TACTICAL VICTORY

The swift action of Panzerzug #3 at Grajewo provided the opportunity for German motorized forces to begin their breakthrough. The Grajewo-Osowiec-Bialystok axis formed the border between the 3rd and 10th Soviet armies.  An advance along this axis promised to cut off Soviet divisions to the west--trapped between the two armored pincers of Army Group Center.

The organization of Soviet rifle divisions at the opening days of the war radically differed from the later years in numbers, equipment, and training.  In the fall of 1940 Stalin announced an extension of the standing army's service, who formed an experienced core of the army in the first echelon in June of 1941.  The disastorous effects of Germany's success in the opening weeks of the war were amplified by the loss of the Red Army's best soldiers.
