ON THIS DAY 22nd JULY, THE UKRAINE BRODY POCKET WAS ELIMINATED, AFTER ATTEMPTED BREAKOUT BY GERMAN TROOPS.

 ON THIS DAY 22nd JULY, THE UKRAINE BRODY POCKET WAS ELIMINATED, AFTER ATTEMPTED BREAKOUT BY GERMAN TROOPS. 

Things went wrong almost from the start as the Red Air Force appeared at daybreak in waves, As Russian fighters, bombers, and ground attack aircraft flew unopposed.

On this day 22nd July 1944. In Ukraine, the Brody Pocket was eliminated; after an attempted breakout by German troops, Soviet forces captured 17,000 German prisoners of war.

In the early hours of July 21, the approximately 30,000 men left in Hauffe’s command began the breakout attempt. 

Since there were few roads in the area, the breakout forces had to literally line vehicles bumper to bumper in order to negotiate the inhospitable terrain.

 Things went wrong almost from the start as the Red Air Force appeared at daybreak in waves.

As Russian fighters, bombers, and ground attack aircraft flew unopposed, some at treetop level, columns of smoke and fire erupted among the assembled vehicles. 

Large sections of the columns waiting to escape were soon nothing more than twisted masses of men and steel.

 Everywhere, the wounded screamed for help as flames consumed them. 

Those lucky enough to escape their vehicles soon found themselves being hunted down by strafing Soviet aircraft.

 A captured German officer later told Soviet interrogators, “[T]he Red Air Force did us great harm…They bombed us unceasingly and wouldn’t even let us raise our heads.

 Even the morale of old officers who fought in the 1914-18 war was affected.”

Discipline in some of the forward units, especially Korps Abteilung C, began to crumble, but others began to work their way through the Russian lines. 

General Lindemann’s 361st Infantry Division suffered heavy casualties as it battered its way into Soviet positions to make a breach through which others could pass. 

The men of the 454th Sicherheit Division, called forward to help, showed a similar disregard for casualties as they pushed the Soviets out of their forward lines.

Now that the breakout attempt was in full swing, the rear-guard units began to disengage with the advancing Soviets on their heels. 

Unaware of what had happened to the motorised columns, the retreating Germans and Ukrainians soon found themselves facing hopelessly clogged roads full of debris and bodies.

Fierce fighting took place on all sides of the pocket throughout the 22nd, but by late evening the Soviets had sealed off escape routes with an impenetrable ring of men.

 For the men remaining inside the pocket, there was only surrender or death.

The elimination of the XIII Army Corps allowed the Soviets to release those units fighting in that sector for their main push on L’vov.

 By the end of the month, the important communications hub was in Soviet hands, and the Germans were forced to continue retreating westward.