"Although Russia is big, there is nowhere to retreat, but Moscow is behind it!" In this battle, 28 soldiers from the 1075th Infantry Regiment of the 316th Infantry Division of the 16th Army of the Soviet Army faced the fierce attack of the German elite Panzer Army. They held their positions and resisted stubbornly. heroic sacrifice. The movie reproduces the scene of this battle: behind the rhetoric is not only a brutal fight that sacrifices one's life, but also a tenacious and calm tactical confrontation.
Battle Background: Battle of Moscow
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched the "Barbarossa" plan to invade the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-German war broke out. By October of that year, the German army had achieved a series of dazzling victories with the amazing power of the Blitz. In the north, the German Army Group North took the three Baltic countries lightly and marched under the city of Leningrad; in the south, the huge Kiev salient had been flattened, and the 600,000 troops of the Soviet southwest front were destroyed; in the center, the German Army Group Central was Launch of the massive "Operation Typhoon": three armies (2nd, 4th and 9th), three armored groups (2nd, 3rd and 4th) and the 2nd Air Force The 1.9 million troops including the air force, 1,700 tanks, 14,000 artillery pieces and 549 aircraft launched powerful assaults on the broad front. The German army successfully completed a beautiful double siege battle in Vyazma on the north flank and Bryansk on the south flank, capturing more than 500,000 Soviet troops. The gates of the Soviet capital opened, and the German front was only 100 kilometers away from Moscow, and the collapse of Stalin's regime seemed imminent. Hitler said triumphantly: "We finally have a chance to destroy our enemy before winter comes."
However, he was too happy. Behind the huge victory lies an equally huge hidden danger, which puts the German army in Moscow in a precarious situation. The logistics of the Eastern Front had reached its limit, and the replenishment of troops, weapons and equipment, fuel, and special winter clothes were far from meeting the needs of continuing operations. What is even more terrifying is that their opponents, even with heavy losses, show no sign of being defeated. Franz Halder, the German chief of staff, wrote in his diary not without frustration:
"The whole situation has become increasingly clear that we are underestimating the giant Russia... By our standards, the divisions are simply unarmed, their tactical leadership is often terrible, but they just stand there. If we take out one group of Russians, they can easily overtake another."
In mid-to-late October 1941 the German army was forced to stop its advance due to logistical difficulties, Soviet resistance and muddy roads. The Soviet High Command was able to seize the opportunity to reorganize its forces and mobilize heavy troops to strengthen the defense zone around Moscow. Stalin and Zhukov deployed the 16th, 5th, 33rd, 43rd, 49th, and 50th armies of the Western Front at the newly constructed Mozhaysk Line, which covered the road to Moscow from the Kelchatsk to Kaluga line. The Soviet army had to face a test: as winter came, the freezing cold would quickly freeze the roads, and the formidable German armoured units would regain the mobility of the offensive. The situation is particularly dire for the 316th Infantry Division of the 16th Army of the Soviet Army, which is guarding Dubosekovo in the northwestern suburbs of Moscow, because they will face the ferocious offensive of the 4th Panzer Group of the Central Army Group...
Red Armor: The Soviet Army's Positional Defense Tactics
The 316th Infantry Division of the Soviet Army was an emergency mobilization division formed in Almaty, Central Asia in July 1941 after the outbreak of the war. Under the jurisdiction of the 1073rd, 1075th, 1077th Infantry Regiment, the 857th Artillery Regiment and the 597th Engineer Battalion and other units, its soldiers are mainly Kazakhs and Kyrgyz from Central Asia. The first division commander was Major General Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov, so this unit was also called "Panfilov Division". On 11 October, the 316th Division was transferred to the 16th Army of the Western Front, commanded by General Konstantin Rokossovsky, and was ordered to defend the approximately 41-kilometer-long front in the Volokolamsk area. In November, after a difficult battle with the Germans, the 316th Division retreated in the direction of Moscow and established a new line of defense. It is at this point that the story of the film unfolds.
