Bobruisk offensive operation. Little-known pages of history. Operation "Bagration
On June 22, 1944, three years after the German attack on the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched a massive offensive in Belarus.
Preparation of the Belarusian operation (from left to right) Varennikov I. S., Zhukov G. K., Kazakov V. I., Rokossovsky K. K. 1st Belorussian Front. 1944
In the summer of 1944, our troops were preparing for the final expulsion of the Nazi invaders from Russian soil. The Germans, with the despair of the doomed, clung to every kilometer of the territory still remaining in their hands. By mid-June, the Soviet-German front passed along the line Narva - Pskov - Vitebsk - Krichev - Mozyr - Pinsk - Brody - Kolomyia - Jassy - Dubossary - Dniester Estuary. On the southern sector of the front, hostilities were already taking place beyond the state border, on the territory of Romania. On May 20, 1944, the General Staff completed the development of the plan for the Belarusian offensive operation. She entered the operational documents of the Headquarters under code name"Bagration". The successful implementation of the plan of the operation "Bagration" made it possible to solve whole line other equally important strategic tasks.
1. Completely clear the Moscow direction from enemy troops, since the front edge of the ledge was 80 kilometers from Smolensk;
2. Complete the liberation of the entire territory of Belarus;
3. Reach the coast of the Baltic Sea and the borders of East Prussia, which made it possible to cut the enemy's front at the junctions of Army Groups "Center" and "North" and isolate these German groups from each other;
4. To create favorable operational and tactical prerequisites for subsequent offensive operations in the Baltic states, in Western Ukraine, in the East Prussian and Warsaw directions.
The configuration of the front line in Belarus was a huge arc extended to the east with an area of almost 250 thousand square kilometers. It stretched from Vitebsk in the north and Pinsk in the south to the Smolensk and Gomel regions, hanging over the right wing of the 1st Ukrainian Front. In this arc, the main forces of Army Group Center were concentrated, which included the 3rd Panzer, 2nd, 4th and 9th armies. The Soviet General Staff officers called this sector of the front the "Belarusian salient". Since the Belarusian ledge covered the distant approaches to Poland, and the outpost of the Great German Reich - East Prussia, the German command sought to keep it at any cost and attached great importance creating a powerful, long-term defense in it. The main defensive line passed along the line Vitebsk - Orsha - Mogilev - Rogachev - Bobruisk. The areas of Vitebsk and Bobruisk, which were the flanks of Army Group Center, were especially strongly fortified. Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Borisov and Minsk were declared "fortresses" by Hitler's special order.
Nevertheless, the General Staff believed that the main blow, which decides the fate of the entire summer campaign, must be struck in Belarus. Designed operational plan was based on the idea of breaking through the enemy's defenses on the flanks, developing the offensive in converging directions and capturing Minsk. Thus, the authors of the plan expected to close the ring around 38 German divisions of the first echelon, concentrated east of the capital of Belarus. This put Army Group Center on the brink of actual annihilation. The main role in the upcoming offensive was assigned to the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky. Rokossovsky had a special responsibility on his shoulders. The nature of the terrain in the zone of the 1st Belorussian Front was extremely unfavorable, and not only the German, but also the Soviet high command considered a large-scale offensive here impossible. Even at the stage of developing the plan of the operation, Stalin and other members of the Stavka asked Rokossovsky the question: how is he going to strike with two tank corps and four combined arms armies through continuous, impenetrable swamps? That's exactly what the Germans think, answered the front commander. They don't expect our strike from here. Therefore, their defense is not continuous, but focal, that is, easily vulnerable, which actually predetermines success.
The Germans were expecting a general offensive of the Red Army in the south. From the territory of Ukraine and Romania, our troops could well deliver a powerful blow both to the rear of the Army Group Center and to the precious oil fields of Ploiesti for the Reich. Based on these considerations, the German command concentrated its main forces in the south, assuming in Belarus only local operations of a fettering nature. The General Staff strengthened the Germans in every possible way in this opinion. The enemy was shown that most Soviet tanks th armies "remains" in Ukraine. In the central sector of the front, feverish engineering work was carried out during daylight hours to create false defensive lines in front of the Belorussian ledge. The Germans "bought" and increased the number of their troops in Ukraine, which was required by the Soviet command.
June 22, 1944, on the day of the third anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, reconnaissance in force was carried out in the sectors of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian fronts. The commanders in this way specified the location of enemy firing points on the front line and spotted the positions of some previously unknown artillery batteries. The final preparations for the general offensive were being made.
The main blow in the summer of 1944, the Soviet Army dealt in Belarus. Even after the winter campaign of 1944, during which Soviet troops took advantageous positions, preparations began for an offensive operation under the code name "Bagration" - one of the largest in terms of military-political results and the scope of operations of the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Army had to overcome developed system field fortifications, such rivers as the Western Dvina, Dnieper, Berezina. The cities of Mogilev, Vitebsk, Bobruisk, Orsha were turned by the German command into fortified areas.
The Soviet troops were tasked with defeating the Nazi Army Group Center and liberating Belarus. The essence of the plan was to simultaneously break through the enemy's defenses in six sectors, encircle and destroy the enemy's flank groupings in the Vitebsk and Bobruisk region. With the solution of these tasks, our troops were able to rapidly develop the offensive into the depths of the enemy defense for the subsequent encirclement of an even larger grouping of German troops in the Minsk region.
One of the largest strategic operations of the Second World War. It was carried out by the troops of the 1st Baltic, 3rd, 2nd and 1st Belorussian fronts with the participation of the Dnieper military flotilla. The 1st Army of the Polish Army operated as part of the 1st Belorussian Front. During the operation, the directorates of the 2nd Guards and 51st armies, the 19th tank corps and 24 divisions were additionally introduced. By the nature of hostilities and the content of the tasks performed, the Belarusian strategic operation is divided into two stages. At the first stage (June 23-July 4, 1944) the Vitebsk-Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Polotsk and Minsk front offensive operations were carried out. At the second stage (July 5-August 29, 1944), Vilnius, Siauliai, Bialystok, Lublin-Brest, Kaunas and Osovets front-line offensive operations were carried out.
