Barbarossa Campaign: The Battle for Smolensk

Battle movement of German and Soviet units based on primary data (OKW daily operational maps and secondary data collected by David Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed): July 10 - September 10 1941.

The map shows that after ten days of movement the battle stagnates just past Smolensk. The Soviet troops (marked with stars) resiliently block the advance of the German forces. It also shows that the troop density at the front increases, rather than decreases, which is evidence of hard fighting.

The Panzer divisions (pink squares) are also heavily and constantly present on the map, similarly indicating significant enemy engagements. They are constantly opposed by new Soviet armored troops sent in to block the off. We see that the battle of Smolensk was a much harder fight than what the classical histories often depict. Only in part a battle of movement, the clash was hard fought and it cost the Germans a significant number of casualties, which ultimately delayed and weakened their advance to Moscow.

For more details see Powerpoint Presentation

Controls instructions: The map loads all the units involved in the battle and their average movement direction (black arrow for German and Red for Soviet movement vectors). You can unselect types of units (Infantry, Armored, Motorized, Cavalry and Security) and soon individual units by clicking "unselect" in the second or third drop down box. You may also select one or more groups of divisions by type and individual unit. For multiple selections first press and keep pressed the "shift" key. The arrow represents the average direction of movement of all the units displayed. Its length varies with the "momentum" of movement. Longer arrows indicate that the troops moved on a more direct and short course.