Tank Battle at Raseiniai:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
August 2022

I trained as a historian (that’s why I get to put those letters after my name up above), and that’s the reason that I design historical wargames. I actually enjoy digging through reports and records and memoirs to assemble a story. Usually, that’s not really possible; the topic’s so big that you really have to rely on secondary sources (that means, “other people’s books and articles”). But every so often, you get one focused enough that you can delve into it deeply. That’s what I consider fun, and I guess it makes me pretty weird (“unusual” is a better word – weird would be dressing up as a horse to become a self-declared “expert” in Napoleonic cavalry operations. And yes, that guy’s still out there.).

Panzer Grenadier: Tank Battle at Raseiniai was a fine excuse to do that. When I first designed the game system that became Panzer Grenadier, information was limited to these things called “books” that you found in a “library.” But now, there’s such a wealth of information, the hard part is knowing when to quit reading just one more report. The days of “just make it up, it’s not like the Soviet Union’s going out of business and opening their records” are long gone (and yes, that guy’s still out there, too).

We call our little books like Tank Battle at Raseiniai Campaign Studies, and that’s exactly what this one is. It’s an expansion for Panzer Grenadier: Fire in the Steppe, itself a pretty deep historical study (of a different battle, the Brody-Dubno tank battles that took place at about the same time as Raseiniai). Let’s have a look at the second and final chapter.

Chapter Two
Encirclement at Raseiniai
On the left flank of 41st Motorized Corps, 1st Panzer Division would capture the border city of Tauroggen and then up the highway to Siauliai, the fourth-largest city in Lithuania. It was a powerful formation, probably the strongest such division on the planet at that moment. It shouldn’t have any problem brushing aside the weak and surprised Soviet defenders of occupied Lithuania.

A German PzIV crew tries to tow away a KV1 that’s become entangled in a squashed German anti-tank gun.

Scenario Six
Tauroggen
22 June 1941
In contrast to Sixth Panzer Division, the other armored formation in 41st Motorized Corps, 1st Panzer Division, was the most lavishly-equipped such unit on 22 June 1941. Two of its four motorized infantry battalions rode in armored halftracks, all of its medium tanks were of the most modern type, and the division sported additional self-propelled guns and support units. Fourth Panzer Group’s commander, Erich Höpner, then ordered the most potent mobile formation in the world at that moment to engage in urban fighting for the border city of Tauroggen.

Conclusion
The 125th Rifle Division had been stationed at Batakiai, just north of Tauroggen, and on 19 June North-West Front – in defiance of orders from Moscow – ordered the division to deploy along the border with Germany, and attached the 51st Corps Artillery Regiment to provide extra support. Tauroggen had deep symbolic value to the Germans – the Convention of Tauroggen was signed here in late 1812, triggering Prussia’s War of Liberation. Rather than bypass the historic city, the Germans fought for it house-by-house, with the Soviets offering fanatical resistance. Despite the huge German advantage in firepower, only in the evening had Tauroggen been secured.

Notes
This is a huge scenario, as Panzer Grenadier scenarios go; there are larger ones in the oeuvre (any excuse to use that word) but they draw on multiple games for their boards and pieces. Here we have all eight boards from Fire in the Steppe, and the Germans must drive all the way across them and take the city on Board 2, all with fanatic defenders desperate to bar their path. This is what wargaming is all about.

Scenario Seven
Roadblock at Skaudvile
23 June 1941
On 20 June, the powerful 9th Anti-Tank Brigade began to move forward to take up defensive positions on a line some 25 kilometers north-east of Tauroggen, blocking the main roads. The brigade had both 76.2mm field guns and 85mm anti-aircraft guns, all intended for the anti-tank role, but lacked infantry of its own. When troops of the 125th Rifle Division began streaming past his positions during the war’s first night, Lt. Col. Boris Nikanorovich Prokudin of the 636th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment collected them into two makeshift battalions which he ordered to dig in directly in front of his batteries. When the Hitlerites came up the Tauroggen-Siauliai highway, they would meet an unexpected surprise.

Conclusion
Most German reports don’t even mention this clash; the panzer division made an abrupt turn to the east because of operational necessity, not because it had been beaten by the Red Army. The 9th Anti-Tank brigade claims to have destroyed 70 German tanks and turned aside the German advance. First Panzer Division only had 156 tanks (but did sport a total of 436 armored fighting vehicles), so the Soviet kill total is likely exaggerated in the heat of the moment, but they turned the panzers away.

