The largest Soviet military operation of 1944 was the Offensive of the Red Army (1944–1945)

The winter offensive of the Soviet troops led to the fact that on the territory of Belarus the front line formed a protrusion with an area of ​​almost 250 thousand square kilometers, the top of which was facing east. It was in this strategically important area, called the “Belarusian balcony,” that a powerful Wehrmacht group held its position.

The salient was of great importance for both warring parties: Army Group Center, and later parts of Army Groups North and Northern Ukraine, defended the approaches to East Prussia and Poland, and also controlled the situation in the Baltic states and Western Ukraine; For the Red Army, the elimination of the salient opened the way to Poland and further to Germany, and made it possible to launch flank attacks on two groups of enemy armies at once.

The leadership of the Third Reich was confident that the Red Army was preparing two strong attacks in the summer of 1944 - north of Leningrad and south of Pripyat, in the southern regions of Poland and the Balkans. There was no talk of a Soviet offensive in Belarus at Hitler’s headquarters.

And at this time, the Soviet command already had an idea of ​​what exactly the new offensive operation would be like: it was planned that the summer offensive in Belarus would be a repeat Battle of Kursk- without a deep breakthrough and stubborn battles that will exhaust the enemy’s forces. General base began developing Operation Bagration in April 1944, and in May the Supreme Command Headquarters approved the plan for a strategic offensive operation, the goal of which was the final liberation of Belarus, and, as a result, the transfer of hostilities to the territory of Poland and East Prussia.
Soviet military leaders developed a large-scale and ambitious plan: the troops had to defeat an entire group of enemy armies in just one operation.

Troops of four fronts - 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky, G.F. Zakharov and I.D. Chernyakhovsky and 1st Baltic under the command of I.Kh. Bagramyan, according to the plan of the operation, were to deliver two deep converging strikes in the direction of Minsk, encircle and destroy the main forces of Army Group Center, and then, increasing the force of the strike, reach the Kaunas-Lublin line.

Almost the entire spring and early summer, the Supreme High Command Headquarters intensively replenished the fronts: four combined arms and two tank armies, four breakthrough artillery divisions and four engineer brigades were deployed.

Absolutely all preparations were carried out in the strictest secrecy. At the same time, up to a hundred trains with ammunition, fuel, and food were sent to the front every day.
The camouflage of the troops was controlled from the air: pilots who flew daily over concentrations of Soviet troops dropped a pennant when they detected units and formations; when such a pennant was discovered, commanders had to immediately take measures to improve camouflage.

In June, the group of Soviet troops numbered more than 1.2 million people - the superiority over the enemy was one and a half times in manpower, four times in tanks, two times in artillery. A total of 27 armies were to take part in the operation.

Hitler’s generals, who had no idea about the plans and scope of the upcoming operation, assumed that the forces of Army Group Center, numbering 800 thousand soldiers and officers, would be sufficient to repel any offensive by the Soviet troops.

June 22, 1944 Soviet troops They carried out artillery reconnaissance in force, and early the next morning the operation to liberate Belarus began.

What happened in the first days of the offensive is best described in a letter from a German officer “... this morning the Ivans broke through (...) we have an order to break away from the enemy, the situation is desperate (...) I don’t trust anyone anymore.”
There was not the slightest exaggeration in these lines.

At the first stage of the operation, the enemy’s defenses were broken through to the full depth, then the breakthroughs were expanded towards the flanks, and after that, Soviet troops began the systematic destruction of the operational reserves of Hitler’s troops - any actions of units and formations of the Red Army absolutely exactly corresponded to the plans of the operation.

The result of the first stage of the offensive was a “blitzkrieg” to the west: Soviet troops, having advanced to a depth of 300 kilometers, defeated the main forces of Army Group Center during the first two weeks of fighting.

Minsk was soon liberated, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, having cut off Army Group North from the rest of the enemy forces, began the liberation of the Baltic states; the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, having liberated Baranovichi, Pinsk, Brest and crossed the Bug, entered the territory of Poland; The troops of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Front, pursuing the retreating enemy and liberating Vilnius and Kaunas, reached the borders of East Prussia.

On August 29, 1944, by order of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Soviet troops went on the defensive - Operation Bagration was completed.

The victory came at a huge price: during the offensive, the losses of troops on four fronts amounted to more than 760 thousand people, while irrecoverable losses amounted to more than 170 thousand people.

The result of the operation was the creation of favorable conditions for launching new attacks on enemy groups operating in the Baltic states, East Prussia and Poland. In addition, the offensive of the Soviet troops created the conditions for the offensive of the allied forces that landed in Normandy.

Nazi Germany suffered an irreparable blow: the irreparable losses of Nazi troops alone amounted to more than 380 thousand people.
During the operation, 112 thousand Wehrmacht soldiers and officers were captured - the Allies could not believe such data, so at the very height of the operation, the “Parade of the Vanquished” was held in Moscow.

There were 253 days left until the end of the war.

During the course, several large-scale military offensive campaigns by Soviet troops were carried out. One of the key ones was Operation Bagration (1944). The campaign was named after Patriotic War 1812. Let us next 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 Bagration military campaign began. year was carried out on the Soviet troops managed to break through the German defenses in many areas. The partisans provided them with active support in this. The offensive operations of the troops of the 1st Baltic, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts were intensive. The military campaign "Bagration" - operation (1944; leader and coordinator of the plan - G.K. Zhukov) began with the actions of these units. 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, and the eastern regions of Poland. Soviet troops reached the borders of East Prussia.

