Belostok offensive

Belostok offensive
Part of Operation Bagration
Date 5–27 July 1944 Location Belarus and Poland Result Soviet victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Helmuth Weidling (remnants of Fourth Army) Walter Weiß (elements of Second Army)	Georgy Zakharov (2nd Belorussian Front )
Strength
?	?
Casualties and losses
30,000 killed 1,011 POW (Soviet est)[1]	?

The Belostok offensive (Russian: Белостокская наступательная операция) was part of the third and final phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. 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

, 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

, 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 and earlier.

Deployments

Wehrmacht

• Remnants of
  Friedrich Hoßbach
  )
  • Sperrgruppe
    VI Corps
    )
    • 50th Infantry Division
    • Kampfgruppe Florke
    • Kampfgruppe von Gottberg
    • 5th Panzer Division
    • Part of
      3rd SS Division Totenkopf
• Northern wing of Second Army (Colonel-General Walter Weiß)
  • LV Corps (General Friedrich Herrlein)

The above units were under the overall command of Army Group Centre (Field-Marshal Walter Model).

Red Army

• Georgy Zakharov
  )
  • 49th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Grishin
    )
  • 50th Army (Lieutenant-General Ivan Boldin)
  • 4th Air Army

The offensive

Grodno falls

By 11 July the

, 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

, 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

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

• Glantz, David M.; Orenstein, Harold S., eds. (2001). Belorussia 1944: The Soviet General Staff Study. Routledge.
  ISBN 0714651028
  .
• Hinze, Rolf (1993). Ostfrontdrama 1944: Rückzugskämpfe der Heeresgruppe Mitte [Eastern Front Drama 1944: Withdrawal battles of Army Group Center] (in German). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag.
  ISBN 9783613011380
  .