03/02/44 - Eastern Front
February 3rd, 1944
Šiauliai Offensive
Failed suite
Northern part of the Panther line (Latvia) - Under a still pouring rain - it hardly calmed down during the night - the 18. Armee continues its retreat to the south. It seems to have broken - at least partially - the contact with the 1st Baltic Front of Markian Popov, which is still trapped in external considerations while being forced to take on a sector that was far too large for his forces.
In Courland, not much is happening - the 4th Marine Division is already struggling to hold the ground that the 18. LFD abandoned to it and is content for the time being to seize the nearest villages (Talsi, Sabile, Spāre...). It does not seek to go eastward to meet her comrades - and not to really go down to the south, in pursuit of an enemy already in Ezere (thus in Lithuania). Indeed, this is the role of the Army - to eventually seize the ports of Ventspils and Liepāja would be more than enough to keep the Fleet's infantry busy.
Alexey Kurkin's 1st Army barely leaves the ruins of Riga. Between the ruins, the traps and a hostile population (although quickly calmed down...), it has had its share of difficulties and did not need the enemy to delay it.
In fact, while the frontovikis are still north of Olaine, the XXVI. AK and the 5. SS-Panzer-Division Wiking are already arriving at Lielplatone, followed by a large number of refugees, reminiscent of those who were on the roads of France in 1940... the snow and the cold in addition! Terrible scenes follow one another - civilians are often victims of artillery fire aimed at the roads... In fact, the two belligerents respect even less the non-combatants than during the French exodus. The only ones to care about the unfortunates are the SS: of course, the local volunteers of the Wiking. Here, it is clear that the most painful events are not on the front line. And as was to be expected, this branch of Šiauliai stalls...
On the other hand, Nikolai Busev's 4th Army is advancing - and quite well, despite the efforts of the I. AK and the 1. LFD, which retreat fighting from Ozolaine to Bauska in order to reach the road to Panevėžys. This is a very bad ground for the defense! Because from Ozolaine (i.e., Bauska), the forest spreads out, the swamps fade away...
Fortunately for Otto Wöhler and Rudolf Petrauschke, the Red Army has its own constraints. Finally, if the 4th Army continues to press the enemy, it also begins to spread out a little from Iecava to Salas. There remains, however, the case of the 32. ID of Wilhelm Wegener (I. AK). Stuck in Valle by the T-34s of the 12th Armored Corps while trying to join its corps through Bārbele, it takes heavy losses and is violently tumbled to the south. In the evening, the division is unable to pass - isolated, it withdraws towards the woods of Penderi, while Vasily Butkov, happy with this first success, continued towards Suostas, leaving to others the task of eliminating these stragglers...
A little further on, other stragglers also try to get out: the KorpsAbteilung C (Hellmuth Prieß) crosses the Tenteri woods and reaches Krasti - thus Wegener's left.
Fortunately for him, he is not in the path of the 12th Armored Corps! In the uncertainty about his position as well as those of his partners of the XXXVIII. AK, and moreover with the Reds still on his back, the German continues south - he should soon be in the plain...
Meanwhile, Krutikov's 7th Army has finished playing and continues to run above the 96. ID (Ferdinand Nöldechen) from Daudzese to Zalve - the German division does not cling to the terrain and only wants to withdraw! The machines of the 15th Armored Corps are preparing to take the lead: as soon as they reach the plain, they will have to run towards Lithuania and the next opponent. Especially since the 42nd Army, now at Sunākste, on the left, is also approaching Viesīte with great speed.
Southern part of the Panther Line (Latvia) - The Panther Line lived: the 58. ID annihilated and the 254. ID (Alfred Thielmann) fleeing to Nereta from Zaķi with the 505. schw. Pz. Abt, the 7th Guards Army completes its push against the 269. ID (Hans Wagner) at Klaucāni to force the passage to Aizpurvi... and a new forest barrier.
In this area and in other circumstances, the Heer would probably be able to defend effectively - but in view of the development of the general situation, resistance in Latvia has become completely irrelevant. And since the 12. ID (Kurt-Jürgen von Lützow), supposedly supporting the 269. ID, finally retreats to Mežgale and Zasa Parish, and that the 34th Army of Anton Lopatin is pushing ever harder from Kalna Ūdenāni, Paul Laux - whose II. AK is still opposing two divisions (12. and 269. ID) against two armies! - is now planning
to make a great leap back to an Aknīste-Rubeņi line. This one still covers Daugavpils - however, the city is not expected to hold for very long, given the disproportion of the forces present...
So much reason to hurry for the last defenders north of the Daugava. The 122. ID (Gustav Hundt), still being chased by the 39th Army, leaves Grāveri in a hurry to rally Biķernieku, that is, the right of the 13. SS-Grenadier-Division Kurland and the Nashorns, which are still holding off the 13th Armored Corps from Aglonas Stacija. Only 20 kilometers to go!
