Editing Operation Barbarossa (section)

==Further German advances==
{{Further|Battle of Smolensk (1941)|Leningrad Operation (1941)}}
[[File:OperationBarbarossa.PNG|thumb|upright=1.35|German advances during the opening phases of Operation Barbarossa, August 1941]]

On 2 July and through the next six days, a rainstorm typical of Belarusian summers slowed the progress of the panzers of Army Group Centre, and Soviet defences stiffened.{{sfn|Glantz|2010a|p=63}} The delays gave the Soviets time to organise a massive counterattack against Army Group Centre. The army group's ultimate objective was Smolensk, which commanded the road to Moscow. Facing the Germans was an [[Stalin line|old Soviet defensive line]] held by six armies. On 6 July, the Soviets launched a massive counter-attack using the V and VII Mechanised Corps of the 20th Army,{{sfn|Glantz|House|2015|p=70}} which collided with the German 39th and 47th Panzer Corps in a battle where the Red Army lost 832 tanks of the 2,000 employed during five days of ferocious fighting.{{sfn|Bellamy|2007|p=240}} The Germans defeated this counterattack thanks largely to the coincidental presence of the ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s only squadron of tank-busting aircraft.{{sfn|Bellamy|2007|p=240}} The 2nd Panzer Group crossed the Dnieper River and closed in on Smolensk from the south while the 3rd Panzer Group, after defeating the Soviet counterattack, closed on Smolensk from the north. Trapped between their pincers were three Soviet armies. The 29th Motorised Division captured Smolensk on 16 July yet a gap remained between Army Group Centre. On 18 July, the panzer groups came to within {{convert|10|km|mi|spell=in}} of closing the gap but the trap did not finally close until 5 August, when upwards of 300,000 Red Army soldiers had been captured and 3,205 Soviet tanks were destroyed. Large numbers of Red Army soldiers escaped to stand between the Germans and Moscow as resistance continued.{{sfn|Murray|Millett|2000|pp=123–124}}

[[File:Niemiecka piechota i wojska pancerne wśród pól rzepakowych na froncie wschodnim. (2-975).jpg|thumb|right|German mechanized forces pushing east through a rapeseed field, August 1941.]]
Four weeks into the campaign, the Germans realised they had grossly underestimated Soviet strength.{{sfn|Dear|Foot|1995|p=88}} The German troops had used their initial supplies, and General Bock quickly came to the conclusion that not only had the Red Army offered stiff opposition, but German difficulties were also due to the logistical problems with reinforcements and provisions.{{sfn|Keegan|1989|p=189}} Operations were now slowed down to allow for resupply; the delay was to be used to adapt strategy to the new situation.{{sfn|''Battle for Russia''|1996}} In addition to strained logistics, poor roads made it difficult for wheeled vehicles and foot infantry to keep up with the faster armoured spearheads, and shortages in boots and winter uniforms were becoming apparent. Furthermore, all three army groups had suffered 179,500 casualties by 2 August, and had only received 47,000 replacements.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2015|p=86}}

Hitler by now had lost faith in battles of encirclement as large numbers of Soviet soldiers had escaped the pincers.{{sfn|''Battle for Russia''|1996}} He now believed he could defeat the Soviet state by economic means, depriving them of the industrial capacity to continue the war. That meant seizing the industrial centre of [[Kharkov]], the Donbas and the oil fields of the Caucasus in the south and the speedy capture of Leningrad, a major centre of military production, in the north.{{sfn|Keegan|1989|p=195}}

[[File:Przeprawa wojsk niemieckich przez Dniepr (2-733).jpg|thumb|German armoured forces cross the Dnieper, September 1941.]]

Halder, Bock, and almost all the German generals involved in Operation Barbarossa argued vehemently in favour of continuing the all-out drive toward Moscow.{{sfn|Keegan|1989|pp=192–194}}{{sfn|Wright|1968|p=38}} Besides the psychological importance of capturing the Soviet capital, the generals pointed out that Moscow was a major centre of arms production, the centre of the Soviet communications system and an important transport hub. Intelligence reports indicated that the bulk of the remaining Red Army was deployed near Moscow under Timoshenko for the defence of the capital.{{sfn|''Battle for Russia''|1996}} Guderian was sent to Hitler by Bock and Halder to argue their case for continuing the assault against Moscow, but Hitler issued an order through Guderian (bypassing Bock and Halder) to send Army Group Centre's tanks to the north and south, temporarily halting the drive to Moscow.{{sfn|Seaton|1982|pp=177–178}} Convinced by Hitler's argument, Guderian returned to his commanding officers as a convert to the Führer's plan, which earned him their disdain.{{sfn|Seaton|1982|p=178}}

