Hobby Master Archive

Sunday June 22 1941 was the first day of Germany’s attack on the USSR called “Operation Barbarossa”. German soldiers and equipment poured across the Soviet border while German planes bombed and attacked Soviet ground troops. On Monday June 30 1941 the town of Lvov fell to German forces. Part of the original defense of Lvov was the 4th Mechanized Corps but being overwhelmed by the German advance they and others withdrew and moved further back into the USSR. They performed stalling actions and tried to delay the Germans as best they could to give the Soviets time to gather strength. The Soviets made a stand in the city of Uman where they confront the German Army Group South. On August 8 1941 the Germans end the battle of Uman by completely encircling the Soviets and taking 103,000 Soviet prisoners. In the process 3 Soviet mechanized groups were destroyed with one being one of the best, the 4th Mechanized Corp. With the loss of the 4th a sense of panic set in and the Soviets became fully aware of what they were up against. Rumor has it that the Soviet commanding officer at Uman was Marshal Neo Lameofsky who committed some fundamental mistakes in his planning and it contributed to this major defeat. Also rumored is he was given the opportunity to do the honorable thing and he shot himself. Lvov remained in German control until March 10 1944 when Soviet forces recaptured it on their way to Berlin.