Belarusian operation 1944. Little-known pages of history

During Operation Bagration, Soviet troops, having fought several hundred kilometers, almost mirrored the events of 1941 - but this time German divisions died in cauldrons. As a result of the operation (68 days in total), the Byelorussian SSR, part of the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR were liberated. Conditions were also provided for striking deep into East Prussia and into central areas Poland. To stabilize the front line, the German command was forced to transfer 46 divisions to Belarus from other sectors of the Soviet-German front and the west, which greatly facilitated the conduct of combat operations in France by the Anglo-American troops.

Strategic importance

The defeat of the Nazi troops in Belarus went down in history as one of the most important battles of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. As a result of the Belarusian operation, not only all of Belarus was liberated, but also most of Lithuania, part of Latvia, and the eastern regions of Poland. Soviet troops approached the borders of East Prussia, which created a springboard for the liberation of part of European countries and the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The successes of the Red Army pushed the Allies to open a second front as soon as possible. Shortly before the final liberation of Belarus, on June 6, 1944, an Anglo-American landing force (Operation Overlord) numbering 150 thousand people was landed on the French shore of the English Channel.

Losses

By the end of Operation Bagration, Army Group Center was almost completely deprived of both personnel and materiel. Soviet troops defeated 28 divisions, thereby defending German army a gigantic gap of up to 400 km was formed. along the front and 500 km in depth. The total losses of German troops in Belarus in the summer of 1944 amounted to more than 380 thousand killed and 150 thousand captured (this is approximately ¼ of the total forces of the German army on the eastern front). On the part of the Red Army, losses amounted to approximately 170 thousand soldiers.

On the territory of the BSSR, the Nazi invaders destroyed more than 2.2 million Soviet citizens and prisoners of war, destroyed and burned 209 cities and towns, 9,200 villages. Material damage to the republic was estimated at 75 billion rubles (in 1941 prices). According to the 1941 census data. and 1944 The population of the BSSR decreased from 9.2 million people. up to 6.3 million. That is, the Belarusian people were missing every fourth of their compatriots.

The offensive operation of the Red Army units in Belarus in the period from the end of June to the end of August 1944 was called “Bagration”. Almost all world-famous military historians recognize this operation as one of the largest in the history of wars.

Results and significance of the operation.

During this powerful offensive covering a vast territory, all of Belarus, part of eastern Poland and a significant part of the Baltic states were liberated from the Nazi invaders. As a result of the lightning-fast offensive actions of the Red Army, Army Group Center was almost completely defeated. On the territory of Belarus, the human and material losses of the Wehrmacht were so significant that Hitler’s military machine was never able to compensate for them until the very end of the war.

Strategic necessity for the operation.

The operational situation on the front along the line Vitebsk - Orsha - Mogilev - Zhlobin required the rapid elimination of the wedge, called by the military the “Belarusian Balcony”. From the territory of this ledge, the German command had an excellent prospect for a counterattack in a southern direction. Such actions by the Nazis could have led to the loss of initiative and the encirclement of the Red Army group in northern Ukraine.

Forces and composition of the warring parties.

The strength of all units of the Red Army that took part in Operation Bagration totaled more than 1 million 200 thousand military personnel. These data are given without taking into account the number of auxiliary and rear units, as well as without taking into account the number of fighters from partisan brigades operating on the territory of Belarus.

According to various estimates, the Germans had about 900 thousand people from Army Group Center on this section of the front.

During the offensive operation in Belarus, 4 fronts of the Red Army were opposed by 4 German armies. The deployment of the Germans was as follows:

2nd Army defended itself at the border of Pinsk and Pripyat
The 9th German army was concentrated southeast of Bobruisk
The 3rd and 4th tank armies were stationed in the area between the Dnieper and Berezina rivers, at the same time covering the Bykhovsky bridgehead to Orsha.

The plan for the summer offensive in Belarus was developed by the General Staff of the Red Army back in April 1944. The idea of ​​the offensive operations was to launch powerful flank attacks on Army Group Center, encircling the main enemy forces in the Minsk region.

