Hello, and welcome back to This Week in History! In several articles last year, I pushed against the limitations of this weekly 1,000-word adventure through historical events. I plan to do so again this year and see if I can show this format at its best.
Ultimately, this column falls into a genre known as “pop history.” It’s not academic enough to require citations, although I have tried to do so in the past, mainly in my coverage of “The Road of Life.” Because of the inability to really analyze several sources concisely, I ran into a similar problem to the YouTube history channel, Invicta, which covers ancient and classical history.
Invicta tried to cover the Bronze Age Collapse, a supposed destruction of established powers seen in the records of cities across Anatolia and the Levant in roughly 1177 B.C. Many other videos — and academic sources for that matter — tried to make the history stand out and used a largely exaggerated base of evidence and took the devastation of the event out of proportion by reducing its nuance. It’s like a false advertisement produced by the salesmen of history.
Admittedly, there is more to this story, but it cannot all fit here. Invicta takes over an hour to make his case and defend a careful analysis of the sources. Nevertheless, my point is: A historian who only skims the surface of history is like a fisherman trying to catch a fish bigger than his boat.
With that preamble, you may be curious as to what I’m “Zooming in” on, considering the title of this piece. And thankfully, with the help of a 1953 historical military study, titled “Small Unit Actions During the German Campaign in Russia,” this week, I’ll be returning to the Eastern Front of World War II. Despite its tragedy and brevity, the period remains an often-misunderstood area of a war that’s quickly fading from living memory.
I plan on “Zooming in” on an operation that took place between Sept. 13-18, 1941: The German 490th Infantry Regiment was tasked with “eliminating Russian centers of resistance approximately 15 miles south of Leningrad.”
Throughout this week in 1941, German troops bunker-blast their way through a successful, though doomed-to-fail operation.
Their mission: Move from Romanovka to Slutsk along the Izhora River and eliminate Russian bunkers and troops there. If this mission was successful, the upcoming advance to capture Slutsk could happen as planned, and however minor these events may seem, the ultimate capture of Leningrad could possibly fall into place.
Now, what is the difference between an infantry division, regiment or company? That’s a question that requires very careful analysis. German infantry was called in several “Welles” or waves, from 1939-1945. Each wave brought new divisions (broken down into battalions, companies and platoons) into the German army, and each wave saw different equipment/organizational structures for each division. As a result, when looking at the Eastern Front, its patchwork of hundreds of divisions and thousands of companies suddenly paints a messier image than many maps do in history books.
So, the German 490th Infantry Regiment, a pull likely from the 13th-14th Welle, consisted of about 3,000 men. However, this is hard to confirm, and later regimental numbers dipped as low as 1,000.
This unit was up against various Russian infantry units. Considering the main source for this information comes from a U.S. guidebook from 1953, Soviet intelligence reports were not available to suggest actual numbers. What is known, though, is that the Russians held several strong points in the area, including artillery detachments and several bunkers.
Let’s “Zoom in” on this German advance, day-by-day, if not hour-by-hour.
Last week, on Sept. 13, the 490th Infantry Regiment advanced passed the town of Gorki and laid the groundwork for this operation. On Sept. 14, the Regiment split into its three battalions and advanced along the Izhora river.
The Germans had little idea what was ahead of them and each company commander was weary — though confident — in their ability to clear the region. However, according to the study, “The German maps, as well as previously captured enemy maps, were either inadequate or inaccurate.”
This lack of information about the region proved to be a serious issue. How could each group advance into the unknown? Should the battalions continue separately? Or advance as one?
It was determined that small teams should scout out the Russian positions on the morning of Sept. 14, and by noon the 3rd Battalion of the regiment could attack the first Russian bunkers. With a carefully placed charge, these bunkers could be demolished. But that required a careful, well-supported advance.
Flamethrowers and engineers with detonation chargers attacked the first bunker, blowing it up successfully in a few minutes. However, as the unit rushed towards the next bunker, “two Russian howitzers in a [nearby] cornfield” fired their deadly rounds. Though perhaps terrified, a quick response by the 490th’s artillery blew up the Russian position. By 4:00 p.m., the second bunker was blown.
The battalions were eager to get some rest, but as they retreated, “the 1st Battalion advancing farther to the south, discovered two additional bunkers.” Though night was approaching, for the 490th Infantry Regiment, the day wasn’t over yet.
The engineers begrudgingly demolished the two other bunkers and withdrew for the night. Russian resistance lacked coordination, and many scattered into the night.
Now, we enter this week in history. In the early morning of Sept. 15, Soviet planes dropped bombs seemingly at random, hitting some of their own positions and not having any significant impact on the German advance. The day was to begin with Sergeant Ewald and Lieutenant Thomsen conducting reconnaissance of the Russian strong point known as Hill 312.
Thomsen’s patrol advanced stealthily but was caught. As gunshots flew, however, the patrol noted several bunkers and Russian positions and sent the information back to the Battalion headquarters. The German artillery now bombarded those positions, who perhaps thought they just repulsed and pinned down the German advance.
“By noon no word from Patrol Ewald had been received.” Where did this patrol go? The commanders had no time to attempt to answer that question, and instead called for an attack on the hill. Lieutenant Hahn, the leader of an infantry company was ordered to take the hill.
Hahn assembled a team of engineers and gunners and added men from the platoons of Lieutenant Borgwardt and Sergeant Timm. Somehow, (and the sources don’t really know how), the Germans snuck through the woods up to Hill 312 without the Russians noticing. But as the German troops studied the position, the Russians spotted them, pinning them down with heavy fire. This was a determined Russian force.
Unlike the artillery in the cornfield, when a German artillery observer called for the German artillery to hit the bunkers, the Germans’ shots had little effect. After two failed attempts to pound the Russians off the hill, supported by covering fire from the woods, platoon leader Borgwardt struck the Russians from an unexpected angle, catching them off guard. Timm’s platoon followed.
However, the success was short-lived. Materializing out of the woods came a force of about 50 Russians who struck from deep in the forest. The situation was dire, with two platoons surrounded along the slope of the hill.
Just as chaos set in, the once-missing Patrol Ewald came back and was able to stabilize the situation. Where did they return from? It’s very unclear.
By Sept. 16, Germans captured the hill, with each battalion playing a critical role in the assault. Demoralized Russians attempted to regroup and counterattack but were simply undersupplied and out-positioned. German artillery quickly spotted and crushed any attempts for the Russians to amass an assault.
The story only gets more intense from here, with the capture and interrogation of a Soviet radio operator. On the morning of Sept. 17, the German officers attempted to use their subpar Russian to trick the Russian divisional headquarters, based in the vital town of Antelevo, to give up their positions. This failed miserably, with the Soviet forces catching on to the German trick. Imagine the Russian officers realizing they were speaking with the enemy amidst the chaos of this week’s operation. Nevertheless, the Russians were in a desperate situation.
By late Sept. 17, Antelevo fell to the Germans after more demolition charges were planted, crushing the bunkers defending the town.
In just a few days, German advances would lay the groundwork for a later assault on Leningrad. This is just one piece of the puzzle that is Operation Barbarossa, the largest mobilization of ground troops for an invasion in history.
So, This Week in History, we “Zoomed in” on tactical level operations, and I wrote over 1,000 words on a little skirmish. Imagine how many thousands of these operations were taking place concurrently across the Eastern Front conducted by both sides. The closer you zoom, the less you trust single sentence bullet-point statements.
Though now the Germans may appear to be winning, events in the coming weeks may prove the contrary. That’s all for This Week in History. See you next week!