August and September were months as fatal to Kluge as they were to his colleague Manstein. This is not surprising, since by September 7 he was down to 108 tanks and 191 assault guns.
At the beginning of August Stalin went to H. Q. Kalinin Front. His inspection was recorded thus by the Soviet official historian: "This was the only occasion during the war when Stalin w'ent to visit the troops at the front. At this period it was relatively quiet. This visit had virtually no effect on preparations for the operation against Smolensk.” Of greater encouragement no doubt was the visit of N. N. Voronov, delegated to Eremenko by Stauka and, after the Stalingrad victory, promoted Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of Artillery.
The battle opened at dawn on August 7, but for four days the German 4th Army, better commanded by General S. Heinrici, beat off the Russian attacks. On August 11 abreach was opened at Kirov and exploited by Eremenko towards Yel’nya and Doro-gobuzh, which fell at the end of the month. On September 19 the West Front met the southward advance of the Kalinin Front and on September 25 the armies entered the important city of Smolensk on the border of Belorussia.
Further south still, Colonel-General Popov had defeated Model’s attempts to deny his advance to Bryansk. On September 19 this important centre of communications on the Desna had been recaptured by troops from the Front which bore its name.
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