Battle of Raseiniai

The Battle of Raseiniai (2327 June 1941) was a tank

battle fought between the elements of the 4th Panzer
Group commanded by Gen. Erich Hoepner and the 3rd
Mechanized Corps[4][a] commanded by Major General
Kurkin & 12th Mechanised Corps[4][b] commanded by
Major General Shestapolov in Lithuania 75 km northwest of Kaunas in the attempt by the commander of the
Northwestern Front, Kuznetsov to contain and destroy
German troops that had crossed the Neman River (Nemunas). The result of the battle was the almost complete destruction of Soviet armoured forces of the Northwestern
Front, clearing the way for the continued German oensive towards the crossings of the Daugava River (Western
Dvina). This was one of the major battles during the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa known in Soviet history as the Border Defensive Battles (2227 June 1941)
as part of the larger Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.

German bombers destroyed many of the signals and communications centers, naval bases, and the Soviet aerodromes in particular; from Riga to Kronstadt, on iauliai,
Vilnius and Kaunas the bombs rained on carefully selected targets. Soviet aircraft had been on one-hour alert,
but were held on their airelds after the rst wave of German bombers passed.
At 9:30 AM on 22 June, Colonel General Kuznetsov, ordered 3rd and 12th mechanized corps to take up their
counterattack positions, intending to use them in anking attacks on the 4th Panzer Group, which had broken
through to the river Dubysa (Dubissa). By noon, the Soviet divisions began to fall back. The German columns
then began to swing towards Raseiniai, where Kuznetsov
was concentrating his own armor for a major counterattack on the next day. By the evening, Soviet formations
had fallen back to the Dubysa. Northwest of Kaunas, forward elements of Erich von Manstein's LVI Panzer Corps
reached the Dubysa and seized the vital Ariogala road
viaduct across it. Without this crossing, Germans tanks
might have been trapped in what was a giant natural tank
ditch. A dash to Dvinsk would have been wholly ruled
out. Meanwhile southwest of Vilnius more armor from
the 3rd Panzer Army, which had ripped through the Soviet 11th, moved across the Niemen River over the intact
bridges.

Prelude

Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshal

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, and staging in East Prussia prior to the commencement of the oensive, was
the northern of three Army Groups participating in the
invasion of the Soviet Union. Army Group North controlled the 18th and 16th Armies, along with the 4th
Panzer Group commanded by General Erich Hoepner. In
total, the Germans had 20 infantry divisions, three Panzer
and three motorized infantry divisions. Air support was
provided by the 1st Air Fleet.

By the end of 22 June, the German armoured spearheads

had crossed the Niemen and penetrated 80 kilometres (50
mi). The next day, Kuznetsov committed his armoured
forces to battle. Near Raseiniai, the XLI Panzer Corps
was counter-attacked by the tanks of the Soviet 3rd and
12th Mechanised Corps. But this concentration of soviet
armour was detected by the Luftwae, which immediately directed heavy air attacks against tank columns of
the 12th Mechanised Corps south west of iauliai. These
attacks went unopposed by any Soviet ghters and were
carried out with great success. The Soviet 23rd Tank Division sustained particularly severe losses. Ju 88s from
Luftotte 1 thundering in at low level, setting ablaze 40
vehicles, including tanks and lorries.[5] The battle would
last four days.

The military administrative control over the Baltic republics area where the Army Group North would be
deployed was exercised by the Special Baltic Military
District which after the invasion was renamed into the
Northwestern Front, Commanded by Colonel General
Kuznetsov. The front elded 8th and 11th Armies with
the 27th Armies in its second echelon. All together,
Northwestern Front had 28 rie, 4 tank, and 2 motorized
divisions.

It was here that German forces encountered a unit

equipped with the Soviet KV heavy tanks for the rst
time. Gen. E.N. Soliankins 2nd Tank Division from
Soviet 3rd Mechanised Corps attacked and overran elements of the German 6th Panzer Division[7][c][I] near
Skaudvil on 23 June. The Germans Panzer 35(t) tanks
and antitank weapons were practically ineective against
the Soviet heavy tankssome of them were out of am-

The operation

Army Group North's 4th Panzer Group advanced in two

spearheads, led by the XLI Panzer Corps and LVI Panzer
Corps. Their objectives was to cross the Neman and
Daugava, the most dicult natural obstacles in front of
Army Group North's drive towards Leningrad.
1

3 AFTER THE OPERATION

move on to Jonava some 30 miles to the north-east. By the
evening of 25 June, the Soviet 8th Army fell back towards
Riga and the 11th towards Vilnius to the Desna. A breach
gaped in the Soviet front from Ukmerg to Daugavpils.