===Northern Finland===
{{Main|Operation Silver Fox|Operation Platinum Fox}}

On 29 June, Germany launched its effort to capture Murmansk in a pincer attack. The northern pincer, conducted by [[Mountain Corps Norway]], approached Murmansk directly by crossing the border at Petsamo. However, in mid-July after securing the neck of the [[Rybachy Peninsula]] and advancing to the [[Zapadnaya Litsa River|Litsa River]] the German advance was stopped by heavy resistance from the Soviet [[14th Army (Soviet Union)|14th Army]]. Renewed attacks led to nothing, and this front became a stalemate for the remainder of Barbarossa.{{sfnp|Mann|Jörgensen|2002|pp=81–87}}{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=941–944}}

The second pincer attack began on 1 July with the German [[XXXVI Mountain Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXXVI Corps]] and [[Finnish III Corps (Continuation War)|Finnish III Corps]] slated to recapture the [[Salla]] region for Finland and then proceed eastwards to cut the [[Kirov Railway|Murmansk railway]] near [[Kandalaksha]]. The German units had great difficulty dealing with the Arctic conditions. After heavy fighting, Salla was taken on 8 July. To keep the momentum the German-Finnish forces advanced eastwards until they were stopped at the town of [[Kayraly]] by Soviet resistance. Further south the Finnish III Corps made an independent effort to reach the Murmansk railway through the Arctic terrain. Facing only one division of the Soviet [[7th Army (Soviet Union)|7th Army]] it was able to make rapid headway. On 7 August it captured Kestenga while reaching the outskirts of [[Kalevala, Russia|Ukhta]]. Large Red Army reinforcements then prevented further gains on both fronts, and the German-Finnish force had to go onto the defensive.{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=941–951}}{{sfnp|Mann|Jörgensen|2002|pp=87–93}}

===Karelia===
{{Main|Finnish reconquest of Ladoga Karelia (1941)|Finnish reconquest of the Karelian Isthmus (1941)}}
[[File:Finnish troops advancing near Rautjärvi.jpg|thumb|Finnish troops advancing in Karelia in August 1941]]
The Finnish plan in the south in Karelia was to advance as swiftly as possible to Lake Ladoga, cutting the Soviet forces in half. Then the Finnish territories east of Lake Ladoga were to be recaptured before the advance along the Karelian Isthmus, including the recapture of Viipuri, commenced. The Finnish attack was launched on 10 July. The Army of Karelia held a numerical advantage versus the Soviet defenders of the 7th Army and [[23rd Army (Soviet Union)|23rd Army]], so it could advance swiftly. The important road junction at Loimola was captured on 14 July. By 16 July, the first Finnish units reached Lake Ladoga at Koirinoja, achieving the goal of splitting the Soviet forces. During the rest of July, the Army of Karelia advanced further southeast into Karelia, coming to a halt at the former Finnish-Soviet border at Mansila.{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=67–86}}{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=970–974}}

With the Soviet forces cut in half, the attack on the Karelian Isthmus could commence. The Finnish army attempted to encircle large Soviet formations at [[Sortavala]] and [[Hiitola]] by advancing to the western shores of Lake Ladoga. By mid-August the encirclement had succeeded and both towns were taken, but many Soviet formations were able to evacuate by sea. Further west, the attack on Viipuri was launched. With Soviet resistance breaking down, the Finns were able to encircle Viipuri by advancing to the [[Vuoksi River]]. The city itself was taken on 29 August,{{sfn|Enkenberg|2021|p=70}} along with a broad advance on the rest of the Karelian Isthmus. By the beginning of September, Finland had restored its pre-Winter War borders.{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=87–109}}{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=970–974}}

===Offensive towards central Russia===
{{Main|Battle of Uman}}
By mid-July, the German forces had advanced within a few kilometers of Kiev below the Pripyat Marshes. The 1st Panzer Group then went south, while the 17th Army struck east and trapped three Soviet armies near [[Uman]].{{sfn|Thomas|2012|p=13}} As the Germans eliminated the pocket, the tanks turned north and crossed the Dnieper. Meanwhile, the 2nd Panzer Group, diverted from Army Group Centre, had crossed the river Desna with 2nd Army on its right flank. The two panzer armies now trapped four Soviet armies and parts of two others.{{sfn|Thomas|2012|pp=12–14}}