Main front lines

(operation of 1944) involved 2 stages. They included several offensive campaigns by Soviet troops. The direction of Operation Bagration of 1944 at the first stage was as follows:

1. Vitebsk.
2. Orsha.
3. Mogilev.
4. Bobruisk.
5. Polotsk
6. 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:

1. Vilnius.
2. Siauliai.
3. Bialystok.
4. Lublin-Brestskaya.
5. Kaunasskaya.
6. Osovetskaya.

Vitebsk-Orsha offensive

In this sector, the defense was occupied by the 3rd Panzer Army, commanded by Reinhardt. Its 53rd Army Corps was stationed directly near Vitebsk. They were commanded by Gen. Gollwitzer. The 17th Corps of the 4th Field Army was located near Orsha. In June 1944, Operation Bagration was carried out with the help of reconnaissance. Thanks to her, Soviet troops managed to break into the German defenses and take the first trenches. On June 23, the Russian command dealt 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 superiority during initial stage implementation of the Bagration plan. The operation (1944) near Vitebsk and Orsha was generally successful. We managed to break through the western part of the defense quite quickly and southern front. The 6th Corps, located on the southern side of Vitebsk, was cut into several parts and lost control. Over the following days, the commanders of the 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. Oslikovsky's horse-mechanized brigade was introduced south of Vitebsk. His group began to move quite quickly to the southwest.

In June 1944, Operation Bagration was carried out quite slowly in the Orsha sector. This was due to the fact that one of the most powerful German infantry divisions, the 78th Assault Division, was located here. It was much better equipped than the others and was supported by 50 self-propelled guns. Units of the 14th Motorized Division were also located here.

However, the Russian command continued to implement the Bagration plan. The 1944 operation 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 “cauldron.”

On the morning of June 27, Orsha was cleared of invaders. 5th Guards The tank army began advancing towards Borisov. On June 27, Vitebsk was also liberated in the morning. A German group defended itself here, having been subjected to artillery and air strikes the day before. The invaders made several attempts to break through the encirclement. On June 26, one of them was successful. However, a few hours later, about 5 thousand Germans were surrounded again.

Breakthrough results

Thanks to offensive actions Soviet troops were almost completely destroyed by the German 53rd Corps. 200 people managed to break through to the fascist units. According to Haupt's records, almost all of them were wounded. Soviet troops also managed to defeat units 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.

Battles 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 cross the river. I'll get through it. The German defensive line passed along it. Operation Bagration in June 1944 took place with the active use of artillery. The enemy was almost completely suppressed 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 strength 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. Basho 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 storm 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 Commandant von Ermansdorff. The latter was subsequently found guilty of committing a large number of serious crimes and was hanged. The German retreat gradually became more and more disorganized. Until June 29, 33 thousand German soldiers and 20 tanks were destroyed and captured.

Bobruisk

Operation Bagration (1944) assumed the formation of a southern “claw” 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 took part in the offensive. He was resisted by the 9th Field Army of General. Jordana. The task of eliminating the enemy was solved by creating a local “cauldron” near Bobruisk.

The offensive began from the south on June 24. Operation Bagration in 1944 assumed the use of aviation here. However, weather conditions significantly complicated her actions. In addition, the terrain itself was not very favorable for an offensive. Soviet troops had to overcome a fairly large swampy swamp. However, this path was chosen deliberately, since the German defenses on this side were weak. On June 27, roads from Bobruisk to the north and west were intercepted. 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 and the 41st Tank. The defeat of the 9th Army made it possible to open the road to Minsk from the northeast and southeast.

Battles near Polotsk

This direction caused serious concern among the Russian command. Bagramyan began to fix the problem. In fact, there was no break between the Vitebsk-Orsha and Polotsk operations. The main enemy was the 3rd Tank Army, the forces of the “North” (16th Field Army). The Germans had 2 infantry divisions in reserve. The Polotsk operation did not end in such a defeat as at 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 bypassed from the south, which implied an attack on the flank.

Retreat of the 4th Army

After the defeat of the southern and northern flanks near Bobruisk and Vitebsk, the Germans found themselves sandwiched in a rectangle. Its eastern wall was formed by the Drut River, the western by the Berezina. Soviet troops stood from the north and south. To the west was Minsk. It was in this direction that the main attacks of the Soviet forces were aimed. The 4th Army had virtually no cover on its flanks. Gene. von Tippelskirch ordered a retreat across the Berezina. To do this we had to use a dirt road from Mogilev. Using the only bridge, 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 withdrew from this task. In addition, partisans were active in this area. They carried out constant attacks on German positions. The situation for the enemy was further complicated by the fact that the transported units were joined by groups from defeated units in other areas, including from near Vitebsk. In this regard, the retreat of the 4th Army was slow and accompanied by heavy losses.

Battle from the southern side of Minsk

The offensive was led by mobile groups - tank, mechanized and cavalry-mechanized formations. Part of Pliev quickly began to advance towards Slutsk. His group reached the city on the evening of June 29. Due to the fact that the Germans suffered heavy losses before 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 simultaneously. This attack was successful, and by 11 am on June 30, the city was cleared of Germans. By July 2, Pliev’s cavalry-mechanized units occupied Nesvizh, cutting off the group’s path to the southeast. The breakthrough happened quite quickly. Resistance was provided by small unorganized groups of Germans.

