Battle of BiaystokMinsk

The Battle of BiaystokMinsk was a German strategicoperation conducted by the Army Group Centre duringthe penetration of the Soviet border region in the open-ing stage of Operation Barbarossa lasting from 22 Juneto 3 July 1941. Its goal, the encirclement and destructionof the Red Army's Western Front forces around Minsk,was accomplished. All major Soviet counter-attacks andbreak-through attempts failed and the defenders were de-feated, allowing for the Wehrmacht to take many Sovietprisoners[4] and to further advance into the Soviet Unionat a pace so swift that some believed the Germans hadeffectively won the war against the Soviet Union already.

1 Prelude

Commanded by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, ArmyGroup Centre was tasked with attacking from Polandthrough the Biaystok - Minsk - Smolensk axis towardsMoscow. The Army Group included the 9th and 4thArmies. Its armored forces were Hoths 3rd PanzerGroup and Guderians 2nd Panzer Group. The two in-fantry Armies fielded 33 divisions and the Panzer Armiesfielded nine armored divisions, six motorized divisionsand a cavalry division. Army Group Center could callupon Luftflotte 2 for air support.Facing Army Group Center was the Red Armys WesternFront commanded by General of the Army DmitryPavlov. It included the 3rd, 4th, and 10th Armies alongthe frontier. The 13th Army was held as part of the StavkaHigh Command Reserve and initially existed as a head-quarters unit only, with no assigned forces. All together,the Soviet Western Front had 25 rifle and cavalry divi-sions, 13 tank and 7 motorized divisions.The Red Army disposition in Belarus was based on theidea of an aggressive response to a German attack, car-rying the war into German-occupied Poland, but sufferedfrom weakness along the flanks, created by the line of de-marcation placement following the division of Poland in1939. The forward placement of both German and So-viet forces in a double-bulge position enabled both sidesto try the double envelopment. It was the OKH that un-dertook it successfully, severing most of the Soviet West-ern Fronts forces from other Soviet fronts in a twin en-circlement, centred on Biaystok and Navahrudak, to thewest of Minsk.

2 Formations

2.1 Soviet

Western Front - Commander Army General Pavlov,Operations Officer General I.V. Boldin

3rd Army (Soviet Union) - V.I.Kuznetsov 4th Army (Soviet Union)

(including 6th Rifle Division (SovietUnion))

10th Army (Soviet Union) - K.D.Golubev (including 6th Mechanized Corps (Soviet

Union)[4]) Second echelon (pending formation)

13th Army (Soviet Union) - Lieutenant(General P. M. Filatow)

2.2 German

Army Group Centre (German: Heeresgruppe Mitte)-Commander Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock

3rd Panzer Group - Generaloberst HermannHoth XXXIX Army Corps (mot) - Gener-aloberst Rudolf Schmidt

LVII Army Corps (mot) - General derPanzertruppen Adolf Kuntzen

VI Army Corps - General der PioniereOtto-Wilhelm Frster

9th Army - Generaloberst Adolf Strauss V Army Corps - Generaloberst Richard

Ruoff VIII Army Corps - Generaloberst Walter

Heitz XX Army Corps- General der Infanterie

Friedrich Materna 4th Army -Generalfeldmarschall Gnther von

Kluge VII Army Corps - General der Artillerie

Wilhelm Fahrmbacher IX Army Corps - General der Infanterie

Hermann Geyer XII Army Corps - General der Infanterie

Walther Schroth

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Group_Centrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Armyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrmachthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Marshalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_von_Bockhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystokhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolenskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Panzer_Grouphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Panzer_Grouphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Panzer_Grouphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_supporthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Pavlov_(general)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Pavlov_(general)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavkahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Armyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_areas_annexed_by_the_Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pincer_movementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OKHhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystokhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navahrudakhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Pavlov_(general)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.V._Boldinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Kuznetsov_(general)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Rifle_Division_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Rifle_Division_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.D.Golubevhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pjotr._M._Filatowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Group_Centrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_von_Bockhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Panzer_Grouphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hothhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Hothhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXIX_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Schmidthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LVII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf-Friedrich_Kuntzenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VI_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto-Wilhelm_F%C3%B6rsterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Strausshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ruoffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ruoffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIII_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Heitzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Heitzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XX_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Maternahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_von_Klugehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_von_Klugehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VII_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Fahrmbacherhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IX_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Geyerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Schroth

2 3 THE OPERATION

XIII Army Corps - General der InfanterieHans Felber

XLIII Corps - Generaloberst GotthardHeinrici

2nd Panzer Group -Generaloberst Heinz Gud-erian XXIV Panzer Corps - General der Panz-ertruppenLeo Freiherr Geyr von Schwep-penburg

XLVI Panzer Corps - General Heinrichvon Viettinghoff-Scheel

XLVII Panzer Corps- General der Panz-ertruppen Joachim Lemelsen

10th Infantry Division (mot.) - Gener-alleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm von Loeper

1st Cavalry Division - GeneralleutnantKurt Feldt

Reserve: 2nd Army - GeneraloberstMaximilian von Weichs XXXV Corps - General der Infanterie

Rudolf Kaempfe XLII Corps -General der PioniereWalter

Kuntze LIII Army Corps - General der Infanterie

Karl Weisenberger 286th Backup Division - Generalleutnant

Kurt Mller

2.3 Tanks

On 22 June 1941, the balance of tanks over the entirearea of the Soviet Western Front was as follows.

