The Counterstroke by the Western Front’s Operational Groups
Although the struggle to liquidate the Smolensk “pocket” dominated the attention of most senior German commanders in Army Group Center after mid-July 1941, a far more important fight was about to begin during the month’s final week along German Ninth and Fourth Armies’ so-called “eastern front.” Specifically, this fight would develop in two general regions. First, it would occur along Smolensk’s outer encirclement line northeast and east of the city, specifically, in the sector which extended from the vicinity of the upper Western Dvina River west of Belyi southward past the town of Iartsevo and along the Vop’ and Dnepr Rivers to the vicinity of the Solov’evo crossing site. This sector was defended by panzer and motorized divisions subordinate to XXXIX Motorized Corps of Ninth Army’s Third Panzer Group, including 19th Panzer, 18th Motorized, and 20th and 7th Panzer Divisions and 900th Motorized Brigade (Lehr) [Training]. The second region in which the fight would erupt was along Smolensk’s outer encirclement line southeast of the city, that is, in the sector extending from the Dnepr River east of Smolensk southeastward to the El’nia region, where the Germans occupied a bridgehead jutting eastward, and then southward along the Desna River to east of Roslavl’. This sector was defended by Second Panzer Group’s XXXXVI Motorized Corps backed up by elements of the panzer group’s XXXXVII Motorized Corps. Specifically, XXXXVI Corps’ SS “Das Reich” Motorized Division manned the sector from the southern bank of the Dnepr River east of Smolensk southeastward to the northern base of the El’nia bridgehead, the same corps’ 10th Panzer Division defended the El’nia bridgehead proper, and a composite force of “Grossdeutschland” Infantry Regiment (Motorized) and a kampfgruppe from SS “Das Reich” defended the Rudnia region, with their forces facing eastward toward the Desna River south of El’nia and southward toward the city of Roslavl.
Actually, the Western Front’s Group Iartsevo, commanded by General Rokossovsky, had already initiated this struggle, when it fought in mid-July to keep open the communications routes into the Smolensk region from the east. Rokossovsky’s determined defense at Iartsevo, coupled with the limited counterattacks he conducted on his northern and southern wings, first led the Germans to believe they were opposed by relatively strong forces, an understandable impression since their forward forces lacked good intelligence and were themselves weak. In addition, the broken terrain and the considerable distances involved, for example, the 73 kilometers between Funck’s 7th Panzer Division at Iartsevo and Schaal’s 10th Panzer Division, which reached Pochinok on 17 July, prevented the Germans’ advancing panzer spearheads from cooperating with one another. At the time, however, these limited counterattacks reflected the Stavka’s determination to mount a far more ambitious general counteroffensive. Stalin and the Stavka were convinced the loss of the Dnepr River line and the strategic communications center of Smolensk raised the specter of an imminent Wehrmacht breakthrough toward Moscow. Therefore, while ordering Timoshenko to create an “insurmountable defensive position” in the Smolensk pocket, it also ordered him to recapture the city with Lukin’s 16th Army and maintain communications between the forces in the pocket and Group Rokossovsky. Meanwhile, the Stavka planned to employ Bogdanov’s Front of Reserve Armies, backed up by Artem’ev’s Front of the Mozhaisk Defense Line, to generate forces requisite for the conduct of a major counteroffensive in the Smolensk region.