Battle for Minsk

Mobile German reserves began to arrive at the front. They were withdrawn mainly from units operating in Ukraine. The 5th Panzer Division arrived first. She posed quite a serious threat, taking into account the fact that for several last months she almost did not participate in the battles. The division was well equipped, rearmed and reinforced by the 505th Heavy Battalion. However, the enemy's weak point here was the infantry. It consisted either of security divisions or divisions that had suffered significant losses. A serious battle took place on the northwestern side of Minsk. Enemy tankers announced the destruction of 295 Soviet vehicles. However, there is no doubt that they themselves suffered serious losses. The 5th Division was reduced to 18 tanks, and all the Tigers of the 505th Battalion were lost. Thus, the formation lost the ability to influence the course of the battle. 2nd Guards On July 1, the corps approached the outskirts of Minsk. Having made a detour, he burst into the city from the northwestern side. At the same time, Rokossovsky’s detachment approached from the south, the 5th Tank Army from the north, and combined arms forces from the east. The defense of Minsk did not last long. The city was heavily destroyed by the Germans already in 1941. While retreating, the enemy additionally blew up structures.

Collapse of the 4th Army

The German group was surrounded, but still made attempts to break through to the west. The Nazis even entered into battle with knives. The command of the 4th Army fled to the west, as a result of which actual control was carried out by the head of the 12th Army Corps, Müller, instead of von Tippelskirch. On July 8-9, the German resistance in the Minsk “cauldron” was finally broken. The cleanup lasted until the 12th: regular units, together with partisans, neutralized small groups of the enemy in the forests. After this, military operations in the east of Minsk ended.

Second phase

After the completion of the first stage, Operation Bagration (1944), in short, assumed the maximum consolidation of the achieved success. At the same time, the German army tried to restore the front. At the second stage Soviet units had to fight with 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 a new task. The 1st Baltic Front was supposed to carry out an offensive to the north-west, towards Daugavpils, and to the west - to Sventsyany and Kaunas. The plan was to break through to the Baltic and cut off communications between Army North formations and the rest of the Wehrmacht forces. After flank changes, fierce fighting began. Meanwhile, German troops 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 the “Center” and “North” units. However, the attacks of the 3rd Tank Army at Siauliai were unsuccessful. At the end of August there was a break in the fighting. The 1st Baltic Front completed its part of the offensive Operation Bagration.

During three years Belarus was under the yoke of the enemy. The occupiers plundered the territory of the republic: cities were ravaged, more than a million buildings in rural areas were burned, and 7 thousand schools were turned into ruins. The Nazis killed more than two million prisoners of war and civilians. In fact, there was no family in the Byelorussian SSR that did not suffer from the Nazis. White Rus' was one of the most affected territories of the Union. But people did not lose heart and resisted. Knowing that in the East the Red Army repelled the enemy’s onslaught on Moscow, Stalingrad and the Caucasus, defeated the Nazis on the Kursk Bulge, and liberated the regions of Ukraine, the Belarusian partisans were preparing for decisive action. By the summer of 1944, approximately 140 thousand partisans were operating on the territory of Belarus. The general leadership of the partisans was carried out underground organizations Communist Party of the BSSR led by Panteleimon Kondratievich Ponomarenko, who was also the head of the Central Headquarters partisan movement THE USSR. It should be noted that his contemporaries noted his amazing honesty, responsibility and deep analytical abilities. Stalin valued Ponomarenko very highly; some researchers believe that the leader wanted to make him his successor.

A few days before the start of the operation to liberate Belarus partisan detachments dealt a number of sensitive blows to the Germans. The partisans destroyed them transport infrastructure, communication lines, actually paralyzed the enemy’s rear at the most crucial moment. During the operation, the partisans attacked individual enemy units and attacked German rear structures.

Preparing the operation

The operational plan for the Belarusian operation began to be developed back in April. The general plan of the General Staff was to crush the flanks of the German Army Group Center, encircle its main forces east of the capital of the BSSR and completely liberate Belarus. It was a very ambitious and large-scale plan; the instant destruction of an entire group of enemy armies was planned very rarely during the Second World War. This was one of the largest operations in the entire military history of mankind.

By the summer of 1944, the Red Army had achieved impressive successes in Ukraine - the Wehrmacht suffered heavy losses, Soviet forces carried out a number of successful offensive operations, liberating most of the territory of the republic. But in the Belarusian direction, things were worse: the front line approached the Vitebsk - Orsha - Mogilev - Zhlobin line, forming a huge ledge that was facing deep into the USSR, the so-called. "Belarusian balcony".

In July 1944, German industry reached the highest point of its development in this war - in the first half of the year, Reich factories produced more than 16 thousand aircraft, 8.3 thousand tanks, and assault guns. Berlin carried out several mobilizations, and its numbers armed forces consisted of 324 divisions and 5 brigades. Army Group Center, which defended Belarus, consisted of 850-900 thousand people, up to 10 thousand guns and mortars, 900 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1350 aircraft. In addition, at the second stage of the battle, Army Group Center was supported by formations of the right flank of Army Group North and the left flank of Army Group Northern Ukraine, as well as reserves from Western Front and various areas Eastern Front. Army Group Center included 4 armies: the 2nd Field Army, which held the area of ​​Pinsk and Pripyat (commander Walter Weiss); 9th Field Army, it defended the area on both sides of the Berezina southeast of Bobruisk (Hans Jordan, after June 27 - Nikolaus von Forman); The 4th Field Army (Kurt von Tippelskirch, after June 30 the army was commanded by Vinzenz Müller) and the 3rd Tank Army (Georg Reinhardt), which occupied the area between the Berezina and Dnieper rivers, as well as a bridgehead from Bykhov to the area northeast of Orsha. In addition, formations of the 3rd Tank Army occupied the Vitebsk area. The commander of Army Group Center was Field Marshal Ernst Busch (Bush was replaced by Walter Model on June 28). His chief of staff was Hans Krebs.