By 26 June, the XLIs Panzer Corps 1st Panzer Division & 36th Motorised Infantry & following infantry Divisions had cut through the rear of the Soviet Mechanised Corps and linked up. The Soviet 3rd Mechanised
Corps had obligingly run out of fuel, & Gen. E.N. Soliankins 2nd Tank Division was encircled & almost com[13]
The 5th Tank Division & 84th MoA KV-2 tank; a single tank of this type held for one day the entire pletely destroyed.
[6]
torised
Rie
Division
were severely depleted due to losses
6th Panzer Division
in vehicles and personnel.[14][15][g] The 12th Mechanized
Corps pulled out of the trap, but by now was very short
munition, but closed with and destroyed German antitank
of fuel and ammunition.[16] [h]
guns by literally driving over them.[8][9][f] Attempts to destroy these armoured giants concentrated on rst immo- The Soviet Baltic Fleet was withdrawn from bases in
bilising them by ring at their tracks and then by tackling Liepja, Windau, and Riga by 26 June. Meanwhile,
them with artillery, AA Guns, or by blowing them up at Von Mansteins's LVI Panzer Corps dashed for the River
close range by high explosive charges of the Sticky Bomb Dvina and in a remarkable coup seized bridges near
type. An account by the Thuringian 1st Panzer Division Dvinsk intact.
describes this battle.
The KV-1 & KV-2, which we rst met
here, were really something! Our companies
opened re at about 800 yards, but it remained
ineective. We moved closer and closer to the
enemy, who for his part continued to approach
us unconcerned. Very soon we were facing
each other at 50 to 100 yards. A fantastic
exchange of re took place without any visible
German success. The Russian (sic - Soviet)
tanks continued to advance, and all armourpiercing shells simply bounced o them. Thus
we were presently faced with the alarming
situation of the Russian (sic) tanks driving
through the ranks of 1st Panzer Regiment
towards our own infantry and our hinterland.
Our Panzer Regiment therefore about turned
and rumbled back with the KV-1s and KV-2s,
roughly in line with them. In the course of
that operation we succeeded in immobilizing
some of them with special purpose shells at
very close range 30 to 60 yards. A counter
attack was launched and the Russians (sic Soviets) were thrown back. A protective front
established & defensive ghting continued.[10]

The next day, a single KV-2 heavy tank, at a crossroads

in front of Raseiniai, managed to cut o elements of the
6th Panzer Division which had established bridgeheads
on the Dubysa. It stalled the Divisions advance for a full
day while being attacked by a variety of antitank weapons,
until it nally ran out of ammunition.[11][12][d][e]

3 After the operation

After the seizure of the Dvina bridges and the fall of
Dvinsk, the leading formations of LVI Panzer Corps furiously set about enlarging the bridgehead. On 25 June,
Marshal Semyon Timoshenko ordered Colonel General
Kuznetsov to organize a defense of the Western Dvina,
by deploying the 8th Army on the right bank of the river
from Riga to Livani while the 11th Army would defend Livani-Kraslava sector. Colonel General Kuznetsov
also decided to use Major-General Berzarins 27th Army.
Berzarin was to pull his troops o the Hiiumaa and
Saaremaa islands and out of Riga and bring them to
Daugavpils. At the same time the Soviet high command (Stavka) released Major-General Lelyushenkos
21st Mechanised Corps from the Moscow Military District to co-operate with the 27th Army; Lelyushenko had
98 tanks and 129 guns.
At 5:00 AM, on 28 June, Lelyushenko attacked upon
Kuznetsov's orders in an attempt to destroy the German
bridgehead near Daugavpils. Von Manstein halted on the
Dvina, but attacked on the next day, striking along the
Daugavpils-Ostrov highway. At Riga on the afternoon
of 29 June, the Germans crossed the railway bridge over
the Dvina. On 30 June Soviet troops withdrew on the
right bank of the river, and by 1 July were in retreat to
Estonia. A priceless opportunity now oered itself to the
Germans. An immediate drive forwards would make it
almost impossible for the Soviets to defend Leningrad.
However, it was not to be: orders received with disbelief
by the tankers were to wait for the infantry to arrive. In
the end the wait would last almost a week.

In the south, by 23 June, 11th Army commander

Lieutenant-General Morozov ordered the units falling Colonel General Kuznetsov was removed as front comback to the old fortress town Kaunas on the Niemen to mander by Timoshenko, and 8th Army commander

3
Major-General Sobennikov took over the front on 4
July. Timoshenko issued a directive on 29 June to the
Northwestern Front stipulating that in the event of a withdrawal from the Daugava, the next river line, the Velikaya,
was to be held and every eort made to get Soviet troops
emplaced there. Despite this, the river Velikaya line fell
rapidly on 8 July, with the rail and road bridges remaining
intact. Pskov itself fell on the evening of 9 July. The 11th
Army commander was therefore ordered to move to Dno.
The crumbling of the Northwestern Front on the Velikaya
and the German sweep to Luga were grave setbacks for
the Soviets, and the 8th Army was being rammed inexorably towards the Gulf of Finland. But the German
pause had given time for more troops to be rushed in to
Siege of Leningrad, and the battle for the city would be
long and hard.

Footnotes

On 22 June 1941 3rd Mechanised Corps had

31,975 men & 651 Tanks including (10 T-34 & 2
Battalions of 50 Heavy KV-1s).

