destroyer Imperial was damaged during the attack and later scuttled. In the midst of the action the light cruiser Orion was hit; 107 men and officers were killed and a further 84 wounded. The damaged cruiser York, immobilised by Italian naval forces, attracted the Stukas, whose dive-bombing destroyed the ship's superstructure and armament. During the battles of Crete the gruppe claimed sunk and damaged. Eastern Front 1941; Operation Barbarossa On 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa the invasion of the Soviet Union began the war on the Eastern Front. Dinort and StG 2 moved to German-occupied Poland with Stab., I., and III./StG 2. The wing was placed under the command of Richthofen again, subordinating them to Fliegekorps VIII, attached to Kesselring's Luftflotte 2. The air fleet was detailed to support Army Group Centre. StG 2 was tasked with bombing Alytus airfield after 5./ZG 26 carried out a low-level attack. 8 SAD's 15 IAP managed to get airborne, though the I./JG 27 fighter screen; elements of JG 53 attacked the airfield simultaneously. Just two Ju 87s were lost on the Eastern Front on 22 June. In the first days of the invasion, the gruppen supported the break through of the 9th army and 3rd Panzer Army, breaking through at Suwałki. They fought in the Battle of Białystok–Minsk, and the advances on Vitebsk and Vilnus, which forced a bridgehead over the Dnieper. StG 2 assisted in air attacks of Red Army concentrations near Grodno. From 22–30 June StG 2 lost seven aircraft. The entire air corps was deployed in support of the encirclement and then a further such operation in the Battle of Smolensk. Richthofen, Dinort and Walter Storp, commanding SKG 210, were awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves for their contribution to the Minsk battle. StG 2 bombed the railhead at Yermachevo, and the road from Polotsk to Nevel. In July the wing suffered nine losses with another damaged. I./StG 2's commander Hitschhold was shot down on 23 June near Vilna. 3./StG 2's Bruno Freitag landed to pick them up. On 8 August Richthofen's air corps was moved to support Army Group North under the command of Luftflotte 1. Dinort was ordered to support the capture or encirclment of the city. The purpose of the move was to assist the 16th army's advance across the Velikaya River between Idritsa and Pskov, to Staraya Russa near Lake Ilmen. Thereafter, it supported the