In the opening scene, the political commissar of the division is analyzing the strength and intentions of the German army in person. The face-to-face enemy of the 16th Army is the German 4th Panzer Group commanded by General Erich Heppner. The "Imperial" motorized division, and the 35th, 106th Infantry Division of the 5th Army.
Battalion Defense Area: In response to the imminent threat, the 316th Division built a defensive position overnight before the German attack. The basis of the 316th Division's main defense zone is the battalion defense area. Each infantry battalion forms a ring defense, and the infantry unit bunkers are connected by traffic trenches. The defense depth of an infantry division is 3-5 kilometers, and a division of two echelons is 6 kilometers. The basic strength of the infantry division is used in the forward, and the defense in depth is weak.
Anti-tank defense area: In the defense of the 16th Army, the tank defense occupies the most important position. The anti-tank defense of the 316th Division can be described as a classic case. Each infantry regiment of the division has an anti-tank area, and each area consists of 1-2 artillery companies. On the 14-kilometer front of the division, 15,000 anti-tank mines and anti-infantry mines were laid, a 200-meter-long trunk deer village was laid, wire barriers were set up, and anti-tank trenches were dug. The density of artillery averages 5 per kilometer, and the density of anti-tank guns is 3 per kilometer. The whole division's defensive zone is constructed with a trench, artillery firing positions, 2 anti-tank positions and a slanted position, with a total of 8 heavy machine gun fire points, 170 artillery bunkers, 125 light machine gun fire points, 22 observation posts and 24 A bunker.
The 16th Army attached great importance to anti-tank guns, and Rokossovsky stipulated that each anti-tank gun must be covered by a corresponding infantry detachment from enemy attacks. The anti-tank artillery can thus concentrate on dealing with armored targets, with excellent results in actual combat.
In this way, the defensive positions carefully constructed by the 316th Division were initially completed. What kind of opponent will they be waiting for?
Lightning Fist: German Armored Attack Tactics
At the climax of the Battle of Moscow, the northern sector of the front was the most fiercely contested battlefield. Army Group Center deployed its most elite assault troops here. The 3rd Panzer Group, commanded by General Reinhardt, and the 4th Panzer Group, commanded by General Heppner, were to launch a joint offensive to annihilate the Soviet 30th and 16th Armies near the Volga Reservoir, and then take advantage of the terrain here to commandeer Attack on Moscow. The two armored groups are equipped with a total of 700 tanks, accounting for 80% of the total number of tanks in the central army group, of which the fourth armored group has more than 400 tanks. The 316th Division will directly confront the most powerful part of the German armored iron fist - the 11th Panzer Division of the 46th Panzer Corps. On November 16, the Germans planned to occupy the junction of two villages 8 kilometers north of Dubosekovo. The 11th Panzer Division formed two battle groups to attack the position of the 1075th Regiment of the 316th Division. In front of the position of the 2nd Battalion on the left flank of the regiment, the Germans entered an armored battalion reinforced by artillery and infantry.
As the main assault force in the blitzkrieg, the task of the German armored forces was to quickly attack the weak points of the enemy's defense with the cooperation of infantry, artillery and air force, and open the gap in the enemy's front line with a rapid offensive, while the motorized infantry quickly kept up. Consolidate and expand the breach, charge deep into the enemy's defenses, and extend to the enemy's flank to surround the enemy.
Offensive preparations: Before the attack begins, the German armored units must first complete the pre-attack preparations, including a thorough reconnaissance of the terrain of the theater and the situation of the enemy's positions, removal of obstacles to the enemy's lines, and collection of all necessary items for the battle through reconnaissance. kind of data.
Initial phase of the attack: German tactical doctrine called for the destruction of enemy positions with as much artillery as possible in the initial phase of the attack, while at the same time suppressing enemy fire support.
Attack process: After the artillery fire was ready, the German armored units began to charge the enemy positions. The German army placed great emphasis on the principle of "firepower and maneuver" during the offensive process: when fighting with the same opponent at the same time, at the same place, the overall firepower of the battle formation had the upper hand; the battle formation should be as simple and easy to deploy as possible to deal with the battlefield. different situations.