Finally, a little further south-east, the 251. ID (Felzmann) - XXVIII. AK, and its partner of circumstance, the 8. ID (von Kirchensittenbach) - VIII. AK, have reached or are in the process of reaching the Krāslava crossing point. The efforts of the 55th Army and the 14th Armored Corps - at Miglāni and Kombuļi, respectively - were useless. The enemy escaped.
Baltic Independents
Estonia - Now far to the north of the front, the members of Omakaitse, following the call of Jüri Uluots, intensify their actions against the Soviet communication lines. They blow up ammunition depots, attack convoys or isolated detachments. But the Red Army - and in particular its political branch, attached to the NKVD - reacts with even more violence. Despite some spectacular successes, the losses are significant among the young guerrillas, neither as trained nor as supervised as their spiritual father had hoped.
In fact, Estonia had already been under the Soviet yoke for more than four years, and the Germans could not come to upset! The struggle continues nonetheless, with the energy of despair.
Shoah
Slaughterhouse
Rumbula (Latvia) - In this small town on the right bank of the Daugava, a little south of Riga, when the storm of fighting has passed, Soviet officials are alerted by Red Army engineers busy clearing the roads of mines. In the Vārnu mežs - a sector that is all the more sheltered from view because it is wedged between two railway tracks - they make a dismal discovery.
The NKVD officials find six very large mass graves (the site is close to the station of Rumbula, easy of access to load as to unload, and the sandy soil is easy to dig) several thousand bodies: elderly, infirm, women and children. It is estimated today that about 25,000 Jews were killed there in two days, almost exclusively by the 10 to 12 Germans of the SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln. They used mainly non-automatic weapons, aiming at the neck of unfortunate people lying on the ground*: they wanted to "prove [to the Latvians] that they were better shots than they were." Only the men between 16 and 60, who were still considered useful as a work force, were deported to Germany - at the request of Jeckeln himself, concerned about the "waste" that their massacre would have represented. This was the largest massacre after the Babi Yar massacre in the Ukraine (also committed by the Einsatztruppen, with the support of the Arājs commandos). Jeckeln and his superior, Rudolf Lange**, called it "der Große Erschiessungsaktion", "the great action". For the Latvians, it was just the Rumbuli.
The evidence abounds. Indeed, with the frontline passing through Riga since last June, the Sonderkommando 1005 could not work here - it had to be content with setting up a few pyres on the southern shore, near Baloži. In fact, contrary to what many people later asserted, these bonfires, which were supposed to burn wrecks, did not deceive many people.
Witnesses of the time - including the future Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga (although still a child at the time) - will evoke much later ignoble odors perceptible at tens of kilometers
We could smell the smoke coming from Baloži, where exhumed bodies were burned to erase all the evidence.
Obviously, in the face of these damning facts, the Reich will not only deny - it will try to shift the responsibility for its actions to its adversary, speaking of "numerous workers assigned to the railway works who disappeared when the Red Army took over the area in July 1943". All without much concern for verisimilitude.
Operation Bagration
The Rhine Gold
Bagration North (1st Belorussian Front) - For four days now, the 20th Army has been wading south of Silene, facing a XXIII. AK constantly reinforced by a flood of troops from the north. Artillery barrages, waves of infantry assault and armored reinforcements do nothing: in the woods dripping with rain, the Fascist still holds on stubbornly, taking advantage of the absence of air support and although his potential melts away in this butchery which serves no purpose - except, no doubt, to gain time.
Vladimir Kurassov would eat his hat in frustration. The main road remains closed to his troops, and he made almost no progress in his sector. This is, of course, an achievement on the part of Hans von Funck... However, the XXIII. AK only managed to do this by concentrating the majority of the heavy resources of its two divisions on this so predictable axis. And on the left, south of Meteliški, the rest of the 161. ID (Paul Drekmann) gradually begins to break down, forced to hold an ever longer front - because the Reds also know how to bypass the fortified lines! - with always less means. Tomorrow, the frontovikis will perhaps leave the forest. Maybe...
On the other side, the 10th Armored Corps continues to charge the Latvian SS, inferior in number and in means - but certainly not in courage, even if they fight for a bad cause! Confronted with the wave of red steel, the 43. Waffen-Grenadier Rgt der SS still stands firm in Zarkiškės, inspired by the example of its leader, Oberführer Hinrich Schuldt, who was mortally wounded in the action. On the other hand, in Zelva, in the woods a little to the east, Popov has several platoons infiltrate in order to find a weak point in the enemy's position. This weak point is the 44. Waffen-Grenadier Rgt der SS, of recent formation and which holds this swampy area where the enemy is not expected***... The red tanks are not very numerous, but the Latvians have almost no anti-tank weapons. They fight, fail and finally break down - especially since they have also lost their leader, Oberführer Nikolaus Heilmann, as well as his deputy, the Latvian Standartenführer Voldemars Veiss, both killed in action. In the evening, the perimeter of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (lettische) is under serious threat of being breached - or rather, crumbled.
