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PoorOldSpike
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Ivan Bagramian
1897-1982
From the Order of the Commander of the 1st Baltic Front No.02119 of May 22, 1944.
To: Commanders of the 6th Guard, 4th Storm and 43rd Armies
The experience of the recent battles showed changes in the German tactics.
Instead of sending the heavy tanks (Panther, Tiger) forward, the enemy detaches small groups of light and medium tanks with the objective of discovering the positions of our AT units..
When the forward group attacks our positions, the German heavy tanks open fire on our spotted AT units from 1.5-2 kms.
It was noted that some of our commanding officers open fire without waiting for the Germans to close. It is absolutely clear that the aim of enemy's actions is exactly to make our troops reveal the positions of AT units.
I command:
Open fire only at close, point blank ranges allowing effective destruction of the German tanks.
The officers guilty of prematurely opening fire are to be severely punished.
Signed by the Commander of the 1st Baltic front Guard General Bagramian.