Preparatory operations were carried out by Soviet troops until May 31. The initial plan of action was changed thanks to the intervention of Marshal Rokossovsky, who insisted on simultaneously delivering two strikes against the Nazi group. According to this Soviet commander, attacks should have been carried out on Osipovichi and Slutsk with the Germans encircled in the area of ​​​​the city of Bobruisk. Rokossovsky had many opponents at Headquarters. But thanks to the moral support of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin, the strike plan proposed by the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front K.K. Rokossovsky was eventually approved.

During the entire period of preparation for Operation Bagration, data obtained during reconnaissance operations, as well as information about the deployment of enemy units received from partisan detachments. During the entire period preceding the offensive, reconnaissance units of different fronts captured more than 80 Wehrmacht soldiers as “tongues”, more than one thousand firing points and over 300 artillery batteries were identified.

The main task at the first stage of the operation was to ensure the effect of complete surprise. For this purpose, the shock and assault units of the fronts moved to their initial positions before the decisive strikes exclusively at night.

Preparations for the offensive operation were carried out in the strictest secrecy, so that the further rapid advance of the assault units would take the enemy by surprise.

During the period of preparation for practicing combat operations, front-line units were specially withdrawn to the rear for this purpose in order to keep enemy reconnaissance completely in the dark. Such stringent precautions to prevent the leakage of any information fully justified themselves.

The forecasts of the Hitlerite command of the armies of the Center group converged on the fact that the Red Army would deliver the most powerful blow on the territory of Ukraine in the direction south of the city of Kovel in the direction of the coast Baltic Sea, to dissect army groups “North” and “Center”. Therefore, in this area, the Nazis put together a powerful deterrent army group “Northern Ukraine”, consisting of 9 divisions, including 7 tank and 2 motorized divisions. There were 4 Tiger tank battalions in the operational reserve of the German command. Army Group Center included only one tank, two tank-grenadier divisions and only one Tiger battalion. The Nazis’ small number of deterrent forces on this section of the front even led to the fact that the commander of the Army Group Center, Bush, repeatedly appealed personally to Hitler with a request to allow the withdrawal of some army units to more convenient defense lines along coastline Berezina River. The Fuhrer completely rejected the plan of the generals, the order to defend on the previous lines of defense of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev and Bobruisk. Each of these cities was turned into a powerful defensive fortress, as it seemed to the German command.

The positions of Hitler's troops were seriously fortified along the entire front with a complex of defensive structures consisting of minefields, machine gun nests, anti-tank ditches and barbed wire. About 20 thousand residents of the occupied regions of Belarus worked forcibly to create a defensive complex.

Strategists from the Wehrmacht General Staff did not believe in the possibility of a massive offensive until recently Soviet troops on the territory of Belarus. Hitler's command was so convinced of the impossibility of an offensive by the Red Army on this sector of the front that the commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Bush, went on vacation three days before the start of Operation Bagration.

Participated in offensive operations as part of Operation Bagration following connections Red Army: 1,2,3 Belorussian fronts 1 Baltic front. Units of Belarusian partisans played a supporting role in the offensive. Wehrmacht formations fell into strategic pockets near the settlements of Vitebsk, Bobruisk, Vilnius, Brest and Minsk. Minsk was liberated by units of the Red Army on July 3, Vilnius on July 13.

The Soviet command developed an offensive scheme consisting of two stages. The first stage of the operation, which lasted from June 23 to July 4, 1944, consisted of a simultaneous offensive in five directions: Vitebsk, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Polotsk and Minsk directions.

At the second stage of the operation, which ended on August 29, strikes were carried out in the Vilnius, Siauliai, Bialystok, Lublin, Kaunas and Osovets directions.

