Swamp Cats

Fighting had raged up and down the Minsk-Vilnius highway for over a week between Molodechno and Smorgon. Confronted with the collapse of Army Group Center and the imminent loss of Minsk, Hitler sacked Field Marshal Busch and allowed Model to release the 5th Panzer Division from Army Group North …

1944-07-03

AP011

Fighting had raged up and down the Minsk-Vilnius highway for over a week between Molodechno and Smorgon. Confronted with the collapse of Army Group Center and the imminent loss of Minsk, Hitler sacked Field Marshal Busch and allowed Model to release the 5th Panzer Division from Army Group North to try to stem the drive of the 5th Guards Tank Army to Vilnius. Backed by the Tigers of Schwere Panzer Abteilung 595, the division’s job was to hold the highway open in order for Army Group Center to escape encirclement and regroup behind Vilnius. The Tigers, fighting alongside the 5th’s Panthers, made a good account of themselves despite both marshy terrain and marauding Sturmoviks.

Smorgon, Russia

The Minsk offensive (Russian: Минская наступательная операция) was part of the second phase of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. The Red Army encircled the German Fourth Army in the city of Minsk. Hitler ordered the Fourth Army to hold fast, declaring the city to be a fortified place (fester Platz) and defended even if encircled. The Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army attacked from the north-east, while the 2nd Guards Tank Corps moved in from the east, and the 65th Army advanced from the south. About 100,000 Axis soldiers from the Fourth and Ninth Armies were encircled, of whom some 40,000 were killed and most of the rest captured. The result was a complete victory for the Red Army, the liberation of Minsk, and the rapid destruction of much of the German Army Group Centre.

Russian

German

Scenario Type = Standard