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The 1st Belorussian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Белорусский фронт, ''Perviy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian") was a major formation of the
Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...
during World War II, being equivalent to a Western
army group An army group is a military organization consisting of several field army, field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a particular geographic area. An army group is the largest field organizatio ...
. The 1st Belorussian Front along with the
1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...
were the largest and most powerful among all Soviet fronts, as their main effort was to advance on the
Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
capital
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constit ...
.


Creation and initial operations

Initially, the Belorussian Front was created on 20 October 1943 as the new designation of the existing Central Front. It was placed under the command of General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, who had been commanding the Central Front. It launched the Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive in 1943 and then the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr Offensive in 1944.


Redesignation and 1944 operations

It was then renamed the 1st Belorussian Front (1BF) on 17 February 1944 following the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive. A few days later, on 21 February, the Rogachev-Zhlobin Offensive commenced, which continued until 26 February. The next operation was the Bobruysk Offensive, part of
Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп� ...
, and on 26 June the attacks of 1BF encircled Bobruisk, trapping 40,000 troops of the German 41st Panzer Corps (part of 9th Army). From 18 July-2 August the Front was part of the Lublin-Brest Offensive. From 2 August to 30 September, the Front was engaged cleaning out Germans to the east of the Vistula (during which the Battle of Radzymin took place from 1–10 August). Its 8th Guards, 28th, 47th, 65th, 69th, and 70th Armies were involved at Radzymin. Later during that same period, on 14 September, 1BF with the support of Polish forces it captured
Praga Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter. History The historical Praga was a small settlement located ...
, a suburb of Warsaw.


Operations in 1945

The next attack was the Warsaw-Poznań Operation, a part of the Vistula-Oder Offensive. On 13 January, 1BF began an offensive toward Pillkallen (Schlossberg between 1938 and 1945) in
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...
, against which they met stiff resistance from the
3rd Panzer Army The 3rd Panzer Army (german: 3. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942. 3rd Panzer Group The 3rd Panzer Group (german: Panzergruppe 3) was formed on 16 November ...
. The 1st Belorussian Front opened its attack on the German Ninth Army from the
Magnuszew Magnuszew is a village in Kozienice County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Magnuszew. It lies approximately north-west of Kozienice and south-east of Warsaw. ...
and
Puławy Puławy (, also written Pulawy) is a city in eastern Poland, in Lesser Poland's Lublin Voivodeship, at the confluence of the Vistula and Kurówka Rivers. Puławy is the capital of Puławy County. The city's 2019 population was estimated at 47,4 ...
bridgeheads at 08:30 on 14 January, again commencing with a heavy bombardment.Duffy, p.72 The 33rd and 69th Armies broke out of the Puławy bridgehead to a depth of 30 km, while the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies broke out of the Magnuszew bridgehead. The 2nd and 1st Guards Tank Armies were committed after them to exploit the breach. On 25 January, the Front cut off the fortress city of
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
which held 66,000 Germans, and continued its 80 km a day advance, leaving the
8th Guards Army The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army (abbreviated 8th CAA) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, within Russia′s Southern Military District, that was reinstated in 2017 as a success ...
to lay siege to the city, which they finally took on 23 February.Christopher Duffy, ''Red Storm on the Reich'', New York: Athenum Press, 1991, p.250


Capture of Berlin

Along with the
1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...
, 1BF then stormed Berlin in the climactic
Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–O ...
. Marshal Georgy Zhukov was appointed commander of the 1BF, in November 1944, for its last two great offensives of World War II. After the capture of Poland and East Prussia (its capture was finished on 25 April with capture of
Pillau Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Ru ...
) from January–March 1945, the Soviets redeployed their forces during the first two weeks of April. Marshal Georgy Zhukov concentrated 1BF, which had been deployed along the Oder river from
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
in the south to the Baltic, into an area in front of the
Seelow Heights The Seelow Heights are situated around the town of Seelow, about east of Berlin, and overlook the Oderbruch, the western flood plain of the River Oder, which is a further to the east. They are sometimes known as the "Gates to Berlin", because t ...
. The 2nd Belorussian Front moved into the positions being vacated by the 1BF north of the Seelow Heights. While this redeployment was in progress gaps were left in the lines and the remnants of the German II Army which had been bottled up in a pocket near Danzig managed to escape across the Oder. In the early hours of 16 April the Berlin Offensive Operation started with the objectives of capturing Berlin and linking up with Western Allied forces on the
Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
. The operation started with an assault on the Seelow Heights by 1BF and by Marshal Konev's
1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...
(1UF) to the south. Initially the 1BF had great difficulty smashing through the German lines of defence, but after three days they had broken through and were approaching the outskirts of Berlin. By 22 April 1BF had penetrated the northern and eastern suburbs of Berlin. They finished the encirclement of Berlin on 25 April when units of the 1BF and 1UF met at Kietzen west of Berlin. After heavy street by street and house to house fighting, General Weidling, the commander of Berlin's garrison, met with Marshal Chuikov and surrendered Berlin unconditionally at 15:00 hours local time on 2 May.


