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WWII On This Day: July 6

What happened on July 6 during World War II? This date brings together 3 events from 1942 and 1943, with period photographs and links to the full operations documented across WW2 Theatres.

1942
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
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

German troops enter west-bank Voronezh

German mobile formations entered the western part of Voronezh on 6 July while Soviet forces retained the east-bank positions and continued fighting around the crossings. Hitler had already warned against consuming the fast divisions in a prolonged urban battle. The familiar post-war claim that Voronezh alone delayed the whole campaign is too simple. Some mobile formations were tied to the area longer than desired, but the deeper problem was that the Soviet south wing was simultaneously withdrawing and forcing German headquarters to rewrite the next phase while columns were already…

Continue in Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus →
Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus

Stavka permits a strategic retreat

On 6 July the Soviet high command permitted the southern wing to withdraw east rather than hold every prepared position regardless of the danger of encirclement. Ziemke notes that the exact timing is not perfectly clean: German Sixth Army was already observing a general withdrawal during the day. The retreat was neither uniformly organised nor evidence of a suddenly mature Soviet operational system. Headquarters lost contact with units and roads filled with troops moving east. Yet the decision altered the campaign because withdrawal, however costly, preserved forces that a fixed…

Continue in Case Blue and the Drive to the Caucasus →
1943
A Tiger tank of the SS panzer corps during the battle of Kursk, July 1943.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Zschaeckel-206-35 · CC BY-SA 3.0 DE · Source
Battle of Kursk 1943

The southern penetration forces Stavka to release reserves

By the evening of 6 July the southern penetration had forced Voronezh Front to commit much of its immediate reserve. The Oboyan axis remained dangerous, and German formations were still working north through the tactical depth. Stavka therefore directed the 5th Guards Army and 5th Guards Tank Army forward from Steppe Front. Their movement placed the strategic reserve behind the southern battle and gave Vatutin the forces needed both to block further penetration and to prepare a major counterstroke.

Continue in Battle of Kursk 1943 →