Wenn Barbarossa steigt, wird die Welt den Atem anhalten und sich still verhalten!

[Williamb]

I thought Id give a try at "Fire in the East". Also I studied German and Russian in College thought Id show how much I forgot.

My first attempt is the title. It should be Hitlers famous quote "The world will hold its breath" But I probably got it wrong [:'(]

So will make some comments in Russian and German. Native speakers please feel free to correct my mistakes as I know I will make many.

It will help me to improve my language skills.

Will try and keep my way of doing AARs which should be a big challenge in this kind of scenario

So here we go. To the largest land battle in history

Date june 21st 1942

Location Wolfschanze on the East Prussian Border



Hitler Meeting with his top generals to discuss Barbarosa the invasion of the Soviet union.



Hitler
"Schön und Gut. Wo ist die Liste der Generäle?"
(Great. Where is the list of generals ?)

OKW Franz Halder
""Hier, mein Führer
(On here my leader)



Hitler
"Ziele?"
(obJectives ?)

OKW Franz Halder
"Auf der Liste"
(On the List)

Hitler liest die Liste vor
(Hitler reads the list)

FINNISH Heer
CO: Field Marshal (Fin) G.Mannerheim
Ziele: Leningrad



HEERESGRUPPE “NORD”
CO: GenFM Ritter von Leeb
Ziele: LeninGrad



HEERESGRUPPE “MITTE”
CO: Gen/FM von Bock
Ziele: Moscow



HEERESGRUPPE “SUD”
CO: GenFM von Rundstedt
Ziele: Kiev



Hitler
"Es hat begonnen"

[Industrial]

ORIGINAL: William Amos

My first attempt is the title. It should be Hitlers famous quote "The world will hold its breath" But I probably got it wrong [:'(]

So will make some comments in Russian and German. Native speakers please feel free to correct my mistakes as I know I will make many.

It will help me to improve my language skills.

I think you mean this quote from Hitler: "Wenn Barbarossa steigt, wird die Welt den Atem anhalten und sich still verhalten!"

A rough translation would be: "With the beginning of Barbarossa, the world will hold its breath and remain quiet!"

[Williamb]

Corrections made to my German. Many thanks Industrial and Arno.

[Williamb]

Situation June 21 1941

Meeting in Kremlin with Stalin and his top commanders



Stavka
Stalin


"Какова ситуация ?"
What is the Situation ?



Marshal Alexander Vasilievsky. Army Cheif of Staff Stavka.

"Немецкая пехота на границе.никакой признак резервуаров"
(German Infantry on the border. No Sign of tanks)

Stalin
"наши войска ?"
(Our Troops?)

Vasilievsky
"военные районы "
(Military Districts)

Leningrad District
MM Popov


Baltic District
FI Kuznetsoz


Western District
DG Pavlov


Keiv DIstric
MP Kirponos


Odessa District
Cherevichenko


Transcaucasus District
DT Kozlov


Kharkov District
AK Smirnov


Moscow District
IV Tyulenev


North Caucasus District
IS Konev


Orel District
FN Remezov


Stalin
"Гитлер не будет нападать без резервуаров.Не будет никакого нападения, пока мы не видим их "

(Hitler will not attack without tanks. THere will be no attack until we see them.)

[Industrial]

The strange part about that Hitler quote is the word "steigt", it's direct translation would be 'rise' or maybe 'climb', which is a funny way to describe the beginning of a military operation. Well, the german language evolved over the last 60 years, so it might have been common to talk that way back than, another explanation is that it might be a reference to the historical person Barbarossa, or maybe the quote is incorrect. If anybody knows for sure, please enlighten me

[DuckofTindalos]

Maybe he meant it in a similar way to the expression "The Balloon has gone up"...

[Arno 2]

great aar so far! as for the german "steigt", this is a phrase not uncommon in german, although it maybe isnt used very often today. Today I guess it is most used as "Die Party steigt morgen abend" (the party is tomorrow evening) or something like that. I thought about it and cant remember when I used it last, but you wouldnt draw any strange looks if you used it.
Although it literally means "to rise", in this context it is translated quite correctly with "begins" or "happens" or "starts".

As for the quote, I dont know that one, but concerning grammar and choice of words, it sounds right.