The success of Operation Bagration in military-strategic terms was simply phenomenal. During two months of continuous offensive battles, the territory of Belarus, part of the Baltic states and a number of regions of Eastern Poland were completely liberated. As a result of the successful offensive, the territory was liberated with total area more than 650 thousand sq. km. The advanced formations of the Red Army captured the Magnuszewski and Pulawy bridgeheads in eastern Poland. From these bridgeheads in January 1945, an offensive was launched by the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, stopping only on the approaches to Berlin.

Military experts and historians have been emphasizing for almost 60 years now that the military defeat of the troops of Nazi Germany was the start of a series of major military defeats on the battlefields in East Germany. Largely due to the military effectiveness of Operation Bagration, the Wehrmacht forces were significantly depleted in other theaters of military operations in Europe due to the transfer by the German command of a significant number of the most militarily trained military units to Belarus such as motorized infantry division"Greater Germany" and tank division SS "Hermann Goering". The first left its combat location on the Dniester River, the second was transferred to Belarus from Northern Italy.

The losses of the Red Army amounted to more than 178 thousand dead. Total The number of people wounded during the operation exceeded 587 thousand. These data allow us to assert that Operation Bagration became the bloodiest for Red Army units in the period 1943-1945, starting with the battle on Kursk Bulge. To confirm these conclusions, it will suffice to mention that during Berlin operation irretrievable losses of the Red Army units amounted to 81 thousand soldiers and officers. This once again proves the scale and strategic significance of Operation Bagration in the liberation of the territory of the USSR from the German occupiers.

According to official data from the Soviet military command, the total human losses of the German army during the active phase of Operation Bagration during June and July 1944 amounted to about 381 thousand killed and more than 158 thousand captured. Total losses military equipment more than 60 thousand units, including 2,735 tanks, 631 military aircraft and more than 57 thousand cars.

About 58 thousand German prisoners of war soldiers and officers captured during Operation Bagration were marched in a column through the streets of Moscow in August 1944. The gloomy procession of tens of thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers dragged on for three hours.

On June 23, 1944, the USSR during the Great Patriotic War began a large-scale project, which received it in honor of the commander and hero of the Patriotic War of 1812.

Revenge

The plans of the Soviet troops in Belarus were kept in the strictest confidence. The success of the Red Army in Ukraine the day before led the Germans to believe that this was where the next blow would be struck, so they threw the main power of their army to the south. Moreover, the German command considered the position of Army Group Center in Belarus not to inspire any serious concern, since the front there for a long time remained stable and the Germans were able to form a developed defense system. On the Eastern Front, the Germans went on the defensive, awaiting the landing of Anglo-American troops in France. The strengthening of the German group in Ukraine determined the decision of the Headquarters to launch an offensive in Belarus. Here, in the summer of 1941, the Red Army suffered one of its largest and most bitter defeats, and here it was decided to recoup in full. Even the offensive began with a difference of one day from the anniversary.

Improved Brusilov breakthrough

Operation Bagration was carried out in conjunction with June 6, 1944 and the opening of the second front. The offensive on the Eastern Front was supposed to pin down the German forces and prevent them from transferring troops from east to west (it is worth remembering that 235 enemy divisions were concentrated on the Eastern Front and 65 on the Western Front). “Bagration”, with its idea of ​​a wide, rapid offensive instead of concentrating on one main direction, is reminiscent of the First World War. The success of the Belarusian offensive operation was the same surprise for the Soviet command as it was for the Germans, only positive: the developers of the operation did not expect to push the enemy back 400-600 kilometers in two months. All this only speaks of the thoughtfulness of the offensive, the high leadership qualities of the Soviet command, the courage and heroism of the Soviet soldiers.

Meaning

During Operation Bagration, the Byelorussian SSR, part of the Lithuanian and Latvian SSRs were liberated, a breakthrough was made into Poland, and Soviet troops reached the border of East Prussia. Victory in one of the largest offensive operations in the history of mankind was difficult for the Red Army. Our troops lost about 178 thousand people (7.6% of total number participants in the operation), more than half a million were injured. The German Army Group Center essentially ceased to exist, and Army Groups North and Northern Ukraine suffered serious losses. In general, according to various estimates, German irretrievable losses amounted to 300-400 thousand people, about 100 thousand wounded, excluding prisoners and equipment. These are very high figures even for the Second World War. One way or another, it became clear that the next year of the war would be the last, and the only force in the world at that time that could compare with the Red Army was the Red Army itself.