The operation began on the morning of June 23, 1944. Near Vitebsk, Soviet troops successfully broke through the enemy defenses and already on June 25 surrounded west of the city five of his divisions. Their elimination was completed by the morning of June 27. With the destruction of the Vitebsk grouping of German troops, the key position on the left flank of the defense of Army Group Center was defeated. In the Bogushev direction, after breaking through the enemy defenses, the Soviet command brought the 5th Guards Tank Army into battle. Having successfully crossed the Berezina, she cleared Borisov of the enemy. The withdrawal of front troops to the Borisov region led to a major operational success: the 3rd Panzer Army of the enemy was cut off from the 4th Army. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front advancing in the Mogilev direction broke through the strong and deeply echeloned enemy defenses prepared along the Pronya, Basya, Dnieper rivers, and on June 28 liberated Mogilev.
On the morning of June 3, powerful artillery preparation, accompanied by pinpoint air strikes, opened the Belarusian operation of the Red Army. The first to attack were the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. Rokossovsky's front struck the main blow the next day. The first day of the battle showed that the advance of our troops was uneven. So, the 4th shock army of the 1st Baltic Front, advancing on Verkhnedvinsk, failed to overcome the enemy’s defenses, and its result was limited to 5-6 kilometers recaptured. On the other hand, the 6th Guards and 43rd Armies succeeded in breaking through and bypassing Vitebsk from the northwest. They broke through the German defenses to a depth of 15 kilometers and opened the way for the 1st Panzer Corps. The 39th and 5th armies of the 3rd Belorussian Front successfully broke through south of Vitebsk, crossed the Luchesa River and continued to advance. Thus, already on the first day, the German group had small corridor southwest of Vitebsk, only 20 kilometers wide. The adjacent flanks of the 43rd and 39th armies were to join in locality Island, slamming the trap behind the enemy.
On the Orsha direction, the 11th Guards and 31st Armies acted unsuccessfully. Here they were opposed by the enemy's powerful defenses in terms of engineering and fire. In January, our troops were already advancing on this sector, but all their attempts to take Orsha ended in failure. The armies of Galitsky and Glagolev broke into the advanced German trenches. Throughout the day on June 23, they made their way to the second line of German defenses. Before coordinating the actions of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts, the representative of the Stavka A.M. Vasilevsky, the question arose: in which sector should the 5th Guards Tank Army of General P.A. Rotmistrov? After consulting with the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, he decided to wait for success near Orsha. In this case, the 5th Panzer will be able to make a throw directly at Minsk.
Good results were shown by the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front. 49th Army Lieutenant General I.T. Grishina successfully overcame the resistance of the Germans in the Mogilev direction and immediately seized a bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper. Complete surprise was achieved in the sector of the 1st Belorussian Front. The strike group operating in the Parichi region, without much interference from the enemy, made a breakthrough to a depth of 20 kilometers. This success allowed General Panov's 1st Guards Tank Corps and General Pliev's cavalry-mechanized group to be immediately put into action. Chasing the rapidly retreating Germans, the mobile units of the 1st Belorussian Front approached Bobruisk the very next day.
On June 26, the tankers of General Bakharov made a breakthrough to Bobruisk. Initially, the troops of the Rogachevskaya shock group faced fierce enemy resistance. On the first day of the offensive, their advance did not exceed 10 kilometers. Then the commander of the 3rd Army, General Gorbatov, suggested that the front headquarters change the direction of the attack of the 9th Panzer Corps north of Rogachev, where there was a weak link in the German defense. In addition, the rapid success of the offensive in the Parichi region put the German command in front of the threat of encirclement. On the evening of June 25, the Germans began a tactical withdrawal from the Zhlobin-Rogachev line. But it was already too late. The tank corps of Panov and Bakharov by that time had penetrated behind enemy lines. On June 27, the encirclement closed. In the "bag" were parts of the 35th army and 41st tank German corps.
Soviet soldiers acted courageously and courageously, irresistibly striving forward to the west. Here is one episode. In the city of Borisov rises an obelisk-monument to the tank crew of Heroes Soviet Union consisting of Lieutenant P. Cancer and sergeants A. Petryaev and A. Danilov. Their combat vehicle was the first to slip through the mined bridge across the Berezina and burst into the city. Circumstances developed in such a way that the crew of the lead vehicle was cut off from their own, surrounded on all sides by the Nazis. For 16 hours he fought a hard battle with the enemy. Tankers defeated the Nazi commandant's office, the headquarters of the military unit, exterminated many Nazi soldiers and officers. But the fight was unequal: the Soviet soldiers died the death of the brave.
Two days earlier, the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts successfully completed the encirclement of the enemy in the Vitebsk region. The mobile groups of Bagramyan and Chernyakhovsky quickly advanced towards Lepel and Borisov. Vitebsk was taken on 26 June. The next day, the troops of the 11th Guards and 34th Armies finally broke the enemy's resistance and liberated Orsha. On June 28, Soviet tanks were already in Lepel and Borisov. Vasilevsky set the task for the tankers of General Rotmistrov to liberate Minsk by the end of July 2. But the honor of being the first to enter the capital of Belarus fell to the guardsmen of the 2nd Tatsinsky tank corps of General A.S. Burdeyny. They entered Minsk at dawn on July 3. Around noon, tankers of the 1st Guards Tank Corps of the 1st Belorussian Front made their way to the capital from the southeast. By the end of the day, Rotmistrov's tankers and soldiers of General Gorbatov's 3rd Army appeared in Minsk. Surrounded east of the city hit the main forces of the 4th German army - the 12th, 26th, 35th army, 39th and 41st tank corps. They included more than 100 thousand soldiers and officers.
Undoubtedly, the command of Army Group Center made a number of gross mistakes. First of all, in terms of maneuvering on their own. During the first two days of the Soviet offensive, Field Marshal Bush had the opportunity to withdraw troops to the Berezina line and thereby avoid the threat of their encirclement and destruction. Here he could create a new line of defense. Instead, the German commander allowed unjustified delay in issuing the order to withdraw. It is likely that Bush was blindly following instructions from Berlin to hold the bulge at all costs. Therefore, the German soldiers, who were surrounded east of Minsk, were doomed. On July 12, the encircled troops capitulated. 40 thousand soldiers and officers, 11 generals - commanders of corps and divisions fell into Soviet captivity. It was a disaster.
