Hi all,
This forum has helped me so much. Thanks all.
I am waiting for information from Berlin on my Grandfather. In the meantime, I know he was an Unteroffizier. And that he died in Potschep Sept 10th, 1941.
I am holding a map of the advance of army group centre. Seems as though the main force pushing to Smolensk split, part besieging the sity, and the other part directed south through Potschep to Novgorod.
The question is; does anyone know which units (Heer I assume because of his rank) were fighting in the area around Novgorod and Potschep on 9/10/1941 (10.9.41)
Thanks in advance.
Eric...
Army group Centre actions in the Ukraine?
Moderator: Tom Houlihan
Hi Eric,
This is only rough information i can give you, mate.
Novogrod is North of Smolensk, so...
Busch's 16th Army was in the Novograd sector and to the South of them was Hoth's 3rd PNZR Army with the 6th Army grouping.
Its pretty shaky ground here but i think it could be Leebs Army group North or Kluge's Army Group Centre, where you great Grandfather was stationed with,
Regards, Jez.
This is only rough information i can give you, mate.
Novogrod is North of Smolensk, so...
Busch's 16th Army was in the Novograd sector and to the South of them was Hoth's 3rd PNZR Army with the 6th Army grouping.
Its pretty shaky ground here but i think it could be Leebs Army group North or Kluge's Army Group Centre, where you great Grandfather was stationed with,
Regards, Jez.
Eric,
Let this be your first lesson in reading maps of Russia and understand that there are many places with similar names. In fact some names can be found all over the map!
Jez is correct, Novgorod is in the north, and 16 Armee was indeed in the Novgorod area at that time. However, I am sure that you are referring to Novgorod Severskiy, which is not in the north, rather it is about 70 miles south-south-west of Pochep. Pochep is just southwest of Bryansk.
As to units in that area at that time..... your grandfather was probably in one of the top combat units of the Heer, this was Panzergruppe 2 territory during the important initial drive toward Moscow. 17 Panzerdivision of XXXXVII Pz.K. captured Pochep after overcomming determined Soviet resistance on August 21. Four days later Panzergruppe 2 turned southward to eventually meet Panzergruppe 1 forces and cut-off vast Soviet forces in the Ukraine. So the Pochep-Unecha-Starodub area remained on the front lines and subject to furious counterattacks for some time. In addition to XXXXVII Pz.K. units (17 PzD, 18 PzD, 29 MoD, Großdeutschland) XXIV Pz.K. units (3 PzD, 4 PzD, 10 MoD, SSDR) were also in the Pochep area at this time.
Jerry
Let this be your first lesson in reading maps of Russia and understand that there are many places with similar names. In fact some names can be found all over the map!
Jez is correct, Novgorod is in the north, and 16 Armee was indeed in the Novgorod area at that time. However, I am sure that you are referring to Novgorod Severskiy, which is not in the north, rather it is about 70 miles south-south-west of Pochep. Pochep is just southwest of Bryansk.
As to units in that area at that time..... your grandfather was probably in one of the top combat units of the Heer, this was Panzergruppe 2 territory during the important initial drive toward Moscow. 17 Panzerdivision of XXXXVII Pz.K. captured Pochep after overcomming determined Soviet resistance on August 21. Four days later Panzergruppe 2 turned southward to eventually meet Panzergruppe 1 forces and cut-off vast Soviet forces in the Ukraine. So the Pochep-Unecha-Starodub area remained on the front lines and subject to furious counterattacks for some time. In addition to XXXXVII Pz.K. units (17 PzD, 18 PzD, 29 MoD, Großdeutschland) XXIV Pz.K. units (3 PzD, 4 PzD, 10 MoD, SSDR) were also in the Pochep area at this time.
Jerry