3 The operation

The Red Armys salient which jutted into German occu-pied Polish territory with its center at Biaystok was es-sential for OKH planning. Beyond Biaystok, Minsk was

a key strategic railway junction and a defensive positionof the main road and rail communications with Moscow.Also caught in the German operation was part of the 11thArmy of the Northwestern Front. In the north, 3rd PanzerGroup attacked, cutting the 11th Army from WesternFront, and crossed the Neman River. The 2nd PanzerGroup crossed the Bug River and by 23 June had pene-trated 60 km into Soviet territory. The Panzer Groupsobjectives were to meet east of Minsk and prevent anyRed Army withdrawal from the encirclement. Operatingwith the Panzer Groups to encircle the Soviet forces, the9th Army and 4th Army cut into the salient, beginningto encircle Soviet Armies around Biaystok. On 23 June,the Soviet 10th Army attempted a counter-attack in ac-cordance with pre-war planning, but failed to achieve itsgoals. On 24 June, General Pavlov ordered his operationsofficer, General Boldin, to take charge of the 6th, 11thMechanized Corps and 6th Cavalry Corps for a counter-attack towards Hrodna to prevent the encirclement of RedArmy formations near Biaystok. This attack failed withheavy losses, although it may have allowed some units toescape the western encirclement towards Minsk.In the evening of 25 June, the German XLVII PanzerCorps cut between Slonim and Vawkavysk, forcingPavlov to order the withdrawal of all troops in the salientbehind the Shchara River at Slonim to avoid encir-clement. Most formations could not break contact withthe Germans, and due to the loss of fuel and transportassets those who could break out, had to withdraw onfoot. This withdrawal opened the southern approachesof Minsk.Five days after the invasion on 27 June, the pincer ofGuderians 2nd Panzer Group and Hoths 3rd PanzerGroup closed east of Minsk. The Panzer Groups had ad-vanced 321 km into the Soviet Union and almost a thirdof the distance to Moscow. On 28 June, the 9th and4th German Armies linked up east of Biaystok splittingthe encircled Soviet forces into two pockets: a smallerBiaystok pocket containing the Soviet 10th Army anda larger Navahrudak pocket containing the 3rd and 13thArmies. Ultimately, in 17 days the Soviet Western Frontlost 420,000 personnel from a total of 625,000. On 26June Minsk, the capital of Belarus, fell to the Wehrma-cht.A second Red Army counter-attack by the 20th Mecha-nized Corps and 4th Airborne Corps failed to breach theencirclement as well, and by 30 June the pocket was com-pletely closed.The German forces surrounded and eventually destroyedor took prisoner most of the Soviet 3rd and 10th, 13thArmies and part of the 4th Army, in total about 20 di-visions, while the remainder of the 4th Army fell backeastwards towards the Western Berezina River.The Luftwaffe ' s Luftflotte 2 helped destroy the VVSWestern Front. Some 1,669 Soviet aircraft had been de-stroyed. The Luftwaffe lost 276 as destroyed and an ad-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XIII_Army_Corps_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Felberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLIII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Heinricihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Heinricihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Panzer_Grouphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderianhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderianhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXIV_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Freiherr_Geyr_von_Schweppenburghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Freiherr_Geyr_von_Schweppenburghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLVI_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_von_Vietinghoffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_von_Vietinghoffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLVII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Lemelsenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich-Wilhelm_von_Loeperhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Feldthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Army_(Wehrmacht)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_von_Weichshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXV_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Kaempfehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kuntzehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kuntzehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIII_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Weisenbergerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_M%C3%BCller_(officer)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystokhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Army_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwestern_Fronthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neman_Riverhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_Riverhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Cavalry_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrodnahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLVII_Panzer_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLVII_Panzer_Corps_(Germany)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slonimhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vawkavyskhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shchara_Riverhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82ystokhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navahrudakhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Mechanized_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Airborne_Corps_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Berezinahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Air_Force_Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Air_Force_Western_Front_(Soviet_Union)

3

ditional 208 damaged. After only a week of fighting, thetotal serviceable strength of Luftflotte 1, Luftflotte 2 andLuftflotte 4 had been reduced to just 960 machines.[7]

