“The Enemy Too Fights Heroically and With Dedication.” The Border Battles in the Southern Sector of the Eastern Front, 22 June to 2 July 1941 Cover Image

“The Enemy Too Fights Heroically and With Dedication.” The Border Battles in the Southern Sector of the Eastern Front, 22 June to 2 July 1941
“The Enemy Too Fights Heroically and With Dedication.” The Border Battles in the Southern Sector of the Eastern Front, 22 June to 2 July 1941

Author(s): Roman Töppel
Subject(s): Regional Geography, Military history, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Communism
Published by: Editura Militară
Keywords: Operation Barbarossa; Wehrmacht; Soviet Union; Eastern Front; Army Group South; Border Battles; Red Army; Tank Battle; Dubno; Kiev Special Military District;

Summary/Abstract: On 22 June 1941, the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union. Although the most important strategic targets were situated in the south of the USSR, the Army High Command believed that the campaign would be decided by the conquest of Moscow. Therefore, the focal point of the German attack was in the central sector of the Eastern Front. In the southern sector, however, the Red Army had gathered its strongest forces and offered particularly tenacious resistance. Despite heavy losses, the Soviet soldiers were able to considerably delay the offensive of Army Group South already in the border battles and thus thwart the German operational plans already in the first days of the campaign. Therefore, the border battles in the southern sector of the Eastern Front contributed significantly to the failure of Operation ‘Barbarossa’ and ultimately to the German defeat on the Eastern Front.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 71-78
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: English