Battle of Raseiniai

Part of the Eastern Front of World War II

(Top) Map of the battle (Bottom) A BT-7 tank

Date	23–27 June 1941
Location	Raseiniai, Lithuania
Result	German victory

Belligerents

Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Gen. Erich Hoepner

Col.-Gen. Fyodor Kuznetsov

Strength

235–245 tanks

749 tanks

Casualties and losses

Light

704 tanks

The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group (General Erich Hoepner) and the Soviet 3rd Mechanized Corps (Major General Alexey Kurkin) with Major General Nikolai Shestapolov's 12th Mechanised Corps, in Lithuania, 75 km northwest of Kaunas. The commander of the Soviet Northwestern Front, Colonel General Fyodor Kuznetsov, tried to contain and destroy the German troops that had crossed the Neman River (Nemunas), but was unable to prevent them from advancing. The result of the battle was the destruction of most of the Soviet armoured forces of the Northwestern Front, which cleared the way for the Germans to attack towards the crossings of the Daugava River (Western Dvina). The fighting around Raseiniai was one of the main battles of the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa, referred to in Soviet historiography as the Border Defensive Battles (22–27 June 1941), and formed part of the larger Soviet Baltic Strategic Defensive Operation.

Army Group North, commanded by Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, and staging in East Prussia prior to the commencement of the offensive, was the northern of three Army Groups participating in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Army Group North controlled the 18th Army and the 16th Army, along with General Erich Hoepner's 4th Panzer Group. The Germans had 20 infantry divisions, three Panzer and three motorized infantry divisions. Air support was provided by the Luftflotte 1 (1st Air Fleet).

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