WWII On This Day: July 28

A German tank commander in southern Soviet territory in June 1942, shortly before the opening of Case Blue. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-218-0528-30 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

July 28, 1942 Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Order No. 227

Stalin signed Order No. 227 on 28 July as the retreat in the south threatened to pass from deliberate withdrawal into uncontrolled loss of territory and cohesion. The order condemned unauthorised retreat and introduced penal formations and blocking detachments. Its political language—'Not one step back'—can obscure the immediate operational context. Stavka had itself authorised large withdrawals earlier in July. The problem now was deciding where retreat had to stop because continued movement would expose the Volga and Caucasus. The order did not create the later Soviet defence by decree, and…

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Vehicles rolling out of an LST onto the Normandy shore. US Army Signal Corps · NARA · Public domain Source

July 28, 1944 Operation Overlord

Coutances falls and the front becomes fluid

Coutances was taken and the German left flank in Normandy disintegrated. American armoured columns began moving in road march rather than fighting field by field. The German command no longer had a continuous line west of the Vire, and no reserves with which to build one.

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American armour moving through the ruins of Saint-Lô during the breakout, July 1944. — American armour in the ruins of Saint-Lô, July 1944 · US Army Signal Corps · NARA · Public domain · Source

July 28, 1944 · 16:00 Operation Cobra

Coutances

Coutances fell, and with it the hinge of the German left. What had been a front became a series of pockets, many of them cut off and trying to move south on roads under continuous air attack. The Roncey pocket, a few miles south-east, was caught in the open and destroyed over the following two days. Several hundred vehicles were left on one stretch of road.

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German prisoners of war captured during the Soviet summer offensive march through Moscow on 17 July 1944. — Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-696-0426-14A · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source

July 28, 1944 · 18:00 Operation Bagration

Białystok and Brest fall as Soviet forces reach the Vistula

By 28 July Białystok and Brest had fallen, ending the last major German holds on the old eastern routes through this sector. South of Warsaw, Soviet units had reached the Vistula near Puławy and established a small bridgehead across the river. The southern wing of Bagration had therefore moved from the Berezina and Minsk to the principal river barrier of central Poland in less than a month. The apparent continuity of the advance concealed growing differences between sectors. Some armies were still pursuing retreating German troops, others were fighting for…

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