SS Div. Reich first encounter with T-34 at Battle of Jelnja 1941, Combat Report - Paul Hausser Pt 15

This map shows the positioning of German units around Jeljja from July 24 on during the battle. To the south is the 10th PzD. The first and second battalions of the Regiment Der Führer were positioned here and here. The regimental field headquarters was here in Koloschina. This photograph, not from Kurt’s collection, shows this HQ.

These photograph, not from Kurt’s collection show the Div. Reich moving up along with the 10. PzD towards Jelinja. The first and second battalions of the Regiment DF, the regiment that Kurt was in were positioned here and here. The regimental field headquarters was here in Koroschina. Kurt, with the 3rd Btl., was positioned to the north east of Jeneja just past Jeremina. To their left flank was the motorcycle battalion lead by Förster whose actions were described in part 14 of this series.

Looking at medical reports from the beginning of Barbarossa up through July 27 the division had total combat losses of 2411 soldiers. Of these 600 had been killed in action.

27. Juli 194
The first elements of the German army finally arrive to our defensive positions around Jelnja; however it takes another few days before we’re officially relieved. At 400 hours a massive wave of Stuka dive bombers and destroyers hit the Russian artillery positions and supply routes. The tremendous effect on the enemy is immediately felt as a calm, almost complete silence continued throughout the day. On the 28th of July however there was again a break in that calm as the Russians manage to reconstitute themselves and begin to senselessly send wave after wave of soldiers rushing up against our lines. The enemy has been so badly mauled that later that day we are even able to push our positions up forwards and dig in to occupy the entire cliff area of the strategically important Pronino heights.

The relieving force that Kurt refers to is actually the elite Inf Reg Gross Deutschland. By July 28 the regiment had moved into position with part of it manning the front line, the other part was held back in reserve. By this date the fate of the Soviet units trapped in the Smolensk pocket was sealed

Light Field Howitzer versus T34
The Division had arrived to the Jelnja area, a name that was soon to become famous. Our 6th Batterie had spent much of July 22 moving forwards and we’d expected to be able to continue advancing quickly, but that wasn’t the case. Limited enemy movement was observed so we were ordered to dig in and by coincidence our howitzer found itself positioned at the very front of our lines. After a quiet night we were informed by our advanced observation post that a group of Russian tanks had been spotted gathering in a town just in front of us. Then within a few minutes it was reported that the tanks were advancing directly towards our positions.

Since the howitzers in our batterie were positioned at the base of an incline we had a limited line of direct fire of only about 200m. The batterie chief, Lieutenant Stelter gave the order to advance up to the top of a nearby hill and our crew jumped to action efficiently moving our 2 ton howitzer to the new position. Our new field of fire was much improved.

Immediately we see five advancing Soviet tanks moving towards us at a distance of about 1800m. Three of the tanks continue on in our direction while the remaining two turn back towards the town. We open fire. At 1500m we score our first hit but the shell deflects off the heavy front armor without effect. The velocity of our anti-tank shell simply wasn’t high enough to penetrate the tanks heavy armor.

The lead tank advanced to within 300m and then disappears into a small sunken area where a 37mm anti-tank gun had been positioned. It’s small shell clearly isn’t up to the task and the tank simply drives over it leaving nothing but a mess of metal behind. From our position we hear the high pitch of the tank’s motor kicking into gear and then spot it again. It adjusts its direction slightly and comes straight towards us.

In spite of our rapid and accurate fire we are unable to knock the behemoth out. At only 15 m we score another hit and are showered by the shrapnel of our own shell injuring the batterie chief. The tank continues rolling towards us. By the time our canon is loaded and ready to fire again the T-34 has advance to within 6 m with the obvious intention of rolling over us and our cannon. We fire and hit the tank directly in the drivers entrance hatch. The shell penetrates the armor, explodes inside and the tank stops in its tracks only 5 m away! As it bursts into flames, its munition begins to cooked off. At the time we couldn’t contemplate what had happened as the battle raging on around us had just begun. During that day my howitzer destroyed five T-34s. This was our first encountered with the T-34.