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Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

Today's quotes and notes:

"All parts of the citadel at Brest have still not fallen...Unfortunately casualties there are high. The enemy is also holding out in other, smaller groups of fortifications far behind the front." - Field Marshall Fedor von Bock
"Now comes this Russian diversion. If it is more than just that it will mean the liberation of Europe from Nazi domination - and at the same time I do not think we need worry about any possibility of Russian domination." - Admiral William Leahy, U.S. ambassador in Vichy, France
"These bloody Russian forests! One loses the overview of who is a friend and who is an enemy. So we are shooting at ourselves...The II company was encircled and came back with 55 men. 'Worse than at Verdun!' said Lieutenant-Colonel von Löhneysen." - Ernst-Günter Merten, soldier in the 4th Army
A Russian counterattack north and south of Dubno produces a tank battle of epic proportion. Over 2,000 tanks fight along a 42 mile long front.
Bock agrees to re-assign the 29th Motorized Division from Panzer Group 2 to the 4th Army
General Pavlov reports to Moscow that "up to 1,000 tanks [Third Panzer Group] are enveloping Minsk from the northwest;...there is no way to oppose them."
German 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions capture Lutsk.
Lieutenant General Dimitri Pavlov orders a general withdrawal.
Manstein's LVI Panzer Corps establishes a bridgehead at Dvinsk on the Dvina but has to now wait for 6 days while Colonel-General Ernst Busch's 16th Army caught up with the advance.
The 40th and 43rd Tank Divisions of the Russian 19th Mechanized Corps try to advance on the Germans but are knocked back to the town of Rovno
The Soviets place mandatory overtime of up to 3 hours a day at the discretion of factory managers.

How propoganda works, especially in the fog of war.

The article states:
“A German drive toward Brody was repulsed, and turned back toward Lvov.”

In fact, the battle of Brody was an utter disaster for the Russians, who really had no idea on what axis the Germans were advancing. The Soviet 8th Mechanized Corps alone would lose 800+ tanks of 1071 engaged in this battle, versus the Germans 200 tank losses, of which all but approx 40-50 were recovered.

16th Panzer literally slaughtered Soviet tanks until they ran out of ammo, except for the surprisingly hard to kill, and huge KV-1 and KV-II heavy tanks, which were really infantry support tanks, ill-suited to tank to tank fighting.

This was also the first encounter with T-34’s, but they were early versions, with crappy optics and poorly-trained crews, making them virtually inneffective.

The assault on Dubno was the high-point for the Russians here, but the anti-tank guns of a single motorcycle battalion were able to hold off the poorly-led Russians just long enough for the Signal Corps troops located there to organize a defense.