LENINGRAD The Advance of Panzer Group 4, 1941 Die Wehrmacht im Kampf Series

“Die Wehrmacht im Kampf” Battles and Problems of the Second World War is a series published in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. Written by ex-members of the German army in W.W.II, it provides important information not available elsewhere on the German army’s perspective of many crucial campaigns and battles. None of the volumes have previously been available in English. Each volume has a modern introduction by Matthias Strohn, a lecturer at Sandhurst and The University of Buckingham, and an expert on the German army.“Die Wehrmacht im Kampf” Battles and Problems of the Second World War is a series published in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. Written by ex-members of the German army in W.W.II, it provides important information not available elsewhere on the German army’s perspective of many crucial campaigns and battles. None of the volumes have previously been available in English. Each volume has a modern introduction by Matthias Strohn, a lecturer at Sandhurst and The University of Buckingham, and an expert on the German army.

At the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Army Group North was tasked with the operational objective of Leningrad―what lay between it and the city was 800 kilometers of the Baltic states, and 18-20 infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, and eight or nine mechanised brigades of the Red Army. It was apparent that in order to succeed they would have to race through to the western Dvina and establish a bridgehead before the Russians exploited this natural feature to organise a defensive front. Panzer Group 4, which included LVI Panzer Corps and XLI Panzer Corps, was to lead the way. By the end of the first day the group had pushed 70 kilometers into enemy territory. Red counterattacks on their unprotected flanks slowed them down, resulting in the tank battle of Raseiniai, but the group managed to capture Dünaburg on the Western Dvina on June 26, with a bridgehead established shortly thereafter. The group then pushed northeast through Latvia to the Stalin Line. In mid-July Hoepner was preparing to push the last 100 kilometers to Leningrad, however Leeb, commander of the army group, had other plans for the group and the advance did not continue for several more weeks.