A unit of the 3rd Belorussian Front crosses the Luchesa River.
June 1944

This year marks 70 years since the Red Army carried out one of the largest strategic operations of the Great Patriotic War - Operation Bagration. During it, the Red Army not only liberated the people of Belarus from occupation, but also, having significantly undermined the enemy’s forces, brought closer the collapse of fascism - our Victory.

Having no equal in spatial scope, the Belarusian offensive is rightfully considered the greatest achievement of Russian military art. As a result, the most powerful group of the Wehrmacht was defeated. This became possible thanks to the unparalleled courage, heroism of determination and self-sacrifice of hundreds of thousands. Soviet soldiers and partisans of Belarus, many of whom died brave deaths on Belarusian soil in the name of Victory over the enemy.

Map of the Belarusian operation

After the offensive in the winter of 1943-1944. the front line formed a huge protrusion in Belarus with an area of ​​​​about 250 thousand square meters. km, with its top facing east. It penetrated deeply into the location of Soviet troops and had important operational and strategic significance for both sides. The elimination of this ledge and the liberation of Belarus opened up the Red Army shortest way to Poland and Germany, jeopardized the flank attacks of the enemy Army Groups “North” and “Northern Ukraine”.

In the central direction, the Soviet troops were opposed by Army Group Center (3rd Tank, 4th, 9th and 2nd Armies) under the command of Field Marshal E. Bush. It was supported by aviation from the 6th and partially from the 1st and 4th air fleets. In total, the enemy group included 63 divisions and 3 infantry brigades, which numbered 800 thousand people, 7.6 thousand guns and mortars, 900 tanks and assault guns and more than 1,300 combat aircraft. Army Group Center's reserve included 11 divisions, most of which were deployed to fight against the partisans.

During the summer-autumn campaign of 1944, the Supreme Command Headquarters planned to conduct a strategic operation for the final liberation of Belarus, in which troops from 4 fronts were to act in concert. Troops of the 1st Baltic (commanding army general), 3rd (commanding colonel general), 2nd (commander colonel general G.F. Zakharov) and 1st Belorussian fronts (commanding army general) were involved in the operation. , Long-Range Aviation, Dnieper Military Flotilla, as well as a large number of formations and detachments of Belarusian partisans.

Commander of the 1st Baltic Front, Army General
THEIR. Bagramyan and Chief of Staff of the Front, Lieutenant General
V.V. Kurasov during the Belarusian operation

The fronts included 20 combined arms, 2 tank and 5 air armies. In total the group numbered 178 rifle divisions, 12 tank and mechanized corps and 21 brigade. Air support and air cover for front troops was provided by 5 air armies.

The concept of the operation included deep strikes on 4 fronts to break through enemy defenses in 6 directions, encircle and destroy enemy groups on the flanks of the Belarusian salient - in the areas of Vitebsk and Bobruisk, and then, attacking in converging directions towards Minsk, encircle and eliminate them east of the Belarusian capital the main forces of Army Group Center. In the future, increasing the impact force, reach the line Kaunas - Bialystok - Lublin.

When choosing the direction of the main attack, the idea of ​​​​concentrating forces in the Minsk direction was clearly expressed. The simultaneous breakthrough of the front in 6 sectors led to the dissection of the enemy’s forces and made it difficult for him to use reserves when repelling the offensive of our troops.

To strengthen the group, the Headquarters in the spring and summer of 1944 replenished the fronts with four combined arms, two tank armies, four breakthrough artillery divisions, two anti-aircraft artillery divisions, four engineer brigades. In the 1.5 months preceding the operation, the size of the group of Soviet troops in Belarus increased by more than 4 times in tanks, almost 2 times in artillery, and by two-thirds in aircraft.

