Operation Bagration, 23 June-29 August 1944

Richard Harrison

• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781912174553
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Segunda Guerra Mundial

The Rout of the German-Fascist Troops in Belorussia in 1944 covers the Red Army's Belorussian strategic operation: the linchpin of the 10 major Soviet offensive efforts launched that year to clear the country of the invader. During the course of this operation, the German position along the western strategic direction was destroyed and the stage was set for an advance into Poland and Germany. The success of this operation also set the stage for the Red Army's subsequent advance into the Baltic and South-Eastern Europe. Like most works generated by the General Staff, the Belorussian study divides the operation into two parts: preparation and conduct. The first deals with the massive efforts by the First Baltic and the First, Second and Third Belorussian Fronts to accumulate the men and materiel to break through the German defenses in the swampy and forested terrain of Belorussia. This section contains valuable information on the overall correlation of forces, equipment and troops' densities along the breakthrough sectors and Soviet plans for supplying the offensive, as well as detailed information regarding the employment of the various combat arms. The second part deals with the actual conduct of the several front operations that comprised the overall effort. This section covers the initial breakthrough battles and the encirclement of the Vitebsk and Bobruisk garrisons, followed by the capture of Minsk and the encirclement of sizeable German forces east of the city. The narrative then continues with the follow-on operations to cut off German forces in the Baltic States and to seize crossings over the Vistula River in Eastern Poland. Compiled and written by professional staff officers, this study provides a detailed look at the conduct of one of the major operations of the Second World War. This latest work, along with other studies in this series, offers another insight into the Red Army's conduct of the war at the operational-strategic level.

Volume 1

The Preparation for the Belorussian Operation of 1944

Preface to the Russian edition

This military-historical work was prepared by an author’s collective at the General Staff Academy of the USSR Armed Forces and is dedicated to the research of the multi-front operation carried out by the Soviet Army in Belorussia in the summer of 1944.

In creating this monograph, archival documents from the fronts, armies and formations, materials from the military-historical section of the General Staff’s Military-Scientific Directorate, and various academies, as well as individual printed works—books, brochures and journal articles, were used.

The entire multi-front Belorussian operation, which consists of ten front operations, is examined as a complete whole. This work consists of two volumes. The first volume is divided into two parts.

The first part describes the international military-political situation by the summer of 1944, the situation on the Soviet-German front by the start of the operation, and the plan of the Stavka1 of the Supreme High Command for conducting the operation, and the tasks laid down by the Stavka to the fronts, long-range aviation and the partisans are shown. This part concludes with an explanation of the measures taken by the Stavka of the Supreme High Command for preparing for and supplying the operation.

The second part examines the preparation of the operation in the fronts and armies, and then lays out the planning of the front and army operations, highlights the problems of the organization, the combat employment of different combat arms, the operational, engineering, party-political, materiel and medical support, troop control, communications, and operational preparation, as well as regrouping of forces, their concentration and occupation of their jumping-off positions by the start of the operation.

The second volume lays out the course of combat operations according to the stages of the multi-front operation, and also sums up the overall conclusions of the Belorussian by a group of fronts and conclusions for military art.

The work was written by a collective of authors, consisting of: Major General (retired, deceased) V.N. Asafov (combat operations of the Second Belorussian Front); senior lecturer and candidate of military sciences Colonel A.D. Bagreev (combat operations by the First Belorussian Front’s left wing, conclusions on military art, and the finishing touches on several chapters on the combat operations of the First Baltic and Second and Third Belorussian fronts); candidate of military sciences and senior lecturer Major General S.S. Bronevskii (combat operations by the Third Belorussian Front); candidate of military sciences and senior lecturer, Major General F.R. Zhemaitis (retired, deceased) (introduction, the preparation and conduct of the Belorussian operation by a group of fronts); Major General A.K. Makar’ev (retired) (combat operations of the First Baltic Front); Major General P.N. Rubtsov (retired) (employment of the combat arms and services of the armed forces, operational support), and; Major General (retired) Yu.I. Sokolov (combat operations by the right flank of the First Belorussian Front, combat operations of the fronts in August 1944, and an operational summary).

