Mogilev Offensive

Part of Operation Bagration

Date	June 23, 1944 – June 28, 1944
Location	Belorussian SSR
Result	Soviet Victory

Belligerents

Nazi Germany

Soviet Union

Commanders and leaders

Kurt von Tippelskirch
(Fourth Army)

Georgiy Zakharov
(2nd Belorussian Front)

Strength

Casualties and losses

33,000 killed, 3,250 POW (Soviet est)

The Mogilev Offensive (Russian: Могилевская наступательная операция) was part of the Belorussian Strategic Offensive of the Red Army in the summer of 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. Its goals were to capture the city of Mogilev, and to pin down and trap the bulk of the German Fourth Army. The offensive fulfilled both objectives.

The Mogilev Offensive had two main goals within the context of Operation Bagration:

The XXXIX Panzer Corps before Mogilev was one of the strongest corps in Army Group Centre, with four high-quality divisions. This reflected the strategic importance of the road through Mogilev, which provided the main route through the marshes in the region. However, as with the other German armies involved in Operation Bagration, the Fourth Army was unprepared for a major offensive, as the Oberkommando des Heeres expected that the main Soviet offensive would be against Army Group North Ukraine.

Shortly before the attack began, a battalion commander in the 12th Infantry Division raised concerns about a possible attack with General Martinek, who was on a tour of inspection. Martinek agreed but in response cited the proverb "Whom God would destroy, he first strikes blind": the concerns were not passed on.

The city of Mogilev had been designated a Fester Platz, or fortified area, under the command of Generalmajor Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff.

As with the other offensives in the first phase of Operation Bagration, the Mogilev Offensive opened with an intense artillery barrage against the German defensive lines on the morning of 23 June.

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Wikipedia