th Rifle Corps , together with the 40th Panzer Division . Simultaneously with these forces of the 15th Mechanized Corps and the 4th Mechanized Corps , a counterattack was launched on the flanks of the 11th Panzer Division. The order to conduct it in accordance with the plan for covering the state border was issued at 09:45 on June 22. The counterattack was carried out on June 23-29. Thus, parts of the 3rd motorized corps were connected to the front by the defense of the 5th army of the Red Army, from the flanks (mainly from the south) - by the actions of mechanized corps. In general, the counterattack did not give a tangible result, although it delayed parts of the 3rd corps for a week. At the same time, on June 22, the 17th Army reached the Rava-Russian fortified area, riding a highway to Lviv. units of the 101st Infantry Division entered the city of Przemysl .

After that, the main forces of the northern flank of Army Group South turned to the southeast to encircle Soviet troops in Right-Bank Ukraine.

The remaining disparate formations of the 6th Army retreated to Lviv, in parallel with the advance of German troops. The rear of the army was cut off by the blow of the 3rd motorized corps.

In the period from June 25 to 27, a separately operating 6th field army fought for Kovel . The main forces of the 1st Tank Army advanced through Zhytomyr to Kiev. The 17th Field Army was advancing through Przemysl to Lviv . The 11th field army, which was covering the border with Hungary, was waiting for the part of the 17th field army, which was to cut the withdrawal of the 26th and 12th armies of the Red Army to the east.

The 26th Army was raised on alert and withdrawn to places of concentration according to the plan for covering the state border. The commander of the 17th Field Army, General Stülpnagel , who deployed his divisions at the front from Tomashuv to Peremyshl, dealt the main blow through Rava-Russkaya to Lviv and then in the general direction to Tarnopol . With individual blows, he fettered Soviet forces defending Przemysl and the borders south of this city. This city was occupied by German troops on the afternoon of June 22, but the very next morning was liberated by units of the Red Army and border troops of the NKVD of the USSR . The 99th Infantry Division of General N. I. Dementyev, acting together with the border guards and the Peremyshl fortified area, three times knocked out parts of the German 101st Infantry Division from the border Przemysl. This division was one of the ones that inflicted serious damage on the enemy in the early days of the war. ^[7] The city was held until June 27, when it was finally occupied by the Germans. ^[eight]

By June 30, 3 rifle corps (7 divisions) from the reserve of the Southwestern Front defended north of Lutsk along the Styr River and at the turn of Dubno , Kremenets , Zolochev . However, there was an unoccupied gap between Lutsk and Dubno , where nine German divisions rushed, including six armored and motorized divisions. They were opposed only by the remnants of the 9th mechanized corps and the motorized rifle division of the 16th army , which occupied the defense in the city of Ostrog ^[3] .

A serious threat of a blow to the rear from the north hung over the troops of the left flank of the South-Western Front, and in the south a large German group prepared for an offensive from the territory of Romania . Therefore, on June 30, it was decided to withdraw the front troops to the border of the fortified areas along the 1939 border ^[3] .

To ensure the withdrawal of troops, the 5th Army on July 1 launched a counterattack on the left flank of the German 1st Panzer Group. But he only detained the enemy for two days in the regions of Rivne and Ostrog. On July 6, German tank divisions on the move overcame the first line fortifications, which were not yet occupied by the Soviet field forces, which had not yet had time to retreat to this line, reached the Novograd-Volyn fortified area and, bypassing it from the north and south, launched an attack on Kiev ^[3] .

In the course of active hostilities in the border areas and at intermediate defensive lines, by counterattacks by mechanized corps and combined arms units in the Dubno, Lutsk, Rivne regions, the forces of the Southwestern Front inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and slowed down the advance of his group in the Kiev direction, which made it possible to withdraw the main forces front and take up defense in fortified areas on the old state border ^[1] , mobilization was carried out in the country.

By July 6, the casualties of the South-Western Front and the 18th Army of the Southern Front amounted to 241 594 people, including irrevocable 172 323 people. They lost 4381 tanks, 1218 combat aircraft, 5806 guns and mortars. The balance of power has changed in favor of the enemy. Possessing the initiative and preserving the offensive capabilities, Army Group South was preparing a strike from the area west of Kiev to the south to the rear of the South-Western and Southern Fronts.

• Battles, operations and battles of the Great Patriotic War
• List of operations of the armed forces of the USSR in World War II

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• The initial period of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.