By August, as the serviceability and the quantity of the ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s inventory steadily diminished due to combat, demand for air support only increased as the VVS recovered. The ''Luftwaffe'' found itself struggling to maintain local air superiority.{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=84}} With the onset of bad weather in October, the ''Luftwaffe'' was on several occasions forced to halt nearly all aerial operations. The VVS, although faced with the same weather difficulties, had a clear advantage thanks to the prewar experience with cold-weather flying, and the fact that they were operating from intact airbases and airports.{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=83–85}} By December, the VVS had matched the ''Luftwaffe'' and was even pressing to achieve air superiority over the battlefields.{{sfn|Hardesty|2012|p=103}}

===Leningrad===
{{Main|Siege of Leningrad}}
For its final attack on Leningrad, the 4th Panzer Group was reinforced by tanks from Army Group Centre. On 8 August, the Panzers broke through the Soviet defences. By the end of August, 4th Panzer Group had penetrated to within {{convert|48|km|abbr=off}} of Leningrad. The Finns{{Efn|Significant planning for Finnish participation in the campaign against the Soviet Union was conducted well-before the plan's actual implementation.{{sfn|Ueberschär|1998|pp=455–470}} }} had pushed southeast on both sides of Lake Ladoga to reach the old Finnish-Soviet frontier.{{sfn|Klink|1998|pp=631–641}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L19885, Russland, Heinz Guderian vor Gefechtsstand.jpg|thumb|German general [[Heinz Guderian]] (centre), commander of [[Panzer Group 2]], on 20 August 1941]]

The Germans attacked Leningrad in August 1941; in the following three "black months" of 1941, 400,000 residents of the city worked to build the city's fortifications as fighting continued, while 160,000 others joined the ranks of the Red Army. Nowhere was the Soviet {{lang|fr|[[levée en masse]]}} spirit stronger in resisting the Germans than at Leningrad where reserve troops and freshly improvised {{transliteration|ru|[[Narodnoe Opolcheniye]]}} units, consisting of worker battalions and even schoolboy formations, joined in digging trenches as they prepared to defend the city.{{sfn|Werth|1964|p=199}} On 7 September, the German [[20th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|20th Motorised Division]] seized [[Shlisselburg]], cutting off all land routes to Leningrad. The Germans severed the railroads to Moscow and captured the railroad to Murmansk with Finnish assistance to inaugurate the start of a siege that would last for over two years.{{sfn|Miller|Commager|2001|pp=68–69}}{{sfn|Beevor|2012|p=204}}

At this stage, Hitler ordered the final destruction of Leningrad with no prisoners taken, and on 9 September, Army Group North began the final push. Within ten days it had advanced within {{convert|11|km|abbr=off}} of the city.{{sfn|''Hitler Strikes East''|2009}} However, the push over the last {{convert|10|km|mi|abbr=on}} proved very slow and casualties mounted, so Hitler ordered that Leningrad should not be stormed, but rather starved into submission. Along these lines, the OKH issued Directive No. la {{not a typo|1601/41}} on 22 September 1941, which accorded Hitler's plans.{{sfn|Forczyk|2009|p=11}} Deprived of its Panzer forces, Army Group Centre remained static and was subjected to numerous Soviet counterattacks, in particular the [[Yelnya Offensive]], in which the Germans suffered their first major tactical defeat since their invasion began; this Red Army victory also provided an important boost to Soviet morale.{{sfn|Werth|1964|pp=189–190, 195–197}} These attacks prompted Hitler to concentrate his attention back to Army Group Centre and its drive on Moscow. The Germans ordered the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies to break off their [[Siege of Leningrad]] and support Army Group Centre in its attack on Moscow.{{sfn|Müller|2016|p=180}}{{sfn|Cooper|1984|pp=328–330}}

===Kiev===
{{Main|Battle of Kiev (1941)}}
Before an attack on Moscow could begin, operations in Kiev needed to be finished. Half of Army Group Centre had swung to the south in the back of the Kiev position, while Army Group South moved to the north from its Dnieper [[bridgehead]].{{sfn|Glantz|House|1995|p=77}} The encirclement of Soviet forces in Kiev was achieved on 16 September. A battle ensued in which the Soviets were hammered with tanks, artillery, and aerial bombardment. After ten days of vicious fighting, the Germans claimed 665,000 Soviet soldiers captured, although the real figure is probably around 220,000.{{sfn|Glantz|House|2015|p=94}} Soviet losses were 452,720 men, 3,867 artillery pieces and mortars from 43 divisions of the 5th, 21st, 26th, and 37th Soviet Armies.{{sfn|Glantz|House|1995|p=77}} Despite the exhaustion and losses facing some German units (upwards of 75 percent of their men) from the intense fighting, the massive defeat of the Soviets at Kiev and the Red Army losses during the first three months of the assault contributed to the German assumption that [[Operation Typhoon]] (the attack on Moscow) could still succeed.{{sfn|Fritz|2011|p=145}}