With the destruction of the 4th Army, a huge gap appeared in the German front line. The Germans could do nothing to close it. On July 4, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command sent a new directive to the fronts, containing a demand to continue the offensive without stopping. The 1st Baltic Front was to advance in the general direction towards Siauliai, reaching Daugavpils with the right wing, and Kaunas with the left. Before the 3rd Belorussian Front, the Headquarters set the task of capturing Vilnius and part of the forces - Lida. The 2nd Belorussian Front was ordered to take Novogrudok, Grodno and Bialystok. The 1st Belorussian Front developed the offensive in the direction of Baranovichi, Brest and further to Lublin.
At the first stage of the Belarusian operation, the troops solved the tasks of breaking through the strategic front of the German defense, encircling and destroying flank groups. Therefore, the Headquarters, organizing the interaction of the fronts, planned their strikes in converging directions. After successful problem solving initial stage The Belarusian operation came to the fore with the organization of continuous pursuit of the enemy and the maximum expansion of breakthrough areas. Therefore, the opposite decision was made, that is, instead of converging directions, the blows of the fronts followed divergent directions. Thus, our troops could break into the German front for almost 400 kilometers. Their progress was at breakneck speed. On July 7, hostilities took place on the Vilnius-Baranovichi-Pinsk line. The deep breakthrough of the Soviet troops in Belarus created a threat to the Army Group North and the Army Group Northern Ukraine. Favorable prerequisites for an offensive in the Baltic states and Ukraine were evident. The 2nd and 3rd Baltic and 1st Ukrainian fronts began to destroy the German groups opposing them. Their actions were provided by the adjacent flanks of the Bagramyan and Rokossovsky fronts.
The troops of the right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front achieved great operational successes. By June 27, they surrounded over six enemy divisions in the Bobruisk area and, with the active assistance of aviation, the Dnieper military flotilla and partisans, completely defeated them by June 29. By July 3, 1944, Soviet troops liberated the capital of Belarus, Minsk. East of it, they surrounded 105,000 German soldiers and officers. The German divisions caught in the ring tried to break through to the west and southwest, but during the fighting that lasted from July 5 to 11, they were captured or destroyed. The enemy lost over 70 thousand people killed and about 35 thousand prisoners.
With the entry of the Soviet Army to the Polotsk-Lake Naroch-Molodechno-Nesvizh line, a huge gap 400 kilometers long was formed in the strategic front of the German troops. Before the Soviet troops, the opportunity arose to begin the pursuit of the defeated enemy troops. On July 5, the second stage of the liberation of Belarus began; The fronts, closely interacting with each other, successfully carried out five offensive operations at this stage: Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas, Bialystok and Brest-Lublin.
The Soviet Army successively defeated the remnants of the withdrawing formations of Army Group Center and inflicted heavy losses on the troops transferred here from Germany, Norway, Italy and other regions. Soviet troops completed the liberation of Belarus. They liberated part of Lithuania and Latvia, crossed the state border, entered the territory of Poland and approached the borders of East Prussia. The Narew and Vistula rivers were forced. The front moved to the west for 260-400 kilometers. It was a strategic victory.
The success achieved in the course of the Belorussian operation was promptly developed by active operations in other sectors of the Soviet-German front. By August 22, Soviet troops reached the line west of Jelgava, Dobele, Siauliai, Suwalki, reached the outskirts of Warsaw and went on the defensive. The total depth of advancement was 550-000 kilometers. During the June-August 1944 operation in Belarus, the Baltic states and Poland, 21 enemy divisions were completely defeated and destroyed. 61 division lost more than half of its composition. The German army lost about half a million soldiers and officers killed, wounded and captured. On July 17, 1944, 57,600 German soldiers and officers taken prisoner in Belarus were escorted through the central streets of Moscow under escort.
Duration - 68 days. The width of the combat front is 1100 km. The depth of advance of the Soviet troops is 550-600 km. Average daily advance rate: at the first stage - 20-25 km, at the second - 13-14 km
Operation results.
The troops of the advancing fronts defeated one of the most powerful enemy groupings - Army Group Center, its 17 divisions and 3 brigades were destroyed, and 50 divisions lost more than half of their strength. The Byelorussian SSR, part of the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR were liberated. The Red Army entered the territory of Poland and advanced to the borders of East Prussia. During the offensive, the large water barriers of the Berezina, Neman, Vistula were crossed, and important bridgeheads on their western shores were captured. Conditions were provided for delivering strikes deep into East Prussia and into the central regions of Poland. To stabilize the front line, the German command was forced to transfer 46 divisions and 4 brigades to Belarus from other sectors of the Soviet-German front and the west. This greatly facilitated the conduct of hostilities in France by the Anglo-American troops. Soviet army provided by the partisans. They seized river crossings, cut off the enemy's retreat, undermined the rails, wrecked trains, made surprise raids on enemy garrisons, and destroyed enemy communications.
Soon the Soviet troops began to rout during Iasi-Kishinev operation large grouping of Nazi troops in Romania and Moldova. This military operation Soviet troops began in the early morning of August 20, 1944. Within two days, the enemy defenses were broken through to a depth of 30 kilometers. Soviet troops entered the operational space. A large administrative center of Romania, the city of Iasi, was taken. The search for the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts (commanded by army generals R.Ya. Malinovsky to F.I. Tolbukhin), sailors of the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube River Flotilla took part in the operation. fighting deployed over a territory of more than 600 kilometers along the front and up to 350 kilometers in depth. More than 2,100,000 people, 24,000 guns and mortars, 2,500 tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, and about 3,000 aircraft took part in the battles on both sides.
On May 20, the General Staff completed the development of a plan for the Belarusian strategic offensive operation. She entered the operational documents of the Headquarters under the code name "Bagration".
In the first half of 1944, Soviet troops won major victories near Leningrad, in the Right-Bank Ukraine, in the Crimea and on the Karelian Isthmus. By the summer of 1944, these victories provided favorable conditions for the defeat of one of the largest strategic enemy groupings, Army Group Center, and the liberation of the Byelorussian SSR. Since, through Belarus, the shortest path to the borders of Germany passed, a large offensive was carried out here. The operation received the code name "Bagration", it was carried out by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian (commanders K.K. Rokosovsky, G.F. Zakharov, I.D. Chernyakhovsky) and the 1st Baltic (Commander I .Kh. Bagramyan) fronts.