Meanwhile, in the Vilnius region, calm seems to be returning... Vasiliy Kuznetsov's 63rd Army has brought the city to heel - mass arrests, looting and reprisals against militiamen and partisans of all kinds. However, this formation could not devote itself for a long time to such vile tasks of maintaining order, which prevent it from helping the Oslikovski Group in Pikeliškės - besides, robbery is bad for discipline! Hurrah Stalin: the relief is coming! The NKVD troops will come tonight to take possession of their former prison, which had also been, in turn, the imperial court of justice of the District, a revolutionary court during the (first) Soviet occupation during the war of independence, the main conscription center of the Lithuanian army... and, very recently, the headquarters of the Gestapo! Beria's men in blue will soon find their marks and replace the Gestapists in the interrogation rooms, the gaols... and the execution courts****.
Kuznetsov, freed from the charge of Vilnius, will be able to go up tomorrow to Avižieniai.
From now on he plans to attack the fascist lines of Maišiagala together with Oslikovski.
As for Pavel Rybalko's 3rd Tank Army, it is already moving from Lentvaris towards Bražuolė and Lazdėnai, with the 18th Armored Corps (A.S. Burdeiny) in the lead. It aims at Kaunas, but a little more cautiously this time...
.........
Minsk sector and Bagration center - While the 1st Guards of Ivan Chistiakov continues its procession and enters Valojyn (helped, in particular, by a certain number of guides), the 1st Byelorussian Front finally takes over from its partner, the 2nd Byelorussian Front, on its right flank. The 3rd Guards Army and the 2nd Shock Army arrives in the night at Stowbtsy - just like the Carabinieri! The enemy has escaped them... In front of them, the fight continues - they will not be part of it. Ivan Zakharkin and Kuzma Galitsky only have to wait for their turn (when it will come...) to cross and advance towards Navahroudak.
Obviously, after the great trap that closed east of Minsk by destroying what was left of the 4. Armee and 9. Armee, the formations commanded by Vassili Sokolovski and Konstantin Rokossovsky have some difficulty in coordinating, which allowed the main part of the 1. PanzerArmee to escape. The fault (in particular) of the bad weather, fatigue, the stretching of the supply lines, the lack of communication between the majors... And who can say what would have happened if Georgi Zhukov had not taken command of the 1st Belorussian Front?
.........
Bagration South (2nd Belorussian Front and 1. PanzerArmee) - This time, it's the right one! With difficulties, against all odds, and despite the blows of the enemy air force or the assaults of a very superior opponent in number, the 1. PzA of Josef Harpe (or at least its biggest part) is practically out of the woods! Indeed, it reaches Baranavitchy in the middle of the night, to finally join the lamentable debris of the LVII. PzK.
This last one has only a theoretical existence; it is obvious that it will be dissolved in the next days.
Behind Harpe, the 3rd Shock Army (Mikhail Purkayev) and the 4th Guard Army (Ivan Muzychenko) are still crossing the Niemen, after having reduced in the ruins of Stowbtsy a crowd of stragglers and more or less abandoned people...
The Niemen! In this region, it is not a frightening obstacle - but it is nevertheless a contingency for two solid but exhausted formations, which have to lay a number of pontoons and boat bridges in the rain, in the middle of the reeds. Beyond the logistical difficulties, the river represents a powerful symbol: to have reached it first is a beautiful title of glory... of those which one hangs on the name of the units.
But in spite of their success, the two armies start to get tired, not to mention the traffic jams. It is not the 1st Tank Army that has compensate for this slowdown: Katukov is still waiting for his comrades, reinforcements and fuel in Vostraŭ. For its part, the 54th Army (S.V. Roginski) is watching for the 7th Armored Corps (Alexei Panfilov) and the 15th Army (M.A. Reuters) at Liakhavitchy: they are barely in Kletsk.
That this former imperialist is old, some in the staff of the 54th perspire*****.
Finally, the 29th Army (Alexander Gorbatov) and the 1st Airborne Corps (V.G. Zholudev) are skating from Slutsk to Padliessia, the time for the 1st Cavalry Corps (V.V. Kryukov) to take over in this sector. And in front of this mass, the Neptun South force - which had to arrive at the right time - calmly and professionally prepares a collection line for the 1. PanzerArmee in front of the Shara.
.........
Good sense
Lida (occupied Belarus) - While he already has a host of issues to deal with and the line that he is trying to form seems to be stabilizing with great difficulty, Walter Model is challenged by...a Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffizier, who asks when exactly Johannes Friessner could come and explain the dismal performance of his 2. Armee, together with a number of his deputies.
