The Belostok offensive (russian: Белостокская наступательная операция) was part of the third and final phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
in summer 1944, commonly known as
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...
. The Belostok offensive was part of the third, or 'pursuit' phase of Operation Bagration, and was commenced after the completion of the encirclement and destruction of much of Army Group Centre in the
Minsk offensive. ''Belostok'' (russian: Белосток) is the Russian name of the Polish city of
Białystok.
Planning
Operational goals
After completing its mission of liquidating the pocket east of Minsk, in which the
Fourth Army had been trapped, the bulk of the 2nd Belorussian Front was issued new objectives: initially, to capture
Volkovysk
Vawkavysk ( be, Ваўкавы́ск, ; russian: Волковы́ск; pl, Wołkowysk; lt, Valkaviskas; yi, וואלקאוויסק; names in other languages) is one of the oldest towns in southwestern Belarus and the capital of the Vawkavysk ...
and advance towards
Białystok.
[Glantz, p.167] The
49th Army
"Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings ...
, however, was further employed in reducing the encirclement until mid-July. The 4th Air Army continued its mission of providing support for the Front's ground forces.
German intelligence
After the fall of
Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...
the ''
Oberkommando des Heeres
The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at ...
'' could call on few reserves to stop the Soviet advance. On the Białystok axis, the remaining forces were organised into a 'blocking group' (german: Sperrgruppe) under the command of General
Helmuth Weidling
Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling (2 November 1891 – 17 November 1955) was a German general during World War II. He was the last commander of the Berlin Defence Area during the Battle of Berlin, and led the defence of the city against Soviet forc ...
. This included several new formations in addition to the very few troops that had escaped from east of Minsk. To the south, the defence was conducted by the northern wing of
Second Army, which had been reinforced, notably with the
28th Jäger Division, in the hope of mounting an attack to break through to the units of Army Group Centre still trapped east of Minsk.
The Germans' defence efforts were aided by the presence of old fortifications and defence works from
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and earlier.
Deployments
''Wehrmacht''
*Remnants of
Fourth Army (General
Kurt von Tippelskirch
__NOTOC__
Kurt Oskar Heinrich Ludwig Wilhelm von Tippelskirch (9 October 1891 – 10 May 1957) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded several armies and Army Group Vistula. He surrendered to the United S ...
to 18 July, then General
Friedrich Hoßbach
Friedrich Hossbach (22 November 1894 – 10 September 1980) was a German staff officer in the Wehrmacht who in 1937 was the military adjutant to Adolf Hitler. Hossbach created the document that later became known as the Hossbach Memorandum.
Ca ...
)
**''Sperrgruppe''
Weidling (later renamed
VI Corps 6 Corps, 6th Corps, Sixth Corps, or VI Corps may refer to:
France
* VI Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry formation of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars
* VI Corps (Grande Armée), a formation of the Imperial French army du ...
)
***
50th Infantry Division
***''
Kampfgruppe'' Florke
***''Kampfgruppe'' von Gottberg
***
5th Panzer Division
***Part of
3rd SS Division Totenkopf
The 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" (german: 3. SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf") was an elite division of the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II, formed from the Standarten of the SS-TV. Its name, ''Totenkopf'', is German for "d ...
*Northern wing of
Second Army (Colonel-General
Walter Weiß
__NOTOC__
General Walter-Otto Weiß, also spelt Weiss (5 September 1890 – 21 December 1967), was a German general during World War II. In 1945 he became commander in chief of Army Group North on the Eastern Front. He was a recipient of the Kni ...
)
**
LV Corps (General
Friedrich Herrlein __NOTOC__
Eckner's reception in Lübeck in 1925. Top row far right
Friedrich Herrlein (27 April 1889 – 28 July 1974) was a German general (General der Infanterie) in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the LV Corps. He was a recip ...
)
The above units were under the overall command of
Army Group Centre (Field-Marshal
Walter Model
Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German field marshal during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defen ...
).