In the summer of 1944, the Nazi command was waiting for the main attack of the Red Army in the south - in the Krakow and Bucharest directions. Most of the Soviet tank armies were on the southwestern sector of the Soviet-German front. This was one of the reasons why the Germans expected the continuation of the offensive in the southwestern direction.
The balance of forces of the parties at the beginning of the operation was in favor of the Soviet troops: in terms of people - by 2, by tanks and self-propelled guns - by 4, and by aircraft by 3.8 times. The decisive massing of forces and means in the breakthrough areas made it possible to achieve superiority over the enemy in manpower - 3-4 times, in artillery - 5-7 times and in tanks 5-5.5 times. Soviet troops occupied an enveloping position in relation to the troops of Army Group Center. This contributed to the infliction of flank strikes, their encirclement and destruction in parts.
The concept of the operation: it provided for the simultaneous transition to the offensive of the troops of four fronts in the Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev and Bobruisk directions, the encirclement and destruction of enemy flank groupings in the areas of Vitebsk and Bobruisk, the development of gifts in directions converging on Minsk, the encirclement and destruction of the main enemy grouping east of Minsk.
The similarity of the concept of operation "Bagration" with the concept of operation "Uranus" was that both operations provided for a deep bilateral operational coverage, which led to the encirclement of a large strategic grouping of Nazi troops. The difference between the plans was that the plan of the operation "Bagration" provided for the initial encirclement of the enemy's flank groupings. This was supposed to lead to the formation of large operational gaps, which the enemy, due to insufficient reserves, could not quickly close. These gaps were to be used by mobile troops for the rapid development of the offensive in depth and for the encirclement of the 4th German Army in the area east of Minsk. In contrast to the dissecting flank attacks near Stalingrad, in Belarus the front was being crushed.
During the offensive of the Soviet troops that began on June 23, 1944, the German defense was broken through, the enemy began a hasty retreat. However, the Germans did not manage to retreat in an organized manner everywhere. Near Vitebsk and Bobruisk, 10 German divisions hit two "boilers" and were destroyed. On July 3, Soviet troops liberated Minsk. In the forests east of Minsk, a 100,000-strong enemy group was surrounded and destroyed. The defeats near Bobruisk, Vitebsk and Minsk were catastrophic for the German army. General Guderian wrote: “As a result of this blow, Army Group Center was destroyed. We suffered huge losses - 25 divisions. All available forces were thrown into the crumbling front. The German defense collapsed. The Germans were unable to stop the offensive of the Soviet troops. On July 13, units of the 3rd Belorussian Front liberated Vilnius. Brest and the Polish city of Lublin were soon occupied. Operation Bagration ended on August 29, 1944 - Soviet troops liberated all of Belarus, part of the Baltic states, entered the territory of Poland and East Prussia.
Tsobechia Gabriel
By the summer of 1944, the situation on the Soviet-German front was in favor of the Red Army, which held the strategic initiative. The plan for the defeat of the German fascist army group "Center" was developed at Headquarters and approved at the end of May 1944. This operation went down in history under the name "Bagration", which consisted of two stages. According to the plan, it was planned to break through the defense of the German armies in the central sector of the Soviet-German front, dismember Army Group Center into parts and defeat them separately.
"Belarusian Balcony" - the front line to the east from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk along the Pripyat River to Kovel, a ledge facing east, occupied by Army Group Center. Realizing the vulnerability of the "balcony", the German command offered Hitler to evacuate the Dnieper bridgehead, but the Fuhrer was against another retreat. The Soviet side in this operation was opposed by the Army Group "Center" (Field Marshal Ernst Busch, then from June 28, Field Marshal Walter Model), two army groups "North" and "Northern Ukraine". The total number of the enemy was about 1.2 million soldiers. It was armed with 9,500 guns and mortars, 900 tanks and assault guns, and 1,350 combat aircraft. On the territory of Belarus, the Nazis created a strong defense in depth called "Vaterland" ("Fatherland"), emphasizing that the fate of Germany depends on it.
Troops from four fronts were involved in Operation Bagration. The 1st Baltic Front (commander General of the Army I. Bagramyan) advanced from the area northwest of Vitebsk, the 3rd Belorussian Front (commander General - Colonel I. Chernyakhovsky) - south of Vitebsk to Borisov. The 2nd Belorussian Front (commander General of the Army G. Zakharov) operated in the Mogilev direction. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front (commander General of the Army K. Rokossovsky) were aimed at Bobruisk and Minsk. Marshals G. Zhukov and A. Vasilevsky coordinated their actions. The total number of Soviet armies was 2.4 million soldiers, 36.4 thousand guns and mortars, 5.2 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery mounts, and 5.3 thousand aircraft. In addition, 150 partisan brigades and 49 separate detachments with a total of more than 143 thousand people operated behind enemy lines.
Stage I - June 23 - July 4, 1944. As a result of the operation, Vitebsk was liberated on June 26, Orsha on June 27, Mogilev on June 28, Bobruisk on June 29, and Minsk on July 3. The tank of Junior Lieutenant D. Frolikov of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps was the first to break into Minsk. Following him, the main forces of the Guards Tank Corps, commanded by Major General A. Burdeyny, literally broke into Minsk. 16 tankmen became Heroes of the Soviet Union for their heroic deeds during the liberation of the capital of Belarus. Private Suvorov from the 1315th Infantry Regiment set the state flag over the Government House. By the end of July 3, 1944, there were no armed German soldiers in Minsk.
Part of the German troops ended up in "cauldrons" near Vitebsk, Bobruisk and Minsk (105 thousand group of German troops). With the liberation of Minsk, the first stage of Operation Bagration ended. The main forces of Army Group Center were defeated.
Stage II - July 5 - August 29, 1944. The territory of Belarus was completely liberated from the Nazi troops: July 7 Baranovichi, July 14 Pinsk, July 16 Grodno, July 28 Brest. During the implementation of the second stage of the Belarusian operation, the army group "Center" was completely defeated, which was no less a disaster for the Nazis than the defeat at Stalingrad. The total losses of the German armies and their allies amounted to about 500 thousand soldiers and officers. The damage from the Soviet side was also significant. The Red Army lost 765,815 soldiers and officers (of which 178,507 people were killed - 7.6% of the personnel).
