military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (06/22/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Monday, 23 June, 1941 Army Group Center crosses the River Bug into Russia. The attack is aided by the use of amphibious tanks designed for the invasion of Britain. Elsewhere, rapid ground advances continue, while the Luftwaffe continues to savage the Soviet air force and disrupt lines of supply and communication. Another 500 Soviet aircraft are destroyed. The Soviet High Command begins recovering from the initial shock of the attack but confusion still reigns. The speed of the German advance is greater than the Soviet ability to react, so that effective counterattacks are made impossible. Slovakia declares war on the Soviet Union. Fighting continues in Syria, where Vichy troops are heartened by the German attack. Allied forces nonetheless reach Palmyra. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Any state who fights Nazism will have our aid...It follows therefore that we shall give whatever help we can to Russia." - Winston Churchill