Understandably, this umpteenth reminder is too much for Model, who curtly indicates that his subordinate is at his disposal - and nobody else's! Consequently, he go nowhere until the Soviet action is definitively stopped in the sector of AG Center. This answer - which will not please everybody - will be duly noted, to be (possibly) brought out when the time comes.
Tankist (Evgeny Bessonov)
Meetings in the forest
"I can't say whether it was a reality, a fate or a simple impression, but it seemed to me that our platoon was always the one designated to volunteer for stupid missions. Charging along the ruined avenues of Gomel, forcing their way over bridges over the Dagauva river... and now, blindly (or almost blindly) crossing rain-soaked woods in search of an untraceable enemy.
The girls had gone their own way - so much for Andrei, but it was better for everyone. We were now advancing like Cossacks: loaded with infantrymen, rolling through the snowdrifts waiting for the first explosion to land the infantry before firing back.
Mikhail's tank, in front of us, was drifting - on a mine, I think. Machine-gun fire hails our turret. The frontovikis jump - minus two of them, which crash heavily into the mud, never to get up again.
In such a situation, facing an invisible and irritating enemy, you have to keep your nerves first.
This was difficult enough for all of us, and even more so for Andrei - our pointer, frustrated... by many things, but especially by an opponent worthy of his 85 mm.
Finally, I find myself ordering him to fire a few explosive shells in the ferns - it's a good idea to have a ferns - that's where the shots are coming from, anyway...
As night falls and we retreat 100 meters back to take a break, I realize how far we've come. Strangely enough, we have moved forward. Not bad, even - but go and judge the distances in such an environment. As I jump from the turret, a group of framed prisoners, arms raised, walk past me. Men in black - most of them wounded. I obviously ask no questions, but the presence of the SS runes on their uniforms does not bode well for them."******
Ukraine
Barbarity
Volhynia (occupied Ukraine) - The delegation of the Polish Secret Army well sent to try to negotiate with the Ukrainians falls into an ambush by unregimented forces linked to the most extremist fringe of the Ukrainian Nationalist Organization, i.e. they are mainly led by the warlord Jusif Stelmaszczuk. Regardless of their uniforms nor their status as official envoys of the Polish government, Zygmunt Jan Rumel, his bodyguard Krzysztof Markiewicz and their guide-coach Witold Dobrowolski are abominably (and gratuitously) tortured in a medieval way for three long days before being torn apart in public by their own horses*******.
Even today, some people claim that Rumel's execution was nothing more than a terrible misunderstanding. That Stelmaszczuk did not represent Ukrainian independence fighters, or that he had acted without orders, or even that he had misunderstood the instructions given. However, the day after this execution, Ukrainian bands attacked 125 villages of Polish settlers!
In any case, this appalling episode will be considered, as soon as known, as a declaration of war by the Armia Krajowa. And this one will obviously draw all the consequences from it.
* In general, and for smaller executions, the killers of the "Shoah by bullets" preferred Soviet semi-automatic weapons for reasons of efficiency and alibi.
** Jeckeln and Lange had already worked extensively in the Ukraine. And before that, Lange had participated in the conference in Wansee and the "technical meetings" that followed.
*** In fact, the Popov attack was not without risks: almost sixty years later, a T-34 was found in one of the lakes in this area, perfectly preserved T-34, probably abandoned by its crew after getting stuck in the mud. In a remarkable state of preservation, the machine has since been exhibited in the Kubinka Armor Museum.
**** Approximately one thousand prisoners were killed within these walls from 1944 to 1960 - many of them were buried directly under the floors. Today, the building houses the Okupacijų ir Laisvės kovų muziejus - the museum of the Occupations and the Resistance. This one is mainly dedicated to the communist exactions and anti-Soviet independence struggles... Strangely, it does not mention the Shoah anywhere!
***** Max Reuters began serving as a volunteer in the Tsarist army in 1906. At the age of 58 in 1944, he was not far from the age limit. An aggravating circumstance - despite his impeccable political record - is that he is Latvian. Which is not well seen in these times!
****** The Latvian SS were considered Soviet citizens, therefore traitors to the fatherland, and did not obtain from the authorities of the USSR the status of prisoner of war. Most of them were sent to the Gulag and the officers sentenced to death. After their release in 1953, the survivors were banned from almost all jobs (allotted by the state of course) and ended up in misery.
******* Thus perishes one of the best Polish writers of his generation. His works - fortunately sheltered by a nurse who preserved it even during the most dramatic hours of the Polish uprising - would benefit from being better known. Writer and Resistance fighter like him, Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz wrote: "He was one of our jewels, and we threw it to the enemy. A diamond that could have shone."
