The corps was alerted on the night of 22 June. At 0200 in the morning corps headquarters moved into the forest 15 kilometers southwest of Bielsk Podlaski. The first staff echelon of the2nd Rifle Corps fromMinsk moved into the 13th Mechanized Corps' former headquarters at Bielsk Podlaski. On the morning of 22 June, the motorized infantry of the6th and 13th Mechanized Corps began to prepare positions on theNarew fromŻółtki toSuraz and onwards toTopczewo,Brańsk, and Gmina Boćki. The 13th Mechanized Corps fought the vanguard of the GermanIX Army Corps. The combat-ready units of the 31st Tank Division blocked theDrohiczyn-Bielsk-Białystok road. The engineers of the 31st Pontoon Bridge Battalion and the regimental school motorized regiment were defending positions five kilometers west of Gmina Boćki. Alongside them was the 157th Airfield Services Battalion, based atDołubowo airfield. At 0800 the German troops reached theNurzec River, resulting in heavy fighting. By the afternoon, the defenses of the 31st Tank Division had been broken through. The disorganized units of the division retreated 10 kilometers towards Gmina Boćki and Białystok.[1]
The 25th Tank Division's reconnaissance battalion joined the battle before the rest of the division. At Brańsk the battalion blocked the advance of German units. Despite having armored vehicles, the battalion could not resist superior German troops for long. The battalion was cut to pieces and pushed back to the Nurzec. Akhlyustin sent in the 18th Motorcycle Regiment to help the battalion. Regimental commander Captain Alexey Gromov took about a hundred motorcycles and three tanks to Brańsk, but only the vanguard reached the city. The regiment suffered heavy losses, losing two out of four company commanders. The remnants of the regiment retreated towards Bielsk. A detachment of the division's 113th Tank Regiment led by Major Koshkin was sent to Brańsk. However, he "slipped" through the city and for unknown reasons moved to Bielsk. The remaining units of the regiment were attached to the infantry during the day. The 50th Tank Regiment did not see much action on 22 June. Its 3rd Battalion was sent to rescue infantry units but became stuck in a bog, losing many tanks to artillery fire. During the night the regiment moved to the area of Men. The regimental school of the 25th Motor Rifle Regiment attacked first, suffering such heavy losses that the unit essentially ceased to exist.[1]
By 1000 on 23 June, the 25th Tank Division was holding positions at Men, Bereznitsa, and Brańsk. Its motor rifle regiment was at Raysk, Proneviche, and Gatki. The 31st Tank Division held positions at Voytki, Lyubeyki, and Andrianki. The 208th Motorized Division was atNowosady,Hajnówka, and Lipin. Corps headquarters was in the forest north of Golody. On 23 June, the counterattack at Brańsk involved all the forces of the 25th Tank Division and 18th Motorcycle Regiment, as well as the 208th Motorized Division's 760th Motorized Regiment. The town twice was recaptured and then lost. The 25th Division began to retreat, having suffered heavy losses. The corps fought in battles around Men, the northern outskirts of Brańsk, Gmina Boćki, and Diduli. By the end of 24 June, the German troops had broken through the lines of the corps on theOrlanka at Bielsk,Narew, andZabłudów. The corps lost all of its tanks in the fighting and with a small number of armored vehicles fought delaying actions. The units of the corps were separated and had no connection with the command, which was half-encircled. The 31st Tank Division was in Łapy, small pockets of the 208th Motorized Division were at the junction of the Nurzec and the Narew, and scattered remnants of the 25th Tank Division retreated onVawkavysk.[1]
The 25th and 31st Tank Divisions retreated towards theBiałowieża Forest and the 208th Motorized Division moved from the Narew toSvislach and to Białystok. On 28 June German troops advancing from Bielsk andHrodna linked up in theBerestovitsa area, splitting the Białystok pocket into several smaller pockets. The 208th Motorized Division retreated to Vawkavysk. Corps headquarters and separate groups were consolidated into a unit led by Akhlyustin. The 31st Tank Division was divided into two groups, led by Colonels Kalikhovich and Lebedev, and moved deeper into the Białowieża Forest. A covering detachment was created under the command of battalion commissar Kochetkov. The group led by Kalikhovich evaded the pursuit and went deep into the forest, where he met remnants of the49th and113th Rifle Divisions. Kalikhovich decided to break through to the southeast through thePinsk Marshes. On 28 June Kalikhovich's group attacked the German positions and was initially successful. The German defenses solidified and the Soviet troops were subjected to massive aerial and artillery bombardment. In the evening Kalikhovich was seriously wounded and 62nd Tank Regiment Colonel Shapovalov, who had himself been wounded three times, took command. It was decided to break into small groups and go east through theRuzhany forest. The group led by Kalikhovich and Shapovalov came through the encirclement and eventually reached Soviet lines. At Svislach and at Vawkavysk the 208th Motorized Division took up defensive positions, holding until 1 July. On that night, the division left Vawkavysk and began retreating. Division commanderVladimir Nichiporovich was with one of his regiments and was cut off from the headquarters. He reachedMinsk with only 60 others. On 28 July, after moving through 500 kilometers of German-held territory, Akhlyustin was killed crossing theSozh River[4] at the positions of the132nd Rifle Division.[1]
^abcdefDrig, Yevgeny (18 March 2009)."13 механизированный корпус" [13th Mechanized Corps].mechcorps.rkka.ru (in Russian). Archived fromthe original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved15 September 2016.
^Kravchenko, Andrei (28 October 2011)."1941 ГОД: Сколько танков было у Сталина?" [1941: How Many Tanks did Stalin Have?].www.battlefield.ru (in Russian). Retrieved2016-09-17.
Soviet Union corps