The 'Smolensk Defensive Operation' was undertaken by the Soviet forces to hold the key city of Smolensk on the German primary axis toward Moscow in 'Barbarossa' (10 July/5 August 1941).

After the defeat of the main Soviet forces of Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza Semyon K. Timoshenko’s West Front in the Białystok and Minsk 'cauldrons' (encirclements) early in their 'Barbarossa' invasion of the western USSR, the Germans advanced to the line of the Zapadnyi Dvina and Dniepr rivers and prepared for a renewed offensive toward Moscow. The West Front’s forces held the line in this area, and in an attempt to halt the German advance in this north central part of the Eastern Front, on 6 July the Soviet high command launched the 'Borisov-Lepel Offensive Operation' in the direction of Lepel: the offensive failed with heavy losses, and the Soviet forces retreated to the area between Orsha and Vitebsk. On 8 July German troops of General Rudolf Schmidt’s XXXIX Corps (mot.), a major component of General Hermann Hoth’s 3^rd Panzergruppe within Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock’s Heeresgruppe 'Mitte', crossed the Zapadnyi Dvina river and on the following day seized Vitebsk .

At the same time, General Joachim Lemelsen’s XLVII Corps (mot.) of General Heinz Guderian’s 2^nd Panzergruppe overcame the hitherto stubborn resistance of the 1^st Motorised Division and advanced to the bridgeheads in the Orsha region.

The German high command decided to launch a new offensive in the Moscow direction with mobile formations alone, without waiting for the arrival of the supporting but considerably slower marching infantry divisions. The result of this German decision came as a very unwelcome surprise to the Soviet command, which had expected the Germans to check their advance for the purposes of regrouping and replenishment.

The West Front was thereby denied any opportunity to take up defensive positions. At Liozno and Ore there arrived General Leytenant Ivan S. Konev’s 19^th Army for commitment in the task of holding the Germans back from Vitebsk, while Orsha was the focus of General Leytenant Pavel A. Kurochkin’s 20^th Army, and in the Smolensk area General Leytenant Mikhail F. Lukin’s 16^th Army, part of the West Front’s second echelon, was completing its concentration.

Up to 14 July, the Soviet forces involved in the defence of Smolensk included one combined infantry regiment of two battalions from a number of units (about 2,000 men), one marching infantry battalion of the 39^th Reserve Regiment (about 1,200 men), the 8^th Separate Service Battalion (754 men), consolidated detachments of the 159^th Infantry Regiment (about 150 men), a number of police and NKVD detachments (unknown number of men), the 10^th Pontoon Bridge Battalion (793 men with only 30 rifles), a military police battalion (276 men) and the 4^th Motorised Battalion (657 men). The defence thus totalled as many as 6,500 men, of whom about 2,500 were in the front line.

On 11 July, after breaking the resistance of the 19^th Army that had not managed to concentrate in the area of Vitebsk, the XXXIX Corps (mot.) attacked Demidov, Dukhovshchina and Smolensk. On 13 July the Germans reached Demidov and Velizh, occupied Dukhovshchina and entered the battle for Yartsevo, and on 15 July broke through to the highway linking Smolensk and Moscow. In parallel with this, Lemelsen’s XLVII Corps (mot.) on 11 July crossed the Dniepr river near Kopys, and two days moved on Smolensk from the south-west.

On 14 July, Timoshenko ordered that the defence of the approaches to the city and of Smolensk itself be undertaken by Lukin’s 16^th Army, which had only one major formation in the form of the XXXII Corps (46^th Division and 152^nd Division). Both of these divisions were already involved, however, in the defence of the Soviet lines of communication, especially on the northern side of the Dniepr river. Thus the city itself was defended only by spare and special units, as noted above.

Lukin moved mobile anti-tank detachments to the areas most threatened by German armoured formations. Operating as the spearhead of the XLVII Corps (mot.), however, Generalmajor Walter von Boltenstern’s 29^th Division (mot.) overwhelmed the resistance of the detachment command of Podpolkovnik Pavel I. Bunyashin in the Khokhlovo region, where General Major Trofim L. Vlasov, the 16^th Army’s chief of artillery, was killed, broke through to Smolensk and on 15 July burst into the city from the south-west to occupy the southern part of the city. On 16 July, units of the 29^th Division (mot.) crossed the Dniepr river and occupied the northern part of the city.