Post-war

On 8 May, after a signing ceremony in Berlin, the German armed forces surrendered to the Allies unconditionally and the war in Europe was over. Following the war, the Front headquarters formed the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany The Western Group of Forces (WGF),. previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG). and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG),. were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupa ...
.


Commanders

The Front's Commissars included * Lt. General Konstantin F. Telegin ontinuing from Central Front(October 1943 – May 1944; November 1944 – June 1945) * Colonel General Nikolai A. Bulganin (May–November 1944)


1945 time line

* 24 January: 1BF and 2nd Belorussian Fronts attack Pomerania. German II Army is cut off. * 31 January: 1BF reaches the river
Oder The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows ...
to the North of Küstrin and establishes a bridgehead on the western side less than 60 km from Berlin. * 1 February: 1BF surrounds the fortress town of Küstrin. * 2 February: 1BF reaches the Oder to the south of
Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
* 6 February: 1BF fans out along the east bank of the Oder between Frankfurt and Küstrin. * 4 March: 1BF breaks through the German lines at Stargard and drives towards Stettin. It also establishes a new bridgehead across the Oder to the south of Frankfurt. * 27 March: 1BF is involved in heavy street fighting in Danzig * 28 March: 1BF captures Gotenhafen north of Danzig. * 29 March: The fortress town of Küstrin falls to the 1BF after a siege lasting almost a month. * 30 March: Soviet troops finally capture Danzig * 16 April: 1BF and the 1st Ukrainian Front start the final offensive on Berlin from along the Oder-Neisse line. * 17 April: The 1BF assault against Berlin is stalled by tenacious German resistance on the Seelow Heights, 3 km west of the Oder, with great losses of troops and tanks for the Soviets. * 18 April: 1BF continues to batter the German position across the Seelow Heights in a battle of attrition. * 19 April: 1BF breaks through the German defences on the Seelow Heights and moves rapidly towards Berlin. * 22 April: 1BF penetrates the northern and eastern suburbs of Berlin. * 25 April: Units of the 1BF and 1st Ukrainian Fronts meet at Kietzen west of Berlin. Berlin is now completely encircled by eight Russian armies. * 30 April: Zhukov refuses to grant the defenders of Berlin an armistice and demands an unconditional surrender * 2 May: General Weidling, the commander of Berlin's Garrison meets with General Zhukov and accepts his terms of unconditional surrender of Berlin. The garrison in Berlin surrenders at 3pm local time. * 8 May: In deference to the Soviets, the surrender ceremony to the Western Allies at Rheims on the previous day is repeated before Marshal Zhukov and other Soviet generals at Karlshorst, a suburb of Berlin. *10 June: Front disbanded; its command transformed into the command of the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany The Western Group of Forces (WGF),. previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG). and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG),. were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupa ...
.


Component armies

The armies that were part of the 1st Belorussian Front included: * 61st Army * 1st Polish Army *
47th Army The 47th Army (russian: 47-я армия) of the Soviet Union's Red Army was an army-level command active from 1941 to 1946. History The 47th Army was formed in late July 1941 in the Transcaucasian Military District as part of the Soviet Union's ...
* 3rd Shock Army * 5th Shock Army *
8th Guards Army The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army (abbreviated 8th CAA) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, within Russia′s Southern Military District, that was reinstated in 2017 as a success ...
*
69th Army The 69th Army (russian: 69-я армия) was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. History Formation, Operation Star, and Third Battle of Kharkov The army was formed in February 1943 with the ...
* 33rd Army *
16th Air Army The 16th Red Banner Air Army (russian: 16-я воздушная Краснознамённая армия) was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air F ...
*
18th Air Army Long-Range Aviation ( rus, Авиация Дальнего Действия, r=Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, abbr. to AДД, or ADD, and literally ''Aviation of Distant Action'') is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delive ...
* 1st Guards Tank Army *
2nd Guards Tank Army The 2nd Guards Tank Army () was a large military formation of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army, now part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation. The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was ...
* 3rd Army


Notes


References

*Keith E. Bonn, ''Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front'', Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p. 300 *Antill, P.
''Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945''
{{DEFAULTSORT:1st Belorussian Front Belorussian 1 de:Zentralfront#1. Weißrussische Front