Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf. J camo created by JoKeR_BvB09 | Download Here

The towns of Dubno, Lutsk, and Brody formed a triangle of the 4th,8th,9th,15th,19th, and 22nd Mechanized Corps of the Soviet Army commanded by Mikhail Petrovich Kirponos in the Ukraine was the most intense tank battle prior to Kursk between the dates of 23-30 June 1941 against German Panzer Divisions of the III,XXXXVII, AND XIV Panzer Corps commanded by Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist supported by the Luftwaffe. This tank battle was fierce even though it only lasted a week was still the most violent and hardest battles of the first invasions of the German forces on the Eastern front between armoured forces.

German forces at Brody

This first week of battles was of course the start of Operation Barbarossa launched by Germany, the Soviet forces were great in numbers, outnumbering the German forces by at-least 4-1. This fact undoubtedly gave the Soviet troops the courage and morale needed to try and hold against a far more experienced force, but even with those numbers the Soviet Army encountered mass losses due to poor intelligence gathered, unclear orders with confused and unorganized counter-attacks. After four days of fierce fighting the Red Army only managed to slow the German advance, this was contributed from the light and medium tanks being poorly organised and some what less experienced. Despite this the bravery and determination of the Soviet tank crews did not waver.

The orders for a Soviet counter-attack along the south-west front were given by Mikhail Kirponos; despite poor intelligence the command was still issued on the authority of Georgy Zhukov, under the title of directive No. 3. These read: "While maintaining strong defense of the state border with Hungary, the 5th and 6th armies are to carry out concentric strikes in the direction of Lublin, utilizing at least five mechanized corps and aviation of the Front, in order to encircle and destroy the enemy group of forces advancing along the front Vladimir-Volynski-Krystonopol, and by the end of June 24th to capture the vicinity of Lublin."

Damaged soviet tanks T-26

Chief of General Staff G. K. Zhukov along with Nikita Khrushchev on the night of the 22nd were on their way the the South-western front to ensure the orders were followed.

Logistics from both sides differ so much that it was easy to see why the Red army suffered such a great loss. For examples the German a full strenght Panzer division had between 150-200 tanks, in which the crews needed food, fuel, ammunition and spare parts. To do this the German army had 2000 trucks for logistic reasons for each Panzer division along with their own artillery and infantry support. It was also noted that all the soldiers were trained to take on other tasks if needed, this ment that an infantry soldier was trained to operate tanks and tanks personel were trained in artillery and so on. The Red army on the other hand had poor logistics, including Stalin who gave orders not to fire at German scout patrols. There were no defensive preparations made by the Red army making it easier for the German attackers to locate fuel dumps and ammunition and supply areas were easily pinpointed from the earlier scout patrols, this also included all major command areas. The Russian tank crews were not as highly trained as their German counterparts along with the Red army tank divisions having 300-400 tanks only supported by 1500 trucks.

This all contributed towards the loss to the German Army on the fierce full week of fighting.

The War Thunder Team