•	Group Maslennikov

♦	252nd RD – preparing to force the Western Dvina River and organize antitank regions in Garabuchikha, Nikulino, Khlebanikha, Pozharishche, Olenitsa No. 1, and Krasnyi Sosny [50 kilometers south-southwest to 50 kilometers south of Toropets].
♦	243rd RD – crossed southward over the Western Dvina River with two regiments and reached the Baevo, Voskresenskoe, and Poiarkovo line [55 kilometers south of Toropets] against elements of enemy 14th MotD.

•	Group Khomenko – attacking with its main forces in the morning, while overcoming strong enemy resistance.

♦	250th RD – defending along the Los’mino, Dvorishche, and Okolitsa line [18-25 kilometers southwest of Belyi] against 19th PzD’s 73rd and 74th PzGrRs.
♦	242nd RD – attacking toward Zhidki [38 kilometers south-southwest of Belyi] and blew up an enemy ammunition dump in the region with its artillery fire.
♦	251st RD – attacking toward Zhidki and Pochinok No. 2 against small groups of withdrawing enemy
♦	107th TD – attacking toward Gorodno [8 kilometers south of Zhidki and 43 kilometers south-southwest of Belyi] with unknown results.

•	19th Army [former Group Kalinin] – attacking across its entire front.

♦	166th RD – advancing from the Brakudeno and Sechenki line [10-12 kilometers southeast of Gorodno and 35 kilometers east-northeast of Iartsevo] on its left wing, captured Gutarovo [32 kilometers east-northeast of Iartsevo], and fighting for Mamonovo [30 kilometers east-northeast of Iartsevo].
♦	91st and 89th RDs – fighting in their previous positions [18-28 kilometers north of Iartsevo].
♦	162nd RD – concentrated in the Vadino region.
♦	50th RD – resting and refitting in its previous positions.

•	Group Rokossovsky – fighting along the Vop’ River’s western bank against enemy forces stubbornly defending the Novosel’e, Pologi, Bol’shie Gorki, Zadnia, and Pnevo line [5 kilometers north and west of Iartsevo to 5 kilometers southwest of Solov’evo], with no changes in the group’s positions.
•	16th and 20th Armies – conducting rear guard actions along the Pnevskaia Sloboda and the State Farm west of Morevo line [9-18 kilometers west-southwest of Solov’evo] and along the Khmost’ River to the Dnepr River at Malinovka [20 kilometers southwest of Solov’evo].

♦	229th RD (20th Army) – crossed to the Dnepr River’s eastern bank at Ratchino (5 kilometers east of Morevo).
♦	34th RC – moving from Morevo to the Dnepr River crossing at Ratchino and further south.
♦	Resupplying 16th and 20th Armies’ forces on the Dnepr River’s western bank with fuel and ammunition.
♦	Headquarters, 20th Army – Dubrova (4 kilometers east of Morevo).

•	Group Kachalov (as of 2 August) – continued sustained fighting with enemy forces enveloping the group’s flanks and attacked toward Roslavl’.

♦	104th TD – withdrawing to the Nikitina, Borisovochka, and Egorovka region under an “onslaught by the enemy from the Ivanino region.”
♦	149th RD – fighting along the Zimnitsy, Storino, and Smychkovo line.
♦	145th RD – defending the Smychkovo and Zhigalovo line [20 kilometers south-southeast of Pochinok] with two regiments and Dundukovka, Efremovka, Gorchilovka, and Dumanichskie front [20-30 kilometers south of Pochinok]with the third regiment.
♦	31st MRR – withdrew to Novyi Derebuzh, pursued by an enemy battalion with 15 tanks and 30 motorcycles.
♦	Composite Regiment – attacked from the Markers 175.3 and 185.9 line toward Andreevskie and Pechkury against an enemy battalion with armored personnel carriers and motorcycles.
♦	52nd and 21st CDs – (according to the Central Front) fought in the Poniatovka and Novaia Dubovichka region but withdrew southward, the former to the Krasnopol’e region and the latter to Pozhyr and Fedorovka.
♦	222nd RD – withdrew under heavy enemy pressure from the Oster River line (15 kilometers west of Roslavl’) toward Roslavl’, with two regiments moving to establish defenses along the river 13 kilometers northeast of Roslavl’ and one regiment (774th) heading northeast.

•	VVS of the Front – conducting reconnaissance and bombing in the Iartsevo, Zadnia, Kurdymovo, and Roslavl’ regions and protecting 20th Army’s crossings over the Dnepr River.68

The contents of this summary demonstrated the close relationship between the ongoing destruction of Group Kachalov, which threatened to create a large gap in the Reserve Front’s defenses, and the withdrawal of 16th and 20th Armies, which, if successful, promised to provide forces capable of at least partially filling that gap. It also indicated that, although Timoshenko’s operational groups were still advancing, their gains were not commensurate with Timoshenko’s or the Stavka’s high expectations.

Within this context, Kurochkin’s and Lukin’s forces accelerated their march toward the east. Fending off pickets deployed by 17th Panzer Division, the escaping forces began virtually to “run a gauntlet” eastward through the roughly 20-kilometer-wide and 16-kilometer-long corridor north of the Dnepr River, often under intense German air strikes and artillery fire, and began fording the river in places where it was less than two feet deep. The breakout itself lasted for just over two days and ended by daybreak on 5 August.⁶⁹ Try as it did to close the corridor, which narrowed to roughly 10 kilometers as the escaping forces reached the Dnepr River, the small forces 17th Panzer Division allocated to the task simply were unable to break through Group Rokossovsky’s defenses and close the gap. Rokossovsky’s forces halted von Thoma’s panzers on the southern bank of the Dnepr River, barely 16 kilometers from Iartsevo.

See Maps 57 and 58. Army Group Center’s situation late on 4 August 1941 and the Smolensk Pocket, 4 August 1941.

General Kurochkin, the commander of the combined forces of 16th and 20th Armies, dispatched his first progress report on the withdrawal before midnight on 3-4 August. The report described the condition of his forces and their progress as they approached the safety of the Western Front’s line east of the Dnepr River:

See Volume 3 (Documents), Appendix L, 10.