4th Panzer Army - 1941

1941

On commencement of Operation Barbarossa, the group was a part of Army Group North, and consisted of the XLI and LVI Army Corps (motorized) with three panzer and two motorized infantry divisions equipped with 631 tanks.

Acting as the armored spearhead for Army Group North in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa, it crossed the Neman River, where the XLI Panzer Corps was counter-attacked by 300 Soviet Tanks near Raseiniai. In a 4 day battle, the Germans encircled and destroyed the Soviet Armor. The LVI Panzer Corps seized the Dvina bridges and began their advance towards Leningrad.

The Soviets formed a bitter defense around Leningrad and Hitler reinforced 4th Panzer Army with the 3rd Panzer Army and it crept up to 7 miles of the city. However, Hitler re-called both Panzer Armies and transferred them to Army Group Center for an all-out offensive around Moscow.

The operation called for the 3rd and 4th Panzer Army to attack Moscow from the North. The 4th Army would attack through the center and 2nd Panzer Army to attack from the south. But due to the cold weather, deteriorating supply situation and bitter Soviet resistance, only the 4th Panzer Army made any headway against the Soviets and reached to about 15 miles of Moscow. Exhausted, it was halted at the gates of Moscow and then pushed back 200 miles by the Soviet counteroffensive launched in December 1941.

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