You do not disappoint - as usual, but this time others have collapsed. A lot of Russians in our hands fell in, but the boiler to the end to close did not succeed. Allegedly in Berlin want to give up this tactic .....

On July 1st, Army Group Centre began its advance towards Smolensk. The initial operation took place along a 600km wide front, between the Western Dvina and Dnepr Rivers. Remnants of the 4th Army were still forward of the Berezina River, also Cavalry units which had withdrawn from the battles around Minsk and Brest were hiding in the Pripit Marshes and continued to raid at the flank of the Panzergruppe causing an annoyance and inflicting damage to rear units. The Panzergruppe crossed the Berezina River and expanded its attack towards the important rail centre of Mogilev, forcing crossing points on the Dnepr River to the north and south. North of Mogilev a gap had opened in the Russian line, which was exploited by 10th Panzer and SS Das Reich. In the middle of July the STAVKA decided to go on the offensive in order to halt the German advance, they began counter attacks in the area on the 14th of July. On July 18th, the great armored pincers of the two German Panzer Armies came within 10 miles of closing, but the jaws would not finally snap shut for another 8 days. It would take the Germans another 10 days to liquidate the pocket. In the end, although 300,000 Soviet soldiers were captured, many would break out to stand between the Germans and Moscow. The failure of the Germans to quickly close the gap, thereby allowing 200,000 Soviets to escape, made Hitler give up on the concept of encirclement operations.