Notes
This is something the Germans did not expect: a well-placed barrier across their path, with anti-tank guns behind it capable of shredding their tanks. The Red Army’s anti-tank brigades were potent on paper, but this is one of the few instances in June 1941 where one of them got itself into place across the German line of advance, with infantry support to protect its guns.

Scenario Eight
Evening Engagement
23 June 1941
Between the disruptions of German air attacks, Soviet inexperience and the general confusion of a sneak attack, the planned Soviet counter-attack in Lithuania quickly encountered obstacles. Col. Ivan Chernyakovsky of 28th Tank Division should have waited for 2nd Tank Division to arrive on the other side of the German penetration, but air attacks had already devastated his forces and further delay might rob him of his remaining offensive power. He sent his 55th Tank Regiment forward as soon as it arrived.

Conclusion
Soviet combat reports claim that Maj. Sergei I. Onischuk’s regiment struck the flank of the 1st Panzer Division on its road march, which was certainly the intent of the counter-attack. The attackers instead came upon the 21st Infantry Division, and inflicted serious losses on the foot soldiers but at a cost of nearly half of the tanks committed. The infantry division’s advance had been halted, but the intended attack on the panzer division’s flank while it was stalled by the anti-tank brigade would have been devastating.

Notes
This is an engagement more in keeping with the “typical action on the Eastern Front” tripe of wargaming’s past. The Soviet attack consists purely of light tanks, against an infantry-based defense backed by light anti-tank guns. The Soviets can only hope at best to shoot up the Germans and roll away, which is their task here. Onischuk’s deputy, Boris Popov, was killed in action here and became one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union, while Chernyakovsky would rise to become the youngest full general in Soviet history; he was killed in action in February 1945 at age 37.

Scenario Nine
Flank March
24 June 1941
Turned away by the stout defense of 9th Anti-Tank Brigade, 1st Panzer Division veered to the east to assist the neighboring 6th Panzer Division. At 41st Motorized Corps headquarters, corps commander Georg-Hans Reinhardt planned a double envelopment of the Soviet 2nd Tank Division then assailing 6th Panzer Division. First Panzer Division would loop around the left, and 36th Motorized Division around the right. But to do so, 1st Panzer Division would have to fight its way through a newly-arrived Soviet formation.

Conclusion
The 202nd Mechanized Division began to move forward on the night of 19 June, but had difficulties getting its tank regiment operational – to flesh out its armor, the division had even been issued the Vickers Four-Ton and Renault FT17 tanks taken from the Lithuanian Army. While the division kept the Germans from advancing northward, it could not maintain contact with the 2nd Tank Division. The Germans were close to encircling Solyankin’s division.

Notes
This is almost a meeting engagement, except that the Soviets have gotten here first, but they’ve had no chance to prepare for battle. Even if their reinforcements arrive, their T26 tanks are no match for the late-model Panzer III medium tanks of the Germans. The division’s after-action report claims the destruction of between 20 and 30 German tanks in this engagement, but this seems unlikely given 1st Panzer Division’s action on the next day (next scenario). The divisional tank regiment would be stripped away two days after this battle and added to 28th Tank Division to make up some of the losses suffered in the previous scenario.

Scenario Ten
North of Raseiniai
25 June 1941
Second Tank Division suffered a steady attrition of its combat strength, more as a result of fuel and ammunition shortages – despite the arrival of a brave supply column from the division’s home station – than from German action. But the splendidly-equipped 1st Panzer Division was a far deadlier opponent than the 6th Panzer Division, and when it finally fought its way onto the battlefield the situation changed.

Conclusion
By this point, the Soviet division was badly worn after not even two days since its commitment to combat, and it gave way in front of the German attack. The 1st Panzer Division sealed off the road to Siauliai, leaving Solyankin’s men only able to retreat to the east, the route they had taken to launch their attack. But even as the Soviets fell back, the German 36th Motorized Division was sealing off their escape route behind them.

Notes
Second Tank Division must face an attack by a much better-equipped foe than they’ve seen so far, though the task is fairly simple: keep the road open to the north. Unfortunately, the task for the Germans is equally simple: break that road. And they have the means to do so, even if they still don’t have a tank able to match the dwindling number of KVs.

And that’s all for Tank Battle at Raseiniai.

You can order Tank Battle at Raseiniai right here.

You can order Fire in the Steppe right here.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published an unknowable number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his new puppy. He will never forget his dog, Leopold.

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