Posted on 10/23/2011 5:54:23 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/oct41/f23oct41.htm
Red Army command reorganized
Thursday, October 23, 1941 www.onwar.com
On the Eastern Front... Stalin reorganizes the Soviet army command system giving Zhukov responsibility for the northern half of the front and General Timoshenko for the southern portion.
thanks homer
You are welcome.
And now our second daily diary is available. The Etherington site has been a little behind lately, especially when the month changes.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/23.htm
October 23rd, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: London: General de Gaulle asks resistance members to stop murdering German military personnel, to avoid further retaliation against the French populace.
GERMANY:
U-216 launched.
U-593 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: Stalin reorganizes his military high command. Zhukov now commands the northern half of the front with Timoshenko commanding the south half.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: USAT Tasker H Bliss arrives in Manila with 10 more pilots for the 24th P.G. (Marc Small)
AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Wollongong commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Walt Disney’s feature-length animated musical “Dumbo” opens at the Broadway Theater in New York City. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Tribal class Destroyer HMS Cossack is torpedoed west of Portugal at 35 36N, 10 04W by U-563 whilst escorting convoy HG.75 from Gibraltar to the UK. She sinks three days later, despite attempts to save her. (85)(Alex Gordon)
An incredibly strange event befell U-106 on this date. When the replacement watch opened the tower hatch in rough seas they found out that the entire previous tower watch of 4 men had been washed overboard. [Oberleutnant zur See Werner Grüneberg, Fähnrich zur See Herbert Von Bruchhausen, Oberbootsmannmaat Karl Heemann, Matrose Ewald Brühl]
How can anybody think about an animated flying elephant at a time like this, with Moscow about to fall to the Nazi hordes and the war drums getting louder in the Pacific?
(Check back tomorrow for Bosley Crowther's review.)
During the period after the annihilation of the Vyazma Pocket, von K1uge's Fourth Army accomplished virtually nothing.
After spending an excessive amount of time reconstituting his army around Vyazma, von Kluge moved his divisions up to the front very slowly, despite the pressing need for infantry to support the Fourth Panzer Army. The 258th Infantry division launched a series of small probing attacks at Naro-Fominsk from 20 to 23 October but was stopped cold by the 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division.
The 1st GMRD was an experienced formation that was rebuilding in the Moscow area at the start of Typhoon, but at this point its combat strength was equal to about two battalions of infantry and one battalion of BT-7 light tanks.
By 27 October, von Kluge had 11 divisions up at the front line facing the Soviet 5th, 33rd, 43rd and 49th Armies. Von Kluge held a vital 130km stretch of the front from just east of Mozhaisk to Aleksin, south of Serpukhov. Von Bock ordered the Fourth Army to develop the situation along the Nara River line but von Kluge reported that his right flank – XII and XIII Corps were under heavy attack near Serpukhov from the Soviet 43rd and 49th Armies on 26/27 October. Convinced that the Fourth Army was under heavy pressure, von Bock allowed it to shift to a defensive posture.
It is apparent now that von Kluge lied to von Bock about the scale of the Soviet attacks in order to gain permission for an operational pause, if not an outright shift to winter quarters.
An analysis of German officer casualty records for the period 26/27 October reveals that XII and XIII Corps suffered only 8 officers killed and 15 wounded in this period. Half of the casualties were in the 17th Infantry Division, with the other four divisions only lightly engaged. Despite the fact that only a single infantry division was under attack from two Soviet rifle divisions and the 20th Panzer Division was nearby in reserve, von Kluge claimed that his army was in danger and must cease any offensive actions. For the next five weeks, von Kluge allowed his front to settle into a static position, with World War 1-style trenches in some areas along the Nara river.
By conniving to opt out of Typhoon, von Kluge's army was the best prepared of any of Army Group Center’s formations to face the winter and the Soviet counter-offensive, but his selfish behavior contributed to the ultimate failure of Typhoon.
Moscow 1941-Hitler's First Defeat by Robert Forczyk
Osprey Publ
Part Two- Pursuit and Destruction in The Crimea
In the office building of the Askaniya Nova collective farm, just under 20 miles north-east of Perekop, runners came and went ceaselessly on 28th October.
In the large conference room of Army headquarters Manstein's chief of operations, Colonel Busse, had spread out his situation maps. Arrows, lines, little circles, and flags marked the incipient flight of the Russians. Towards noon Manstein entered the map-room together with Colonel Wöhler, the Chief of Staff of Eleventh Army.
"What d'you think of the situation, Busse?" Manstein asked his chief of operations.
"Are the Russians going to give up the Crimea?"
"I don't think so, Herr General," Busse replied.
"Neither do I," Manstein returned. "If they did they would lose control of the Black Sea and throw away their strong positions threatening the flanks of our Army Group South. They won't do that in a hurry. Besides, it would be rather difficult to embark two Armies and get them away."
Wöhler pointed at the map. "The Russians are certain to try to hold Sevastopol, Feodosiya, and Kerch. They will save their defeated troops by getting them into these redoubts; there they will replenish them and send them into attack again. So long as they hold the naval fortress of Sevastopol they are able to do that."
"That's just what we've got to prevent," Manstein retorted.
Busse nodded. "But how are we going to turn our infantry into mobile formations? If only we had a Panzer or motorized division! It would make things a lot easier."