As a result of Operation Bagration, the Red Army liberated Belarus, part of Lithuania and Latvia, Poland (reached the suburbs of Warsaw - Prague) and approached the borders of East Prussia.
Over 1600 soldiers in the battles for the liberation of Belarus were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In memory of the heroic deeds of the soldiers of four fronts, the majestic Mound of Glory (opened in 1969) was erected on the 21st kilometer of the Minsk-Moscow highway.
During the course, several large-scale military offensive campaigns of the Soviet troops were carried out. One of the key was the operation "Bagration" (1944). The campaign was named in honor of the Patriotic War of 1812. Let us further consider how Operation Bagration (1944) took place. The main lines of advance of the Soviet troops will be briefly described.
preliminary stage
On the third anniversary of the German invasion of the USSR, the military campaign "Bagration" began. years spent on the Soviet troops managed to break through the German defenses in many areas. In this they were actively supported by the partisans. The offensive operations of the troops of the 1st Baltic, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts were intensive. With the actions of these units, the military campaign "Bagration" - the operation (1944; the leader and coordinator of the plan - G.K. Zhukov) began. The commanders were Rokossovsky, Chernyakhovsky, Zakharov, Bagramyan. In the area of Vilnius, Brest, Vitebsk, Bobruisk and east of Minsk, enemy groups were surrounded and eliminated. Several successful offensives were carried out. As a result of the battles, a significant part of Belarus was liberated, the capital of the country - Minsk, the territory of Lithuania, eastern regions Poland. Soviet troops reached the borders of East Prussia.
Main front lines
(operation of 1944) assumed 2 stages. They included several offensive campaigns of the Soviet troops. The direction of the operation "Bagration" in 1944 at the first stage was as follows:
- Vitebsk.
- Orsha.
- Mogilev.
- Bobruisk.
- Polotsk.
- Minsk.
This stage took place from June 23 to July 4. From July 5 to August 29, the offensive was also carried out on several fronts. At the second stage, operations were planned:
- Vilnius.
- Siauliai.
- Bialystok.
- Lublin-Brestskaya.
- Kaunas.
- Osovetskaya.
Vitebsk-Orsha offensive
In this sector, the defense was occupied by the 3rd Panzer Army, commanded by Reinhardt. Directly at Vitebsk stood its 53rd Army Corps. They were commanded by Gen. Gollwitzer. Near Orsha was the 17th corps of the 4th field army. In June 1944, Operation Bagration was carried out with the help of reconnaissance. Thanks to her, the Soviet troops managed to penetrate the German defenses and take the first trenches. On June 23, the Russian command struck the main blow. The key role belonged to the 43rd and 39th armies. The first covered the western side of Vitebsk, the second - the southern. The 39th Army had almost no superiority in numbers, however, the high concentration of forces in the sector made it possible to create a significant local advantage during the initial stage of the implementation of the Bagration plan. The operation (1944) near Vitebsk and Orsha was generally successful. Quite quickly managed to break through the western part of the defense and the southern front. 6th Corps, located at south side Vitebsk, was dissected into several parts and lost control. Over the following days, the commanders of divisions and the corps itself were killed. The remaining units, having lost contact with each other, moved in small groups to the west.
Liberation of cities
On June 24, units of the 1st Baltic Front reached the Dvina. Army Group North tried to counterattack. However, their breakthrough was unsuccessful. Corps Group D was surrounded in Beshenkovichi. To the south of Vitebsk, Oslikovsky's mechanized cavalry brigade was introduced. His group began to move quickly enough to the southwest.
In June 1944, the operation "Bagration" was carried out rather slowly in the Orsha sector. This was due to the fact that one of the strongest German infantry divisions, the assault 78th, was located here. She was much better equipped than the rest, had support for 50 self-propelled guns. Parts of the 14th motorized division were also located here.
However, the Russian command continued to implement the Bagration plan. The 1944 operation of the year involved the introduction of the 5th Guards Tank Army. Soviet soldiers cut railway from Orsha to the west near Tolochin. The Germans were forced to either leave the city or die in the "boiler".
On the morning of June 27, Orsha was cleared of the invaders. 5th Guards the tank army began to advance towards Borisov. On June 27, Vitebsk was also liberated in the morning. Here, the German grouping was defending itself, having been subjected to artillery and air strikes the day before. The invaders made several attempts to break through the encirclement. 26.06 one of them was successful. However, a few hours later, about 5 thousand Germans were again surrounded.
Breakthrough Results
Thanks to the offensive actions of the Soviet troops, the 53rd German Corps was almost completely destroyed. 200 people managed to break through to the fascist units. According to Haupt's notes, almost all of them were wounded. The Soviet troops also managed to defeat parts of the 6th Corps and Group D. This became possible thanks to the coordinated implementation of the first stage of the Bagration plan. The 1944 operation near Orsha and Vitebsk made it possible to eliminate the northern flank of the Center. This was the first step towards further complete encirclement of the group.
Fighting near Mogilev
This part of the front was considered auxiliary. On June 23, effective artillery preparation was carried out. The forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front began to force the river. Pronya. The defensive line of the Germans passed along it. Operation "Bagration" in June 1944 took place with the active use of artillery. The enemy was almost completely crushed by it. In the Mogilev direction, sappers quickly built 78 bridges for the passage of infantry and 4 heavy 60-ton crossings for equipment.
A few hours later, the number of most of the German companies decreased from 80-100 to 15-20 people. But units of the 4th Army managed to retreat to the second line along the river. Bass is quite organized. Operation "Bagration" in June 1944 continued from the south and north of Mogilev. On June 27, the city was surrounded and taken by attack the next day. About 2 thousand prisoners were captured in Mogilev. Among them was the commander of the 12th Infantry Division Bamler, as well as the commandant von Ermansdorf. The latter was subsequently found guilty of a large number of serious crimes and hanged. The German retreat gradually became more and more disorganized. Until June 29, 33,000 German soldiers and 20 tanks were destroyed and captured.
Bobruisk
Operation "Bagration" (1944) assumed the formation of the southern "pincer" of a large-scale encirclement. This action was carried out by the most powerful and numerous Belorussian Front, commanded by Rokossovsky. Initially, the right flank participated in the offensive. He was resisted by the 9th field army of Gen. Jordan. The task of eliminating the enemy was solved by creating a local "cauldron" near Bobruisk.
