The Bloody Triangle

by Victor Kamenir

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence in that our glorious Army and Navy and the brave falcons of the Soviet Aviation will honorably carry out their duties to the Motherland, the Soviet people, and deliver a crushing blow upon the aggressor.

  Our whole nation now must be united as one as never before. Each one of us must demand from ourselves and others discipline, order, and self-sacrifice worthy of the real Soviet patriot in order to ensure that all the needs of the Red Army, Navy, and Air Force, in order to ensure the victory over the enemy.

  The Government calls upon you, the citizens of the Soviet Union, to even tighter close ranks around our Soviet Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade Stalin.

  Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

  Late at night on June 22, as the western Soviet frontier continued to be ripped apart by flames and explosions, Colonel General Kirponos’ staff sent off another report to Moscow. Like the first report, intentional or not, and most likely lacking the actual knowledge of the situation, it was another sketchy one. It estimated German strength facing the South-Western Front at somewhat between twelve to fifteen divisions, including several armored and mechanized. Kirponos and his staff were oblivious as to the depth of German penetration or even where the most threatening incursions occurred. Most significantly, they did not know that a major gap was kicked open between the flanks of Fifth and Sixth armies, and the German mechanized forces were rapidly probing in depth.

  In his memoirs, Zhukov stated that he arrived at Kirponos’ headquarters around midnight on this first night of war. Alarmed by lack of cohesive actions at the border, Josef Stalin sent out several high-ranking military personages to the front in order to oversee the matters and report back directly to him. General Georgiy Zhukov, chief of staff of the Red Army and former commander of Kiev Special Military District, was the natural choice to as an emissary to the South-Western Front. However, it is highly unlikely that Zhukov was able to reach Kirponos’ headquarters by midnight. He definitely had time to arrive there the following night, June 23. Zhukov was accompanied by Nikita Khruschev, the future Soviet premier. Up until the start of the war, Khruschev was Stalin’s appointee as the first secretary of the Central Committee in Ukraine, the highest Communist Party assignment there. Now, Khrushchev put on a uniform and was assigned by Stalin as another member of Military Council of the South-Western Front.

  General Franz Halder, chief of German General Staff, was much better informed about the situation along Soviet border. At the end of the day, he wrote in his now-famous war diary:

  The enemy was surprised by the German attack. His forces were not in tactical disposition for defense. The troops in the border zone were widely scattered in their quarters. The frontier itself was for the most part weakly guarded. As a result of this tactical surprise, enemy resistance directly on the border was weak and disorganized, and we succeeded everywhere in seizing the bridges across the border rivers and in piercing the defense positions (field fortifications) near the frontier.45

  CHAPTER 7

  Creaking to the Sound of the Guns, June 22

  IN THE EVENING OF JUNE 22, summoned by orders from headquarters of the South-Western Front, Soviet forces began concentrating towards their staging areas for the counterattack. On paper, the Soviet mechanized forces slowly advancing to meet the German armored thrust looked very formidable. However, the six mechanized corps earmarked for the offensive on June 24 were a mixed bag of older and new combat vehicles, experienced soldiers and raw recruits, suffering shortages of vital equipment, supplies, and armament.

  Some of these formations belonged to combined-arms armies covering the border. The XXII Mechanized Corps belonged to the Fifth Army; the IV and XV Mechanized, to the Sixth Army; the VIII Mechanized, to the Twenty-Sixth Army. Two more mechanized corps, the IX and XIX, were part of reserves of South-Western Front and were moving up from the areas of pre-1939 border.

