This action was part of the larger St. Vitus Day offensive which started on June 28, 1941. This The 15th Corps had lost its commander. However, the RKKA pulled off an apparent upset here by using a cross pincer attack into the central forest. Thus, it appeare to its opponent, the 297th Infantry DIvision, that formidable forces could be picked off.

The German 297th Infantry Division, which had been fighting for a week,, was tired, judging from its somewhat diminished morale. But it really was a matter of indecision that held it from responding to the at tack 9n the forest along with poor marksmanship. Even the 88s missed lead Russian T34s, whose destruction was vital to stop the attack from succeeding. Even the 105s couldn’t deal w the RKKA infantry. The infantry reached the forest before the Germans could move their forward guns out of harms way. Here’s where the extra forces would have been invaluable. In the end, the Soviets reached the town. By that time the Germans were so weak, that their morale had fallen to one. This meant they couldn’t possibly win the scenari9.

The RKKA bypassed the town, letting the left flank deal w it. The right flank, still strong, pulled out of the forest, cut the road on board’s four and five and set. up their attack against the hills. Since the Wehrmacht had retreated to the town from the forest, the hills were weakly defended. The RKKA had little trouble capturing the hills and destruying the defending guns and infantry.

One other major problem for Germans was that AirPower was effective less than half of the time. This factor was key to German success, but it failed.

Minor victory = Russia, 26 German steps destroyed Germany = 20 RKKA steps destroyed