The offensive began from the south on 24.06. Operation "Bagration" in 1944 assumed the use of aviation here. However weather significantly complicate her actions. In addition, the terrain itself was not very favorable for the offensive. The Soviet troops had to overcome a fairly large marshy swamp. However, this path was chosen deliberately, since the German defense was weak on this side. On June 27, the interception of roads from Bobruisk to the north and west took place. Key German forces were surrounded. The diameter of the ring was approximately 25 km. The operation to liberate Bobruisk ended successfully. During the offensive, two corps were destroyed - the 35th Army Corps and the 41st Tank Corps. The defeat of the 9th Army made it possible to open the road to Minsk from the northeast and southeast.
Fighting near Polotsk
This direction caused serious concern among the Russian command. Bagramyan began to eliminate the problem. In fact, there was no break between the Vitebsk-Orsha and Polotsk operations. The main enemy was the 3rd Panzer Army, the forces of the "North" (16th Field Army). The Germans had 2 infantry divisions in reserve. The Polotsk operation did not end with such a rout as near Vitebsk. However, it made it possible to deprive the enemy of a stronghold, a railway junction. As a result, the threat to the 1st Baltic Front was removed, and Army Group North was outflanked from the south, which meant a blow to the flank.
Retreat of the 4th Army
After the defeat of the southern and northern flanks near Bobruisk and Vitebsk, the Germans were squeezed into a rectangle. Its eastern wall was formed by the Drut River, the western by the Berezina. Soviet troops were stationed from the north and south. To the west was Minsk. It was in this direction that the main blows were aimed. Soviet forces. From the flanks, the 4th Army had virtually no cover. Gene. von Tippelskirch ordered a retreat across the Berezina. To do this, I had to use a dirt road from Mogilev. On the only bridge, the German forces tried to cross to the west bank, experiencing constant fire from bombers and attack aircraft. The military police were supposed to regulate the crossing, but they themselves withdrew from this task. In addition, partisans were active in this area. They carried out constant attacks on the positions of the Germans. The situation for the enemy was further complicated by the fact that groups from broken units in other sectors, including from near Vitebsk, joined the crossing units. In this regard, the retreat of the 4th Army was slow and was accompanied by heavy losses.
Battle from the south side of Minsk
In the offensive, mobile groups were in the lead - tank, mechanized and cavalry-mechanized formations. Part of Pliev quickly began to advance towards Slutsk. His group went to the city in the evening of 29.06. Due to the fact that the Germans suffered heavy losses in front of the 1st Belorussian Front, they offered little resistance. Slutsk itself was defended by formations of the 35th and 102nd divisions. They put up organized resistance. Then Pliev launched an attack from three flanks at the same time. This attack was successful, and by 11 am on June 30, the city was cleared of the Germans. By July 2, Pliev's cavalry-mechanized units occupied Nesvizh, cutting off the group's path to the southeast. The breakthrough came fairly quickly. Resistance was provided by small unorganized groups of Germans.
Battle for Minsk
German mobile reserves began to arrive at the front. They were withdrawn mainly from units operating in Ukraine. The 5th Panzer Division arrived first. She posed a fairly serious threat, considering that over the past few months she had hardly participated in the battles. The division was well equipped, re-equipped and reinforced with the 505th heavy battalion. However weak point here the enemy had infantry. It consisted either of security or of divisions that had suffered significant losses. A serious battle took place on the northwestern side of Minsk. Enemy tankers announced the elimination of 295 Soviet vehicles. However, there is no doubt that they themselves suffered serious losses. The 5th division was reduced to 18 tanks, all the "tigers" of the 505th battalion were lost. Thus, the connection lost the opportunity to influence the course of the battle. 2nd Guards Corps on July 1 approached the outskirts of Minsk. Having made a detour, he broke into the city from the northwest side. At the same time, a Rokossovsky detachment approached from the south, the 5th Panzer Army from the north, and detachments of combined arms forces from the east. The defense of Minsk did not last long. The city was badly destroyed by the Germans already in 1941. Retreating, the enemy additionally blew up the structures.
Collapse of the 4th Army
The German group was surrounded, but still made attempts to break through to the west. The Nazis even went into battle with bladed weapons. The command of the 4th Army fled to the west, as a result of which the actual control was carried out instead of von Tippelskirch by the head of the 12th Army Corps, Müller. On July 8-9, the resistance of the Germans in the Minsk "cauldron" was finally broken. The cleansing lasted until the 12th: regular units, together with partisans, neutralized small groups of the enemy in the forests. After that, hostilities east of Minsk ended.
Second phase
After the completion of the first stage, the operation "Bagration" (1944), in short, assumed the maximum consolidation success. At the same time, the German army tried to restore the front. At the second stage, the Soviet units had to fight the German reserves. At the same time, personnel changes took place in the leadership of the army of the Third Reich. After the expulsion of the Germans from Polotsk, Bagramyan was given new task. The 1st Baltic Front was to carry out an offensive to the northwest, towards Daugavpils, and to the west - to Sventsyany and Kaunas. The plan was to break through to the Baltic and block the communications of the Sever Army formations from the rest of the Wehrmacht forces. After the flank shifts, fierce battles began. German troops, meanwhile, continued their counterattacks. On August 20, the attack on Tukums began from the east and west. For a short period, the Germans managed to restore communication between parts of the "Center" and "North". However, the attacks of the 3rd Panzer Army at Siauliai were unsuccessful. At the end of August, there was a break in the battles. The 1st Baltic Front completed its part of the offensive operation "Bagration".
The lightning-fast conduct of the Belarusian operation, code-named "Bagration", came as a surprise even to the Soviet leadership. In 2 months, the whole of Belarus was liberated, the Army Group Center was completely defeated. The skill of the military leaders and the heroism of the Soviet soldiers were the basis for the success of the brilliant operation. The miscalculations of the German command also played their role.
The Belarusian operation is the biggest German defeat in history.
The military operations of 1944 to liberate the occupied territories went down in history as "Ten Stalin's blows". During the winter and spring campaigns, the Red Army managed to lift the blockade of Leningrad, clear Karelia, Crimea and Ukraine of the Germans. The fifth blow was the Belarusian offensive operation "Bagration" against the German army group "Center".