  In addition to the above units, six more large formations were on the move: the 1st Anti-Tank Artillery Brigade and five rifle corps: XXXI, XXXVI, XXXVII, XLIX, and LV. Out of these five rifle corps, only two, the XXXI and XXXVI, were approaching the area of operations of Soviet Fifth Army. The other three were aimed farther south. In accordance with orders received from Moscow on June 15, the reserve rifle corps of Kiev Special Military District began marching towards the border on June 17. In order to ensure that Germany was not aware of their move, these corps upon arrival at their designated areas were to be deployed in concealed positions, usually in the woods, within several days’ march from the border. They were to move only at night, needing eight to fifteen days to arrive at their predetermined locations. The XXXI Rifle Corps was to concentrate near Kovel, behind the right flank of the Fifth Army; the XXXVI Rifle Corps, around Dubno, behind the left.1

  XXII MECHANIZED CORPS

  As previously mentioned, the 41st Tank Division was located relatively close to the border and lost contact with its parent XXII Mechanized Corps right at conflict’s opening. In addition to being away from its parent formation, the division itself was widely separated. Its main body, comprised of two tank regiments, the artillery regiment, and division’s support units, was located in Vladimir-Volynskiy, while the motorized rifle regiment was at Lyuboml.

  From the very beginning, the division began being pulled apart. Its 41st Motorized Rifle Regiment entered the fight near Lyuboml in support of the XV Rifle Corps, and its survivors were eventually absorbed into the 45th Rifle Division of that corps. A tank battalion was detached to support Soviet infantry fighting west of Vladimir-Volynskiy, losing over half of its combat vehicles in the process.

  Out of touch with each other, the 41st Tank Division and the rest of the XXII Mechanized Corps began converging on Kovel. Colonel Pavlov, commander of the 41st Tank Division, wrote in an after-action report:

  Since morning, the 41st Tank Division was subjected to heavy artillery fire, but despite being under heavy fire and [suffering] heavy casualties . . . division reached its assigned staging area . . . by 1400 hours after completing 50–55 km march along wooded and swampy roads. Division did not receive instructions from commander of 22nd Mechanized Corps for four to five days, even though he knew location of our staging area. Division was under direction of commander of 5th Army and commander of 15th Rifle Corps.2

  In the evening of the same day, commander of the Fifty Army, Major General Potapov, directly involving himself in managing a division, detached two tank companies to chase down alleged small groups of German parachutists. Potapov also assigned the heavy tank battalion containing all the KV-2 tanks, minus several that became disabled during the march to Kovel, to set up defensive positions across the Brest-Kovel road to guard against enemy advance from that direction. Lacking ammunition for their cannons, the KV-2s were nothing but giant slowly moving machine-gun–armed pillboxes.

  In the same report, Pavlov mentioned that his howitzer regiment, armed with 122mm and 152mm cannons, did not have a single tractor to move them. He is silent on the subject of whether any of them were moved by any other means or left behind in their garrison in Vladimir-Volynskiy. Judging from the fact that he no longer mentioned his artillery regiment in the report, it is a safe assumption that these powerful weapons were left behind and subsequently lost when the Germans took Vladimir-Volynskiy by the end of June 22.

  The rest of the XXII Mechanized Corps was on the move west along the Vladimir-Volynskiy–Rovno highway. The 19th Tank Division, leaving behind 12 percent to 15 percent, or roughly twenty, vehicles inoperable in its garrison, led the way. From the very beginning, divisions began experiencing a large number of mechanical breakdowns. Many of these disabled tanks were older models, for which no spare parts were available. With mobile repair shops and recovery vehicles in short supply, many of those tanks that suffered breakdowns were left abandoned at the side of the road.

  The 215th Motorized Rifle Division, being “motoriz
ed” in name only, largely marched on foot. Its tank regiment was experiencing similar problems with its tanks, albeit on much smaller scale.

  VIII MECHANIZED CORPS

  Commander of the VIII Mechanized Corps in Drogobych, Lt. Gen. Dmitriy I. Ryabyshev, returning home shortly after midnight on June 22, still tired from his two days of commander’s reconnaissance, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. He wasn’t allowed to rest long. Around 0400 hours he woke from pounding on his apartment door. The duty runner, a young private, out of breath, reported: “Comrade General, you are urgently asked to come to the telephone at the headquarters.”

  Ryabyshev rushed to his headquarters. While waiting for the call from the Twenty-Sixth Army’s headquarters, he sent out the word for his staff officers to gather in his office.

  Like Ryabyshev, commissar of the VIII Mechanized Corps, Nikolai Popel returned to his apartment late. He was tired after a long day and decided to take a shower. As the warm water washed over him, weariness began leaving his body. His mind kept wondering what the Germans were doing at this very moment, there on the other bank of the San River.

