ϟϟ-Division „Wiking“ and the Recapture of Rostov-on-Don

14.Panzer-Division west of Rostov-on-Don

Flak 38 mounted on a half-track

17.Armee in Rostov-on-Don

On July 24 1942 German troops captured Rostov-on-Don and SS-Division Wiking rolled through the city, which was still in death throes, opening the Caucasus region of southern Soviet Union and the oil fields beyond at Maykop. It had been a daring but successful operation that had brought the fall of Rostov. The Soviets had expected an attack, but not the way it was conducted. The defenders were from the 18th and 56th Armies of the Soviet Union's Red Army. The Russians conducted a fighting withdrawal and avoiding giving the Germans the large bags of prisoners their more rigid defense had led to in 1941. The main German effort was a hook from the north by Generaloberst Ewald von Kleist's first Panzer group, with the 17th Army taking a more direct route at the city from the west. The outer hook got there first, and was led by the 14. and 22.Panzer-Divisions, joined soon after by the Wiking. Note that Wiking was already a Panzergrenadier division in effect at this point, as it had a 50+ tank panzer battalion plus a StuG battalion organic. A company of the tanks were Panzer IV longs, another III longs and another's worth were just Pz IIs. 14.Panzer-Division bypassed the city after the first day or two of the fighting, before it continued to its destiny at Stalingrad, 22.Panzer-Division was involved longer, before moving to the northern flank of Stalingrad, and Wiking was clearing it block by block for days. The 17th Army arrived in time to participate in the street fighting phase. The 100.Jäger-Division was one of its formations involved. The division got a reputation as street fighting experts there, and carried it to Stalingrad later in the campaign. The German assault had taken the Soviets completely by surprise. Credit: Battlefront Community. Top image: tankers of a Panzer III of the 14.Panzer-Division scan the horizon west of Rostov-on-Don early in the campaign in 1942. Photo by Kriegsberichter Schmidt-Geyer. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. Middle image: troops part of Heeresgruppe Süd on a halftrack Sd.Kfz 10 with a 20mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on it in July 1942. Bottom image: infantrymen of the 17th Army during the recapture of Rostov-on-Don in July 1942. Commons: Bundesarchiv.