24. In the first several months of the war, Red Army suffered devastating losses in personnel and materiel. In which sector of the front was the initial German advance slowest?
From Quiz Russia's Great Patriotic War 1941-42: Axis Advance
Answer:
In the Southern sector
Germans had much less initial success in the South. The Soviet South-western Front commander, Colonel General Mikhail Kirponos, a talented and energetic commander, had kept in close contact with the border guards in the days prior to the invasion, moving his forces smoothly through the various stages of alert. Because of the prewar Soviet belief that any German attack would focus on Ukraine, Kirponos was blessed with a relative wealth of mechanized formations to counter First Panzer Group. His forces counter-attacked the Germans during the Battle of Brody which was the largest tank battle in history at the time. Although the attack was unsuccessful, it inflicted heavy losses on the Germans and significantly slowed down their advance.
Despite losing much of its mechanized corps during the Battle of Uman, Soviet South-Western Front continued to remain a formidable fighting force. Only when the forces of German Army Group Centre joined the battle, was the Soviet South-Western Front encircled and destroyed in September 1941. The commander of South-western Front, Colonel General Mikhail Kirponos was killed during an attempt to lead his troops out of the encirclement.
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