At the beginning of July, Army Group Centre began its advance towards Smolensk. The initial operation took place along a 600km wide front, between the Western Dvina and Dnepr Rivers. The northern half of the sector was dominated by marshland and large forested areas and so was unsuited to the fast moving mechanized advance the Germans favoured. The southern portion of the sector however, was far more open and provided greater freedom of movement to the rapidly advancing Panzer Divisions.
Army Group Centre would advance along two axes, one in the north and the other in the south. Panzer Group 3 was given the northern axis and would be supported by the 9th Army. In the south, the stronger Panzer Group 2 would be supported by elements of the 2nd Army.
The German motorized forces had raced ahead of the pursuing infantry and this would affect operations later on, as insufficient forces were available to effectively encircle Russian forces once they had been bypassed. Also, the rapid advance of the motorized units was beginning to put a noticeable strain on German supply lines.
The Russian forces facing the German advance were from the Western Front, which consisted of, from north to south, the 22nd, 19th, 20th, 13th and 21st Armies. The 16th Army was also held in reserve in the area of Smolensk.
Remnants of the 4th Army were still forward of the Berezina River, the 47th and 28th Rifle Corps and between the Berezina and Dnepr, the 44th and 2nd Rifle and 20th Mechanized Corps. During their desperate attempts to withdraw eastwards, they were employed as a blocking force in an attempt to slow the German advance.
Another factor aiding the Russian forces was the Stalin Line, a line of field fortifications constructed between 1930 and 1936, which ran from the Gulf of Finland in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The line was constructed between a series of fortified regions, which in the Smolensk region were situated at Polotsk, Minsk, Slutsk and Mozyr. The line consisted of trenchlines, interspersed with pillboxes and protected by substantial field defences. Although not fully constructed in some areas and poorly maintained, the line still provided a formidable obstacle in the path of the German advance. However the speed of the German advance and the heavy losses in the earlier fighting had left Russian forces thinly spread, with most Rifle Divisions covering a frontage of some 25km, almost double the pre war notions of an adequate and stable defence of 8 to 12km per Division. These Divisions were mostly deployed in a single echelon, with no units in depth to counter any breakthroughs of the line. Most of the Mechanized Corps had been destroyed in the earlier fighting and few armoured forces existed to counter deep penetrations. The logistical situation was poor and worsened as units became cut off or encircled.
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