Sep 21st to 27th
Fuhrer decisions…In view of their accomplishments in the campaign, all four Panzergruppen are hitherto designated “Panzer Armies”, and are no longer subordinate to the infantry armies, e.g. Third Panzergruppe to Ninth Army.
Hitler also moved up 101st Jager and 79th Divisions from Eleventh Army to Kluge’s Fourth Army advancing on Moscow.
North
Reinforced by a fresh infantry division, the Finns finally capture Viipuri from Soviet 32nd Army. Having retaken all the ground lost in the 1939-40 war, Finland is effectively ordering its forces to desist from further offensive activity despite Hitler’s encouraging them to continue on towards Leningrad.
XLI Panzer Korps redeploys from the Novgorod area to Vyazma in its entirety (1st Pz, 5th Pz and 36th Mot Divisions).
Soviet 86th Army is finally destroyed by 1st Korps (Sixteenth Army) – enemy loss 35,010 men, 155 guns and 11 tanks.
Centre
It appears that Stalin’s main firefighter, General Zhukov has returned from the Leningrad sector to supervise the defense of Moscow. As evidenced by his tenacious and skillful defense of Leningrad, Zhukov’s strategic ability is clearly not to be trifled with.
Ninth Army mopped up the trapped Soviet 43rd Army south of Demyansk (enemy loss 17,950 men, 23 guns and 4 tanks). West of Demyansk, our 6th Korps faced a savage counterattack from Soviet 5th Army. Losses on both sides were substantial, exceeding 3,000 casualties.
XXXIX Panzer Korps linked up with LVII Panzer Korps near Staritsa on the Volga river, but the Soviet 13th Army just managed to maneuver its way east (and out of encirclement). At Karmanovo (see map), the powerful Soviet 10th Army (no fewer than eight divisions) blocked an assault by 34th Korps and XLVI Panzer Korps. XLVI Panzer is a mere 60 miles from Moscow.
Farther south, Schweppenburg’s XXIV Panzer Korps battled its way to the outskirts of Tula from the southwest but was checked by Soviet 22nd Army to the east in its bid to outflank the city. XXIV Panzer also had to contend with a heavy artillery bombardment from at least three Soviet Armies.
Summer is all but over and while our troops are tantalizingly close to Moscow, the enemy’s defenses have congealed considerably.
South
Sixth Army captured Kursk, taking the surrender of Soviet 49th Army there (enemy loss 31,430 men, 44 guns). The 54th Army was also destroyed (enemy loss 9,220 men, 16 guns).
III Panzer Korps moved on Stalino from the southwest, shattering the weak 80th Army en route (enemy loss 10,500 men), while Seventeenth Army destroyed Soviet 50th Army on the coast of the Sea of Azov (enemy loss 12,450 men).
From Zaporozhe, Romanian forces are moving into the Crimea against negligible opposition – covering the approaches to Sevastopol, so far only the weak Soviet 82nd Army has been identified.
Total losses
infantry 9614/67134
tanks 2132/6708
guns 1131/18154
planes 1097/9567