If the command of the Red Army was well aware of the German grouping in the area of ​​​​the future offensive, then the command of Army Group Center and the headquarters of the Reich ground forces had a completely wrong idea regarding Moscow’s plans for the summer campaign of 1944. Adolf Hitler and the Wehrmacht High Command believed that a major Soviet offensive should still be expected in Ukraine, north or south of the Carpathians (most likely to the north). It was believed that from the area south of Kovel, Soviet troops would strike towards the Baltic Sea, trying to cut off army groups “Center” and “North” from Germany. Large forces were allocated to counter the possible threat. Thus, in the Northern Ukraine Army Group there were seven tank, two tank-grenadier divisions, as well as four battalions of Tiger heavy tanks. And Army Group Center had one tank, two tank-grenadier divisions and one battalion of heavy tanks. In addition, they feared a strike on Romania - on the oil fields of Ploesti. In April, the command of Army Group Center presented to the top leadership a proposal to reduce the front line and withdraw troops to better positions beyond the Berezina. But this plan was rejected, Army Group Center was ordered to defend in its previous positions. Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev and Bobruisk were declared “fortresses” and fortified with the expectation of all-round defense and a possible fight in encirclement. Forced labor of local residents was widely used for engineering work. Aviation, radio intelligence and German agents were unable to uncover the preparations by the Soviet command for a major operation in Belarus. Army Groups Center and North were predicted to have a “calm summer”; the situation inspired so little fear that Field Marshal Bush went on vacation three days before the start of the Red Army operation. But it should be noted that the front in Belarus stood still for a long time, and the Nazis managed to create a developed defense system. It included “fortress” cities, numerous field fortifications, bunkers, dugouts, and interchangeable positions for artillery and machine guns. Big role The Germans allocated natural obstacles - wooded and swampy terrain, many rivers and streams.

Red Army. Stalin made the final decision to conduct the summer campaign, including the Belarusian operation, at the end of April. Deputy Chief of the General Staff A.I. Antonov was instructed to organize operations planning work at the General Staff. The plan for the liberation of Belarus received the code name - Operation Bagration. On May 20, 1944, the General Staff completed the development of the plan for the offensive operation. A. M. Vasilevsky, A. I. Antonov and G. K. Zhukov were called to Headquarters. On May 22, front commanders I. Kh. Bagramyan, I. D. Chernyakhovsky, K. K. Rokossovsky were received at Headquarters to listen to their thoughts on the operation. The coordination of the front troops was entrusted to Vasilevsky and Zhukov; they left for the troops in early June.

The bet involved delivering three powerful blows. The 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts advanced in the general direction of Vilnius. The troops of two fronts were supposed to defeat the enemy’s Vitebsk group, develop an offensive to the west and cover the left flank group of the Borisov-Minsk group of German forces. The 1st Belorussian Front was supposed to defeat the Bobruisk group of Germans. Then develop an offensive in the direction of Slutsk-Baranovichi and cover the Minsk group of German troops from the south and southwest. The 2nd Belorussian Front, in cooperation with the left-flank group of the 3rd Belorussian and the right flank of the 1st Belorussian Front, was supposed to move in the general direction of Minsk.

On the Soviet side, about 1 million 200 thousand people took part in the operation on four fronts: 1st Baltic Front (Army General Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan); 3rd Belorussian Front (Colonel General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky); 2nd Belorussian Front (Colonel General Georgy Fedorovich Zakharov); 1st Belorussian Front (Army General Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky). The coordinator of the actions of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts was Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, and the coordinator of the actions of the 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic Fronts was the Chief of the General Staff Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky. The Dnieper military flotilla also took part in the operation.

Preparation for the Belarusian operation (from left to right) Varennikov I.S., Zhukov G.K., Kazakov V.I., Rokossovsky K.K. 1st Belorussian Front. 1944

Operation Bagration was supposed to solve several important problems:

Completely clear the Moscow direction of German troops, since the front edge of the “Belarusian ledge” was located 80 kilometers from Smolensk. The configuration of the front line in the BSSR was a huge arc extended to the east with an area of ​​almost 250 thousand square kilometers. The arc 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. The German High Command attached great importance to this territory - it protected the distant approaches to Poland and East Prussia. In addition, Hitler still cherished plans for a victorious war if a “miracle” was created or major geopolitical changes occurred. From a bridgehead in Belarus it was possible to strike Moscow again.

Complete the liberation of all Belarusian territory, parts of Lithuania and Poland.

Reach the Baltic coast and the borders of East Prussia, which made it possible to cut the German front at the junctions of army groups “Center” and “North” and isolate these German groups from each other.

To create favorable operational and tactical prerequisites for subsequent offensive operations in the Baltic states, Western Ukraine, in the Warsaw and East Prussian directions.

Operation milestones

The operation was carried out in two stages. At the first stage (June 23–July 4, 1944), the following frontal offensive operations were carried out: Vitebsk-Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Polotsk and Minsk. At the second stage of Operation Bagration (July 5–August 29, 1944), the following front-line offensive operations were carried out: Vilnius, Siauliai, Bialystok, Lublin-Brest, Kaunas and Osovets.

