On June 23, 1941, the battle for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody (320 km west of Kiev) starts. G. Zhukov, who came to the scene of the events, rejects the idea of the chief of staff of the South-Western Front about withdrawing troops. The new plan is a strike by five mechanized corps of 2,800 (later 3,100) tanks in four (later – five) German tank divisions, 720 tanks and 70 assault guns. Photography – German soldiers inspect abandoned heavy tank T-35. Weight 50 tons, 11 crew members, booking – 30 mm front body., 20 mm board., 20 mm towers. The speed over rough terrain is 10—12 km. h. Armament – one 76.2 mm., two 45 mm. guns and six-seven machine guns. Made 59 units. Until June 1941, these tanks were not involved in the fighting, limited only by the demonstration of the power of the Soviet Union at military parades.
Wehrmacht formations, in addition to armored vehicles, include large units of infantry, artillery, and qualified repair brigades. The bulky (400 tanks) mechanized corps of the Red Army make marches of 300 km each, losing at least one third of the vehicles from mechanical damage. The Soviet production system of the equipment does not seem to provide for the delivery, which is not worth even a half-word, «small things» for repair. Guidelines for driving and maintenance of new tanks, at this time – are classified even from the driver. Sometimes, so carefully stored by the crews of the car, at a crucial moment refuel not with diesel fuel, but with gasoline. In order to avoid equipment breakdowns and charges of sabotage, grassroots commanders sabotage real military training. The fact that in the German educational units is punished with reprimand, in the Red Army can end with execution. The photograph shows Soviet BT-7 tanks damaged and abandoned by crews. Weight 14 tons, crew 3 people., Booking 15—20 mm., Cannon 45 mm., 1—3 machine guns. Speed, according to the designers, is the main advantage of the «high-speed» tank. On tracks, on the BT-7 highway, it develops 52 km. hours, on wheels – an unthinkable 72 km. h
In a society of formal equality and «territorial organization of the community,» any insignia is qualified as belonging to a particular caste. The commander of the Red Army at any cost seeks to secede from the masses of soldiers. These maxims agree with the observations of the author during his military service in the Soviet and then Russian army. The German army from the middle of the nineteenth century implies, with strict observance of the chain of command, the attitude of the officer to the soldier as an equal. Cohesion, trust, even if, as they say, on the basis of blood-related ties, determines a high level of governance. Photography – T-34-76 tank as part of a broken Soviet column. June-July 1941. The mass is 26 tons, the crew is 4 people, the armor is 45 mm in all directions (feed 40 mm.) The gun is 76 mm., Course and twin machine guns. The speed on the highway is 54 km. hours, rugged terrain – 36 km. h. if you manage to stick the transfer
So, tank battles, frontal attacks on the positions of German anti-tank guns, maneuvering without communications and maps, separation from supply and repair lines occur near Kiev. Total. By June 30, the Red Army lost 2,600 tanks, the Wehrmacht – 170 (irrevocably). The southwestern front collapses.Photography – a German soldier inspects a damaged T-34-76 tank on the sidelines. The surroundings of Kiev, July 1941
Stalin has to put aside executions, empty slogans, and work with the problem, now really delving into the essence of what is happening. The control system is being rebuilt. It works from the second half of 1942 to May 1945, and for two and a half years it allows us to escape from the collapse to victory.Photography – burning T-34-76. At this stage of the war, "steel monsters" still do not impress the top officers of the Wehrmacht. The Red Army has by this time only 60 trained crews for the T-34. Battle for Dubno-Lutsk-Brody. Summer 1941
Kiev strategic defensive operation. Summer 1941. Retreating and confused Soviet soldiers
German cars and armored vehicles follow the T-38 tank with four towers removed from the hull. Ukraine, August 1941
A Soviet tank KV-1 defeated by dozens of shells. July 1941, south of the USSR. Armament: 76 mm. a cannon, 90—114 shells, three 7.62 machine guns. Reservations: forehead, body side 75 mm., Forehead, side turret 75 mm. (protection against armor-piercing projectile 50 mm. German cannon further 200 meters). The crew of 5 people. Weight 48 tons. Transmission problems are common. The speed on the highway is 34 km. h.. Cruising range over rough terrain 120 km. Specific power 11.6 hp, pressure on the ground 0.77 kg. cm. From 1939 to 1942 produced 2770 cars.
German soldiers in the offensive. USSR, summer 1941
Captured Soviet soldiers. Summer 1941
Captured in the Kiev boiler soldiers of the Red Army. From the memoirs of Vasily Ivanov, a former prisoner of war: «… Another question, also generated by hunger, was the question of who eats the food that is given out. Some said that they are eating now – as soon as they receive, since they can hardly wait for this moment. Others said that it is better to divide each diet into 2 times. After all, then you will eat 6 times a day, not three. And one said that he collects all 3 rations together and eats them after receiving the last teaspoon. – And I eat all this for almost 8 hours, and therefore I don’t feel hunger a third of the day, and I sleep almost 10 hours a day. What only mental phenomena did not cause hunger. In the camp appeared typhus, which spread rapidly, besides this, there was some kind of epidemic of diarrhea… In addition to these diseases, signs of illness of prisoners of scarf began to appear in March of 42 years. The grass that appeared at the camp’s territory in the end of March was quickly destroyed by prisoners. She was eaten both raw and boiled. The prisoners, wanting to pick herbs, which remained only under the beginning of the wire fence, thrust their heads and hands towards her. And the soldiers and officers walking behind the wire fired pistols at the heads. If in December – January, 25—30 prisoners died daily, in March, 40, in April, 75—80, and so on. The dead were demolished in the morgue in stripped form, and at the end of the day they were immersed in carts and taken to the cemetery, where a deep, large moat was dug. The dead were dumped into this ditch, and they began to dig in only upon the arrival of warm days. By May, only half of 9,000 POW commanders survived. In the second camp of captured privates, in which in December 1941 there were about 7,000, in the month of June only 700 people were taken to work, and the camp was closed.
Kiev outskirts, 1941
After the fight in the Kiev boiler. In the background, for the dead soldiers – the Soviet tank BT-7
German armored and burning T-34-76. Ukraine, 1941
Hot August 13, 1941 Odessa leaves the last train echelon. The defense of a large Black Sea town is successful, but the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief decides on the evacuation of troops to the Crimea. The losses of the Soviet and