  A call from corps headquarters interrupted his relaxation. The duty officer informed Popel that Ryabyshev asked him to come to headquarters right away. These late-night recalls were commonplace enough as of late that Popel did not become concerned.

  “What’s going on?” His wife was worried nonetheless.

  “Nothing much. Dmitriy Ivanovich [Ryabyshev] is calling me in for prayers.”

  The headquarters of the VIII Mechanized Corps were located in a former church and Popel thought his joke would cheer up his wife.3

  As staff officers gathered in Ryabyshev’s office, he informed them that he just received a telephone call from Lt. Gen. F. Y. Kostenko, commander of the Twenty-Sixth Army, advising them to “be ready and wait for orders.”4 Not sure what was going on, Ryabyshev ordered his divisions to “stand to” and move out to their staging areas.

  He called Maj. Gen. T. A. Mishanin, commander of the 12th Tank Division, first. This unit was located in Striy, a small town twenty-five miles east of Drogobych. Ryabyshev’s message was short.

  “Hello. There is lighting in the sky.”

  “I understand,” replied Mishanin.

  “Good luck,” wished Ryabyshev and rung off.

  Colonel Gerasimov, commander of the 7th Motorized Rifle Division, also located in Striy, was next.

  “Gerasimov here.”

  “Hello, my friend. Do you hear the sounds the forest is making?”

  “It is indeed making sounds, but the forester knows what he is about,” Gerasimov replied.

  Major General Vasilyev, commander of 34th Tank Division in the village of Sadovaya Vishnya, thirty miles west of Lvov, was the last one. Their exchange was even shorter.

  “Hello. Mountain! Good Luck!”

  “I understand.”

  Shortly prior to the start of the war, Ryabyshev prearranged with his division commanders, for security purposes, code phrases which would notify them to open their sealed orders with war-time deployment areas. “Lightning,” “forest,” and “mountain” were the code phrases for the three divisions.5

  Roughly at 0430 hours, Colonel V. S. Varennikov, chief of staff of the Twenty-Sixth Army, called with grim news: Germans were bombarding forward Soviet positions, city of Peremyshl was under direct fire of German artillery, and in some places German infantry had crossed the border. Varennikov’s instructions were not to fall for any provocations, not to open fire on German aircraft, and wait for orders.6

  While the command staff of VIII Mechanized Corps waited for orders, the city of Drogobych was bombed twice by German aviation. As the second wave of bombers was just starting its run, Ryabyshev pulled Popel into his office. On the way there he ordered the duty officer:

  “Connect me with commander of air-defense artillery brigade!”

  Without saying another word, Ryabyshev looked at Popel. Besides being colleagues, the two men were friends. Popel knew that Ryabyshev was asking him, his commissar, for approval to violate the explicit orders not to open fire on German aircraft. Fully knowing the gravity of his decision, Popel nodded agreement.

  After a second’s pause, Ryabyshev dropped instructions into the telephone:

  “Open fire on enemy aircraft!”7

  A minute later, barking of antiaircraft guns punctuated the sound of exploding German bombs.

  Telephone lines, cut by German bombs, commandos, and Ukrainian nationalists, were working only intermittently. News began trickling in: casualties among units were light; however, there were casualties among officers’ families, victims of German bombs.

  Ryabyshev also received reports that two small groups of enemy paratroopers were dropped in the area between Drogobych and Striy. He sent out two battalion-sized task forces made up of motorcycle companies, companies of BT-7 tanks, and companies of motorized infantry to track down and destroy the German commandos.

  Reports, good and bad, continued trickling in. German bombing around Drogobych and Striy hit the rear echelon units and installations of the VIII Mechanized Corps hard. Both groups of enemy paratroopers were located and wiped out. A small airfield near Striy was bombed, and a squadron of Soviet reconnaissance aircraft, destroyed. Twelfth Tank Division finished leaving its garrison and proceeded to staging area without incident. One regiment from the 7th Motorized Rifle Division did not get moving orders in time and was hit hard by German aircraft in its camp; the casualties were heavy: 70 killed and 120 wounded.8

  When around 1000 hours a liaison officer from the Twenty-Sixth Army at last brought orders, Ryabyshev and Popel could breathe easier: they finally had clear instructions after five hours of inactivity. The VIII Mechanized Corps was to concentrate by the end of the day in the vicinity of town of Sambor, roughly twenty miles to the west. Hastily prepared orders for subordinated divisions were sent out with liaison officers and over the radio when possible.