4 Consequences

Ruins of Minsk - July 1941

The Soviet troops trapped in the gigantic pockets contin-ued fighting, and concluding operations resulted in highGerman casualties. Many Soviet troops, an estimatedquarter of a million, escaped due to the lack of Germaninfantry troops motor transport that slowed the encir-clement process. Most of these troops were later sent topenal battalions.The Polish Institute of National Remembrance claimsthat withdrawing Soviet troops committed regular crimesagainst the inhabitants of Biaystok and its areas, in-cluding cases of whole families being executed by firingsquads.[8]

On conclusion, 290,000 Soviet soldiers were captured,and 1,500 guns along with 2,500 tanks were destroyed,but 250,000 Soviet troops managed to escape (most ofthe prisoners would be dead within a few months becauseof inhumane conditions at the POW enclosures).The quick advance East created the possibility for theWehrmacht to advance rapidly towards the land bridgeof Smolensk, from which an attack on Moscow couldbe planned. It also created the impression in the OKWthat the war against the Soviet Union was already won,within days of its start. Despite this feat, Hitler blamedthe panzer generals for leaving gaps in the lines and thepanzer generals for their part were deeply frustrated as foralmost a week their advance east had been stopped whilethey closed the pocket and waited for the infantry to catchup. They feared the momentum of the armored offensivewould be lost.The Front commander General Pavlov and his Front Staffwere recalled to Moscow, accused of intentional disorga-nization of defense and retreat without battle. They weresoon executed by the NKVD because of cowardice andfailure to perform their duties. Their families were re-

pressed. They were pardoned in 1956. An exception tothis was Pavlovs operations officer, general Ivan Boldin,who had been cut off by the German advance at a forwardheadquarters in the first days of the invasion and subse-quently fought his way back to Soviet lines with over athousand other soldiers a month and a half later.

5 Bibliography

Bergstrm, Christer (2007). Barbarossa - TheAir Battle: JulyDecember 1941. London:Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2.

Ziemke, E.F. 'Moscow to Stalingrad'

David M. Glantz; Jonathan M. House (1995). WhenTitans clashed: how the Red Army stopped Hitler.University Press of Kansas.

David M. Glantz (2001). Barbarossa: Hitlers inva-sion of Russia 1941 (1.udg. ed.). Stroud: Tempus.ISBN 0-7524-1979-X.

The initial period of war on the Eastern Front, 22JuneAugust 1941 : proceedings of the Fourth Artof War Symposium, Garmisch, FRG, October 1987 /edited by David M. Glantz ISBN 0-7146-3375-5.

Bryan I. Fugate and Lev Dvoretsky, Thunder onthe Dnepr : Zhukov-Stalin and the defeat of HitlersBlitzkrieg

Geyer, H. Das IX. Armeekorps im Ostfeldzug

6 References[1] German accounts give 287,704 POW: Bergstrom 2007,

p. 28: Cites Krivosheyev, Grif sekretnosti snyat.Poterivooruzhyonnykh sil SSSR v voynakh, boyevykhdeystviyakh i voyennykh konfliktakh, p. 162.

[2] Glantz 1995, p. 293

[3] Bergstrom 2007, p. 28: Cites Pshenyanik, SovtskieVoenno-vozdushnye sily v bor'be snemetsko fashistskoyaviatssiey v letne-osenney kampanii 1941, p. 94.

[4] Mark Soonin (2007). 22 czerwca 1941 czyli Jak za-cza si Wielka Wojna ojczyniana (in Polish). TomaszLisiecki (trans.) (1 ed.). Pozna, Poland: DomWydawniczy Rebis. pp. 528529. ISBN 978-83-7510-130-0. (the only English translations of Solonins worksseem to be, as of June 2011, these online chapters)

[5] Total German tanks includes non-combat commandertanks as well as outdated Panzer I and Panzer II tanks

[6] On 1 June there were 114 KV tanks, 238 T-34 tanks, butanother 100 T-34 tanks were received until 22 June 1941(Solonin 2007, pp. 99100).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_crimes_against_Soviet_POWshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OKWhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Boldinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781857802702https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Glantzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Glantzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7524-1979-Xhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Glantzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0714633755https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Soloninhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Numberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-83-7510-130-0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-83-7510-130-0http://www.solonin.org/en/bookshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_Ihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_II

4 6 REFERENCES

[7] Bergstrom 2007, p. 28.

[8] Investigation into the murders of several Poles in Biays-tok and its area in June 1941.

http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/19/202/Investigation_into_the_murders_of_several_Poles_in_Bialystok_and_its_area_in_Jun.htmlhttp://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/19/202/Investigation_into_the_murders_of_several_Poles_in_Bialystok_and_its_area_in_Jun.html

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