The enemy, not expecting large-scale actions in this direction, hoped to repel a private offensive of Soviet troops with forces and means of Army Group Center, located in one echelon, mainly only in the tactical defense zone, which consisted of 2 defensive zones with a depth of 8 to 12 km . At the same time, using the terrain favorable for defense, he created a multi-line, deeply echeloned defense, consisting of several lines, with a total depth of up to 250 km. Defense lines were built along the western banks of the rivers. The cities of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Borisov, Minsk were turned into powerful defense centers.

By the beginning of the operation, the advancing troops numbered 1.2 million people, 34 thousand guns and mortars, 4070 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and about 5 thousand combat aircraft. Soviet troops outnumbered the enemy in manpower by 1.5 times, in guns and mortars by 4.4 times, in tanks and self-propelled artillery units by 4.5 times, and in aircraft by 3.6 times.

In none of the previous offensive operations did the Red Army have such a quantity of artillery, tanks and combat aircraft, and such superiority in forces, as in the Belarusian one.

The directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters defined the tasks for the fronts as follows:

Troops of the 1st Baltic Front break through the enemy’s defenses northwest of Vitebsk, capture the Beshenkovichi region, and part of the forces, in cooperation with the right-flank army of the 3rd Belorussian Front, encircle and destroy the enemy in the Vitebsk region. Subsequently, develop the offensive towards Lepel;

The troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, in cooperation with the left wing of the 1st Baltic Front and the 2nd Belorussian Front, defeat the Vitebsk-Orsha enemy group and reach the Berezina. To accomplish this task, the front had to strike in two directions (with the forces of 2 armies in each): on Senno, and along the Minsk highway to Borisov, and with part of the forces - on Orsha. The main forces of the front must develop an offensive towards the Berezina River;

The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, in cooperation with the left wing of the 3rd and the right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front, defeat the Mogilev group, liberate Mogilev and reach the Berezina River;

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front defeat the enemy group in Bobruisk. To this end, the front had to deliver two strikes: one from the Rogachev area in the direction of Bobruisk, Osipovichi, the second from the lower Berezina area to Starye Dorogi, Slutsk. At the same time, the troops of the right wing of the front were to assist the 2nd Belorussian Front in the defeat of the enemy’s Mogilev group;

The troops of the 3rd and 1st Belorussian Fronts, after the defeat of the enemy's flank groupings, were to develop an offensive in converging directions towards Minsk and, in cooperation with the 2nd Belorussian Front and partisans, encircle its main forces east of Minsk.

The partisans were also given the task of disorganizing the work of the enemy rear, disrupting the supply of reserves, capturing important lines, crossings and bridgeheads on rivers, and holding them until the approach of the advancing troops. The first rail demolition took place on the night of June 20.

Much attention was paid to concentrating aviation efforts on the direction of the main attacks of the fronts and maintaining air supremacy. Just on the eve of the offensive, aviation carried out 2,700 sorties and carried out powerful aviation training in areas where fronts were broken through.

The duration of artillery preparation was planned from 2 hours to 2 hours 20 minutes. Support for the attack was planned using the methods of a barrage of fire, sequential concentration of fire, as well as a combination of both methods. In the offensive zones of the 2 armies of the 1st Belorussian Front, operating in the direction of the main attack, support for the attack of infantry and tanks was carried out for the first time using the method of a double barrage.

At the headquarters of the 1st Belorussian Front. Chief of Staff Colonel General M.S. is on the phone. Malinin, far left - front commander, Army General K.K. Rokossovsky. Bobruisk region. Summer 1944

Coordination of the actions of front troops was entrusted to representatives of Headquarters - the chief General Staff Marshal Soviet Union and Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union. For the same purpose, the head of the operational department of the General Staff, General, was sent to the 2nd Belorussian Front. The actions of the air armies were coordinated by Air Chief Marshal A.A. Novikov and Air Marshal F.Ya. Falaleev. Artillery Marshal N.D. arrived from Moscow to help artillery commanders and staffs. Yakovlev and Colonel General of Artillery M.N. Chistyakov.