Šiauliai Offensive
Failed suite
Northern part of the Panther line (Latvia) - Under a still pouring rain - it hardly calmed down during the night - the 18. Armee continues its retreat to the south. It seems to have broken - at least partially - the contact with the 1st Baltic Front of Markian Popov, which is still trapped in external considerations while being forced to take on a sector that was far too large for his forces.
In Courland, not much is happening - the 4th Marine Division is already struggling to hold the ground that the 18. LFD abandoned to it and is content for the time being to seize the nearest villages (Talsi, Sabile, Spāre...). It does not seek to go eastward to meet her comrades - and not to really go down to the south, in pursuit of an enemy already in Ezere (thus in Lithuania). Indeed, this is the role of the Army - to eventually seize the ports of Ventspils and Liepāja would be more than enough to keep the Fleet's infantry busy.
Alexey Kurkin's 1st Army barely leaves the ruins of Riga. Between the ruins, the traps and a hostile population (although quickly calmed down...), it has had its share of difficulties and did not need the enemy to delay it.
In fact, while the frontovikis are still north of Olaine, the XXVI. AK and the 5. SS-Panzer-Division Wiking are already arriving at Lielplatone, followed by a large number of refugees, reminiscent of those who were on the roads of France in 1940... the snow and the cold in addition! Terrible scenes follow one another - civilians are often victims of artillery fire aimed at the roads... In fact, the two belligerents respect even less the non-combatants than during the French exodus. The only ones to care about the unfortunates are the SS: of course, the local volunteers of the Wiking. Here, it is clear that the most painful events are not on the front line. And as was to be expected, this branch of Šiauliai stalls...
On the other hand, Nikolai Busev's 4th Army is advancing - and quite well, despite the efforts of the I. AK and the 1. LFD, which retreat fighting from Ozolaine to Bauska in order to reach the road to Panevėžys. This is a very bad ground for the defense! Because from Ozolaine (i.e., Bauska), the forest spreads out, the swamps fade away...
Fortunately for Otto Wöhler and Rudolf Petrauschke, the Red Army has its own constraints. Finally, if the 4th Army continues to press the enemy, it also begins to spread out a little from Iecava to Salas. There remains, however, the case of the 32. ID of Wilhelm Wegener (I. AK). Stuck in Valle by the T-34s of the 12th Armored Corps while trying to join its corps through Bārbele, it takes heavy losses and is violently tumbled to the south. In the evening, the division is unable to pass - isolated, it withdraws towards the woods of Penderi, while Vasily Butkov, happy with this first success, continued towards Suostas, leaving to others the task of eliminating these stragglers...
A little further on, other stragglers also try to get out: the KorpsAbteilung C (Hellmuth Prieß) crosses the Tenteri woods and reaches Krasti - thus Wegener's left.
Fortunately for him, he is not in the path of the 12th Armored Corps! In the uncertainty about his position as well as those of his partners of the XXXVIII. AK, and moreover with the Reds still on his back, the German continues south - he should soon be in the plain...
Meanwhile, Krutikov's 7th Army has finished playing and continues to run above the 96. ID (Ferdinand Nöldechen) from Daudzese to Zalve - the German division does not cling to the terrain and only wants to withdraw! The machines of the 15th Armored Corps are preparing to take the lead: as soon as they reach the plain, they will have to run towards Lithuania and the next opponent. Especially since the 42nd Army, now at Sunākste, on the left, is also approaching Viesīte with great speed.
Southern part of the Panther Line (Latvia) - The Panther Line lived: the 58. ID annihilated and the 254. ID (Alfred Thielmann) fleeing to Nereta from Zaķi with the 505. schw. Pz. Abt, the 7th Guards Army completes its push against the 269. ID (Hans Wagner) at Klaucāni to force the passage to Aizpurvi... and a new forest barrier.
In this area and in other circumstances, the Heer would probably be able to defend effectively - but in view of the development of the general situation, resistance in Latvia has become completely irrelevant. And since the 12. ID (Kurt-Jürgen von Lützow), supposedly supporting the 269. ID, finally retreats to Mežgale and Zasa Parish, and that the 34th Army of Anton Lopatin is pushing ever harder from Kalna Ūdenāni, Paul Laux - whose II. AK is still opposing two divisions (12. and 269. ID) against two armies! - is now planning
to make a great leap back to an Aknīste-Rubeņi line. This one still covers Daugavpils - however, the city is not expected to hold for very long, given the disproportion of the forces present...
So much reason to hurry for the last defenders north of the Daugava. The 122. ID (Gustav Hundt), still being chased by the 39th Army, leaves Grāveri in a hurry to rally Biķernieku, that is, the right of the 13. SS-Grenadier-Division Kurland and the Nashorns, which are still holding off the 13th Armored Corps from Aglonas Stacija. Only 20 kilometers to go!