First stage of the operation

The offensive began on the morning of June 23, 1944. Near Vitebsk, the Red Army successfully broke through the German defenses and on June 25 surrounded west of the city five enemy divisions. The liquidation of the Vitebsk “cauldron” was completed by the morning of June 27, and Orsha was liberated on the same day. With the destruction of the Vitebsk group of Germans, a key position on the left flank of the defense of Army Group Center was captured. The northern flank of Army Group Center was virtually destroyed, more than 40 thousand Germans died and 17 thousand people were captured. In the Orsha direction, after breaking through the German defense, the Soviet command brought the 5th Guards Tank Army into battle. Having successfully crossed the Berezina, Rotmistrov’s tankers cleared Borisov of the Nazis. The entry of troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front into the Borisov area led to significant operational success: the 3rd Tank Army of Army Group Center was cut off from the 4th Field Army. The formations of the 2nd Belorussian Front advancing in the Mogilev direction penetrated the powerful and deeply echeloned German defenses that the enemy had prepared along the Pronya, Basya and Dnieper rivers. On June 28 they liberated Mogilev. The retreat of the 4th German Army lost its organization, the enemy lost up to 33 thousand killed and captured.

The Bobruisk offensive operation was supposed to create the southern “claw” of the huge encirclement planned by the Soviet Headquarters. This operation was carried out entirely by the most powerful of the fronts - the 1st Belorussian under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky. The 9th Army of the Wehrmacht resisted the advance of the Red Army. We had to advance through very difficult terrain - swamps. The blow was struck on June 24: from the southeast to the northwest, gradually turning to the north, Batov’s 65th Army (reinforced by the 1st Don Tank Corps) was moving, Gorbatov’s 3rd Army with the 9th Tank Corps was advancing from east to west body. For a quick breakthrough in the Slutsk direction, the 28th Army of Luchinsky and the 4th Guards Cavalry Corps of Pliev were used. The armies of Batov and Luchinsky quickly broke through the defenses of the stunned enemy (the Russians made their way through what was considered an impenetrable swamp). But Gorbatov’s 3rd Army had to literally bite into the Germans’ orders. The commander of the 9th Army, Hans Jordan, threw his main reserve - the 20th Panzer Division - against it. But he soon had to redirect his reserve to the southern flank of the defense. The 20th Panzer Division was unable to plug the breakthrough. On June 27, the main forces of the 9th Field Army fell into the “cauldron”. General Jordan was replaced by von Forman, but this could not save the situation. Attempts to relieve the blockade from outside and inside failed. Panic reigned in the surrounded Bobruisk, and on the 27th the assault began. By the morning of June 29, Bobruisk was completely liberated. The Germans lost 74 thousand people killed and captured. As a result of the defeat of the 9th Army, both flanks of Army Group Center were open, and the road to Minsk was clear from the northeast and southeast.

On June 29, the 1st Baltic Front attacked Polotsk. 6th guards army Chistyakov and Beloborodov's 43rd Army bypassed the city from the south (the guards of the 6th Army also bypassed Polotsk from the west), Malyshev's 4th Shock Army - from the north. Butkov's 1st Tank Corps liberated the town of Ushachi south of Polotsk and advanced far to the west. Then the tankers, with a surprise attack, captured a bridgehead on the western bank of the Dvina. But it didn’t work out to encircle the Germans - the commander of the city’s garrison, Karl Hilpert, voluntarily left the “fortress” without waiting for the escape routes to be cut off by Russian troops. Polotsk was occupied on July 4th. As a result of the Polotsk operation, the German command lost a strong stronghold and railway junction. In addition, the flank threat to the 1st Baltic Front was eliminated; the positions of the German Army Group North were bypassed from the south and were under the threat of a flank attack.

The German command, trying to rectify the situation, replaced the commander of Army Group Center, Bush, with Field Marshal Walter Model. He was considered a master of defensive operations. Reserve units were sent to Belarus, including the 4th, 5th and 12th tank divisions.

The 4th German Army, facing the threat of imminent encirclement, retreated across the Berezina River. The situation was extremely difficult: the flanks were open, the retreating columns were subjected to constant attacks by Soviet aircraft and attacks by partisans. The pressure from the 2nd Belorussian Front, which was located directly in front of the front of the 4th Army, was not strong, since the plans of the Soviet command did not include the expulsion of German troops from the future “cauldron”.

The 3rd Belorussian Front advanced in two main directions: to the southwest (toward Minsk) and west (to Vileika). The 1st Belorussian Front attacked Slutsk, Nesvizh and Minsk. The German resistance was weak, the main forces were defeated. On June 30, Slutsk was captured, and on July 2, Nesvizh, and the Germans’ escape route to the southwest was cut off. By July 2, tank units of the 1st Belorussian Front approached Minsk. The advancing units of the 3rd Belorussian Front had to endure a fierce battle with the 5th German Tank Division (reinforced by a battalion of heavy tanks), which arrived in the Borisov area on June 26-28. This division was full-blooded and did not participate in hostilities for several months. During several bloody battles, the last one taking place on July 1-2 north-west of Minsk, the tank division lost almost all its tanks and was driven back. On July 3, Burdeyny's 2nd Tank Corps broke into Minsk from the northwestern direction. At the same time, Rokossovsky’s advanced units approached the city from the southern direction. The German garrison was small and did not last long; Minsk was liberated by lunchtime. As a result, units of the 4th Army and units of other armies that joined it found themselves surrounded. The Red Army actually took revenge for the “cauldrons” of 1941. The encircled were unable to organize long-term resistance - the encircled area was shot through and through by artillery fire, it was constantly bombed, ammunition was running out, and there was no outside help. The Germans fought until July 8-9, made several desperate attempts to break through, but were defeated everywhere. July 8 and. O. The army commander, the commander of the XII Army Corps, Vinzenz Müller, signed the surrender. Even before July 12, a “cleansing” was underway; the Germans lost 72 thousand killed and more than 35 thousand were captured.

The poverty of the road network in Belarus and the swampy and wooded terrain led to the fact that many kilometers of columns of German troops huddled on just two major highways - Zhlobinsky and Rogachevsky, where they were subjected to massive attacks by the Soviet 16th Air Army. Some German units were practically destroyed on the Zhlobin highway.