Keep it up, the russian is a nice touch, too [:)]

cheers,
Arno

[Williamb]

Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering

Der luftwaffe Sturmen Ausbreitunge ! Bald das Feuer von den Walküren Wird Russland anzünde!
(The storm of the Luftwaffe spreads ! Soon the fire of the valkyries will ignite Russia !)




Just after dawn of June 22nd 1941 the storm of the luftwaffe did strike. The first hit were many attacks on the airfeilds of the soviets.

The first strike in the North was by "Kampfgeschwader 2 Holzhammer.



Over 80 german bombers hit the airfeilds of the Baltic 6th Soviet Air Division



They acheive complete surprize. No damage was reported by any German bombers.



The Soviet losses on the other hand were extensive

69 I-15s, 65 I-16s and 116 SB-2s were destroyed on the ground. The entire base was in a shambles and the Soviets had to disband the 6th Air divison

---------------------------------

[Williamb]

The next attack was by Kampfgeschwader 55 "Greif"



They hit the airbases of the Western Front's 10 Soviet air division. The base also housed the 12th AAA Regt and the 20th recon Regt.



Bombs hit both the airbase and the nearby barracks. The Luftwaffe had 3 He - 111s shot down and another 4 damaged.

The damage to the ground units as light.1 motorcycle, 1 76mm AA gun, 1 85mm AA gun, and 3
horseteams were lost

The damage to the airbase was more extensive. 44 I-16s, 8 IL -2s, 9 PE-2s, and 20 Yak - 1s were destroyed on the ground. The base was heavily damaged.

[Williamb]

Anther air attack hit a base in the western part of Russia.

Kampfgeschwader 3 "Blitz" hit the 9th Soviet Air Division



Dornier 17s and ME110s bombed and straffed the base.



In the end 2 Do -17s and 1 ME110 were damaged.



The soveits again took extensive losses. 18 I-15s, 22 I-16s, 10 SB-2s, 17 MiG-1s, and 74
MiG3s were destroyed or badly damaged on the ground

[Williamb]

"Kampfgeschwader 53 "The Condor Legion" struck the next blow against the Western Front's 11 Soviet Air Divsion.



German Heinke Bombers pounded the base for almost 20 minutes in several bombing runs.


In the end 2 HE-111s were shot down and 3 others damaged.

The Soviets lost 72 I-15s, 71 I -16s, 28 SB-2s and 37 PE-2s.

[Williamb]

Another attack was carried out by "Kampfgeschwader 3 "Greif" against the Keivan Front's 19th Soveit Bomber Divison.



German Do 17s and He 111s smashed the bomber base.



No German losses occurred. The soviets again took heavy losses as once agian they were caught on the ground.

60 SB2s, 11 PE2s and 39 Yak 4s were destroyed or rendered inoperable.

[Williamb]

"Kampfgeschwader 3 "Blitz" also struck the Keivan 14th Soviet Air Division.



This time it was a group of JU87 Stukas striking the air base.



4 Stukas were shot down. Another 2 were damaged.

The Soviets also lost heavily in this air attack.

4 I-15s and 26 I-16s were destroyed or damaged in the attack.

[Williamb]

The air compaign then shifted to the Southern Front

"Kampfgeschwader 4 "General Weaver" attacked the Odessa Front's 20th Air Division



The Germans had damage to 1 HE 111 bomber



Again for the soviets the losses were massive

They lost 125 I-15s, 55 SB2s, 122 MiG3s, 5 PE2s and 18 SU2s.

[Williamb]

The final airfeild attack by the Luftwaffe was also against the Odessa Front.

Kampfgeschwader 27 "Boelicke" hit the Odessa Fronts 45th Air Division

Heinke 111 bombers hit their airbase.

In the end one German HE 111 bomber was lost.

This time the soviet losses were much more modest

They lost 14 I 16s, 21 SB2s, 2 MiG3s and 1 SU2 either destroyed or damaged on the ground.

------------------

The overall tally for the "Luftwaffe Sturm" was

The soviets lost destroyed on the ground or damaged
288 I-15s, 228 I-16s, 269 SB2s, 8 IL-2s, 17 MiG-1s, 196 MiG3s, 62 PE2s ,20 Yak-1s, 39 Yak 4s and 18 SU2s.

