History 09/03/20 Any loss suffered by the Red Army when it liberated the Baltics
on 29 July 1944 in the Byelorussian strategic offensive operation known as operation Bagration, the Red Army defeated the German army group “Center”. To the complete defeat of the Nazis had less than a year.
Before
widely known for fighting for the liberation of Ukraine by the red Army in the autumn of 1943 and winter of 1944. Less known operations on the territory of modern Belarus. And if in the South of Belarus to the red Army were successful (was released Gomel, Rechitsa and a number of settlements), the battles for Orsha and Vitebsk directions, walked with heavy losses and without a significant troop movement. Here the German defenses had to literally “gnaw”.
However, by the spring of 1944, has developed extremely unfavorable for the German troops front configuration, when part of the group of armies “Centre” was covered in the North and the South. Despite this, the German command expected the most powerful Soviet strike will follow in Ukraine, there are concentrated up to 80 per cent of German tanks and a large amount of manpower . Subsequent events showed that it was one of the miscalculations of the German high command. Not to say that the attack was for the German troops a complete surprise — hide the concentration of a large number of troops and equipment it is impossible, but the strength and direction of the blows were to the enemy largely unexpected.
the Vitebsk Operation
during the operation “Bagration” occupies a special place in Vitebsk offensive operation, conducted by the flanking armies of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belarusian fronts and interesting as a successful example of cooperation between the two fronts.
the environment and the destruction of a strong German grouping in the area of Vitebsk were made without the involvement of large armored units — only the military connections.
Despite the fact that the attack took place in unfavorable for large-scale action, abounding in forests and swamps of the area, the operation was carried out successfully and in an extremely short timeframe. Played a role and apparently personal order of Adolf Hitler, who responded by refusing the offer to leave is extremely important, but at the same time inconvenient for the defense sector of the front.
on June 23, the first day of the offensive, Soviet forces achieved a major success, and a day later fighting took place in the Vitebsk that was released early morning on June 26. The second part of the surgery was associated with elimination of some of the trapped enemy forces.
the evening of 28 June the enemy’s resistance was broken. The main role played by the speed of action and overwhelming superiority of Soviet forces in aviation, because of combating the air enemy had hardly any. During occupation and fights Vitebsk was turned almost into ruins, and out of 167 thousand people (census of 1939) at the time of liberation in the city there are only 118 people.
the Bobruisk offensive operation
a Powerful blow was dealt by the red Army and the Bobruisk direction. Here, German troops, drawing on a number of intermediate milestones, attempted to save and print technology and the most efficient part. However, the dense columns of the retreating German troops were scattered and destroyed by artillery and tanks. Of great importance in the battle near Bobruisk played almost complete supremacy in the air the Soviet air force.
Bombers and attack aircraft are often operated without fighter cover. So, for two hours on 27 June 1944 one of the German columns collapsed 159 tons of bombs. Further examination of the area revealed that the enemy has left more than thousands dead, 150 tanks, around 1,000 guns and over 6,500 cars and trucks.
on 29 June, Soviet troops liberated Bobruisk. Individual German units managed to break out of the ring to Osipovichi, where they were finally dispersed.
Minsk “pot”
surrounded by the Third largest German groups was carried out by Soviet forces in the Minsk area. As in other parts of the Soviet offensive was developing rapidly. July 2 was released Borisov — occupation of this city lasted exactly three years and one day (1 July 1941 to 2 July 1944).
the red army, bypassing Minsk, cut the road to Baranovichi and Molodechno. German forces East of Minsk and the city was encircled. Only the ring was about 105 thousand people. Soviet troops on the experience of previous campaigns managed very quickly to create an external front of encirclement and cut the German group into several parts.
July 3, Minsk was liberated. Nowadays, this date is celebrated as the independence day of Belarus. Surrounded by German troops in small groups of up to two thousand people made repeated attempts to bypass Minsk to the North and from the South.
the first day the German air force tried to organize an airlift, but a quick change of scene and the dominance of Soviet fighters in the air forced the German command to withdraw from this option.
Now surrounded by parts were left to themselves. To fight in separate groups in the part of the troops of the 2nd Belorussian front began to form special mobile units (three infantry regiment).
Support for actions of mobile units was carried out from the air, when the aircraft was directing the actions of ground forces and inflicted assault strikes. Active support in the destruction of separate groups of regular troops had nearly 30 guerrilla groups. During the Minsk operation, German troops lost about 72 thousand dead and missing and 35 thousand prisoners. The success of operations in Eastern and Central part of Belarus allowed without any pause proceed to the liberation of the Western regions of the Republic, PRbaltici and Poland.
Russian Seven
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