Photo of destroyed German equipment from the area of ​​the bridge over the Berezina.

Second stage of the operation

The Germans tried to stabilize the situation. The head of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Kurt Zeitzler, proposed transferring Army Group North to the south in order to build a new front with the help of its troops. But this plan was rejected by Hitler for political reasons (relations with the Finns). In addition, the naval command opposed it - leaving the Baltic states worsened communications with Finland and Sweden and led to the loss of a number of naval bases and strongholds in the Baltic. As a result, Zeitzler resigned and was replaced by Heinz Guderian. Model, for his part, tried to erect a new defensive line, which ran from Vilnius through Lida and Baranovichi, in order to close a hole in the front approximately 400 km wide. But for this he had only one whole army - the 2nd and the remnants of other armies. Therefore, the German command had to transfer significant forces to Belarus from other sectors of the Soviet-German front and from the West. Until July 16, 46 divisions were sent to Belarus, but these troops were not brought into battle immediately, in parts, often “on wheels,” and therefore they could not quickly turn the tide.

From July 5 to July 20, 1944, the Vilnius operation was carried out by the forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front under the command of Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. The Germans did not have a continuous defense front in the Vilnius direction. On July 7, units of Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army and Obukhov's 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps reached the city and began to encircle it. The attempt to take the city on the move failed. On the night of July 8, new German forces were brought to Vilnius. On July 8-9, the city was completely surrounded and the assault began. Attempts by the Germans to unblock the city from the western direction were repulsed. The last pockets of resistance were suppressed in Vilnius on July 13. Up to 8 thousand Germans were destroyed, 5 thousand people were captured. On July 15, front units occupied several bridgeheads on the western bank of the Neman. Until the 20th there were battles for the bridgeheads.

On July 28, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front launched a new offensive - they were aimed at Kaunas and Suwalki. July 30 was broken through German defense According to the Neman, on August 1 the Germans left Kaunas to avoid being surrounded. Then the Germans received reinforcements and launched a counter-offensive - the fighting continued with varying success until the end of August. The front did not reach the East Prussian border several kilometers.

Bagramyan's 1st Baltic Front received the task of reaching the sea to cut off the North group. In the Dvina direction, the Germans were initially able to hold back the offensive, because the front was regrouping its forces and waiting for reserves. Dvinsk was cleared in cooperation with the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front advancing to the right only on July 27. On the same day, Siauliai was taken. By July 30, the front managed to separate two groups of enemy armies from each other - the advanced units of the Red Army cut the last railway between East Prussia and the Baltic states in the Tukums area. On July 31, Jelgava was captured. The 1st Baltic Front reached the sea. The Germans began to try to restore connection with Army Group North. The fighting went on with varying degrees of success, and at the end of August there was a break in the fighting.

The 2nd Belorussian Front advanced to the west - to Novogrudok, and then Grodno and Bialystok. Grishin's 49th Army and Boldin's 50th Army took part in the destruction of the Minsk "cauldron", so on July 5, only one army went on the offensive - the 33rd Army. The 33rd Army advanced without encountering much resistance, covering 120-125 km in five days. On July 8, Novogrudok was liberated, and on the 9th the army reached the Neman River. On July 10, the 50th Army joined the offensive and troops crossed the Neman. On July 16, Grodno was liberated, the Germans were already putting up fierce resistance, and a series of counterattacks were repulsed. The German command tried to stop the Soviet troops, but they did not have enough strength to do this. On July 27, Bialystok was recaptured. Soviet soldiers reached the pre-war border Soviet Union. The front was unable to carry out significant encirclements, since it did not have large mobile formations (tank, mechanized, cavalry corps). On August 14, Osovets and the bridgehead beyond the Narev were occupied.

The 1st Belorussian Front advanced in the direction of Baranovichi-Brest. Almost immediately, the advancing units encountered German reserves: the 4th Tank Division, the 1st Hungarian Cavalry Division, the 28th Light Infantry Division and other formations went. On July 5-6 there was a fierce battle. Gradually, the German forces were crushed, they were inferior in number. Besides soviet front supported powerful air force formations that dealt strong blows to the Germans. On July 6, Kovel was liberated. On July 8, after a fierce battle, Baranovichi was taken. On July 14 they took Pinsk, on the 20th Kobrin. On July 20, Rokossovsky's units crossed the Bug on the move. The Germans did not have time to create a line of defense along it. On July 25, a “cauldron” was created near Brest, but on the 28th, the remnants of the encircled German group broke out of it (the Germans lost 7 thousand people killed). It should be noted that the battles were fierce, there were few prisoners, but a lot of dead Germans.

On July 22, units of the 2nd Tank Army (which was attached to the front during the second phase of the operation) reached Lublin. On July 23, the assault on the city began, but due to the lack of infantry it was delayed, and the city was finally taken by the morning of the 25th. At the end of July - beginning of August, Rokossovsky's front captured two large bridgeheads across the Vistula.

Results of the operation

As a result of the two-month offensive of the Red Army, White Rus' was completely cleared of the Nazis, part of the Baltic states and the eastern regions of Poland were liberated. In general, on a front of 1,100 kilometers, troops advanced to a depth of 600 km.

This was a major defeat for the Wehrmacht. There is even an opinion that it was biggest defeat German armed forces in World War II. Army Group Center was defeated, Army Group North was threatened with defeat. The powerful line of defense in Belarus, protected by natural barriers (swamps, rivers), has been broken. German reserves were depleted and had to be thrown into battle to close the “hole.”

