A Burnt Out Case

Following the capture of Minsk and the destruction of the bulk of the Fourth Army, the 5th Guards Tank Army pushed westward towards Vilnius. North of Minsk, emergency reserve units of Army Group Center augmented with Luftwaffe flak units, were assigned the nearly impossible task of imposing a brake …

1944-07-06

J056

Following the capture of Minsk and the destruction of the bulk of the Fourth Army, the 5th Guards Tank Army pushed westward towards Vilnius. North of Minsk, emergency reserve units of Army Group Center augmented with Luftwaffe flak units, were assigned the nearly impossible task of imposing a brake on the fast-advancing spearheads of the Russian offensive.

Smorgon, Belarus

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