German Orders of Battle – Operation Barbarossa

German Orders of Battle shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on June 27, 1941, in the evening.

Russian Campaign 1941

The term ‘Russian campaign’ refers to the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. This campaign, also known as Operation Barbarossa, began on June 22, 1941 and ended with the defeat of the German troops and their retreat from the Soviet Union.

Overview Russian Campaign

Despite the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union in order to gain ‘Lebensraum (Living space) in the East’.

The German army was initially successful and penetrated deep into Soviet territory, but was held back by the stubborn resistance of the Red Army and the harsh Russian winter.

Decisive battles such as the Battle of Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk turned the tide in favor of the Soviet Union.

The Russian campaign was one of the bloodiest and most costly campaigns of the Second World War, with millions of casualties on both sides.

The defeat in the Russian campaign contributed significantly to the downfall of National Socialist Germany.

The Russian campaign had a profound impact on the course of the Second World War and shaped relations between Germany and Russia and the later Soviet Union long after the end of the war.

Schematic layout of the German Wehrmacht from June 27, 1941

German Orders of Battle five days after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. The specified tank inventory in the divisions is the state of June 21, one day before the invasion of Russia.

The summary and distribution of the divisions to the armies is also from June 21, 1941. For this purpose, the approximate nominal strength (TOE) of the main divisions of the Wehrmacht from June 1941 and the total number of armored vehicles from June 1, 1941, is also available.

Listed on the eastern front from south to north:

Army Group South (v Rundstedt):

Army Group Center (v Bock):

Army Group North (v Leeb):

Army Headquarter Norway (v Falkenhorst):

Army Group D (Commander West):

Southeast:

Africa:

Numerical overview of the distribution of German divisions on June 21, 1941

Inf = infantry, Lig = Light, Mt = Mountain, Pz = Panzer (armored), mot = motorized infantry, Cav = Cavalry, SS = Waffen-SS, Sec = Security divisions

Numerical overview of the distribution of divisions:

See also: Germany Army Unit Organization 1939-41.

Inventory of armored fighting vehicles on June 1, 1941:

German tank production and losses June-December 1941:

About 240 Pzkpfw II, III and IV were lost in North Africa.

See also:

PART I: Nazi Germany attacks the Soviet Union
PART II: Eastern Front 1941

References and literature

World War II – A Statistical Survey (John Ellis)
Der 2. Weltkrieg (C. Bertelsmann Verlag)
Zweiter Weltkrieg in Bildern (Mathias Färber)
A World at Arms – A Global History of World War II (Gerhard L. Weinberg)
Der Grosse Atlas zum II. Weltkrieg (Peter Young)
Krieg der Panzer (Piekalkiewicz)
Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, Band 1-8 (Percy E. Schramm)
Operation Barbarossa: the Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation, Volume I – IIIB (Nigel Askey)
Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Reichswehr, Wehrmacht und Bundeswehr (Werner Oswald)