Kaunas Offensive Operation

Kaunas Offensive
Part of Operation Bagration
Date July 28 - August 28, 1944 Location Kaunas area, Lithuania 54°55′N 24°00′E / 54.917°N 24.000°E / 54.917; 24.000Coordinates: 54°55′N 24°00′E / 54.917°N 24.000°E / 54.917; 24.000 Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Walter Model (Army Group Centre)	Ivan Chernyakhovsky (3rd Belorussian Front)
Strength
?	?
Casualties and losses
?	?

The Kaunas Offensive (Russian: Каунасская наступательная) was part of the third phase of the Belorussian Strategic Offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. The Kaunas offensive was executed by the 3rd Belorussian Front on July 28 – August 28, 1944, with the aim of destroying the German concentration on the western bank of the Neman river, the liberation of Kaunas, and reaching the boundaries of East Prussia.

After completing the Vilnius Offensive Operation, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front (the 11th Guards, 5th, 31st, 33rd, 39th Armies, the 5th Guards Tank Army and 1st Air Army) were engaged in intense fighting with German forces on the approaches to the Neman river during the second half of July, and were preparing for the continuation of the offensive. They were resisted by formations and units of the Third Panzer and Fourth Armies of the German Army Group Centre, under the command of Field-Marshal Walter Model. Towards the end of July, German units concentrated in the direction of Kaunas, according to Soviet estimates, included elements of 10 infantry and 2 tank divisions, 2 infantry brigades and 30 separate regiments and battalions.

Stavka assigned to the forces of the Front the mission of pressing home the attack on the Kaunas axis not later than 1–2 August, through assaults by the 39th Army together with the 5th Guards Tank Army from the north, and the 5th and 33rd Armies from the south to occupy Kaunas – the most important defensive position on the approaches to East Prussia. The plan called for the Red Army troops to advance to the borders of East Prussia by the 10 August and assume a defensive configuration in preparation for advancing into East Prussia.

As with the parallel defence against the to the south, Model concentrated on a holding / delaying action using the few units available to him. The German Order of Battle for mid-July showed units from a large number of divisions in the area, but many of these were fragments that had escaped from the encirclement of the bulk of Army Group Centre in the previous phases of Operation Bagration; see deployments below.

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