On 22 June 1941 12th Mechanized Corps had

28,832 men & 749 Tanks including only lighter Soviet T-26, Bt Series Tanks.
Which were Kampfgruppe Von Seckendor consisting of the 114th Motorized infantry Regiment,
Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 57, one company
of Panzerjger Battalion 41 & Motorcycle Battalion
6 (Morning).
d

General Erhard Raus the Ocer in Command of

6th Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe Raus which was
the Unit held up by the lone vehicle disagrees; he
says the vehicle was damaged by several shots from
an 88 Anti-Tank Gun ring at the vehicle from behind while it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks
from Panzer Battalion 65 & the crew were killed by
Grenades from a Pioneer Engineer unit who pushed
the grenades through two holes made by the gun
while the turret had started moving again, the other
ve or six shots having not apparently penetrated
completely. The crew had remarkably only been
apparently stunned by the shots which had entered
the turret. Afterwards they were buried nearby with
honours by the German Soldiers of the Unit held up.
e

The Tanks were eventually destroyed by Batteries

of 88mm Flak Guns & 100mm Artillery Guns employed in Anti-Tank role.
On 11 July 1941 Col P Poluboiarov, Northwestern
Front armoured directorate reported that the 3rd
Mechanised Corps had 'completely perished' having
only 400 men remaining who escaped encirclement
with 2nd Tank Division & only 1 BT-7 tank. German Sources reported the destruction of more than
200 tanks, including 29 KV-1s, 150 guns & hundreds of trucks & vehicles. The 5th Tank Division
was at Yelnya by 4 July 1941 and consisted of 2,552
men and a total of 2 BT-7 tanks and four armoured
cars. It was destroyed at the Battle of Biaystok
Minsk.
Colonel Grinberg temporary commander of the
12th Mechanized Corps after the death of his corps
original commander Major General Shestopalov, reported on 29 July that the strength of his corps had
fallen to under 17,000 men after the rst two weeks
of combat.
On entering the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa the 6th Panzer Division had a total of 245
tanks which consisted of 47 Panzer II, 155 Panzer
35(t), only 30 Panzer IVs, 5 Panzerbef 35(t)'s (command tanks) & 8 Panzerbefs.

5 Sources & References

[1] Chris Bishop, German Wehrmacht Panzer Divisions
1939-1945, 2005, p66
[2] Brian Taylor, Barbarossa to Berlin - A Chronology of the
Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941-1945, 2003, p14
[3] David Glantz, The Battle for Leningrad 1941-1944, 2002,
p32
[4] Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p155-p156
[5] Christer Bergstrom, 'Barbarossa - The Air Battle: July
December 1941, 2007, p23
[6] Steve Newton, Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front The Memoirs of General Raus, 2003, p. 33
[7] Steve Newton, Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front The Memoirs of General Raus, 2003, p13
[8] Zaloga 1995, pp 1718.

Kampfgruppe Raus consisted of Panzer Regi- [9] Steve Newton, Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front ment 11, one Battalion of the 4th Motorized inThe Memoirs of General Raus, 2003, p21-p25
fantry Regiment, The 1st & 3rd Battalions the 76th
Artillery Regiment, one Company of Panzer Engi- [10] Hitler Moves East by Paul Carrell 1964 pp 23-24
neer Battalion 57, one company from Panzerjger
[11] Zaloga 1995, pp 1819.
Battalion 41, one Battery of the 2nd Battalion Flak
Regiment 411 & Motorcycle Battalion 6 (After- [12] Steve Newton, Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front noon).
The Memoirs of General Raus, 2003, p33

6 FURTHER READING

[13] David Glantz, The Battle for Leningrad 1941-1944, 2002,

p33
[14] Boyevoye Doneseniye No.1, HQ North-western Front,
2 July 1941, 24:00// Sbornik boyevykh dokumentov
vol. 34, Moscow, Voyennoye Izdatelstvo Ministerstva Oborony, 1958 and E. Drig, Mekhanizirovannye korpusa RKKA v boyu, AST, Moscow, 2005
, via http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/formation/
mechcorps/3mk.htm
[15] Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p126
[16] Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p128

Further reading
Zaloga, Steven J., Jim Kinnear, and Peter Sarson
(1995). KV-1 & 2 Heavy Tanks 19391945. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-496-2.
Steven H Newton, 'Panzer Operations on the Eastern
Front- The Memoirs of General Raus 1941-1945'
(2003) Da Capo Press ISBN 0-306-81247-9
David Glantz (1998), 'Stumbling Colossus - The
Red Army on the Eve of World War', Kansas. ISBN
0-7006-0879-6
David Glantz (2002), 'The Battle for Leningrad
1941-1944', Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-1208-4
Christer Bergstrom, (2007) 'Barbarossa - The
Air Battle: JulyDecember 1941, Ian Allan
Publishing.ISBN 1-85780-270-5

Coordinates: 5521N 2317E / 55.350N 23.283E

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