In 1941, from the first months of the Great Patriotic War, a powerful fascist group firmly established itself in Belarus and hoped to maintain its position in 1944. The blows of the Soviet troops in Belarus turned out to be so stunning for the Germans that their armies did not have time to retreat to new lines of defense, they were surrounded and destroyed - the Army Group Center practically ceased to exist.
"Belarusian balcony": strategic plans of opponents
On the front line, by the beginning of 1944, a "Belarusian balcony" was formed - a ledge to the east along the line Vitebsk - Orsha - Mogilev. The troops of the GA "Center" were here only 500 km from Moscow, while in the north and south of the country the enemy was driven far to the west.
Significance of the operation
From the occupied territory of Belarus, the Germans had the opportunity to conduct a positional war and carry out an attack by strategic aviation on the Soviet capital. Three years of the occupation regime became a real genocide of the Belarusian people. The liberation of Belarus was considered by the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to be the primary task of the Red Army after the victory on Kursk Bulge. In the autumn of 1943, attempts were made to break the Belorussian balcony on the move, using the offensive impulse of our soldiers - they turned into heavy losses, the Germans were sitting firmly here and were not going to surrender. The strategic task of defeating the GA "Center" and the liberation of Belarus had to be solved in 1944.
Map of the "Belarusian operation of 1944"
Plan "Bagration"
In April, Deputy Chief of the General Staff A.I. Antonov outlined in the Headquarters of the Civil Code the contours of a new offensive in Belarus: the operation was code-named "Bagration" and under this name went down in history. The high command of the spacecraft was able to learn from the unsuccessful offensive in this direction in the autumn-winter of 1943.
1. The fronts were reorganized: on the site of the Central and Western fronts, 4 new fronts were formed: the 1st Baltic (1 PF) and the Belorussian fronts (BF): 1st, 2nd, 3rd. They had a shorter length, which facilitated the operational communication of the commanders with the forward units. Commanders with experience in successful offensive operations were placed at the head of the fronts.
- THEIR. Bagramyan - commander of the 1st PF - led the operation "Kutuzov" on the Kursk Bulge,
- I.D. Chernyakhovsky (3 BF) - took Kursk and crossed the Dnieper;
- G.V. Zakharov (2 BF) - participated in the liberation of the Crimea;
- K.K. Rokossovsky (1 BF) has been a participant in all the grandiose battles of the Patriotic War since 1941.
Coordinated the actions of the fronts A.M. Vasilevsky (to the north) and G.K. Zhukov (in the south, in the location of 1 and 2 BF). In the summer of 1944, the German command faced an enemy that was far superior to him in experience and level of military thinking.
2. The idea of the operation was not to attack the main enemy fortifications along the main Warsaw-Minsk-Orsha-Moscow highway (as was the case in the autumn of 1943). To break through the front line, the Headquarters planned a series of encirclements: near Vitebsk, Mogilev, Bobruisk. It was planned to introduce tanks into the gaps formed and, with a lightning-fast throw, capture the main enemy forces near Minsk in pincers. Then it was necessary to clear Belarus from the invaders and go to the Baltic states and to the border with Poland.
Operation "Bagration"
3. Some controversy was caused in the Headquarters by the question of the possibility of tank maneuvers in the swampy terrain of Belarus. K.K. Rokossovsky mentions this in his memoirs: several times Stalin asked him to go out and think about whether to throw tanks into the swamps. Seeing the inflexibility of the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, the Supreme Civil Code approved Rokossovsky's proposal to attack Bobruisk from the south (this area was marked on German maps as impassable swamps). During the war years, the Soviet leader learned to value the opinion of his military leaders, even if it did not coincide with his point of view.
A column of T-34-85 tanks of the 195th moves along a forest road during Operation Bagration
Wehrmacht: hope for a calm summer
The German command did not expect that Belarus would become the main object of the Soviet offensive. Hitler was sure that the Soviet troops would develop success in Ukraine: from Kovel to the north, towards East Prussia, where Army Group North was located. In this area, the Northern Ukraine group had 7 tank divisions, 4 heavy Tiger battalions, while the Center GA had 1 tank division and the Tiger battalion. In addition, Hitler assumed that Soviet troops would continue to move south: to Romania, to the Balkans, to the zone of traditional interests of Russia and the USSR. The Soviet command was in no hurry to remove 4 tank armies from the Ukrainian front: in the swamps of Belarus, they would be superfluous. Only 5 TA Rotmistrov was redeployed from Western Ukraine, but the Germans did not notice this or did not attach any importance to it.
Against the GA "Center", the Germans expected a series of small attacks in the style of 1943. They were going to parry them, relying on defense in depth (270-280 km deep) and a system of fortresses - "festungs". Transport hubs: Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk - Hitler ordered that they be declared fortresses, strengthened for all-round defense and not surrender under any circumstances. The Fuhrer's order played a fatal role in the death of the armies of the Center group: they could not retreat in a timely manner, they were surrounded and died under Soviet air strikes. But at the beginning of June 1944, such an outcome of events could not be dreamed of by the Nazis even in nightmare: on this sector of the front, the Nazi General Staff promised a "calm summer." And the commander of the GA "Center" Ernst Busch calmly went on vacation - two weeks before the Soviet offensive.
Operation preparation
The basis for the success of the Belarusian operation in 1944 is its thorough preparation.
- The scouts collected data on the exact location of enemy combat points. More than 1000 firing points and 300 artillery batteries were recorded in the area of the Baltic Front alone. Based on intelligence, the pilots bombed not on the front line, but on the location of artillery points and pillboxes, thereby facilitating the advance of our troops.
- To ensure surprise, the troops were carefully camouflaged: the cars moved only at night, in columns, their rear sides were painted in White color. During the day, units hid in the forests.
- All the fronts participating in the operation switched to radio silence, and it was forbidden to talk on the phone about the upcoming offensive.
- Troops on mock-ups and in open areas practiced techniques for coordinating the actions of all branches of the military at the crossings, learned to overcome swamps.
- The troops received vehicles, tractors, self-propelled guns, and other types of equipment. A significant preponderance of military guns was created in the directions of the main attacks: 150-200 firing positions for each kilometer of the breakthrough.
