Battle of Brody (1941) - Prelude

Prelude

Panzer Group 1 led by Kleist was ordered to secure the Bug River crossings, and advance to Rovno and Korosten with the strategic objective of Kiev. It deployed two Corps forward and advanced between Lviv and Rovno in the attempt to cut the Lviv - Kiev railway line, driving a wedge along junction point between the Soviet 5th and 6th Armies.

The Southwestern Front under the command of Mikhail Kirponos, despite incomplete intelligence on the size and direction of the German attack were surprised by the decision of STAVKA to order a general counterattack on the authority of Georgy Zhukov, under the title of directive No. 3. Most of the headquarters staff were convinced that the general order would be to remain in a defensive posture until the situation clarified. Later H. Baghramyan, a staff officer of the front headquarters, who was charged with writing the initial report to Moscow, said that "our first combat report to Moscow was full of generalities and unclarities."

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the general orders of directive No. 3, read:

"While maintaining strong defense of the state border with Hungary, the 5th and 6th armies are to carry out concentric strikes in the direction of Lublin, utilizing at least five mechanized corps and aviation of the Front, in order to encircle and destroy the enemy group of forces advancing along the front Vladimir-Volynski-Krystonopol, and by the end of June 24th to capture the vicinity of Lublin."

By the end of the night of the 22nd, Chief of General Staff G. K. Zhukov was on his way to the Southwestern Front headquarters at Ternopil along with Nikita Khrushchev, the former head of Organizational Department of the Ukrainian Communist Party's Central Committee, to ensure these orders were carried out.