After unsuccessful attempts to capture Tula, the high command ordered Gudarian to bypass Tula on November 18 and head towards the vital town of Kashira. Guderian's forces tried to encircle the 50th Army, which was successfully defending Tula. Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army would attack eastward towards Moscow, while the 2nd Panzer Army would turn northwest and attack Moscow from the south. After concluding the Kyiv encirclement, the German planned for the three Panzer armies to attack Moscow from different directions:Ĥth Panzer Army in the North around Leningrad would attack southward. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army and Kleist's 1st Panzer Army were locked in a pincer around Kyiv to trap 665,000 Soviet prisoners. Hitler ordered Army Group Center to detach the 2nd Panzer Group, turning southward towards Kyiv to form the northern pincer at Kyiv. After Minsk, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies captured Smolensk in another successful pincer operation taking around 300,000 prisoners. The rasputitsa was not an unusual phenomenon, but the Wehrmacht did not prepare for this contingency as the German high command had expected the German army to be in Moscow and beyond at this time, with the campaign over before the end of summer. The rasputitsa season (literally "roadlessness", due to heavy rains and sluggish muddy roads) began to slow down the formation's progress to a few kilometres a day. Suffering heavy losses in men and equipment, the German forces advanced deeper into the Soviet Union. During the battles of Bialystok and Minsk substantial numbers of prisoners were captured and several weapons captured. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army formed the Army Group's southern pincer while Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army formed the northern pincer destroying several Soviet armies during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. Panzer Group 2 played a significant role in the early stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa in 1941 when it was a constituent part of Army Group Centre.Ģnd Panzer Group was part of the Army Group Centre during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. In October 1941 it was renamed the 2nd Panzer Army. The 2nd Panzer Group ( German: Panzergruppe 2) was formed in November 1940 from Panzer Group Guderian. In November 1940, it was upgraded into Panzergruppe 2.
In early June 1940, after reaching the English Channel following the breakthrough in the Ardennes, the Panzergruppe Guderian was formed from the XIX Army Corps, and thrust deep into France, cutting off the Maginot Line. Panzer Group Guderian ( German: Panzergruppe Guderian) was formed on 5 June 1940 and named after its commander, general Heinz Guderian.
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