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Battle of Białystok-Minsk

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Axis-Soviet War
Barbarossa – Finland 1941-44 – Leningrad and Baltics 1941-1944 – Crimea and Caucasus – Moscow – 1st Rzhev-Vyazma – 2nd Kharkov – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – 2nd Rzhev-Sychevka – Kursk – 2nd Smolensk – Dnieper – 2nd Kiev – Korsun – Hube's Pocket – Bagration – Lvov-Sandomierz – Balkans 1944 – Hungary 1944-1945 – Vistula-Oder – Königsberg – Berlin – Prague – Manchuria 1945

Operation Barbarossa
Bialystok-Minsk – Smolensk – Uman – 1st Kiev – Yelnya – Odessa – Leningrad – 1st Crimea – 1st Rostov

The Battle of Białystok-Minsk was one of the Border Battles during the opening stage of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Contents

Prelude

The German Wehrmacht attacked out of occupied Poland with Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte) under the command of Field Marshal Fedor von Bock along the axis Minsk - Smolensk towards Moscow. In the so-called Bialystok salient, Soviet Western Front, the renamed Western Special Military District, defended under the command of Army General Dmitry Pavlov with 3rd, 4th, and 10th Armies along the frontier. The 13th Army initially existed as a headquarters unit only, with no assigned forces. The Red Army disposition in Byelorussia was based on the idea of an aggressive response to a German attack, carrying the war into German-occupied Poland, but suffered from weakness along the flanks, created by the line of demarcation placement following the division of Poland in 1939. This forward placement of strong Soviet forces with extended flanks enabled the Wehrmacht to undertake a double envelopment, cutting off most of Western Front's forces in a twin encirclement, roughly based on Bialystok and Novogrudok, to the west of Minsk.

The battle

During the initial strikes of the German attack, Western Front's lines of communication and airfields were hit by German air strikes, severely affecting the ability of the Front to defend itself. The German Ninth and Fourth Armies of Army Group Centre penetrated the border north and south of the salient. On 23 June 10th Army attempted a counter-attack in accordance with pre-war planning, but failed. On 24 June, General Pavlov ordered his operations officer, General Boldin, to take charge of 6th, 11th Mechanized and 6th Cavalry Corps for a counter-attack towards Grodno to prevent the encirclement of Red Army formations near Bialystok. This attack failed with heavy losses, although it may have allowed some units to escape the western encirclement towards Minsk. In the evening of 25 June, the German XXXXVII. Panzerkorps cut between Slonim and Volkovysk, forcing Pavlov to order the withdrawal of all troops in the salient behind the Shchara River at Slonim to avoid encirclement. Most formations could not break contact with the Germans, and due to the loss of fuel and transport assets those who could had to withdraw on foot. This withdrawal opened the southern approaches of Minsk.

On June 27 Panzergruppe 2 and Panzergruppe 3 striking from south and north linked up near Minsk. On June 28 the Ninth and Fourth German Armies linked east of Bialystok splitting the encircled Soviet forces into two pockets: a larger Bialystok pocket containing the Soviet Tenth Army and a smaller Novogrudok pocket containing 3rd and 13th Armies. Ultimately, in 17 days the Soviet Western Front lost 420,000 personnel from a total of 625,000. On June 29 Minsk, the capital of Byelorussia fell to the Wehrmacht. A second counter-attack by 20th Mechanized and 4th Airborne Corps failed as well and by 30 June the pocket was completely closed. In it, the German forces surrounded and eventually destroyed the Soviet 3rd and 10th, 13th and portions of the 4th Soviet Armies, in total about 20 divisions, while the remainder of the Soviet 4th Army fell back eastwards towards the Berezina River.

Consequences

The success in this battle created the possibility for the Wehrmacht to advance rapidly towards the land bridge of Smolensk, whence an attack on Moscow could be contemplated. It also created the impression in the OKW, the German High Command that the war against the Soviet Union was already won, within days of its start.

The Front commander General Pavlov and his Front Staff were recalled to Moscow, accused of intentional disorganization of defense and retreat without battle, and executed, with families repressed according to NKVD Order no. 00486 about families of traitors of Motherland. (They were rehabilitated in 1956.)

Formations

Soviet

German

Sources




 





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