===Sea of Azov===
{{Main|Battle of the Sea of Azov}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L20582, Charkow, Strassenkämpfe.jpg|thumb|Germans battle Soviet defenders on the streets of [[Kharkov]], 25 October 1941.]]
After operations at Kiev were successfully concluded, Army Group South advanced east and south to capture the industrial Donbas region and the [[Crimea]]. The Soviet Southern Front launched an attack on 26 September with two armies on the northern shores of the [[Sea of Azov]] against elements of the German [[11th Army (Wehrmacht)|11th Army]], which was simultaneously advancing into the Crimea. On 1 October, the [[1st Panzer Army]] under [[Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist|Ewald von Kleist]] swept south to [[pincer movement|encircle]] the two attacking Soviet armies. By 7 October, the Soviet [[9th Army (Soviet Union)|9th]] and [[18th Army (Soviet Union)|18th Armies]] were isolated and four days later they had been annihilated. The Soviet defeat was total; 106,332 men captured, 212 [[tank]]s destroyed or captured in the pocket alone as well as 766 [[artillery]] pieces of all types.{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=149}} The death or capture of two-thirds of all Southern Front troops in four days unhinged the Front's left flank, allowing the Germans to [[First Battle of Kharkov|capture]] Kharkov on 24 October. Kleist's 1st Panzer Army took the Donbas region that same month.{{sfn|Liedtke|2016|p=149}}

===Central and northern Finland===
[[File:Continuation War December 1941 English.jpg|thumb|The front in Finland, December 1941]]

In central Finland, the German-Finnish advance on the Murmansk railway had been resumed at Kayraly. A large encirclement from the north and the south trapped the defending Soviet corps and allowed XXXVI Corps to advance further to the east.{{sfn|Ziemke|1959|pp=170–172}} In early September it reached the old 1939 Soviet border fortifications. On 6 September the first defence line at the Voyta River was breached, but further attacks against the main line at the [[Verman River]] failed.{{sfn|Ziemke|1959|pp=174–178}} With Army Norway switching its main effort further south, the front stalemated in this sector. Further south, the Finnish III Corps launched a new offensive towards the Murmansk railway on 30 October, bolstered by fresh reinforcements from Army Norway. Against Soviet resistance, it was able to come within {{cvt|30|km|mi}} of the railway, when the Finnish High Command ordered a stop to all offensive operations in the sector on 17 November. The United States of America applied diplomatic pressure on Finland not to disrupt Allied aid shipments to the Soviet Union, which caused the Finnish government to halt the advance on the Murmansk railway. With the Finnish refusal to conduct further offensive operations and German inability to do so alone, the German-Finnish effort in central and northern Finland came to an end.{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=941–953}}{{sfnp|Mann|Jörgensen|2002|pp=93–97}}

===Karelia===
{{Main|Finnish invasion of East Karelia (1941)}}

Germany had pressured Finland to enlarge its offensive activities in Karelia to aid the Germans in their Leningrad operation. Finnish attacks on Leningrad itself remained limited. Finland stopped its advance just short of Leningrad and had no intentions to attack the city. The situation was different in eastern Karelia. The Finnish government agreed to restart its offensive into Soviet Karelia to reach [[Lake Onega]] and the [[Svir River]]. On 4 September, this new drive was launched on a broad front. Albeit reinforced by fresh reserve troops, heavy losses elsewhere on the front meant that the Soviet defenders of the 7th Army were not able to resist the Finnish advance. [[Olonets]] was taken on 5 September. On 7 September, Finnish forward units reached the Svir River.{{sfn|Menger|1997|p=533}} [[Petrozavodsk]], the capital city of the [[Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic|Karelo-Finnish SSR]], fell on 1 October. From there the Army of Karelia moved north along the shores of Lake Onega to secure the remaining area west of Lake Onega, while simultaneously establishing a defensive position along the Svir River. Slowed by winter's onset they nevertheless continued to advance slowly during the following weeks. [[Medvezhyegorsk]] was captured on 5 December and [[Povenets]] fell the next day. On 7 December, Finland halted all offensive operations and went onto the defensive.{{sfnp|Ueberschär|1998|pp=974–980}}{{sfnp|Nenye|Munter|Wirtanen|Birks|2016|pp=109–132}}