Finally, a little further south-east, the 251. ID (Felzmann) - XXVIII. AK, and its partner of circumstance, the 8. ID (von Kirchensittenbach) - VIII. AK, have reached or are in the process of reaching the Krāslava crossing point. The efforts of the 55th Army and the 14th Armored Corps - at Miglāni and Kombuļi, respectively - were useless. The enemy escaped.
Baltic Independents
Estonia - Now far to the north of the front, the members of Omakaitse, following the call of Jüri Uluots, intensify their actions against the Soviet communication lines. They blow up ammunition depots, attack convoys or isolated detachments. But the Red Army - and in particular its political branch, attached to the NKVD - reacts with even more violence. Despite some spectacular successes, the losses are significant among the young guerrillas, neither as trained nor as supervised as their spiritual father had hoped.
In fact, Estonia had already been under the Soviet yoke for more than four years, and the Germans could not come to upset! The struggle continues nonetheless, with the energy of despair.
Shoah
Slaughterhouse
Rumbula (Latvia) - In this small town on the right bank of the Daugava, a little south of Riga, when the storm of fighting has passed, Soviet officials are alerted by Red Army engineers busy clearing the roads of mines. In the Vārnu mežs - a sector that is all the more sheltered from view because it is wedged between two railway tracks - they make a dismal discovery.
The NKVD officials find six very large mass graves (the site is close to the station of Rumbula, easy of access to load as to unload, and the sandy soil is easy to dig) several thousand bodies: elderly, infirm, women and children. It is estimated today that about 25,000 Jews were killed there in two days, almost exclusively by the 10 to 12 Germans of the SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln. They used mainly non-automatic weapons, aiming at the neck of unfortunate people lying on the ground*: they wanted to "prove [to the Latvians] that they were better shots than they were." Only the men between 16 and 60, who were still considered useful as a work force, were deported to Germany - at the request of Jeckeln himself, concerned about the "waste" that their massacre would have represented. This was the largest massacre after the Babi Yar massacre in the Ukraine (also committed by the Einsatztruppen, with the support of the Arājs commandos). Jeckeln and his superior, Rudolf Lange**, called it "der Große Erschiessungsaktion", "the great action". For the Latvians, it was just the Rumbuli.
The evidence abounds. Indeed, with the frontline passing through Riga since last June, the Sonderkommando 1005 could not work here - it had to be content with setting up a few pyres on the southern shore, near Baloži. In fact, contrary to what many people later asserted, these bonfires, which were supposed to burn wrecks, did not deceive many people.
Witnesses of the time - including the future Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga (although still a child at the time) - will evoke much later ignoble odors perceptible at tens of kilometers
We could smell the smoke coming from Baloži, where exhumed bodies were burned to erase all the evidence.
Obviously, in the face of these damning facts, the Reich will not only deny - it will try to shift the responsibility for its actions to its adversary, speaking of "numerous workers assigned to the railway works who disappeared when the Red Army took over the area in July 1943". All without much concern for verisimilitude.
Operation Bagration
The Rhine Gold
Bagration North (1st Belorussian Front) - For four days now, the 20th Army has been wading south of Silene, facing a XXIII. AK constantly reinforced by a flood of troops from the north. Artillery barrages, waves of infantry assault and armored reinforcements do nothing: in the woods dripping with rain, the Fascist still holds on stubbornly, taking advantage of the absence of air support and although his potential melts away in this butchery which serves no purpose - except, no doubt, to gain time.
Vladimir Kurassov would eat his hat in frustration. The main road remains closed to his troops, and he made almost no progress in his sector. This is, of course, an achievement on the part of Hans von Funck... However, the XXIII. AK only managed to do this by concentrating the majority of the heavy resources of its two divisions on this so predictable axis. And on the left, south of Meteliški, the rest of the 161. ID (Paul Drekmann) gradually begins to break down, forced to hold an ever longer front - because the Reds also know how to bypass the fortified lines! - with always less means. Tomorrow, the frontovikis will perhaps leave the forest. Maybe...
On the other side, the 10th Armored Corps continues to charge the Latvian SS, inferior in number and in means - but certainly not in courage, even if they fight for a bad cause! Confronted with the wave of red steel, the 43. Waffen-Grenadier Rgt der SS still stands firm in Zarkiškės, inspired by the example of its leader, Oberführer Hinrich Schuldt, who was mortally wounded in the action. On the other hand, in Zelva, in the woods a little to the east, Popov has several platoons infiltrate in order to find a weak point in the enemy's position. This weak point is the 44. Waffen-Grenadier Rgt der SS, of recent formation and which holds this swampy area where the enemy is not expected***... The red tanks are not very numerous, but the Latvians have almost no anti-tank weapons. They fight, fail and finally break down - especially since they have also lost their leader, Oberführer Nikolaus Heilmann, as well as his deputy, the Latvian Standartenführer Voldemars Veiss, both killed in action. In the evening, the perimeter of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS (lettische) is under serious threat of being breached - or rather, crumbled.