The Germans had Lost 4 stukas and 6 HE 111 Bombers were shot down 2 Stukas, 8 He 111s and 2 DO 17s and 1 ME110 were damaged

[Williamb]

There were also several Stuka attacks on various Soveit ground forces. These below were independant of any ground attack taking place.

Stuka "Kampfgeschwader Totenkopf launched an attack on the 22nd Tank Divison of the 14th mechanized corps.



Over 40 stukas hit the 20th's deployment zone. In the end no German aircrat were lost. 6 riflemen and their 82mm morter with their truck were hit and destroyed by a bomb.
--------------------------
Stuka "Kampfgeschwader Totenkopf also bombed the Soviet 4th Army Hq and several Russian Artillery regiments.
Heavy AA fire prevented a coordinated attack. q Stuka was damaged with no losses the Russians
--------------

Stuka "Kampfgeschwader 77 Dive bombed the Russian 75th Rifle Division. This time 2 stukas were hit by groundfire. 6 soviet riflemen, 2 50mm morters and a horseteam were lost to the bombing
--------------------------
Stuka "Kampfgeschwader 77 also hit the 49th Rifle Division and 8th AT Regt. They were driven off by heavy AA fire with 2 stukas shot down and 5 others damaged with no losses to the soviets.
----------------------

[Williamb]

The ground war launched the same dawn as the air strikes. OKH's strategy was to crack open the lines with several successive infantry attacks.

As one German General stated.

""Klopf an die Tür mit der Faust, dann tritt sie mit den Füßen ein."

(knock on the door with (ie your) fist then kick it (ie in) with your feet !)

In the north the attack was launched by Armee Gruppe Nord commanded by GenFM Ritter von Leeb.



The northern most attack was by the 291st Infantry Divison commanded by General der Artillerie Kurt Herzog



The 504th Infantry Regt backed by the OKH 53rd Nebelwerfer Battalion launched the northern most attack. Also"Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenberg" supported it with a Stuka attack



Defending was the 10th Rifle Divison and the 9th AT Regiment of the Soviet 8th Army Commanded by Gen Major I.I. Fadeyevii.





The first wave of the attack hit a reinforced Rifle battalion. Russian morter fire slowed the Regiments advance until German artillery responded with counterbattery fire silencing the morters.

But that was countered with russian heavy guns hitting the werfers. 2 guns were damaged before German stukas stopped this attack.

The Regiment was able to push in 2 miles but was halted by a counter attack by the Russian divisons engineers.

The 504th and artillery reported 52 dead and 140 wounded. 12 German engineers were also wounded when artillery struck their truck.

In equiptment the Germans lost 1 motorcycle,1 155mm wefer, 1 210 mm werfer, 1 truck and 2 stukas were damaged.

The soviets had stopped the attack but took heavy damage. 150 Soldiers were dead, 80 were captured and 100 others were wounded.

In the attack by the soviet engineers 12 were killed and 18 wounded.

The 10th rifle also suffered heavy equiptment losses.

Their infantry force lost 5 MMGs, 17 HMGs, and 6 45mm atgs.

Their Mortar battalion was decimated. 9 50mm morters, 9 82mm morters, and 5 120mm morters were lost to either German artillery or infantry.

Their artillery battalion lost 5 76mm Guns,7 dual AAMGs, 2 37mm AA,and 10 horseteams.

The 9th AT Regt also lost 6 76mm ATGs,26 ATRs,and 1 BA10 Armored car.

[Williamb]

The next nearest attack was launched by the 217th Infantry division commanded by Generalleutnant Richard Baltzer.

The 343rd Infantry Regitment of that divison hit the 67th NKVD regiment.



The Regiment was able to surround the battalion within hours and force them to surrender. Few of the NKVD soldiers were able to escape the encirclement.



12 germans were killed and 30 wounded.

150 NKVD officers were captured. 90 were killed

The Germans captured or destroyed 5 HMgs, 6 45mm ATGs, 3 82mm Morters and 20 trucks

[DuckofTindalos]

Nice one, William. Just one thing: all the "Kampfgruppes" from your above posts should be "Kampfgeschwader". KG = Kampfgeschwader, KGr = Kampfgruppe.

[Williamb]

Ah will correct that thanks Terminus