Army Group South's advance towards Lviv, Ukraine, June 1941 - 71 ID "Lucky Division" war diary, Pt 6

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As Heinz’s unit, part of Army Group South, continued its forced march into the Soviet Union. I’ll use rare associated film clips to bring his story to life and original situational maps to give you an overview of their section of the front.

Wednesday, 25.6.1941
Early in the morning we are up and on the move again. The road is jam-packed with vehicles, soldiers and guns. The situation is absolutely chaotic. We travel on through Niemirow where a large tank battle took place. Along the way we pass burned out tanks, destroyed guns and dead horses. Civilians looters search through still burning houses looking for anything worth taking. In front of a house that burned down lies a dead woman and next to her is a young girl of about 4 years old that is crying uncontrollably. I give her a piece of cracker, the only food that I’m carrying, and she gobbles it down hungrily.

Since the supply convoy has remained behind I have to walk back to retrieve the radio set. Unfortunately mine is the last truck in the convoy which means that I’m about an hour behind the rest of the staff. Hurrying back I eventually do manage to catch up when they stop for a short rest but the quick advance continues and I am forced to march on. After another 6 hours we get to nice creek where we finally stop for a rest.

We’ll take a look at the situational map for June 25th 1941, the day that we’ve been following in Heinz’s entry. Army Group South’s first major objective was the taking of Lemberg which was the name of the city when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Ukrainian name for the city is Lviv. The enemy units that stood in the way of the 71st’s advance were the Soviet 34th tank division, the 41st infantry division and the 2nd motorized division.

Everyone takes a bath and then gets a warm meal of bread, sausage, and coffee. Unfortunately in the evening tanks are spotted in the area and we have to move out quickly. We march until midnight and stop in a thick forrest where we set up camp for the night. It’s terribly cold.

Thursday 26th June, 1941
At 3.00 we are up and on the move again. After a few hours marching we stop at the edge of a forested are. In front of us is a village occupied by the enemy that is under artillery fire and we can easily see the explosions. Suddenly a man who was part of a nocturnal recon team pops up in front of the village and begins running towards our position. He evidently had wandered in the wrong direction and fallen asleep in a field just in front of the enemy. Still somewhat dark we can make out the form of about 20 Soviet tanks that drive right past him and take up position behind the village evidently in preparation for an attack.

Using the radio set I report the enemy formation and within a few minutes am told that the area will be hit by an additional artillery barrage at 13:30 hrs. At precisely 13:30 the first shells of the barrage streak above our heads and plaster the area. Within 10 minutes what remained of the village is quickly turned into a smoldering mess. A little later a German fighter is seen trailing a Soviet plane. Quickly the enemy plane begins billowing a long smoke trail and crashes to the ground. It’s a warm summer evening and we don’t go bed until it’s late.