Colonel Wöhler took this as his clue. "We'll amalgamate all available motorized sections of infantry divisions, from reconnaissance detachments to anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns, and send them forward as a fast combat group!" Busse wholeheartedly agreed with the idea.
"Very well," Manstein decided. "Busse, you'll see that such a combat group is formed. Colonel Ziegler is to lead it. His first objective is to be Simferopol, the main city and transport centre of the peninsula. The way to Sevastopol and the south coast lies through that town. And that way has got to be blocked."
Manstein picked up a colored crayon. With a few quick strokes he sketched out his operational plan on the map: the XXX Army Corps with 22nd and 72nd Infantry Divisions would advance behind Ziegler's fast combat group via Simferopol and Bakhchisaray to the south coast—to Sevastopol and Yalta. The newly arrived XLII Army Corps with 46th, 73rd, and 170th Infantry Divisions would move towards Feodosiya and the Isthmus of Parpach. The LIV Corps was to drive south with 50th and 132nd Infantry Divisions, straight towards Sevastopol. Perhaps the fortress could be taken by a surprise attack after all.
That was Manstein—bold, quick of decision, and with a sure eye for the situation as a whole. His plan cut across the enemy's intentions. For General Kuznetsov was withdrawing his Soviet Fifty-first Army towards the south-east, in accordance with orders, to offer resistance at Feodosiya and Kerch.
General Petrov's coastal Army was utterly disorganized.
It no longer had contact with its High Command, and hence it had no order for a withdrawal. Petrov assembled all his commanders, chiefs of staffs, and commissars of divisions and brigades at the headquarters of 95th Rifle Division in Ekibash. There was much heated discussion. Everybody was afraid to take the responsibility. Eventually it was decided to withdraw to the south, to defend Sevastopol.
That was exactly how Manstein expected the Soviets to react when he sketched out his plan at the Askaniya Nova farm. "Any questions, gentlemen?"
"None, Herr General!"
"Very well, you'll see to everything, Busse. I'm driving to XXX Corps."
Heels clicked. Outside, in the courtyard, the engine of the command car sprang into life. The radio transmitters moved off. The mobile headquarters section, the advanced command post of Eleventh Army, was moving off to the front.
As Manstein arrived at XXX Corps the message had just arrived that Major-General Wolff's 22nd Infantry Division, a former airborne division and hence somewhat better equipped with motor vehicles, had already organized its own motorized vanguard detachment from sappers, anti-tank gunners, Army anti-aircraft guns, infantry, and artillery. This force, commanded by Major Pretz, had already driven past Taganash to the road and railway junction of Dzhankoy. On 1st November Colonel Ziegler's combat group took Simferopol. Together with the reconnaissance detachment of 22nd Infantry Division under Lieutenant-Colonel von Boddien, it then penetrated over the mountains down to the south coast at Yalta, cutting off strong forces of the Soviet coastal Army still streaming back towards Sevastopol.
In the eastern part of the Crimea the 46th Infantry Division reached the Isthmus of Parpach and blocked it before the bulk of the Soviet formations got there. On 3rd November the regiments of 170th Infantry Division took the town and harbor of Feodosiya. In fierce fighting the 46th and 170th Infantry Divisions burst through the isthmus of Parpach. Lieutenant-Colonel Thilo, the commander of 401st Infantry Regiment, and his adjutant, Lieutenant von Prott, were killed in front of the strongpoints and wire obstacles. Casualties were heavy. The companies were down to twenty or at the most thirty men.
But the victory was complete. Only the Soviet Army headquarters personnel and some defeated formations without heavy weapons succeeded in escaping to the mainland by way of the Kerch road. On 15th November the strongly fortified town of Kerch was captured.
The advanced detachment of 22nd Infantry Division under Major Pretz was also advancing according to time-table. Bypassing Simferopol, it drove into the craggy Yayla Mountains. The men, though unused to mountain conditions, acquitted themselves admirably. In cooperation with 124th Infantry Regiment, 72nd Infantry Division, they took Alushta and surrounded a Soviet cavalry division. Yalta, the famous harbor and seaside resort, the Monte Carlo of the Black Sea, was occupied. Lieutenant-Colonel Müller with his 105th Infantry Regiment, 72nd Infantry Division, turned along the coast road to the west, towards Sevastopol, and with a bold stroke took Balaclava, the southernmost bastion of the fortress.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan.
The 50th and 132nd Infantry Divisions of LIX Corps, coming from the north, were likewise pressing against the Sevastopol approaches. But abruptly Soviet resistance stiffened. Soviet naval infantry and fortress artillery, intact crack units, including the officer cadets of 79th Officer Aspirant Brigade from Novorossiysk, intervened in the fighting. They did not yield an inch. It became obvious that with the available combat-weary German regiments Sevastopol could not be taken by surprise attack. Manstein was denied the ultimate prize of victory.
But even though Eleventh Army's pursuit lacked the crowning glory of a rapid fall of Sevastopol, the vigorous offensive spirit of its formations had nevertheless brought about the virtual annihilation of the enemy in the field. Twelve rifle divisions and four cavalry divisions had been largely destroyed. Six German infantry divisions took over 100,000 prisoners and destroyed or captured more than 700 guns and 160 tanks.
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