ABSTRACT
Let us now begin examining the operations that took place during the opening days of war in late June and July 1941.1 will present an overview of operations focusing principally on Soviet actions during the first week of war in all sectors of the Eastern Front. In addition, I will provide considerable detail from the German side concerning what the Soviets call the pogranichnaia srazheniia (the border battles) of 1941. Those battles resulted when German forces, early on the morning of 22 June, began Operation Barbarossa. We are going to look at the developing border battles from north to south, keying on the operations of the four German Panzer groups and also on the actions or lack of actions, of the twenty Soviet mechanized corps deployed in the border military districts.