Aside from this, the following individuals took part in working up the material for different sections of the work: Major General I.F. Ivanov (retired), candidate of military sciences Major General G.K. Kublanov, Colonel M.D. Malitskii (retired), candidate of military sciences Colonel M.N. Minakov, candidate of military sciences and associate professor Major General M.F. Sochilov, candidate of military sciences and associate professor Lieutenant General A.V. Sukhomlin, candidate of military sciences and associate professor Colonel Ye.S. Chalik (retired), and Major General of Artillery V.P. Chistyakov (retired).

The overall editing of this work was carried out by candidate of military sciences and associate professor Colonel A.D. Bagreev.

The work’s elaboration and editing was supervised by associated professor Lieutenant General V.G. Poznyak.

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1Editor’s note. The Stavka of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (Stavka Verkhovnogo Glavnokomanduyushchego) was the highest Soviet military body during the Second World War. It was formed on 23 June 1941.

Introduction

The multi-front Belorussian operation, which was conducted by the Soviet Army in the summer of 1944, was one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War. As a result of this operation the German-Fascist troops of Army Group Center were smashed, and our troops: a) completely liberated the Belorussian Soviet Republic; b) reached the Vistula River and liberated a significant part of allied Poland; c) reached the Neman River and liberated a large part of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic, and; d) forced the Neman River and reached the border of East Prussia.

Four fronts took part in the Belorussian offensive operation of 1944—the First Baltic, Third, Second and First Belorussian fronts, and Long-Range Aviation. This operation was organized and conducted by the Stavka of the Supreme High Command, the representatives of which exercised control on the ground of the operation’s preparation and organized the fronts’ cooperation.

The successful operations of these four fronts had a significant influence on changing the situation along the entire Soviet-German front and facilitated the assumption of the offensive by the Leningrad, Third and Second Baltic fronts in the north, as well as the First and then the Fourth Ukrainian fronts in the south. In this manner, the Belorussian operation, in the final analysis, grew into a large operation by nine Soviet fronts in the area from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains.

According to the kind of combat operations, one may divide the multi-front Belorussian operation into two stages.

During the operation’s first stage (23 June- 4 July) Soviet troops carried out the task of encircling and destroying the major forces of Army Group Center, liberated the capital of Soviet Belorussia— Minsk, and began to pursue the remains of the enemy’s defeated forces. Four front operations were carried out during this stage of the operation.

1. The First Baltic Front’s Vitebsk—Polotsk offensive operation (23 June-4 July). In this operation, the front’s forces, while cooperating with the Third Belorussian Front, encircled the enemy’s Vitebsk group of forces in the tactical defense zone and in the course of five days eliminated it. While developing the offensive in the operational depth along the Polotsk and Lepel’ axes, by 4 July the front’s forces had overcome the enemy’s army and rear defensive sectors and, having inflicted a defeat on his reserves being brought up from the depth, reached the line Dvinsk (Daugavpils)— Lake Naroch’, having advanced in this manner up to 180 kilometers in 12 days.

2. The Third Belorussian Front’s Vitebsk—Minsk offensive operation (23 June-4 July 1944). In this operation, the front, while cooperating with the First Baltic Front, routed and captured the enemy’s Vitebsk group of forces, broke through his defense along the main—Minsk—axis and, while pursuing his forces, forced a major water barrier—the Berezina River—on the march. Having routed the Orsha and Borisov groups of forces and having overcome the rear sectors of the enemy’s defense on the march and defeating the enemy’s arriving reserves, the front continued its headlong offensive toward Minsk, and on 3 July took the city and took part in the encirclement of a 100,000-man enemy force east of Minsk. In 12 days of attacking the front advanced to a depth of 280-300 kilometers.

