Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The German air arm was to help prevent a total collapse of Army Group Centre. Despite the Soviets' best efforts, the Luftwaffe had contributed enormously to the survival of Army Group Centre. Between 17 and 22 December the Luftwaffe destroyed 299 motor vehicles and 23 tanks around Tula, hampering the Red Army's pursuit of the German Army. [96] [97]
The Soviet tank force had an estimated strength of 15,000 tanks at the beginning of the invasion. By October that force had, in the central sector, been reduced to 150. [ 49 ] Despite the clear victories being won and the rapid advances deep into Soviet territory, the Luftwaffe had lost nearly 1,000 aircraft destroyed within the first two ...
The Soviet Union had around 23,000 tanks available of which 14,700 were combat-ready. [161] Around 11,000 tanks were in the western military districts that faced the German invasion force. [11] Hitler later declared to some of his generals, "If I had known about the Russian tank strength in 1941 I would not have attacked". [162]
The Attack of the Brave Dead Men, or the Battle of Osowiec Fortress, was a battle of World War I that took place at Osowiec Fortress (now northeastern Poland), on August 6, 1915. The incident received its grim name from the bloodied, corpse-like appearance of the Russian combatants after they were bombarded with a mixture of poison gases ...
Partly due to its ground support role, the Luftwaffe was reorganized in a fashion similar to the army units, with one unit controlling a specific area. Each Luftwaffe unit was self-contained and had complete control over all aspects of Luftwaffe forces in that area. Before becoming head of the Luftwaffe, Göring was Interior Minister of Prussia ...
The German forces experienced continuing ammunition shortages, caused by the extraordinarily large numbers of Soviet tanks they were meeting in the Kalach bridgehead. XIV Panzer Corps alone claimed to have knocked out 482 Soviet tanks in the last eight days of the month, and the total Sixth Army claimed was well over 600.
The Soviet force captured its objective, the Luftwaffe's airlift hub at the Tatsinskaya Airfield. The Soviet forces destroyed over 72 aircraft on the ground, but was left cut off and without supplies. Despite the loss of most of the tank corps during the ensuing breakout, the raid was a great operational victory.
The Soviet invasion made all plans to defend the Romanian Bridgehead obsolete, and the Polish commander decided to withdraw all of his units to the close perimeter and to defend only the city itself, instead of the whole area, which strengthened the Polish defences. On September 18, the Luftwaffe dropped thousands of leaflets over the city to ...