Next Army Group North sent a special force which captured the bridges at Daugavpils and consolidated with 8th Panzer Division. As the fighting intensified elements of 21st Mechanized Corps broke into the Northern suburbs of the town, with fierce house-to-house fighting. After failing to clear Daugavpils further fighting and attacks by the Luftwaffe succeeded in wearing down its forces during next two days to the extent that by 29 June it had only seven operational tanks, 74 artillery pieces and slightly more than 4,000 men left and was exhausted as a fighting force. On 30 June the Soviet Air Force put in an all out effort which resulted in the loss of 43 aircraft (27 DB-3s and SBs for only four Bf 109s) but did not succeed in destroying the principal river crossings over the Daugava River but did succeed in destroying some pontoon bridges.[3][4]b After continuing a fighting retreat through the Baltic states in July, but in remnants the 21st Mechanized Corps was disbanded in August 1941.[5]c
Footnotes
a On 22 June 1941 21st Mechanized Corps consisted of 98 tanks including Soviet Kv-1s, T-26, Bt 7, T-34s models, plus 130 artillery guns.
b On 11 July 1941 Col P Poluboiarov, Northwestern Front armoured directorate reported that the 21st Mechanized Corps had been committed initially in large formations without cooperation from Artillery and Air Support. It had only '25 Kv-1s, 10 T-26s, 4 Bt 7s and 2 T-34s remaining and 'is no longer a mechanized formation. Its motorized infantry are most often simple infantry reinforced by a few tanks.
c On 23 July 1941 Major General Lelyushenko reported that the 21st Mechanized Corps had suffered 6,284 casualties, or 60% of its combat strength during the first month of combat.
References
^Glantz, The Initial Period of War on the Eastern Front, 22 June – August 1941, 1997, p. 35
^Brian Taylor, Barbarossa to Berlin A Chronology of the Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941–1945 Volume 1, 2003, p. 43
^Christer Bergstrom, 'Barbarossa – The Air Battle: July – December 1941, 2007, p. 26
^Brian Taylor, Barbarossa to Berlin A Chronology of the Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941–1945 Volume 1, 2003, pp. 46–53