Red Army
*
2nd Belorussian Front
The 2nd Belorussian Front ( Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...
(Colonel-General
Georgy Zakharov)
**
49th Army
"Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings ...
(Lieutenant-General
Ivan Grishin)
**
50th Army (Lieutenant-General
Ivan Boldin
Ivan Vasilievich Boldin (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич Бо́лдин; in Vysokaya – March 28, 1965 in Kiev) was a senior Red Army general and war hero during the Second World War.
Early military and political career
A son of a la ...
)
**
4th Air Army
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
The offensive
Grodno falls
By 11 July the
50th Army had forced crossings of the
Neman
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...
south of
Dokudovo and moved forward against Weidling's forces. It crossed the
Kotra River
The Kotra ( be, Котра; lt, Katra) is a river in Belarus and Lithuania. The river is an example of a rare phenomenon of river bifurcation.
At first, the Kotra and Ūla form one river, known as the Pelesa, which originates in Belarus and ...
by 13 July, and reached
Grodno by 15 July. Its
69th and
81st Rifle Corps stormed Grodno on the morning of the next day. The Soviet
3rd Army, on the northern flank of the neighbouring
1st Belorussian Front
The 1st Belorussian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Белорусский фронт, ''Perviy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian") was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army ...
, took Volkovysk in fighting against Herrlein's LV Corps.
The German counter-attack
On 23 July, the Fourth Army commander, Hoßbach, in agreement with Model, committed the newly arrived
19th Panzer Division
The 19th Panzer Division ( en, 19th Tank Division) was an armoured division in the German Army, the Wehrmacht, during World War II. It was created from the 19th Infantry Division.
The division fought exclusively on the Eastern Front, except for ...
into a counter-attack with the intention of cutting off the Soviet spearheads in the
Augustow Forest. One regiment surprised the Soviet forces in Grodno (and claimed to have destroyed some 180 tanks, though this seems excessive) before being forced back southwards towards Białystok.
[See Hinze, ''Ostfrontdrama 1944''. Many of the destroyed tanks had been leaguered in the square at Grodno, where they were caught by the unexpected counter-attack.] A second regiment recaptured
Lipsk :''Lipsk is also the old Slavonic form of the name of Leipzig in Germany.''
Lipsk , (also pl, Lipsk nad Biebrzą; lt, Liepinė; yi, ליפּסק נאַד בּיבּג'ו) is a town in Augustów County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,520 ...
, but then was forced to withdraw to assist the first regiment's disengagement. Due to a lack of resources, the German counter-offensive failed, but revealed the exhaustion of both the Soviet and German troops in comparison to fresh units.
The 2nd Belorussian Front had successfully forced the entire length of the
Neman
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...
and
Svisloch by 24 July; the 50th Army, with support from the
3rd Guards Cavalry Corps
The 5th Cavalry Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army.
It was part of the 12th Army. It later became part of the 6th Army. It took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 and the Great Patriotic War. During the Great Patriotic War, t ...
, took or retook the eastern part of the Augustow Forest and part of the outlying fortifications of
Grodno which the Germans had retained after their counter-offensive.
[Glantz, p.183] There was intense fighting as the German
50th Infantry Division attempted to defend the highway between Grodno and Białystok.
In the meantime, the 3rd Army had reached the outskirts of Białystok itself, despite strong resistance from the LV Corps. It stormed the city and took it by 27 July, after several days of street fighting.
Outcome
The Belostok offensive had proved largely successful in terms of its immediate tactical objectives: by the end of July the Soviets were in possession of the communications centres of Grodno and Białystok. However, their supply lines were becoming dangerously extended and their troops exhausted; progress slowed as the Army Group Centre commander, Model, was able to organise an effective defence through judicious management of the few units available.
The 2nd Belorussian Front's final objective in Operation Bagration was to advance to the
Narew River in the
Osovets offensive.
Notes
References
*
*
{{coord missing, Podlaskie Voivodeship
Battles involving the Soviet Union
Operation Bagration
Conflicts in 1944
History of Białystok