Page 451 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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As a whole during 6 days offensive the 1 Baltic, 3 , 2 and the right wing of the 1
rd
st
st
nd
Belorussian Fronts encircled and destroyed 13 German divisions in the area of Vitebsk,
Orsha, Mogilev and Bobruisk. Besides they seriously crippled two infantry and three
tank divisions moved to Belorussia from the other sectors. Soviet troops had advanced
90-150 km to the west. The 1 and 3 Belorussian Fronts from north and south deeply
rd
st
enveloped the enemy troops stationed on the Minsk direction.
June 28 Soviet HQ specified the objectives. The further plan was as follows. 1
st
Belorussian Front right wing in cooperation with the 3 Belarusian Front left wing and
rd
the main forces of the 2 Belorussian Front were to attack the enemy on the directions
nd
converging to the town of Minsk, encircle and crush the main forcers of the German 4
th
Army and liberate Minsk.
One of the conditions of success in that operation was to disrupt the cooperation
between the Army Group “Center” and Army Group “North”. The 1 Baltic Front ef-
st
fectively fulfilled that task. During June 29 – July 4 it conducted Polotsk offensive op-
eration. As a result Army Group “Center” was cut from the north and deprived of any
reserves inflow from the other sectors and that contributed to the success of the Minsk
operation.
During that operation the cavalry and mechanized troops of the 1 and 3 Belorussian
rd
st
Fronts delivered blows on converging directions and cut off the railroads outgoing from
th
Minsk. July 3 the 5 Guards Tank Army rushed into the town. As a result there was en-
circled the enemy force of 105 thousand men to the east of Minsk. The same day Minsk
was completely liberated.
The result of the first stage of the Belorussian Offensive Operation actually was the
rout of the Army Group “Center”. The enemy defense was breached in the zone of 400
km wide. After 12 days offensive Soviet troops advanced to the distance of 225-280 km
and liberated more than half the territory of Belorussia including its capital – Minsk.
The second stage of the Operation “Bagration” was from July 5 till August 29. At
that stage Soviet troops completed the rout of the German force encircled in the area of
Minsk, and conducted Siauliai, Vilnius – Kaunas, Bialystok and Lublin – Brest offen-
sive operations.
The 2 Belorussian Front in the period of July 5-13 completed the rout of the en-
nd
circled enemy force. German losses totaled more than 70 thousand killed and about 36
thousand captured including three Corps Commanders and six Division Commanders.
st
The 1 Baltic Front conducted the Siauliai operation, liberated a part of Lithuania and
advanced to the territory of Latvia and radically worsened the situation of the German
forces stationed in the Baltic area. Nevertheless they were still sufficiently strong.
German Command delivered a number of severe counter-blows, made the Soviet troops
retreat and restored the land communications of the Army Group “North”. However the
st
1 Baltic Front managed to hold advantage ground for further offensive on Riga and
Memel (Klaipeda) directions.
rd
The 3 Belorussian Front conducted Vilnius – Kaunas operation and by the end of
July advanced to 180-300 km, liberated Vilnius and Kaunas and made good conditions
for further offensive to the border of Eastern Prussia.