As a result of the breakthroughs by German armoured forces, therefore, the Soviet 19^th Army, 20^th Army and 16^th Army were operational in the Smolensk region. Soviet communications with the rear could only be maintained through a wooded and swampy area to the south of Yartsevo in the Solovyovo region.

The German seizure of Smolensk provoked a sharp reaction from Iosef Stalin, and the order of the State Defence Committee of the USSR on 16 July stated that 'According to the State Defense Committee, the command staff of the West Front’s units are imbued with evacuation sentiments and are light on the issue of the withdrawal of our troops from Smolensk and the surrender of Smolensk to the enemy. If this information is true, then the State Defense Committee considers such sentiments among the command staff to be a crime bordering on outright treason. The State Defense Committee requires you to suppress with an iron fist such sentiments defaming the banner of the Red Army, and to order the units defending Smolensk not to surrender Smolensk to the enemy in any way…'

Formations and units of the 19^th Army soon joined the battle for Smolensk after losing contact with their headquarters and then coming under the local command of the 16^th Army. First to reach the defence was General Major Avksenti M. Gorodnyansky’s 129^th Division and some elements of the 38^th Division. During the fierce fighting of 17/88 July, control of some of the city’s areas changed hand several times. General Leytenant Rafail P. Khmelnitsky’s XXXIV Corps was later subordinated to the headquarters of the 16^th Army after its 127^th Division and 158^th Division reached the southern outskirts of the city. The 152^nd Division then joined the battles for Smolensk. Overall command of the troops that came to be trapped in the Smolensk 'cauldron' was exercised by General Leytenant Andrei I. Eremenko, who succeeded Timoshenko as command of the West Front on 19 July, and the fighting in the Smolensk region began gradually to acquire a more organised character.

The Germans were also increasing their forces in the Smolensk region. The 17^th Panzerdivision was sent from an area near Orsha to the area south of Smolensk: in the battles to the east of Orsha, the division’s commander, Generalmajor Karl Ritter von Weber, was mortally wounded on 18 July as replaced as a temporary measure by Oberst Rudolf-Eduard Licht. In front of the Smolensk 'cauldron', the Soviet forces were hard pressed by General Richard Ruoff’s V Corps, which comprised Generalmajor Karl Allmendinger’s 5^th Division and Generalleutnant Walther Fischer von Weikersthal’s 35^th Division, which advanced along the highway linking Vitebsk and Smolensk. The corps took Liozno on 17 July and, after fierce fighting, took Rudnya on 20 July.

On 16 July, General Hermann Geyer’s IX Corps neared Orsha. Its 268^th Division, commanded by Generalleutnant Erich Straube, advanced along the highway linking Minsk and Moscow together with Weikersthal’s 35^th Division, and Generalleutnant Friedrich Bergmann’s 137^th Division was despatched toward Smolensk along the southern bank of the Dniepr river in order to support of von Boldenstern’s 29^th Division (mot.), and over a period of three to four days lost 850 men.

Meanwhile, the Soviet high command still managed to entertain the hope of relieving the troops surrounded in the Smolensk region. On 17 July, General Major Konstantin K. Rokossovsky arrived at the West Front’s headquarters after being entrusted with organising both the defence and a counterstrike in the Yartsevo area. Polkovnik G. M. Mikhailov’s 101^st Tank Division was redeployed to Rokossovsky’s control, and part of the Polkovnik M. G. Kirillov’s 38^th Division, which had lost contact with the 19^th Army, was also included in the group. Rokossovsky soon subordinated to is command the consolidated detachment of Polkovnik Aleksandr I. Lizyukov, which defended the Solovyov crossing, and the remnants of the VII Mechanised Corps, which emerged from the encirclement.

The Rokossovsky group’s hastily organised offensive between 18 and 20 July was defeated. On 23/24 July, the West Front’s operational groups began their fight toward Smolensk, but stood little or no chance of success. On 26 July, the German high command ordered an attack by the XXXIX Corps (mot.) (Generalleutnant Horst Stumpff’s 7^th Panzerdivision and Generalleutnant Erich Jaschke’s 20^th Division (mot.)) from the Yartsevo area and the XLVII Corps (mot.)'s 17^th Panzerdivision, now commanded by Generalleutnant Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, from the area to the west of Yartsevo along the Solovievskaya river to cross the Dniepr river. On the night of 27/28 July, the German seized this crossing after driving back Lizyukov’s group charged with its defence. Thus, the line of communication between the encircled troops in the Smolensk area and the main forces of the West Front was interrupted, and Rokossovsky’s group was effectively shackled by the German advances.

