Day-by-Day Timeline of Events
Sunday, June 22nd, 1941
Operation Barbossa is put into effect - the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Wednesday, December 18th, 1940
Hiter's Directive Number 21 is revealed as the invasion of the Soviet Union through Operation Barbarossa.
Sunday, June 29th, 1941
General Guderian's Panzergruppe 2 meets General Hoth's Panzergruppe 3 in Minsk.
Sunday, June 29th, 1941
Russian army forces are encirlced at key cities across the Soviet Union.
Tuesday, July 1st, 1941
Panzergruppe 2 and Panzergruppe 3 cross the Berezina River west of Minsk, heading towards Smolensk and Vitebsk.
Thursday, July 3rd, 1941
Panzergruppe 2 and Panzergruppe 3 now form up as part of General Gunther von Kluge's 4th Panzer Army.
Wednesday, July 9th, 1941
Soviet defenses at Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok, Volkovysk, Gorodishche and Minsk fall to the invading German Army.
Wednesday, July 9th, 1941
Panzergruppe 3 continues north to Vitebsk.
Wednesday, July 9th, 1941
Gurderian's army moves south towards Mogliev.
Thursday, July 10th, 1941
Guderian's forces cross the Dniepr River 50 miles outside of Smolensk.
Sunday, July 13th, 1941
Defenses across Smolensk are prepared under the direction of the Soviet 16th Army.
Sunday, July 13th, 1941
The Soviet 19th Army makes its way into Smolensk.
Sunday, July 13th, 1941
The Soviet 20th Army arrives in Smolensk.
Wednesday, July 16th, 1941
Smolensk falls to the German 29th Motorized Division.
Wednesday, July 16th, 1941
Panzergruppe 3 heads towards Yartsevo.
Wednesday, July 16th, 1941
Marshal Timoshenko and his 4th and 13th Armies near the Sohz River counterattack the Germans at Smolensk.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 1941
The Soviet counterattack at Smolensk is driven back by Guderian's forces.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 1941
The German Army begins to encircled in Soviet Army pockets held up outside of Smolensk, Vitebsk and Mogilev.
Thursday, July 17th, 1941
The German Army begins to tighten the noose around the encircled Soviet forces numbering some 25 divisions.
Thursday, July 24th, 1941
The German encirclement of Soviet forces is completed.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 1941
A Soviet offensive meant to break the German stranglehold fails due to poor coordination.
Saturday, July 19th, 1941
A German High Command directive calls for the army to complete the destruction of Soviet forces around Smolensk and then head south to tackle forces in Kiev instead of marching on Moscow herself - this decision is viewed as the turning point to Germany's defeat in Russia.
Tuesday, August 5th, 1941
The Soviet defense of Smolensk is obliterated and falls taking with it the end of the Soviet 16th and 20th Armies.
Tuesday, August 5th, 1941
300,000 Soviet prisoners, 3,200 tanks and 3,100 artillery guns are captured by the Germans at Smolensk.
Tuesday, August 5th, 1941
The drive on Smolensk nets a total of 600,000 Russian prisoners of war, 5,700 tanks and 4,600 artillery pieces.