Attack formations: German armored battle formations were divided into armored formations and mixed formations. Among them, the armored formation refers to the combat formation composed of armored motor vehicles such as tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery, motorcycles, and engineering vehicles; the mixed formation refers to the combat formation composed of armored motor vehicles and foot infantry. In addition, there are combat support groups operating in concert over the entire combat formation.
Attack formation: German armored units are formed into echelon formation, line formation, echelon formation, triangle formation, wedge formation and prism formation according to different combat missions. In "Operation Typhoon", the German army mostly adopted a wedge-shaped battle formation in the battle according to the characteristics of many forests, muddy roads and little depth of Soviet defense. After the breakthrough, the subsequent infantry units carried out a fortification operation against the besieged Soviet army, and the armored units used a "wedge" formation to search and advance.
Iron Armor vs Steel Fist: The 28 Panfilov Warriors' Deadly Fight
The first attack: In the film, due to reconnaissance errors, the German artillery bombardment failed to destroy the Soviet position defense. The German infantry and tanks that rushed into the shooting distance of the Soviet army were hit head-on by the Soviet small arms and anti-tank weapons and were forced to retreat. The film footage shows this thrilling scene in a textbook style.
The second round of attack: After the first round of attacks failed, the German army adjusted its deployment and then launched another attack. This time the Soviet army really tasted the power of the armored steel fist: the German artillery bombardment accurately hit the Soviet defensive position; the German tank artillery shot The anti-tank artillery positions exposed by the Soviet army were wiped out one by one; the 316th Division suffered heavy casualties, but it always held its position firmly and did not take a step back...
Epilogue: Myth and Reality
Although the courage and sacrifice of the Soviet soldiers in "The 28 Warriors of Panfilov" are impressive, as long as you have a little military common sense, you can see that there are obvious fictions and exaggerated facts in this story: it is hard to imagine that the 28 infantry only rely on Field fortifications, with a small number of anti-tank weapons, were able to resist the attack of 54 German tanks and a large number of infantry, and destroyed a third of them!
In fact, during the battle on November 16, the German 11th Panzer Division launched an outpost against the 1075th Regiment of the 316th Division of the Soviet Army, losing 5-6 tanks and retreating. Obviously, this is just a tentative attack, the purpose is to find out the details of the Soviet army. Soon, the German army entered the reserve and launched a full-scale attack on the 1075th regiment. After 40 to 50 minutes of fighting, it broke through the Soviet line of defense. According to the Soviet battle report, the 1075th regiment destroyed a total of 9 German tanks on November 16, which was only half of the number of tanks destroyed by the "Panfilov 28 Warriors" in the later report, and was still the result of the entire regiment. From November 17th to 18th, the 1077th regiment, another main regiment of the 316th Division, fell apart after being attacked by a German motorized infantry regiment and 17 tanks. The division commander Panfilov was attacked by German mortars on the 18th. sacrifice in. Although Zhukov strictly ordered Rokossovsky's 16th Army to defend the position northwest of Moscow, they were forced to retreat under the fierce attack of the German 4th Panzer Group. The German 2nd Panzer Division even rushed as far as only 20 kilometers from the Kremlin. The Soviet army base camp urgently dispatched the 1st Army and the 20th Army to plug the gap before turning the corner.
However, although "28 Warriors of Panfilov" is about an "anti-German myth", this film is not an "anti-German drama". The tactical details, battle scenes, and tenacious spirit of the Soviet Army it depicts are not fictional. The tenacious resistance and fearless sacrifice of many Soviet soldiers, including the 316th Division, finally stopped the German advance in Moscow, and the minaret of the Kremlin was forever out of reach for Hitler. In the battle to defend Moscow, the 316th Division suffered huge sacrifices. The entire division was reduced by 9,920 people, of which 3,620 were killed and 6,300 were injured. The first batch of recruited veterans were almost killed and wounded. The bloody fighting of the 316th Division earned it the honorable title of the 8th Guards Infantry Division. This title will go to the battlefield with its officers and soldiers to witness the final victory of the war, and it will always be remembered and cherished by history.
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