Meanwhile, in the Vilnius region, calm seems to be returning... Vasiliy Kuznetsov's 63rd Army has brought the city to heel - mass arrests, looting and reprisals against militiamen and partisans of all kinds. However, this formation could not devote itself for a long time to such vile tasks of maintaining order, which prevent it from helping the Oslikovski Group in Pikeliškės - besides, robbery is bad for discipline! Hurrah Stalin: the relief is coming! The NKVD troops will come tonight to take possession of their former prison, which had also been, in turn, the imperial court of justice of the District, a revolutionary court during the (first) Soviet occupation during the war of independence, the main conscription center of the Lithuanian army... and, very recently, the headquarters of the Gestapo! Beria's men in blue will soon find their marks and replace the Gestapists in the interrogation rooms, the gaols... and the execution courts****.
Kuznetsov, freed from the charge of Vilnius, will be able to go up tomorrow to Avižieniai.
From now on he plans to attack the fascist lines of Maišiagala together with Oslikovski.
As for Pavel Rybalko's 3rd Tank Army, it is already moving from Lentvaris towards Bražuolė and Lazdėnai, with the 18th Armored Corps (A.S. Burdeiny) in the lead. It aims at Kaunas, but a little more cautiously this time...
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Minsk sector and Bagration center - While the 1st Guards of Ivan Chistiakov continues its procession and enters Valojyn (helped, in particular, by a certain number of guides), the 1st Byelorussian Front finally takes over from its partner, the 2nd Byelorussian Front, on its right flank. The 3rd Guards Army and the 2nd Shock Army arrives in the night at Stowbtsy - just like the Carabinieri! The enemy has escaped them... In front of them, the fight continues - they will not be part of it. Ivan Zakharkin and Kuzma Galitsky only have to wait for their turn (when it will come...) to cross and advance towards Navahroudak.
Obviously, after the great trap that closed east of Minsk by destroying what was left of the 4. Armee and 9. Armee, the formations commanded by Vassili Sokolovski and Konstantin Rokossovsky have some difficulty in coordinating, which allowed the main part of the 1. PanzerArmee to escape. The fault (in particular) of the bad weather, fatigue, the stretching of the supply lines, the lack of communication between the majors... And who can say what would have happened if Georgi Zhukov had not taken command of the 1st Belorussian Front?
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Bagration South (2nd Belorussian Front and 1. PanzerArmee) - This time, it's the right one! With difficulties, against all odds, and despite the blows of the enemy air force or the assaults of a very superior opponent in number, the 1. PzA of Josef Harpe (or at least its biggest part) is practically out of the woods! Indeed, it reaches Baranavitchy in the middle of the night, to finally join the lamentable debris of the LVII. PzK.
This last one has only a theoretical existence; it is obvious that it will be dissolved in the next days.
Behind Harpe, the 3rd Shock Army (Mikhail Purkayev) and the 4th Guard Army (Ivan Muzychenko) are still crossing the Niemen, after having reduced in the ruins of Stowbtsy a crowd of stragglers and more or less abandoned people...
The Niemen! In this region, it is not a frightening obstacle - but it is nevertheless a contingency for two solid but exhausted formations, which have to lay a number of pontoons and boat bridges in the rain, in the middle of the reeds. Beyond the logistical difficulties, the river represents a powerful symbol: to have reached it first is a beautiful title of glory... of those which one hangs on the name of the units.
But in spite of their success, the two armies start to get tired, not to mention the traffic jams. It is not the 1st Tank Army that has compensate for this slowdown: Katukov is still waiting for his comrades, reinforcements and fuel in Vostraŭ. For its part, the 54th Army (S.V. Roginski) is watching for the 7th Armored Corps (Alexei Panfilov) and the 15th Army (M.A. Reuters) at Liakhavitchy: they are barely in Kletsk.
That this former imperialist is old, some in the staff of the 54th perspire*****.
Finally, the 29th Army (Alexander Gorbatov) and the 1st Airborne Corps (V.G. Zholudev) are skating from Slutsk to Padliessia, the time for the 1st Cavalry Corps (V.V. Kryukov) to take over in this sector. And in front of this mass, the Neptun South force - which had to arrive at the right time - calmly and professionally prepares a collection line for the 1. PanzerArmee in front of the Shara.
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Good sense
Lida (occupied Belarus) - While he already has a host of issues to deal with and the line that he is trying to form seems to be stabilizing with great difficulty, Walter Model is challenged by...a Nationalsozialistische Führungsoffizier, who asks when exactly Johannes Friessner could come and explain the dismal performance of his 2. Armee, together with a number of his deputies.
