Minsk Offensive Operation

Minsk Offensive

Date	29 June — 4 July 1944
Location	Belorussian SSR
Result	Soviet Victory

Belligerents

Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Walter Model
(Army Group Centre)

Kurt von Tippelskirch

Dietrich von Saucken

Vincenz Müller
(elements of Fourth Army)

Ivan Chernyakhovsky
(3rd Belorussian Front)

Konstantin Rokossovsky
(1st Belorussian Front)

Georgiy Zakharov
(2nd Belorussian Front)

Hovhannes Bagramyan
(1st Baltic Front)

Strength

unknown

Casualties and losses

100,000 troops caught in encirclement

(40,000 killed or missing,
rest either wounded or captured)

unknown

The Minsk Offensive (Russian: Минская наступательная операция) was part of the second phase of the Belorussian Strategic Offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration.

The Red Army encircled the German Fourth Army in the city of Minsk. Hitler ordered the Fourth Army to hold fast, declaring the city to be fortified place ("fester platz") and defended even if encircled. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army attacked from the north-east, while the 2nd Guards Tank Corps moved in from the east, and the 65th Army advanced from the south. About 100,000 Axis soldiers from the Fourth and Ninth Armies were encircled, of whom some 40,000 were killed and most of the rest captured. The result was a complete victory for the Red Army, the liberation of Minsk, and the rapid destruction of much of the German Army Group Centre.

The role of the 3rd Belorussian Front in the first phase of Operation Bagration was essentially complete by 28 June, when its cavalry-mechanised units halted at the Berezina. The same day, with the initial objectives fulfilled, Stavka issued a new order, No. 220124. This ordered the Front to force the Berezina from the march, and develop an offensive towards Minsk and Molodechno, capturing the former in cooperation with the 2nd Belorussian Front and reaching the latter no later than 8 July. The 5th Guards Tank Army, under General Pavel Rotmistrov was however criticized for its slowness in attaining its objectives and ordered to display greater decisiveness.

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Wikipedia