3. The Second Belorussian Front’s Mogilev—Minsk offensive operation (23 June-13 July 1944). In this operation the Second Belorussian Front operated along an auxiliary axis, but carried out important tasks. It broke through the enemy’s defense, forced the Dnepr River, took the city of Mogilev, forced the Berezina River and, together with the Third and First Belorussian fronts, encircled a 100,000-man enemy group of forces east of Minsk. The task of eliminating this group of forces was entrusted to the Second Belorussian Front, which carried out this task by the close of 13 July 1944.

4. The First Belorussian Front’s Bobruisk—Slutsk offensive operation (24 June-4 July 1944). In this operation the front’s forces encircled and destroyed the enemy’s Bobruisk group of forces, took part in the liberation of Minsk and the encirclement of the enemy group of forces east of Minsk, and captured the major towns of Zhlobin, Bobruisk and Slutsk, captured on the march the enemy’s rear defensive sectors and, having advanced 230 kilometers, reached the Naliboki Forest and the town of Baranovichi.

The following factors had great significance for the successful conduct of the first stage of the multi-front Belorussian offensive operation:

a) the defeat of the right-flank groups of forces of the enemy’s Army Group Center and the arrival of the fronts’ forces in the enemy’s operational depth (during the first stages of the Vitebsk—Polotsk, Vitebsk—Minsk and Bobruisk—Slutsk operations);

b) the encirclement of Army Group Center’s main forces in the area east of Minsk (at the concluding stage of the Vitebsk—Minsk, Mogilev—Minsk and Bobruisk—Slutsk operations).

Our mobile forces, aviation and the Belorussian partisans played a large role in the course of some operations.

During the operation’s second stage (from 5 July through 2 August 1944) the Soviet armies pursued the retreating enemy forces, defeated his strategic reserves, reached the border of East Prussia, seized bridgeheads across the Vistula River, and went over to the defensive along these lines.

During the second stage five front operations were conducted.

1. The First Baltic Front’s Dvinsk—Siauliai offensive operation (5 July-1 August 1944). In this operation the front’s forces first defeated the Dvinsk and then the Panezevys—Siauliai groups of enemy forces, liberated the city of Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Siauliai and, having overcome the entire operational zone of the enemy’s defense, reached the shore of the Gulf of Riga.

2. The Third Belorussian Front’s Vilnius—Kaunas offensive operation (5-31 July 1944). The front’s forces, having advanced another 300 kilometers, liberated the capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic—Vilnius—and the second city of Lithuania—Kaunas—and reached the Neman River along a broad front and seized bridgeheads along its western bank.

3. The Second Belorussian Front’s Bialystok offensive operation (5-27 July 1944) concluded successfully with the capture of the city of Bialystok. During the course of this operation the front’s forces, having broken through the entire depth of the enemy’s defense and pursuing the enemy, advanced 270 kilometers.

4. The Baranovichi—Slonim offensive operation by the right wing of the First Belorussian Front (5-16 July 1944). In this operation the front’s forces, having broken through the enemy’s defense and pursuing him, defeated the enemy’s arriving reserves, advanced to a depth of 200 kilometers, defeated the Baranovichi—Slonim enemy group of forces, and liberated the towns of Baranovichi, Slonim, Pruzhany, and others.

5. The First Belorussian Front’s Brest—Siedlce offensive operation (17 July-2 August 1944).1 In this operation the front’s forces, having broken through the enemy’s defense and defeated his operational and strategic reserves, advanced another 260 kilometers, liberated the cities of Brest, Siedlce and Lublin, reached the Vistula River in the area south of Warsaw, forced the river and established bridgeheads in the areas of Magnuszew and Pulawy.

All of these consecutive front operations had great significance for the development of the success achieved during the first stage of the multi-front Belorussian operation to a great depth, and at high speed for that time.

In strategic cooperation with the above-enumerated operations, offensive operations were also conducted along other axes: the Second Baltic Front’s Rezhitska—Dvinsk (Rezekne—Daugavpils); the Third Baltic Front’s Pskov—Ostrov operation; the Leningrad Front’s Narva operation, and the Second Baltic Front’s Madona opera...