Understandably, this umpteenth reminder is too much for Model, who curtly indicates that his subordinate is at his disposal - and nobody else's! Consequently, he go nowhere until the Soviet action is definitively stopped in the sector of AG Center. This answer - which will not please everybody - will be duly noted, to be (possibly) brought out when the time comes.
Tankist (Evgeny Bessonov)
Meetings in the forest
"I can't say whether it was a reality, a fate or a simple impression, but it seemed to me that our platoon was always the one designated to volunteer for stupid missions. Charging along the ruined avenues of Gomel, forcing their way over bridges over the Dagauva river... and now, blindly (or almost blindly) crossing rain-soaked woods in search of an untraceable enemy.
The girls had gone their own way - so much for Andrei, but it was better for everyone. We were now advancing like Cossacks: loaded with infantrymen, rolling through the snowdrifts waiting for the first explosion to land the infantry before firing back.
Mikhail's tank, in front of us, was drifting - on a mine, I think. Machine-gun fire hails our turret. The frontovikis jump - minus two of them, which crash heavily into the mud, never to get up again.
In such a situation, facing an invisible and irritating enemy, you have to keep your nerves first.
This was difficult enough for all of us, and even more so for Andrei - our pointer, frustrated... by many things, but especially by an opponent worthy of his 85 mm.
Finally, I find myself ordering him to fire a few explosive shells in the ferns - it's a good idea to have a ferns - that's where the shots are coming from, anyway...
As night falls and we retreat 100 meters back to take a break, I realize how far we've come. Strangely enough, we have moved forward. Not bad, even - but go and judge the distances in such an environment. As I jump from the turret, a group of framed prisoners, arms raised, walk past me. Men in black - most of them wounded. I obviously ask no questions, but the presence of the SS runes on their uniforms does not bode well for them."******
Ukraine
Barbarity
Volhynia (occupied Ukraine) - The delegation of the Polish Secret Army well sent to try to negotiate with the Ukrainians falls into an ambush by unregimented forces linked to the most extremist fringe of the Ukrainian Nationalist Organization, i.e. they are mainly led by the warlord Jusif Stelmaszczuk. Regardless of their uniforms nor their status as official envoys of the Polish government, Zygmunt Jan Rumel, his bodyguard Krzysztof Markiewicz and their guide-coach Witold Dobrowolski are abominably (and gratuitously) tortured in a medieval way for three long days before being torn apart in public by their own horses*******.
Even today, some people claim that Rumel's execution was nothing more than a terrible misunderstanding. That Stelmaszczuk did not represent Ukrainian independence fighters, or that he had acted without orders, or even that he had misunderstood the instructions given. However, the day after this execution, Ukrainian bands attacked 125 villages of Polish settlers!
In any case, this appalling episode will be considered, as soon as known, as a declaration of war by the Armia Krajowa. And this one will obviously draw all the consequences from it.
* In general, and for smaller executions, the killers of the "Shoah by bullets" preferred Soviet semi-automatic weapons for reasons of efficiency and alibi.
** Jeckeln and Lange had already worked extensively in the Ukraine. And before that, Lange had participated in the conference in Wansee and the "technical meetings" that followed.
*** In fact, the Popov attack was not without risks: almost sixty years later, a T-34 was found in one of the lakes in this area, perfectly preserved T-34, probably abandoned by its crew after getting stuck in the mud. In a remarkable state of preservation, the machine has since been exhibited in the Kubinka Armor Museum.
**** Approximately one thousand prisoners were killed within these walls from 1944 to 1960 - many of them were buried directly under the floors. Today, the building houses the Okupacijų ir Laisvės kovų muziejus - the museum of the Occupations and the Resistance. This one is mainly dedicated to the communist exactions and anti-Soviet independence struggles... Strangely, it does not mention the Shoah anywhere!
***** Max Reuters began serving as a volunteer in the Tsarist army in 1906. At the age of 58 in 1944, he was not far from the age limit. An aggravating circumstance - despite his impeccable political record - is that he is Latvian. Which is not well seen in these times!
****** The Latvian SS were considered Soviet citizens, therefore traitors to the fatherland, and did not obtain from the authorities of the USSR the status of prisoner of war. Most of them were sent to the Gulag and the officers sentenced to death. After their release in 1953, the survivors were banned from almost all jobs (allotted by the state of course) and ended up in misery.
******* Thus perishes one of the best Polish writers of his generation. His works - fortunately sheltered by a nurse who preserved it even during the most dramatic hours of the Polish uprising - would benefit from being better known. Writer and Resistance fighter like him, Jarosław Leon Iwaszkiewicz wrote: "He was one of our jewels, and we threw it to the enemy. A diamond that could have shone."
