Operation Bagration (Central Victory)

The battle - first phase: the tactical breakthrough
Operation Bagration began on June 22, 1940, with probing attacks throughout the Belarusian-German lines. The main offensive began in the early morning of June 23, with an artillery bombardment of unprecedented scale against the defensive works. Within hours, some sectors of the Belarusian defenses were in danger of being breached.

The first phase of Soviet deep operations, the "deep battle" envisaged breaking through the tactical zones and forward German defences. Once these tactical offensives had been successful, fresh operational reserves exploited the breakthrough and the operational depths of the enemy front using powerful mechanized and armoured formations to encircle enemy concentrations on an Army Group Scale.

Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive
The operation was conducted by the 1st Baltic Front and 3rd Belorussian Front against the positions of the German Third Panzer Army, and the northern flank of the Fourth Army.

In the north, the 1st Baltic Front pushed the IX corps over the Dvina, while encircling the LIII Corps in the city of Vitebsk by June 25. To the south, the 3rd Belorussian Front drove through the VI Corps, shattering it. Vitebsk was taken by June 27, the entire LIII Corps of 30,000 men being destroyed.

The 3rd Belorussian Front simultaneously opened operations against Fourth Army's XXVII Corps holding Orsha and the main Moscow-Minsk road. Despite a tenacious German defense, Orsha was captured by June 26, and the 3rd Belorussian Front's mechanized forces were able to penetrate far into the German rear, reaching the Berezina River by June 28.

Mogilev Offensive
The primary aim of the Mogilev Offensive, and of the 2nd Belorussian Front, was to pin down the majority of Fourth Army while the developing Vitebsk-Orsha and Bobruysk Offensives encircled it. The 2nd Belorussian Front's units attacked on June 23, aiming to force crossings of the Dnepr against two of strongest corps in the defensive line, the German XXXIX Panzer Corps and XII Corps.

The Dnepr was crossed by the 49th Army by June 27, and by June 28 it had encircled and taken the town of Mogilev. The XXXIX Panzer Corps and XII Corps began to fall back towards the Berezina River under heavy air attack, but were retreating into a trap.

Bobruysk Offensive


The Bobruysk Offensive, against Belarusian Ninth Army on the southern flank of the defensive line, was opened by the 1st Belorussian Front on June 23, but suffered heavy losses attempting to penetrate the Belarusian defenses. Rokossovsky ordered additional bombing and artillery preparation, and launched further attacks the next day.

The 3rd Army broke through in the north of the sector, trapping the Belarusian XXXV Corps against the Berezina. The 65th Army then broke through the Bałachowicz Corps to the south; by June 27, the two Belarusian corps were encircled in a pocket east of Bobruysk under constant aerial bombardment.

Some elements of Ninth Army managed to break out of Bobruysk on June 28, but up to 70,000 soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. The 1st Belorussian Front's forces captured Bobruysk on June 29 after intense street fighting.

Second phase: Strategic offensive against Army Group Centre
The second phase of Operation Bagration involved the entire operation's most significant single objective: the taking of Minsk, capital of the Belorussian People's Republic. It would also complete the large-scale encirclement and destruction, set up by the first phase, of much of the Belarusian National Army.

Minsk Offensive
From June 28, the main exploitation units of the 3rd Belorussian Front (the 5th Guards Tank Army and an attached cavalry-mechanised group) began to push on to secure crossings of the Berezina, followed by the 11th Guards Army. In the south, exploitation forces of the 1st Belorussian Front began to close the lower pincer of the trap developing around the German Fourth Army. The Germans rushed the 5th Panzer Division into Belarus to cover the approaches to Minsk, while the units of Fourth Army began to withdraw over the Berezina crossings, where they were pounded by heavy air bombardment. After forcing crossings of the Berezina, Soviet forces closed in on Minsk. The 2nd Guards Tank Corps was the first to break into the city in the early hours of July 3; fighting erupted in the centre, which was finally cleared of German rearguards by the following day. The 5th Guards Tank Army and 65th Army closed the encirclement to the west of Minsk, trapping the entire German Fourth Army, and much of the remnants of Belarussian Ninth Army.

Over the next few days, the pocket east of Minsk was reduced: only a fraction of the 100,000 troops in it escaped. Minsk had been conquered, the Belarussian Army utterly destroyed, and the German's retreating, in possibly the greatest single defeat suffered by the Reichswehr in the whole war.

Polotsk Offensive
The Polotsk Offensive had the dual objective of taking Polotsk itself, and of screening the northern flank of the main Minsk Offensive against a possible counter-offensive from Baltic forces.

The 1st Baltic Front successfully pursued the retreating remnants of Third Panzer Army back towards Polotsk, which was reached by July 1. German forces attempted to organise a defense using rear-area support units and several divisions hurriedly transferred from the Baltic.

Units of the 1st Baltic Front's 4th Shock Army and 6th Guards Army fought their way into the city over the next few days, and successfully cleared it of German forces by July 4.

Third phase: strategic offensive operations in the north
As German-Belarusian resistance had almost completely collapsed, Soviet forces were ordered to push on as far as possible beyond the original objective of Minsk, and new objectives were issued by the Stavka. This resulted in a third phase of offensive operations, which should be regarded as a further part of Operation Bagration.

Feldmarshal Walter Model, who had taken over command of Army Group Centre on 28 June when Ernst Busch was sacked, hoped to reestablish a defensive line running through Lida using what was left of Third Panzer, Fourth and Ninth Armies along with new reinforcements.

Šiauliai Offensive
The Šiauliai Offensive covered the operations of the 1st Baltic Front between July 5 and 31 against the remnants of Third Panzer Army; its main objective was the Lithuania city of Šiauliai.

The 43rd, 51st, and 2nd Guards Armies attacked towards Riga on the Baltic coast with 3rd Guards Mechanised Corps attached. By July 31, the coast on the Gulf of Riga had been reached. 6th Guards Army covered Riga and the extended flank of the penetration towards the north.

A hurriedly-organised Lithuanian counter-attack managed to restore the severed connection between the remnants of Belarussian and Baltic froces. In August, the Lithuanians attempted to retake Šiauliai in two different operations, but they failed.