Army Group Centre grinds to a halt

30th July 1941: Wehrmacht spearhead units are bewildered by latest orders

Earlier in July, a Wehrmacht unit in Russia pauses before making yet another attack.

The very highest levels of the High Command were struggling to come to terms with the Fuhrer’s sudden revision of strategy. For the troops in the field it was even more bewildering.

Army Group Centre, the strongest of Hitler’s three Army Groups, had been making good progress during Operation Barbarossa. The past two weeks had seen it successfully overcome the strongest Russian defences they had yet encountered - and huge numbers of prisoners had been taken in the Battle of Smolensk. It was now set to resume its march directly towards Moscow.

Dr Heinrich Haape¹ was a doctor with the 6th Infantry Division, part of Army Group Centre.

It did not make sense, even to the youngest recruit.

Two days before, Haape and his colleagues had calculated that they had covered 600 miles in the past 5 weeks. They were now 180 miles from Moscow. They were three-quarters of the way and probably had two weeks further marching to reach the Soviet capital.

Then inexplicably they were ordered to halt.

German troops occupy a burning Russian village during Operation Barbarossa, summer 1941.

For five weeks the daily order had been “March! March! March! Stick to it! We must follow the fleeing enemy and destroy him wherever he stops. He must not have time to regain his breath. The faster we advance, the faster he will have to run. Moscow is just beyond the horizon. Full speed ahead to Moscow!”