An excellent foundation has been created for a future offensive into Poland and further into Germany. Thus, the 1st Belorussian Front captured two large bridgeheads across the Vistula south of the capital of Poland (Magnuszewski and Pulawski). In addition, during the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied a bridgehead near Sandomierz.

Operation Bagration was a triumph of Soviet military art. The Red Army “responsible” for the “boilers” of 1941.

The Soviet army lost up to 178.5 thousand dead, missing and captured, as well as 587.3 thousand wounded and sick. The total German losses were about 400 thousand people (according to other sources, more than 500 thousand).

On November 6, 1944, in the report “The 27th Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution” at the ceremonial meeting of the Moscow Council of Workers’ Deputies, J.V. Stalin listed ten offensive operations of the Soviet troops, which from that day became known as “Stalin’s ten strikes.”

STALIN'S FIRST STRIKE. Leningrad-Novgorod operation (January 14 – March 1, 1944). The result of the operation was the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad and the liberation Leningrad region and Novgorod. Favorable conditions were created for the liberation of the Soviet Baltic states and the defeat of the enemy in Karelia.

STALIN'S SECOND STRIKE. Included 9 offensive operations of the Red Army, the main of which was the Korsun - Shevchenko operation (January 24 - February 17, 1944). The result of the operations was the defeat of the German Army Groups “South” and “A” on the Southern Bug River. The entire Right Bank Ukraine was liberated. The Red Army reached the line of Kovel, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Balti, entered the territory of Moldova, and reached the border with Romania. This created the conditions for a subsequent attack in Belarus and the defeat of the German-Romanian troops near Odessa and in the Crimea.

STALIN'S THIRD STRIKE. Odessa and Crimean operations (March 26 – May 14, 1944). As a result, Odessa, Crimea, and Sevastopol were liberated.

STALIN'S FOURTH STRIKE. Vyborg - Petrozavodsk operation (June 10 - August 9, 1944). It was carried out taking into account the landing of the Anglo-American landing across the English Channel in Northern France on June 6, 1944 and the opening of the Second Front. As a result of the fourth strike, the Red Army broke through the Mannerheim Line, defeated the Finnish army, and liberated the cities of Vyborg, Petrozavodsk and most of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.

FIFTH STALIN'S STRIKE. Belarusian operation - “Bagration” (June 23 – August 29, 1944). Soviet troops defeated the central group of the Nazi army and destroyed 30 enemy divisions east of Minsk. As a result of the fifth strike of the Red Army, the Byelorussian SSR, most of the Lithuanian SSR and a significant part of Poland were liberated. Soviet troops crossed the Neman River and reached the Vistula River and directly to the borders of Germany - East Prussia.

SIXTH STALIN'S STRIKE. Lviv - Sandomierz operation (July 13 - August 29, 1944). The Red Army defeated the Nazi troops near Lvov and threw them back across the San and Vistula rivers. As a result of the sixth strike, Western Ukraine was liberated, Soviet troops crossed the Vistula and formed a powerful bridgehead west of the city of Sandomierz.

SEVENTH STALIN'S STRIKE. Iasi-Kishinev offensive operations (August 20–29, 1944) and Bucharest–Arad offensive operations (also known as the Romanian operation, August 30–October 3, 1944). The basis of the attack was the Iasi-Kishinev offensive operation, as a result of which 22 fascist German divisions were defeated and the Moldavian SSR was liberated. As part of the Romanian offensive operation, support was provided for the anti-fascist uprising in Romania, Romania and then Bulgaria were withdrawn from the war, and the way was opened for Soviet troops to Hungary and the Balkans.

THE EIGHTH STALIN STRIKE. Baltic operation (September 14–November 24, 1944). More than 30 enemy divisions were defeated. The result of the operation was the liberation of the Estonian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR, and most of the Latvian SSR. Finland was forced to break off relations with Germany and declare war on it. The Germans were isolated in East Prussia and the Courland Pocket (Latvia).

STALIN'S NINTH STRIKE. Includes offensive operations of the Red Army from September 8 to December 1944, including the East Carpathian operation from September 8 to October 28, 1944. As a result of the operations, Transcarpathian Ukraine was liberated, assistance was provided to the Slovak National Uprising on August 20 and part of Eastern Slovakia was liberated, most of Hungary was cleared, Serbia was liberated and Belgrade was captured on October 20. Our troops entered the territory of Czechoslovakia, and conditions were created for striking in the Budapest direction, in Austria and southern Germany.

STALIN'S TENTH STRIKE. Petsamo-Kirkenes operation (October 7 – 29, 1944). As a result of the operation, the Soviet Arctic was liberated, the threat to the port of Murmansk was eliminated, enemy troops in Northern Finland were defeated, the Pechenga region was liberated, and the city of Petsamo (Pechenga) was captured. The Red Army entered Northern Norway.

During the fighting in 1944, the Red Army destroyed and captured 138 divisions; 58 German divisions, which suffered losses of up to 50% or more, were disbanded and reduced to battle groups. In the battles for Belarus alone, the Red Army captured 540 thousand German soldiers and officers. On July 17, 1944, up to 60 thousand of this composition, led by 19 generals, were marched through the streets of Moscow. Romania, Finland and Bulgaria went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. The successes of 1944 predetermined the final defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

The results of the offensive operations of 1944 were summed up in Order No. 220 of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin from November 7, 1944:

“The three-year fascist yoke on the lands of our fraternal union republics temporarily captured by the Germans has been overthrown. The Red Army returned freedom to tens of millions of Soviet people. The Soviet state border, treacherously violated by Hitler's hordes on June 22, 1941, has been restored all the way from the Black Sea to the Barents Sea. Thus, the past year was a year of complete liberation Soviet land from the Nazi invaders."

