Frontiers and Pioneers

As German penetrations into the Russian frontier intensified, Soviet commanders were forced to rely heavily upon counterattacks to stem the tide. Northwest Front commander Col-Gen Kusnetsov planned to use his 3rd and 12th Mechanized Corps to attack the flanks of Panzer Group 4 but these moves were interrupted by …

1941-06-26

AP042

As German penetrations into the Russian frontier intensified, Soviet commanders were forced to rely heavily upon counterattacks to stem the tide. Northwest Front commander Col-Gen Kusnetsov planned to use his 3rd and 12th Mechanized Corps to attack the flanks of Panzer Group 4 but these moves were interrupted by both German air attacks and a shortage of fuel. Finally, on June 23rd, attacks were executed against Panzer-Divisions 1 and 6. Over the next three days a series of swirling tank battles split the two apart from each other and forced them over to the defensive while a breakthrough by Russian heavy tanks at Rasienai was contained. By the 26th, the Russian attack was spent, and both panzer divisions resumed the offensive with the goal of breaking through Russian lines to re-establish contact with each other.

Skaudvila, Russia

The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group and the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps with the 12th Mechanised Corps, in Lithuania, 75 km (47 mi) north-west of Kaunas. The Red Army tried to contain and destroy the German troops that had crossed the Neman River but was unable to prevent them from advancing. The result of the battle was the destruction of most of the Soviet armoured forces of the Northwestern Front, which cleared the way for the Germans to attack towards the crossings of the Daugava River (Western Dvina). The fighting around Raseiniai was one of the main battles of the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa, referred to in Soviet historiography as the Border Defensive Battles (22–27 June 1941) and formed part of the larger Soviet Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.

German

Russian

Scenario Type = Standard