![]() ![]() On the eve of the offensive, Soviet partisans carried out large-scale sabotage activities behind enemy lines, aimed at disrupting Army Group Center's logistical and communications capabilities. The offensive developed through three main phases: the breakthrough of the initial German defences along the Berezina the advance of the Soviet motorised exploitation forces and finally the encirclement of the German Fourth Army after the defensive positions were overrun. 4th Air Army (Colonel General of Aviation Konstantin Vershinin).50th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Boldin).49th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Grishin).33rd Army (Lieutenant-General Vasily Kryuchenkin).2nd Belorussian Front (Colonel-General Gyorgy Zakharov).1st Air Army (Lieutenant General (of Aviation) Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gromov).5th Guards Tank Army (General Pavel Rotmistrov).31st Army (Lieutenant General Vasily Glagolev).39th Army (Colonel-General Ivan Lyudnikov).5th Army (Lieutenant General Nikolay Krylov).11th Guards Army (General Kuzma Galitsky).3rd Belorussian Front (General Ivan Chernyakhovsky).The above units were under the overall command of Army Group Centre (Field-Marshal Walter Model). Kampfgruppe Flörke ( ad hoc unit based on remnants of 14th Infantry Division and others).Kampfgruppe Anhalt ( ad hoc group of police and security units).Kampfgruppe von Gottberg group of security and SS units, included:.Encircled remnants of Ninth Army (General Nikolaus von Vormann).Encircled remnants of VI Corps of Third Panzer Army transferred to command of the 4th Army (General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling).Panzer-Grenadier-Division Feldherrnhalle.remnants of XXXIX Panzer Corps (General der Panzertruppe Dietrich von Saucken).XII Corps (Lieutenant-General Vincenz Müller).Encircled forces of Fourth Army under command of Lieutenant-General Vincenz Müller:.Its central corps, the XXXIX Panzer Corps, had largely disintegrated under Soviet air attack whilst attempting to reach the Berezina crossings, having lost two corps commanders in as many days. Despite this, it was ordered to hold fast. Authorisation was therefore given on 26 June to shift the 5th Panzer Division from Army Group South Ukraine to assist in the city's defence.īy the time the operation had commenced, the entire Fourth Army had been bypassed on both its northern and southern flanks. ![]() ![]() The immediate effects of the Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive and Bobruysk Offensive made it clear that Soviet forces had the 'deep' objective of the city of Minsk. German planning largely involved damage limitation. The 5th Guards Tank Army, under General Pavel Rotmistrov was however criticized for its slowness in attaining its objectives and ordered to display greater decisiveness. This ordered the Front to force the Berezina from the march, and develop an offensive towards Minsk and Molodechno, capturing the former in cooperation with the 2nd Belorussian Front and reaching the latter no later than 8 July. The same day, with the initial objectives fulfilled, Stavka issued a new order, No. The role of the 3rd Belorussian Front in the first phase of Operation Bagration was essentially complete by 28 June, when the cavalry-mechanised units halted at the Berezina. Main article: Operation Bagration Planning Operational goals The result was a complete victory for the Red Army, the liberation of Minsk, and the rapid destruction of much of the German Army Group Centre. About 100,000 Axis soldiers from the Fourth and Ninth Armies were encircled, of whom some 40,000 were killed and most of the rest captured. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army attacked from the north-east, while the 2nd Guards Tank Corps moved in from the east, and the 65th Army advanced from the south. Hitler ordered the Fourth Army to hold fast, declaring the city to be a fortified place ( fester Platz) and defended even if encircled. The Red Army encircled the German Fourth Army in the city of Minsk. The Minsk offensive ( Russian: Минская наступательная операция) was part of the second phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. ![]()
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