The largest military-strategic operations were:

The final lifting of the 900-day siege of Leningrad in January 1944;

Korsun-Shevchenko operation. Liberation of Right Bank Ukraine;

In the summer of 1944, as a result of Operation Bagration, one of the strongest enemy groups, “Center,” was defeated, Belarus was liberated, and the liberation of the Baltic states (autumn 1944) and Poland (early 1945) began;

During the Iasi-Chisinau operation, Chisinau was liberated.

In 1944, the entire territory of the USSR was liberated from Nazi occupation. The Soviet Army began to liberate Eastern Europe. Soviet troops liberated Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia.

In June 1944, Soviet troops launched Operation Bagration in the Belarusian direction. Two counter strikes east of Minsk surrounded a 100,000-strong group of German troops. Soviet troops rushed into the resulting 400-kilometer breakthrough. By the end of the operation, when the general offensive began, almost the entire territory of the USSR was liberated. The Soviet Army entered East Prussia and the territory of Poland. The Allies launched a general offensive in Northern France at the end of July. In August, American and French troops landed in southern France. The Allied offensive coincided with the beginning of an anti-fascist uprising in the country. On August 18 it began in Paris and after 4 days the entire city was in the hands of the rebels. When the Allies approached the city, the blockaded garrison of Paris capitulated. By the end of 1944, France and most of Belgium were liberated. The Allies stood at the borders of Germany. The military failures of Germany and Japan in 1944 further aggravated the crisis of the ruling regimes. In Germany, it manifested itself in a conspiracy against Hitler, organized with the active participation of a group of senior Wehrmacht officers. The main participants in the conspiracy were quickly arrested, 5 thousand people were executed, including 56 generals and one field marshal, 4 field marshals committed suicide without waiting for arrest. The conspiracy gave impetus to the tightening of repression, and the destruction of all imprisoned opponents of the Nazi regime began.

In July 1944, a major offensive by Soviet troops began on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. In August, the Soviet Army entered Romania. King Michael ordered the arrest of Prime Minister General Antonescu and declared war on Germany. In the armistice signed on September 12, Romania confirmed the transfer of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR. On September 5, Bulgaria also requested a truce. Miklai Horthy also tried to sign a truce with the Allies, but the German command intervened. It displaced him. Power in Hungary passed into the hands of local fascists, who declared their intention to stand with Germany to the end. In September, the Soviet Army entered the territory of Yugoslavia, a significant part of which had already been liberated from German troops by the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, led by Josip Broz Pito. The entry of the Red Army on a broad front into Central and South-Eastern Europe immediately raised the question of further relations between the countries of this region with the USSR. On the eve of and during the battles for this vast and vital region, the USSR began to support pro-Soviet politicians in these countries - mainly from among the communists. At the same time, the Soviet leadership sought recognition from the United States and England of their special interests in this part of Europe. Given the fact of the presence of Soviet troops there, Churchill in 1944 agreed with the inclusion of all Balkan countries, except Greece, in the sphere of influence of the USSR. In 1944, Stalin achieved the creation of a pro-Soviet government in Poland, parallel to the exile government in London. The armed forces of the latter waged an armed struggle on the territory of Poland against both German and Soviet troops. In August 1944, they launched an uprising in Warsaw, which was ruthlessly suppressed by the Germans almost in full view of the Soviet Army. Sharp disagreements arose between the USSR, on the one hand, and England and the USA, on the other hand, regarding what kind of government should exist in Poland.

The final stage of the Second World War.

Winter 1944

the main objective– lifting the blockade of Leningrad, liberating right-bank Ukraine

In January it was finally the blockade of Leningrad was lifted, which lasted 900 days. The northwestern part of the USSR territory was liberated.

Was held in January Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya operation, in the development of which Soviet troops liberated Right Bank Ukraine and the southern regions of the USSR (Crimea, the cities of Kherson, Odessa, etc.).

Summer 1944 The Red Army carried out one of the largest operations of the Great Patriotic War (Bagration). Belarus was completely liberated. This victory opened the way for advances into Poland, the Baltic states and East Prussia. In mid-August 1944, Soviet troops in the western direction reached the border with Germany.

IN end of August started Yassko-Kishinevskaya operation, as a result of which Moldova was liberated. The opportunity was created for the withdrawal of Romania, Germany's ally, from the war.

Vistula-Oder operation January 12 – February 3, 1945, Poland, most of Czechoslovakia and Hungary were finally liberated.

· In April 1945 - Berlin operation . It was aimed at the final defeat of fascism. Troops of the 1st (commander Marshal G.K. Zhukov), 2nd (commander Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky) Belarusian and 1st Ukrainian (commander Marshal I.S. Konev) fronts destroyed the Berlin enemy group and captured about 500 thousand people, a huge number military equipment and weapons.

The fascist leadership was completely demoralized, A. Hitler committed suicide. On the morning of May 1, the capture of Berlin and the Reichstag was completed(German Parliament) hoisted the Red Banner symbol of Victory Soviet people.

May 8, 1945 in the suburbs of Berlin - Act of unconditional surrender. 9th May The remnants of German troops in the Prague area were defeated. Therefore, May 9 became Victory Day of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.

Victory:

Sources:

Mass heroism

Unity of front and rear

Successes of the partisan movement

Military art of commanders

Results:

The defeat of fascism

Expanding the country's borders

The beginning of the creation of a world system of socialism

Price:

Russia – 27 million people (10 million in combat, 17 million civilians)

Germany – about 8 million people