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During World War II, the Soviet Belorussian Offensive (codenamed Operation Bagration) cleared the Germans forces from Belorussian SSR, and resulted in the destruction of the German Army Group Centre, possibly the greatest defeat for the Wehrmacht during the war. The operation was named after 18th-19th century Russian general Pyotr Bagration, who died at the Battle of Borodino.
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Belorussian Offensive
Background
The battle
Aftermath
Footnotes
| | Conflict | Belorussian Offensive | | image |  | | Caption | The Eastern Front (WWII) | | Partof | World War II | | Place | Belorussian SSR, Soviet Union | | Date | June 22, 1944 - August 19, 1944 | | Result | Soviet victory | | Combatant1 | Axis Powers | | Combatant2 | Soviet Union | | Commander1 | Ernst Busch
Walther Model
Ferdinand Sch... | | Commander2 | Konstantin Rokossovski
Georgy Zhukov
Al... | | Strength1 | 800,000 | | Strength2 | 1,700,000 | | Casualties1 | (Soviet est.) 400,000 killed, 158,000 POWs, 5... | | Casualties2 | 178,507 KIA/MIA, 587,308 WIA/sick, Total Casu... |
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Background
Army Group Centre had previously proved a tough nut to crack as Zhukov's defeat in Operation Mars had shown. But by June 1944, despite shortening its front line, it had been exposed following the crushing of Army Group South in the battles that followed the Battle of Kursk, the Liberation of Kiev and the Liberation of the Crimea in the late summer, autumn and winter of 1943-44 - the so-called third period of the Great Patriotic War.
Bagration, in combination with the neighbouring Lvov-Sandomierz Operation launched a few weeks later in Ukraine, allowed the Soviet Union to recapture practically all the territories within its 1941 borders, advance into German East Prussia, and reach the outskirts of Warsaw after gaining control of Poland east of the Vistula river.
The battle has been described as the triumph of the Soviet theory of "the operational art" - because of the complete co-ordination of all front movements and signals traffic to fool the enemy about the target of the offensive. Despite the huge forces involved, Soviet front commanders left their opposite numbers completely confused about the main axis of attack until too late.
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The battle
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The attack began on the morning of June 22, 1944, three years to the day after the German attack on the Soviet Union. OKW had been expecting an attack on Army Group South, which had already been severely weakened and driven from most of the Ukraine, and therefore received armaments diverted from Army Group Centre just prior to the attack.
Operation Bagration pitted over 2.3 million Soviet soldiers in 200 divisions and large formations with almost 6,000 tanks and massed artillery against the 34 German divisions of Army Group Centre. The defeat of this force resulted in the death or capture of nearly 350,000 German troops.
The Lvov-Sandomierz Operation was launched on July 17, 1944, and quickly routed the German forces in the Ukraine. The rapid progress of that offensive brought the Soviet forces to the gates of Warsaw in the final days of July. Operation Bagration also cut off and isolated the German units of Army Group North fighting in Courland. The disruption caused by these operations in turn helped the Soviet Union to advance into the Balkans in August 1944.
The operation halted only when Soviet supply lines were in danger of over-extension, so complete had their successes been. However, controversy still rages about the decision to provide only limited - and late - assistance to the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising which began just as Soviet forces reached the eastern outskirts of that city.
Contributing to the German defeat was the transfer of units in response to the invasion of Normandy two weeks earlier. Four Soviet “Fronts” (army groups) totaling over 120 divisions therefore smashed into an even more thinly-held German line. The Soviets were able to achieve a ratio of ten to one in tanks and seven to one in aircraft over their enemy. At the points of attack, the numerical and qualitative advantages of the Soviets were overwhelming. The Germans crumbled.
The capital of Belorussian SSR, Minsk, was taken on July 3, trapping fifty thousand Germans. Ten days later, the Red Army reached the pre-war Polish border. Overall the near-total annihilation of Army Group Centre cost the Germans 2,000 tanks and 57,000 other vehicles. German losses are estimated at 300,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, and about 120,000 captured; overall casualties at 670,000. Soviet losses were 60,000 killed, 110,000 wounded, and about 8,000 missing, with 2,957 tanks, 2,447 artillery pieces, and 822 aircraft also lost.
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Aftermath
Considering comparisons to other battles, this was by far the greatest victory in terms of numbers for the Soviets, having inflicted nearly 4 times as many losses for the Germans and capturing a vast amount of Soviet land back in a span of 2 months. It was one of the few major Axis-Soviet battles in which the Germans lost more troops than the Soviets.
The German army never recovered from the matériel and manpower losses sustained during this time having lost about a fourth of its Eastern Front manpower, similar to the percentage lost at Stalingrad. The offensive also cut off Army Group North and Army Group South from each other, forcing them to withdraw from Soviet territory much more quickly.
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Footnotes
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