To carry out the operation, 400 thousand tons of ammunition, about 300 thousand tons of fuel, and over 500 thousand tons of food and fodder were required, which were supplied in a timely manner.

According to the nature of the combat operations and the content of the tasks, Operation Bagration is divided into two stages: the first - from June 23 to July 4, 1944, during which 5 front-line operations were carried out: Vitebsk-Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Polotsk and Minsk, and the second - from July 5 to August 29, 1944, which included 5 more front-line operations: Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas, Bialystok and Lublin-Brest.

The 1st stage of Operation Bagration included a breakthrough of the enemy’s defenses to the entire tactical depth, expansion of the breakthrough towards the flanks and the defeat of the nearest operational reserves and the capture of a number of cities, incl. liberation of the capital of Belarus - Minsk; Stage 2 - developing success in depth, overcoming intermediate defensive lines, defeating the enemy's main operational reserves, capturing important positions and bridgeheads on the river. Vistula. Specific tasks for the fronts were determined at a depth of up to 160 km.

The offensive of the troops of the 1st Baltic, 3rd and 2nd Belorussian fronts began on June 23. A day later, troops of the 1st Belorussian Front joined the battle. The offensive was preceded by reconnaissance in force.

The actions of the troops during Operation Bagration, like in no other operation of the Soviet troops before, almost exactly corresponded to its plan and the tasks received. During 12 days of intense fighting in the first stage of the operation, the main forces of Army Group Center were defeated.

German captured soldiers of Army Group Center are escorted through Moscow.
July 17, 1944

The troops, having advanced 225-280 km at an average daily pace of 20-25 km, liberated most of Belarus. In the areas of Vitebsk, Bobruisk and Minsk, a total of about 30 German divisions were surrounded and defeated. The enemy front in the central direction was crushed. The results achieved created the conditions for a subsequent offensive in the Siauliai, Vilnius, Grodno and Brest directions, as well as for the transition to active operations in other sectors of the Soviet-German front.

Fighter, liberate your Belarus. Poster by V. Koretsky. 1944

The goals set for the fronts were fully achieved. The headquarters used the success of the Belarusian operation in a timely manner for decisive actions in other directions of the Soviet-German front. On July 13, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. The general offensive front expanded from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. On July 17-18, Soviet troops crossed the state border of the Soviet Union with Poland. By August 29, they reached the line - Jelgava, Dobele, Augustow and the Narev and Vistula rivers.

Vistula River. Tank crossing. 1944

Further development of the offensive with an acute lack of ammunition and fatigue of the Soviet troops would not have been successful, and they, by order of Headquarters, went on the defensive.

2nd Belorussian Front: front commander army general
G.F. Zakharov, member of the Military Council, Lieutenant General N.E. Subbotin and Colonel General K.A. Vershinin discuss a plan for an air strike against the enemy. August 1944

As a result of the Belarusian operation, favorable conditions not only to deliver new powerful attacks on enemy groups operating on the Soviet-German front in the Baltic states, East Prussia and Poland, in the Warsaw-Berlin direction, but also to launch offensive operations of the Anglo-American troops that landed in Normandy.

The Belarusian offensive operation of a group of fronts, which lasted 68 days, is one of the outstanding operations not only of the Great Patriotic War, but also of the entire Second World War. Her distinctive feature- huge spatial scope and impressive operational and strategic results.

Military Council of the 3rd Belorussian Front. From left to right: Chief of Staff of the Front, Colonel General A.P. Pokrovsky, member of the Front Military Council, Lieutenant General V.E. Makarov, commander of the front troops, Army General I.D. Chernyakhovsky. September 1944

The Red Army troops, having launched an offensive on June 23 on a front of 700 km, by the end of August advanced 550 - 600 km to the west, expanding the front of military operations to 1100 km. The vast territory of Belarus and a significant part of eastern Poland were cleared of German occupiers. Soviet troops reached the Vistula, the approaches to Warsaw and the border with East Prussia.