  Ryabyshev with his headquarters element accompanied the 12th Tank Division to Sambor. Even though it was only twenty miles from Drogobych to Sambor, the trip there was extremely difficult. Other large units were on the move as well. While the 12th Tank Division was moving west from Striy and Drogobych to Sambor, another formation, the XIII Rifle Corps under Maj. Gen. N. K. Kirilov, belonging to the Twelfth Army, was moving east along the same road from Sambor to Drogobych.

  The narrow two-lane unpaved road became a nightmare of entangled tanks, wheeled vehicles, tractors, wagons, men, and horses. Swearing, shouting, occasional bursts from air-defense machine guns were all enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. There were constant traffic jams. Some vehicles slipped off the narrow roads and became stuck in the marshy ditches. The roadbed did not hold up to the pressure of multitudes of men and machines and became a thick morass of soft earth. Ancient small bridges over many streams constantly broke under the weight of heavy vehicles.9

  Popel, who was a good friend of the commander of the 34th Tank Division, Colonel I. V. Vasilyev, volunteered to go along with the liaison officer sent to that division. As Popel’s staff car and an armored car escort raced along the road to Lvov, a flight of German fighters spotted them and began hunting them along the rutted road. Drivers of both vehicles began series of evasive maneuvers, accelerating and stopping in order to foil the aim of German pilots.

  Relief came unexpectedly in the shape of a single Soviet I-16 fighter. Without hesitation, the Soviet fighter threw himself against half-dozen German aircraft. Several moments later the I-16 went spiraling to the ground trailing a thick plume of smoke and crashed in front of Popel’s eyes. The name of the pilot who selflessly sacrificed himself to save strangers on the ground will never be known. But where was the rest of the Soviet Air Force?10

  Popel found the 34th Tank Division well hidden in its assigned place in the woods west of Drogobych. Being able to leave its garrisons in time and disperse in the woods, Colonel Vasiliev’s division hardly suffered any casualties
from German bombing. However, the division’s officers saw that the Germans were dropping bombs on the garrisons where their families remained and were extremely anxious for any news about safety of their loved ones.

  After receiving updated instructions, the 34th Tank Division set off towards the border. This division contained a large portion of the new T-34 and KV-1 tanks, and Popel now proudly observed these new machines heading off to war.

  As the 34th Tank Division approached the border, the sounds of fighting grew louder and more intense. Refugees, first in ones and twos, then in streams, appeared heading away from the border. The lucky ones found places on trucks, cars, or horse-drawn wagons. Many fled on foot, clutching their meager belongings. Almost every truck contained wounded soldiers.

  By 2100 hours the VIII Mechanized Corps concentrated in the woods around Sambor. The corps headquarters were set up near the headquarters of the Twenty-Sixth Army.

  Ryabyshev called for a staff meeting to get a situation report. All of his combat elements were in their assigned staging area. Roughly 700 of his 932 tanks were present and ready for action. In his memoirs Ryabyshev mentions that the missing 232 tanks were left behind in the garrison areas due to the need of major overhaul. However, the major portion of the missing tanks fell prey to various noncombat causes: broke down on the march, became stuck in difficult terrain, or suffered the prosaic indignity of running out of fuel.

  Shortly thereafter, Col. A. K. Blazhey from the staff of the Twenty-Sixth Army hand-delivered to Ryabyshev orders from the front headquarters. The VIII Mechanized Corps was ordered to turn around and by noon on 23rd of June concentrate in the area fifteen miles east of Lvov and report to the commander of the Sixth Army, Lt. Gen. I. N. Muzychenko.

  These orders completely nullified the fifty-mile road march westward accomplished by majority of Ryabyshev’s corps on this day. Now the VIII Mechanized Corps had to move seventy-five miles to northeast.