Battle of Lypovec

The Battle of Lypovec was an armed clash fought between the Slovak Mobile Brigade (Slovenska Rychlé brigády) and troops of the Red Army on 22 July 1941 in the set of Operation Barbarossa. It was the first battle of Slovakia with the Red Army.

Battle of Lypovec
Part of Operation Barbarossa of World War II
Date 22 July 1941 Location Lypovets, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union Result Slovak victory
Belligerents
Slovakia	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Rudolf Pilfousek	Semyon Tkachenko
Units involved
Slovak Mobile Brigade	44th Rifle Division
Strength
≈5,000 soldiers 43 tanks 123 artillery pieces	≈15,000 soldiers unknown number of tanks and artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
75 killed 167 wounded 2 POWs 17 MIA 5 tanks destroyed 1 armored car destroyed 7 tanks damaged 2 armored car damaged	600 killed and wounded

The Battle

The Soviet defense on the cross of the San River was the unit of the 10th Fortified area of 12th Army. The defense of Lypovets was led by 44th Rifle Division under the command of General Semyon Tkachenko. This division consisted of two fresh regiments (305th and 319th) and part of two infantry regiments already exhausted by the fighting (25th and 295th). Her combat role was to delay the advance of the enemy. The Mobile Brigade, with fewer than 5,000 soldiers, 43 tanks and 123 guns, managed to occupy Lypovets, but then the brigade ran into the 44th Rifle Division of the Red Army. Because the Slovak tanks had ran out of fuel, the Slovak soldiers came under heavy pressure and the catastrophe was avoided by artillery support, which managed to decimate the Soviets enough to allow the Slovak soldiers to retreat.

The Slovak Rychlé brigády lost 5 tanks: three LT vz. 35, one LT vz. 38 and one LT vz. 40. Plus one OA vz.30 armored car.[1]

Aftermath

The Slovaks suffered 261 casualties: 75 killed, 167 wounded, 2 POWs and 17 MIA, while the Soviets had 600 between killed and wounded. The Rychlé brigády had not had enough force to defeat a stronger enemy in pre-prepared positions. The reluctance of Slovak soldiers to fight against the Soviet Union was also manifested by the first defectors to the Soviet side, who were reported missing in official reports. The mechanical staff had enough technical means to repair all of the battalion vehicles, but under the influence of anti-fascist and pro-Czechoslovak officers, they had withdrawn all vehicles and the whole battalion to Slovakia on the pretext that they can not be repaired under field conditions. The rest of the brigade was assigned to the German 295. Infanterie-Division.

General Josef Turanec wrote in his diary: "The Brigade is basically cowardly, as soon as the Russians open fire, they run away. The officers are in the back of the attack, but during retreat in the front rows." The Germans themselves had a similar assessment, noting that Slovak soldiers were very sensitive to artillery fire and were fleeing.

References

References

This article uses a translation of the text of the Battle of Lypovets on the czech Wikipedia.

1. Slovenská armáda 1939–1945

Literature

• MIČIANIK, P.: Slovenská armáda v ťažení proti Sovietskemu zväzu I. (1941–1944). V operácii Barbarossa. Banská Bystrica 2007.
• MIČIANIK, Pavel. Úteky Slovákov zo sovietskeho zajatia I. [online]. Historia nostra, 13.5.2007. Dostupné online (sk)
• MIČIANIK, Pavel. Slováci proti Molotovovej línii I. [online]. druhasvetova.sk, 1.12.2006. Dostupné online
• Plukovník generálneho štábu Rudolf Pilfousek. 27.3.2007. Dostupné online
• Slovenská armáda v boji o Lypovec