By the end of July, fresh German formations were approaching the Smolensk area: these were General Friedrich Materna’s XX Corps with Generalleutnant Stephen Rittau’s 129^th Division and Generalleutnant Ernst Dehner’s 106^th Division and General Walter Heitz’s VIII Corps with Generalmajor Gustav Höhne’s 8^th Division and Generalleutnant Johann Sinnhuber’s 28^th Division. Over this same period, the Soviet troops within the encirclement received almost no reinforcements men men or equipment. This allowed the German troops quickly to erode the size of the Smolensk 'cauldron' and to cut it into several segments.

On 28 July the remaining Soviet troops abandoned Smolensk. This provoked a violent reaction from Timoshenko: 'From the morning report on 29 July, I establish for the first time that you are making a risky retreat contrary to the order to hold the occupied front, and this is all the more unacceptable in the conditions of the operation being carried out by the Khomenko, Kalinin and Rokossovsky groups…From all your reports and messages there did not emerge the need for withdrawal, but on the contrary, your army fought successful battles. Your withdrawal makes it easier for the enemy to create a large grouping to disrupt our operation.

'I order: Immediately stop the withdrawal of the 20^th Army and 16^th Army on the line to the west of Smolensk. Clear Smolensk of the enemy and hold it…In no event should the current front be left without my order. You are responsible for this…'

In the report of the Military Council of the Western Direction to the supreme command on 31 July, the events were described as follows:

'(i) The 20^th Army, and with it the 16^th Army, withdrew without the sanction of command from Smolensk to the east and left Smolensk on 29 July under the following circumstances: from the beginning of the semi-encirclement, the 20^th Army was continuously attacked by large German forces of up to six infantry divisions, one tank division and a large amount of aviation…From 25 July the Germans were reinforced with two fresh divisions. During this time, the 20^th Army and 16^th Army suffered huge losses. In this respect, the 20^th Army, conducting intense battles, withdrew under strong German pressure to the east in the area to the north of Smolensk. On 28 July the left-flank 73^rd Division of the 20^th Army, retreating, exposed the right flank and rear of the 16^th Army’s 152^nd Division, which was fighting in the northern part of Smolensk. The 152 Division, observing the withdrawal of the 73^rd Division and being, according to Lukin’s report, under strong German fire and blows to its flank and rear, by order of the commander of the 152^nd Division began to retreat east of Smolensk. This the 1290^th Division also withdrew from the north-eastern part of Smolensk.

'(ii) The command and headquarters of the Western Direction and the front, from the report of Kurochkin became aware of the abandonment of Smolensk on the night of 28/29 July. An order was immediately given to Kurochkin to suspend the withdrawal of the 152^nd and 129^th Divisions and to restore the situation. Upon clarification of the situation on 29 July, Kurochkin was ordered to unite the leadership of the 20^th Army and 16^th Army and, using the reserves of the 20^th Army, restore the situation in Smolensk.

'(iii) The counter-offensive undertaken on 29 July by the forces of 152^nd, 73^rd and 46^th Divisions did not succeed, and the formations with heavy losses by the evening of 30 July withdrew to the east of Smolensk to the line lining Sukhodol and Tokari.

'(iv) Kurochkin gave the order that from 03.00 on 31 July the remnants of the 152^nd, 129^th and 46^th Divisions were to go over to the offensive from the line linking Sukhodol and Tokari toward Smolensk.'

Meanwhile, on 28 July, Rokossovsky’s group, reinforced by the XLIV Corps (64^th and 108^th Divisions), was able to resume attacks and occupied Yartsevo. Early in August, the surrounded Soviet troops, with the assistance of the Rokossovsky group, managed to restore control over the Dniepr river crossings in the area of Solovyovo and Ratchino, and on 4 August the remnants of the 16^th Army and 20^th Army crossed the Dniepr river to the east.

The battle for Smolensk was over.

For the Soviets, the battle of Smolensk was an important step in their effort to disrupt the German advance on Moscow. The Soviets suffered heavy losses in men and equipment, but the Germans were also brought to the point of exhaustion, deprived of the ability to manoeuvre, and forced to become embroiled in heavy fighting for a major settlement.

The abandonment of Smolensk by the Soviets did not end the battle of Smolensk. On 30 July, the German high command instructed Heeresgruppe 'Mitte' to go over to the temporary defensive with its main forces. Heavy fighting to the east of Smolensk continued until 10 September.