The Stavka planned to start the operation on June 19-20, this date was postponed due to a delay in the delivery of ammunition. The Headquarters did not focus on the symbolic meaning of the date (June 22 - the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II).
balance of power
Nevertheless, it is interesting to compare the forces of the advancing parties in 1941 and in 1944. The 1st part of the table contains data as of 06/22/1941. Army Group Center is the attacking side, the troops of the Western Military District of the USSR are defending. In the 2nd part of the table - the balance of power on 23.06. 1944, when the opponents switched places.
| military forces | Plan "Barbarossa" 1941 | Plan "Bagration" 1944 | ||
| GA "Center" | ZapOVO | 1st PF; 1-3 BF | GA "Center" | |
| Personnel (million people) | 1,45 | 0,8 | 2,4 | 1,2 |
| Artillery (thousand) | 15 | 16 | 36 | 9,5 |
| Tanks (thousand) | 2,3 | 4,4 | over 5 | 0,9 |
| Aircraft (Thousand) | 1,7 | 2,1 | over 5 | 1,35 |
The comparison shows that in 1941 the Germans did not have an overwhelming superiority in military force and equipment - the calculation was made on surprise and new tactics of blitzkrieg. By 1944, the Soviet commanders had mastered the use of tank pincers, appreciated the importance of the surprise factor, and used overwhelming superiority in military equipment. During the Belarusian operation, German teachers received a worthy lesson from their students.
The course of hostilities
The offensive operation, codenamed "Bagration", lasted 68 days - from June 23 to August 29, 1944. It can be conditionally divided into several stages.
“Minsk is ours, forward to the west!”
Breakthrough of the front line
At the first stage, on June 23-19, there was a breakthrough of the front line in the north and south of the “Belarusian Balcony”. Events developed as planned.
During the fighting on June 23 - June 29, gaps appeared along the enemy defense line from the north and south, into which the tank corps of the 1st and 2nd BF, as well as Rotmistrov's 5th TA, rushed. Their goal is to close the encirclement of German troops east of Minsk and liberate the capital of Belarus. In a hurry, almost at a run, the 4th Army of Tippelskirch retreated to Minsk, hopelessly trying to overtake Soviet tanks and not get surrounded, groups of soldiers flocked here, escaping from boilers near Vitebsk, Orsha, Bobruisk. The retreating Germans could not hide in the forests of Belarus - there they were destroyed by partisan detachments. Moving along highways, they became an easy target for aviation, which ruthlessly destroyed enemy manpower, the crossing of German units across the Berezina was especially catastrophic.
The new commander of the GA "Center" V. Model tried to restrain the advance of Soviet tanks. Dekker’s 5th TD, which arrived from the Ukrainian Front, equipped with Tigers, stood in the way of Rotmistrov’s 5th TD, imposed a series of bloody battles. But the promotion of other formations is one division heavy tanks could not stop: on July 3, the 2nd guards tank corps of Chernyakhovsky broke into Minsk from the north, troops of K.K. Rokossovsky, and at noon on July 4, the capital of Belarus was liberated from the Nazis. Around 100,000 German soldiers, mostly from the 4th Army, were surrounded near Minsk. The last radiogram of those surrounded by the "Center" was something like this: "Give us at least maps of the area, did you write us off?" Model left the encircled army to its fate - it capitulated on July 8, 1944.
Operation "Great Waltz"
The number of prisoners in the reports of the Soviet Information Bureau caused distrust of the allies of the USSR in World War II. The actions of England and the United States on the Western Front (opened on June 6, 1944) were far from being as successful as in Belarus. The Soviet leadership organized a parade of captured Germans so that the world community would be convinced of the size of the catastrophe of the German army. On the morning of July 17, 57 thousand captured soldiers marched through the streets of Moscow. At the head of the columns were the highest ranks - shaved, in uniform and with orders. The parade was attended by 19 army generals and 6 colonels. The bulk of the columns were unshaven, poorly dressed lower ranks and privates. The parade was completed by watering trucks that washed away fascist dirt from the pavements of the Soviet capital.
Final stage
Having solved the main task of defeating the GA "Center", the Soviet troops entered the operational space. Each of the 4 fronts developed the offensive in its own direction, the offensive impulse lasted from July 5 to August 29.
- The troops of the 1st Baltic Front liberated Polotsk, part of Lithuania and went on the defensive in the Jelgava and Siauliai region, meeting fierce resistance from the Sever GA.
- Front I.D. Chernyakhovsky (3 BF) liberated Vilnius, crossed the Neman, captured Kaunas and went to the borders with East Prussia.
- The 2nd BF pursued those retreating from Minsk German troops, crossed the Neman, participated in the capture of Grodno, Bialystok, went on the defensive on August 14.
- Front K.K. Rokossovsky advanced west from Minsk in the direction of Warsaw: Brest was liberated with fighting , the Polish city of Lublin, bridgeheads on the Vistula were captured. Rokossovsky's troops failed to take Prague - a suburb of Warsaw. In August, unexpectedly for the Soviet command, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, provoked by the Polish government in exile. Parts of the Soviet troops, exhausted by battles, provided tactical assistance, but they were not ready to take Warsaw on the move and come to the aid of the rebels. B. Model suppressed the Warsaw uprising, with the help of reserves he stabilized the front along the Vistula, the borders of East Prussia, the territory of Lithuania and Latvia - on August 29, Operation Bagration ended.
IL-2 attacking a German convoy
Results and losses
The main result of the operation is the destruction of a large enemy grouping, the liberation of Belarus, parts of Lithuania and Latvia. On a 1,100 km long front line, Soviet troops advanced 500-600 km forward. Bridgeheads were created for new offensive operations: Lvov-Sandomierz, Vistula-Oder, Baltic.
The losses of the Red Army in the operation are the largest of all the battles of 1944:
- Irretrievable losses (killed, missing, captured) - 178.5 thousand people.
- Wounded and sick - 587.3 thousand people.
Attack during Operation Bagration
Statistical study German losses armed forces based on 10 days of field reports. They give this picture:
- Killed - 26.4 thousand people.
- Missing - 263 thousand people.
- Wounded - 110 thousand people.
- Total: about 400 thousand people.
The loss of command staff is the best evidence of the catastrophe that occurred with by the German army during the Belarusian operation: out of 47 senior officers, 66% died or were captured.
German soldiers at the end of Operation Bagration