Battalion Commander of the 297th rifle regiment 184th Division of the 5th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Captain G.N. Gubkin (right) with officers on reconnaissance. On August 17, 1944, his battalion was the first in the Red Army to break through to the border of East Prussia

During the operation, the largest German group suffered a crushing defeat. Of the 179 divisions and 5 brigades of the Wehrmacht then operating on the Soviet-German front, 17 divisions and 3 brigades were completely destroyed in Belarus, and 50 divisions, having lost more than 50% of their personnel, lost their combat effectiveness. German troops lost about 500 thousand soldiers and officers.

Operation Bagration showed vivid examples high skill Soviet commanders and military leaders. She made significant contributions to the development of strategy, operational art and tactics; enriched military art experience of encirclement and destruction large groups enemy in short time and in the most different conditions situation. The task of breaking through the enemy’s powerful defenses, as well as quickly developing success in operational depth through the skillful use of large tank formations and formations, was successfully solved.

In the struggle for the liberation of Belarus, Soviet soldiers showed massive heroism and high combat skill. 1,500 of its participants became Heroes of the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. Among the Heroes of the Soviet Union and those awarded were soldiers of all nationalities of the USSR.

Partisan formations played an extremely important role in the liberation of Belarus.

Parade of partisan brigades after liberation
capital of Belarus - Minsk

Solving problems in close cooperation with the Red Army troops, they destroyed over 15 thousand and captured more than 17 thousand enemy soldiers and officers. The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the partisans and underground fighters. Many of them were awarded orders and medals, and 87 who distinguished themselves became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

But the victory came at a high price. At the same time, the high intensity of combat operations, the enemy's advance transition to defense, difficult conditions in the wooded and swampy terrain, and the need to overcome large water barriers and other natural obstacles led to large losses in people. During the offensive, the troops of the four fronts lost 765,815 people killed, wounded, missing and sick, which is almost 50% of their total strength at the beginning of the operation. And irretrievable losses amounted to 178,507 people. Big losses our troops were also armed.

The world community appreciated the events in the central sector of the Soviet-German front. Western political and military figures, diplomats and journalists noted their significant influence on the further course of World War II. “The speed of the advance of your armies is amazing,” wrote the President of the United States of America F. Roosevelt on July 21, 1944. I.V. Stalin. In a telegram to the head of the Soviet government on July 24, British Prime Minister William Churchill called the events in Belarus “victories of enormous importance.” One of the Turkish newspapers stated on July 9: “If the Russian advance develops at the same pace, Russian troops will enter Berlin faster than the Allied forces will complete operations in Normandy.”

Professor at the University of Edinburgh, a well-known English expert on military-strategic problems, J. Erickson, in his book “The Road to Berlin,” emphasized: “The defeat of Army Group Center by Soviet troops was their greatest success, achieved... as a result of one operation. For the German army... it was a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, greater than Stalingrad.”

Operation Bagration was the first major offensive operation of the Red Army, carried out during the period when the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain began military operations in Western Europe. However, 70% ground forces The Wehrmacht continued to fight on the Soviet-German front. The disaster in Belarus forced the German command to transfer large strategic reserves here from the west, which, of course, created favorable conditions for the offensive actions of the Allies after the landing of their troops in Normandy and the waging of the coalition war in Europe.

The successful offensive of the 1st Baltic, 3rd, 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts in the western direction in the summer of 1944 radically changed the situation on the entire Soviet-German front and led to a sharp weakening of the Wehrmacht's combat potential. Having eliminated the Belarusian salient, they eliminated the threat of flank attacks from the north for the armies of the 1st Ukrainian Front, which were conducting an offensive in the Lvov and Rava-Russian directions. The capture and retention by Soviet troops of bridgeheads on the Vistula in the Pulawy and Magnuszew areas opened up prospects for new operations to defeat the enemy with the aim of complete liberation Poland and the attack on the capital of Germany.

Memorial complex "Mound of Glory".

