Luckily for the Germans, Russian counterattacks during the early weeks
of Barbarossa were frequently uncoordinated and lacked tactical
sophistication.
The surprise German onslaught had caught the Red Army in a state of
disarray, and the speed and depth of the German advance prevented the
Soviet counterattacks often lurched forward in piecemeal fashion, with
little effective cooperation between supporting arms or adjacent
units. Units attacking in the first week of July against the
infantry-held flanks of German Army Group South, for example, used
tanks [drove] against our firing line, and the inevitable result
One German general, in reporting his frontline observations to
artillery barrage, then pause, then infantry attacking as much as
twelve ranks deep, without heavy weapon support. The [Russian] men
[started] hurrahing from far off.
[There were] incredibly high Russian Iosses.
Standing Fast-German Defensive Doctrine on the Russian Front
by Major Timothy A. Wray
|
|