Hitler's Panzer Armies on the Eastern Fron (43 page)

3. Ibid., pp. 27, 29; Glantz (ed.),
The Initial Period of the War on the Eastern Front
, pp. 155, 158; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter VI, pp. 14, 24.

4. 6th Mechanized alone possessed 960 tanks, half of them new T–34 and KV variants. The 11th Mechanized started with 305 machines. Glantz (ed.),
The Initial Period of the War on the Eastern Front
, pp. 189, 217.

5. Brian Taylor,
Barbarossa to Berlin: A Chronology of the Campaigns of the Eastern Front, 1941 to 1945
, Spellmount, 2003; Glantz,
Barbarossa
, pp. 39–40; Glantz (ed.),
The Initial Period of the War on the Eastern Front
, p. 198; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 30; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter VI, pp. 35–36. A supporting attack by the 84th Motorized Division from Kaunas against Hoth’s left flank was stillborn. Glantz (ed.),
The Initial Period of the War on the Eastern Front
, p. 162.

6. Von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter VI, p. 31. Prior to launching Barbarossa, von Bock and Hoth agreed on the primacy of the land bridge. Barry Leach,
German Strategy Against Russia
, Clarendon Press, 1973, p. 195.

7.
Pour le merité
and Knights Cross recipient Rothenburg was wounded near Grodek on 28 June. Medics evacuated him, but in the division rear area Red Army soldiers killed him in his sedan. The Germans counterattacked to recover his corpse the next day, thereafter the 25th Panzer Regiment was often called ‘Panzer Regiment Rothenburg’. Horst Scheibert,
Die Gespenster Division
, Podzun Verlag, 1981, p. 53.

8. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 40; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 32–33, 37–39; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter VI, pp. 30–31, 37. As retold in Robert Kirchubel,
Operation Barbarossa, 1941: Army Group Center
, Osprey, 2007, p. 41, the former commanding general of 19th Panzer Division took credit for capturing Minsk, see Otto von Knobelsdorff,
Geschichte der niedersächsischen 19. Panzer Division
, Podzun Verlag, 1958, p. 78.

9. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 44, 46; Hermann Hoth,
Panzer Operationen
, Vowinkel, 1956, p. 79; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter VI, p. 52, Chapter XIV, p. 27. After the panzers turned south, three infantry divisions defeated twelve rifle divisions at the old fortress of Polotsk (modernized in the 1930s).

10. David Glantz,
Forgotten Battles
, Vol. I, self–published, 1999, p. 16.

11. In a rare example of panzer army cooperation, the 17th and 18th Panzer Divisions both belonged to XLVII Panzer Corps of Guderian’s Second Panzer. Von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter XVI, p. 8.

12. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 78; Glantz,
The Battle for Smolensk
, p. 15; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 46–47, 49–50; Rolf Hinze,
Hitze, Frost und Pulverdampf
, Selbstverlag, 1993, p. 44; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter XIV, pp. 25–30, 32, 36; Seaton,
The Russo-German War
, p. 162.

13. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, pp. 81–82; Glantz,
The Battle for Smolensk
, p. 25; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 54; von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter XVI, pp. 16, 34.

14. Scheibert,
Die Gespenster Division
, p. 60.

15. Fugate and Dvoretsky,
Thunder on the Dnepr
, p. 253; Glantz,
The Battle for Smolensk
, pp. 23, 27; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 56–58. Lehr Brigade (Motorized) 900 consisted of cadre from infantry, panzer, artillery, anti-tank schools plus headquarters and support elements.

16. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, pp. 82–83; Glantz,
The Battle for Smolensk
, pp. 31, 33. For the fifth attack group of the Timoshenko Offensive see p. 69 of this volume.

17. Von Luttichau, unpublished manuscript, Chapter XV, pp. 29–32; Hinze,
Hitze, Frost und Pulverdampf
, p. 90; von Knoblesdorff,
Geschichte der niedersächsischen 19. Panzer Division
, p. 84. Also, on about 20 July, von Kluge’s liaison aircraft crash landed and the field marshal was feared lost. One week later, on the 27th, he relinquished command of the panzer army.

18. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 67.

19. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 214; Horst Grossmann,
Geschichte der rheinischwestfälischen 6. Infantrie-Division
, Podzun Verlag, 1958, pp. 65–66; Paul,
Brennpunkte
, p. 139; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, pp. 58–59.

20. Paul,
Brennpunkte
, p.142.

21. Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad
, p. 142; Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 216; Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 148; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 83; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, pp. 85–86. The Soviets had intelligence warnings about Typhoon but considered them a fake: they believing the Germans would never launch a (THE?) major offensive on the eve of the rasputitsa; Paul,
Brennpunkte
, p. 140. Hoth replaced ailing Seventeenth Army commander, General of Infantry Carl–Heinrich von Stülpnagel. When von Bock found out that Hoth was leaving, he wrote in his diary, ‘I am loathe to lose this outstanding armor commander; he, too, would rather stay.’ (5 October).

22. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 148; Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad
, p. 142; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, pp. 86, 88.

23. Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad
, p. 143; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 83; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, p. 88.

24. Ellis,
Brute Force
, p. 62; Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 149; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 84; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, pp. 89, 96.

25. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 219; Glantz,
Barbarossa
, p. 154; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 84, 88–89; Paul,
Brennpunkte
, pp. 142, 144. Confused and retreating Red Army units cluttered up the road used by 1st Panzer. The division radioed headquarters that the enemy was therefore ‘partly responsible for the delay in our advance to Kalinin. Please advise’. XLI Panzer Corps half–joking reply: ‘Enforce march discipline!’

26. Paul,
Brennpunkte
,p.157.

27. Glantz,
Barbarossa
, pp. 154, 162; Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 83; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 94; Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad
, p. 149; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, pp. 200, 207; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, p. 52.

28. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, pp. 257–58; Glantz,
Barbarossa
, pp. 170, 172; Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 85; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 94–95; Hayward,
Stopped at Stalingrad
, pp. 161, 163–64; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, p. 222.

29. Scheibert,
Die Gespenster Division
, p. 83.

30. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 95; Paul,
Brennpunkte
, pp. 168, 173; Reinhardt,
Moscow
, nn. 95, 96; Scheibert,
Die Gespenster Division
, p. 83.

31. Paul,
Brennpunkte
, p.182.

32. Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 89; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 107; Stoves,
Die 1. Panzer-Division
, pp. 291–93, 301–2, 307, 309, 312; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, p. 73. The fate of wounded Germans captured in hospitals by Red Army troops was usually death by mutilation.

33. Paul,
Brennpunkte
, pp. 177, 188, 197–98, 200; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, pp. 82, 92, 103.

34. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 107, 114; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, pp. 124, 130–32, 134, 165. In early January Reinhardt also commanded Ninth Army in the place of the ill Strauss.

35. Scheibert,
Die Gespenster Division
, p. 87.

36. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, pp. 309–10; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, pp. 171, 174. The spring rasputitsa also meant that tens of thousands of cadavers from both sides were no longer preserved in the ice and snow, and required disposal to prevent the spread of disease.

37. Günther Nitz,
Die 292. Infantrie Division
, Bernard & Graefe, 1957, p. 113.

38. Ibid., pp. 105, 110–11, 114; Ziemke and Bauer,
Moscow to Stalingrad
, p. 404. On 19 August, the 292nd Infantry received a new division commander, Colonel Wolfgang von Kluge, the field marshal’s son, Nitz,
Die 292
, p. 119.

39. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 139; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 113.

40. Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 154.

41. Ibid., pp. 115, 154.

42. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 176–77, Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 170, 198–99.

43. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 177–78; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 200–4.

44. Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 179.

45. Ibid., pp. 178–80; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 206.

46. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 133; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 180–83; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 206–7.

47. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 211; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 183–85; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, p. 14. Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 309.

48. Steven Zaloga,
Operation Bagration: The Destruction of Army Group Center
, Osprey, 1996, pp. 10, 40.

49. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 216; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 187; Zaloga,
Operation Bagration
, pp. 25, 30.

50. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, pp. 216, 219; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 192–94; Madej,
Russo-German War
, p. 36; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, pp. 20, 23, 26; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 320–21.

51. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 219; Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 206; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, pp. 194–96; Madej,
Russo-German War
, pp. 39–40, 42; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, pp. 30, 33, 58.

52. Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 207; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 197; Madej,
Russo-German War
, p. 45; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, p. 55; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 321.

53. Mitcham,
Crumbling Empire
, p. 58.

54. Rolf Hinze,
East Front Drama, 1944
, Fedorowicz, 1996, pp. 72, 84; Madej,
Russo-German War
, p. 47; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, pp. 58, 64;
Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 327–28, 333; Spaeter,
Die Geschichte des Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland
, p. 599. Evacuation of 5,000 wounded from the city’s hospitals began on 2 July, Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 205.

55. Hinze,
East Front Drama
, p. 85; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, p. 338.

56. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, pp. 324–25; Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 226; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 216; Raus,
Panzer Operationen
, pp. 294–95.

57. Erickson,
Road to Berlin
, p. 416; Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, p. 227; Haupt,
Army Group Center
, p. 217; Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, pp. 103, 105, 140; Raus,
Panzer Operationen
, pp. 296–97. The 51st Army thinned out as it went north.

58. Mitcham and Mueller,
Hitler’s Commanders
, pp. 103, 105.

59. Ibid., pp. 148–49; Raus,
Panzer Operationen
, p. 297; Ziemke,
Stalingrad to Berlin
, pp. 405–6.