The Meat Grinder

In the opening days of Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, the triangular area bounded by the cities of Lutsk, Rovno, and Brody was the scene of a bitter struggle. Army High Command plans called for a rapid thrust to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, after which German forces …

1941-06-25

AP041

In the opening days of Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, the triangular area bounded by the cities of Lutsk, Rovno, and Brody was the scene of a bitter struggle. Army High Command plans called for a rapid thrust to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, after which German forces would swing southwards and trap the bulk of the forces of the Southwestern Front. With the terrain dominated by forests, hills and swamps, the important road nexus of Lutsk became a primary objective. General Kirpinos, the Southwest Front commander, was ordered to counterattack immediately, but was hampered by the Luftwaffe, as well as the poor mechanical condition of his vehicles. Nonetheless, by the 25th he would need to go with what he had as the Germans attacked Lutsk at dawn.

Lutsk, Russia

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. The operation put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union so as to repopulate it with Germans. The German Generalplan Ost aimed to use some of the conquered as slave labour for the Axis war effort, to acquire the oil reserves of the Caucasus and the agricultural resources of Soviet territories, and eventually through extermination, enslavement, Germanization and mass deportation to Siberia, remove the Slavic peoples and create Lebensraum for Germany.

German

Russian

Scenario Type = Standard