VVS ground attacks generate Axis losses of 8,141 men, 117 guns and 16 AFVs. Almost 3,700 of these losses are in the Stalingrad area of operations. 4,928 fighter and 5,493 bomber sorties are conducted, resulting in the loss of 108 FFBs and 172 IL-2s. 55 of 68 IL-2 regiments are sent out, making this what amounts to a maximum effort by the tactical air component of the VVS.
LIX Corps under Ferdinand Schoerner launches their assault on Leningrad proper. The date is 22 June 1942, the one year anniversary since the invasion of the Soviet Union began. On orders from Berlin, Schoerner reserves the fire of the heaviest guns including the pair of 600mm Karl mortars and 15 Skoda 305mm howitzers onto the Winter Palace. The treasures once held inside have long since been evacuated. The building which served as the official residence of the Romanov emperors for 185 years is smashed to rubble. While this action may delight the crowd in Berlin, no small number of Schoerner’s landsers are furious. They are the ones who need artillery support in subduing Soviet resistance and this senseless fireworks show as they call it, accomplishes next to nothing. Not a single rifle squad is destroyed by some of the heaviest guns of the Wehrmacht, and even the venerable 210mm howitzers have no success in destroying the defenders. Moreover, the soldiers of the Red Army stand their ground, inflicting a shocking amount of return fire on the Germans in close street fighting. Half the German assaulting infantry squads of six divisions are pinned down, then driven back. Although only a small fraction of these squads are destroyed outright, a full one quarter are at least temporarily out of action. Roughly the same portion of MG34 crews suffer a similar fate. Over half of the 372 pionier squads are similarly now out of action, and roughly a third of their light 50mm mortars.
Following the battle, General Gerasimenko reports on the state of the rifle divisions defending Leningrad under 4th Shock Army and 55th Army (where noted)
There are approximately 115,000 troops and 2,346 guns defending Leningrad and our naval base at Kronstadt.
A total of 33,668 troops in the rifle units remain fit for duty as follows:
115th Rifle Division of 55th Army =6,094.
47th Rifle Brigade attached to 115th Rifle Division =619.
118th Rifle Division =4,538
121st Rifle Division =3,760
145th Rifle Division =3,501
295th Rifle Division =2,852
298th Rifle Division =2,204
301st Rifle Division of 55th Army =4,797.
337th Rifle Division =1,815.
23rd Guards Rifle Division =1,195.
4th Naval Infantry Brigade assigned to 4th Army =2,294
Leningrad Coastal Artillery Division has 23 coastal guns of various calibers still operational. 5 are out of action.
Support Units
11th Mortar Battalion 17 functional 120mm mortars
12th Mortar Battalion 10 functional 120mm mortars
14th Mortar Battalion 7 functional 120mm mortars
21st Mortar Battalion 7 functional 120mm mortars
22nd Mortar Battalion 12 functional 120mm mortars
The enemy opposes us by a greater than 3-1 advantage in terms of operational forces. Still, Leningrad holds out.
Meanwhile, to the east, LI-2 transports at Podborovye, Syasstroy and Tikhvin along with U-2s from Volkhov continue to run the gauntlet of German fighters on their way to Leningrad. They are escorted by LaGGs and Yaks from the 45th, 162nd and 179th Fighter Regiments. A total of 663 tons of vital supplies reach the Leningrad defenders with the loss of 20 transports and 1 fighter.
At Orel, troops from Zhukov’s Central Front and Meretskov’s Bryansk Front fight their way to the outskirts of the city. The cost of every meter gained is extremely heavy, even with the best troops and leadership. Then the inevitable German counterattack extracts more blood still. It is a terrible business, but none is better suited for it than Zhukov.
Battles in the Donets region intensify as Vietinghoff’s XXXXVI Motorized Corps supports attacks by Rendulic’s II Corps and von Both’s 1st Corps driving to the north with a further assist from Steflea’s 1st Rumanian Corps. Fortunately a good number of the defending units are screening cavalry divisions that for the most part are able to fall back in good order.
Outside Stalingrad, the German 11th Infantry Division is pushed back from the city gates following heavy air attacks by 4th Air Army.
In the Central Caucasus, Grozny falls. Defending Soviet troops withdraw to the east once more to make a final stand in the mountains of the Daghestan Region by Makhachkala. Here, the city is turned into a fortress by soldiers from Marshal Grigory Kulik’s North Caucasus Front. There will be no retreat here, nor at Stalingrad. Stalin’s General Order 227 goes into immediate effect. Not one step back!