Sculptors A. Bembel and A. Artimovich, architects O. Stakhovich and L. Mickiewicz, engineer B. Laptsevich. The total height of the memorial is 70.6 m. The earthen hill, 35 m high, is crowned with a sculptural composition of four bayonets, lined with titanium, each 35.6 m high. The bayonets symbolize the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belarusian and 1st Baltic fronts that liberated Belarus. Their base is surrounded by a ring with bas-relief images of Soviet soldiers and partisans. On the inside of the ring, made using the mosaic technique, there is the text: “Glory to the Soviet Army, the Liberator Army!”

Sergey Lipatov,
Researcher at the Scientific Research Institute
institute military history Military Academy
General Staff of the Armed Forces
Russian Federation .

By the summer of 1944, a favorable situation had developed on the Soviet-German front for offensive actions by the Red Army, which firmly held the strategic initiative. The Soviet troops were tasked with defeating the central group of German troops - Army Group Center, liberating Belarus and reaching the state border of the USSR.

The Belarusian offensive operation in its scale and the number of forces participating in it is one of the largest not only in the Great Patriotic War, but also in the Second World War. This operation was codenamed "Bagration". At its first stage - from June 23 to July 4, 1944- the Vitebsk-Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk and Polotsk operations were successfully carried out, the enemy’s Minsk group was surrounded. At the second stage - from July 5 to August 29, 1944- Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas, Bialystok and Lublin-Brest operations were carried out.

Taking into account additional reserves received during the battles, more than 4 million people took part in Operation Bagration on both sides, about 62 thousand guns and over 7,100 aircraft were involved.

The front line in the Belarusian sector at the beginning of Operation Bagration ran east of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Zhlobin, west of Mozyr and further along the Pripyat River to Kovel. It skirted Belarus from the north and south along almost its entire territory.

This gigantic protrusion was of exceptionally important strategic importance in the defense system of the German troops. He defended their main strategic directions (East Prussia and Warsaw-Berlin) and ensured the stable position of the army group in the Baltic states.

On the territory of Belarus, the German aggressors created a powerful deep (up to 270 km) defense line “Vaterland” (“Fatherland”). The self-name of this line emphasized that the fate of Germany depended on its power. By special order of A. Hitler, the cities of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk, Borisov, and Minsk were declared fortresses. The commanders of these fortresses gave the Fuhrer written obligations to hold them to the last soldier. Here Army Group Center was concentrated, part of the right-flank formations of Army Group North and the left-flank formations of Army Group Northern Ukraine - a total of 63 divisions and 3 brigades, which numbered more than 1,200 thousand people, 9,500 guns and mortars, 900 tanks and assault guns, about 1,300 aircraft.

The attack on the central enemy group on a 700 km front line was carried out by four fronts: the 1st Baltic front under the command of Army General I. Kh. Bagramyan. 1st, 2nd, 3rd Belorussian Fronts under the command of Army General K.K. Rokossovsky, Colonel Generals G.F. Zakharov, I.D. Chernyakhovsky. Their combined forces, together with the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front, encircled and defeated the Vitebsk group of Nazis consisting of 5 divisions on June 25-27, 1944. On June 26, 1944, Vitebsk was liberated, and on June 28, Lepel. The enemy suffered significant losses (20 thousand soldiers and officers were killed and more than 10 thousand were captured).

On June 26, 1944, troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front eliminated a powerful enemy defense center near Orsha and liberated Dubrovno, Senno, and Tolochin. At the same time, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front launched operations in the Mogilev direction. They broke through the powerful enemy defenses and captured Mogilev, Shklov, Bykhov, and Klichev. The main forces of the 4th German forces were stationed in this area. As a result of the Bobruisk operation, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front eliminated the enemy group of six divisions by June 29, 1944. The Nazis left 50 thousand people killed on the battlefield. 23,680 soldiers and officers were captured.

Thus, in six days of offensive, under the attacks of Soviet troops on four fronts, the powerful enemy defenses in the space between the Western Dvina and Pripyat fell. Hundreds were released settlements, including the cities of Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk.