The Invasion Begins
22 June - 28 June 1941

Army Group Centre, in conjunction with the other Army Groups (North and South) launched the attack into Soviet-occupied territory on the 22nd of June, 1941.  Grossdeutschland was not immediately commited, however, and the Regiment didn't move off until 0500 on 25 June.  The Regiment halted again, however, still inside Poland, and did not cross the Bug River, and the frontier, until the night of the 27-28 of June, just north of Brest Litovsk.   They were added to German forces fighting a campaign of encirclement and annihilation against the Red Army in the vicinity of Minsk; but the first order was to secure an advance road for the tank troops.

The terrain in Poland - deep, sandy trails - changed once in Russia to near inpenetrable forest.

The Invasion
28 June - 16 July 1941

Renewed Advance 16 July 1941 - 20 July 1941 The Regiment, in XXXXVI Corps reserve, advanced once again as far as Mstislavl, near Yelnya.  Holding Battles 20 July 1941 - 6 August 1941 Grossdeutshland was now charged with both opening the route of advance for 10 Panzer Division and keeping the highway from Smolensk to Roslavl open.   Desperate fighting resulted in heavy casualties before the Red Army finally withdrew, leaving the vital crossing at Vaskovo in German hands.

Rest
6 August 1941 - 9 August 1941

Grossdeutschland was withdrawn after relief by 15th Infantry Division, hastily moved from occupation duty in France.  The Regiment rested in the Dankovo-Vaskovo area, until moving back to the line on the 9th.

On 1 September, GD moved south to help with the encirclement battle around Kiev, capital of the Ukraine.   After securing a bridgehead over the Desna at Novgorod-Seversk, the period from 5 to 8 September saw moves toward Glukhov to secure the main supply road running east.   Attacks across the Seym River at Putivl occupied the next five days, and on the 15th attacks continued through Shilkova, ending up with the final objective, Konotop, being secured on the 16th.  Further attacks included Belpoye on the 20th and the Klimovka rail yards on the 22nd.  Heavy counterattacks persisted, and GD remained in place until 3 October.  During the next week, the regiment moved to Roslavl.


Shocks - a new tank
10 October 1941

At Mzensk on the 10th of October, the Russian T-34 was encountered by German troops for the first time.  With well sloped armour, the tank came as a rude shock to German troops who were at a loss initially as to how to defeat it.

Jungle Warfare
11 October - 19 October 1941

With two vast encirclement battles raging at Briansk and Vyasma, new objectives were passed down to Army Group Centre and Guderian's panzer forces; Tula - the last major obstacle before Moscow - was to be taken.

Grossdeutschland was ordered east of Briansk to contain any attempts by the Red Army to escape the encirclement there.  The terrain was thickly forested; beginning on 11 October the regiment fought many desperate battles in the woods; much snow had fallen by this point in time.  A massive battle at Karachev was fought on 14 and 15 October, and the two encirclement battles were completed by 19 October.   GD meanwhile rested and refitted in Orel between 17 and 19 October.

Tula - General Mud
24 October - 9 November 1941

Tula, a key road and rail junction, lay to the south-west of Moscow and its capture was important for further operations against the capital.  The city had been turned into a fortress by soldiers of the 50th Red Army under Boldin; the Soviet 4th Tank Brigade was able to do its work to great effect also.  German tanks, out of fuel, had to be abandoned and eventually destroyed rather than having them fall into Russian hands.

Renewed Offensive
1 December 1941 - 6 December 1941

Second Panzer Army launched another attempt to capture Tula, and GD began its part on 1 December; by the 6th the offensive was stopped entirely.   Cold weather was of record breaking temperatures.  The 17th Company (Motorcycle Reconaissance) allowed Russian troops to infiltrate their bivouac, resulting in the loss of almost the entire company.  The Regimental Commander ordered that the 17th Company would no longer be granted the privilege of wearing the coveted GROSSDEUTSCHLAND cuff-title until it had redeemed itself.

Photo taken of the GD Ersatz unit training in winter; the GD troops in the field would have looked much like this the first winter in Russia, clad only in summer greatcoats.   Note the GD cyphers and cuff titles.

End of the Year 7 December 1941 - 31 December 1941 The rest of the year did not pass in peace; fresh Siberian divisions launched counterattacks beginning on the 7th (coincidentally the same day that Pearl Harbor was bombed, soon bringing the United States into the Second World War as a full-fledged combatant).  Orders from the Supreme Commander himself forbade any retreats, and German units all along the front were ordered to hold in place.  GD remained in place north of Orel, near Bolkhov, fighting defensive battles and the weather.   The Regiment was by now split up among other formations, and the 17th Company regained the right to its cuff title by means of a counterattack that threw Soviet forces back across the Oka River. From the start of the Russian Campaign to 6 January 1942, of an original strength of around 4000 men, Infantry Regiment GD had lost 4,070:

Heinrich Hoffmann photo showing Infantry Regiment "GD" soldiers on winter patrol.  Photo taken in Germany, January 24,1941 (before the invasion of Russia).  The original caption read: "In one of its maneuvers, the infantry regiment, which is made up of long-serving volunteers, shows the highest developed state of our infantry. A machinegun troop in snow camouflage marches forward. Hoffmann." German troops in Russia a year later still did not have adequate winter clothing for the Russian climate, nor adaptable snow camouflage uniforms.

	Killed	Wounded	Missing
Officers	36	89	0
NCOs	129	377	4
Men	735	2590	110