In particular, he forbade building a new defence-line in the rear, stating that Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilev, Bobmisk, Borisov, and Minsk were to be defended at all costs. The Wehrmacht was to fight where it stood, come what may. Yet Hitler also issued orders forbidding any withdrawals.
The build-up of Wehrmacht forces in France and Belgium left nothing more for the Eastern Front the German generals facing the Soviets would have to fight with what they had. This was a tall order!įurther, Hitler had observed that the expected Allied landings in northern France would place them less than 500km from the German border, whereas the Red Army was still 1,000km away. In contrast, German strategy now centred on: (1) defeating the expected Allied landing in France (2) winning time until the ‘unnatural’ Allied coalition broke up (3) defending occupied territory in the East by defeating the Russian summer offensive (expected on the southern front) and (4) holding the Allied advance in Italy. The Stavka also set strategic objectives for the offensive: (1) to liberate Belorussia (2) to destroy Army Group Centre and (3) to ‘liberate’ European countries under German occupation.Īlmost in passing, Stalin was asked to give a name to this offensive and he chose Bagration, after a fellow Georgian who had died fighting Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Stalin and the Stavka (the State Defence Council) approved the decision, ruling out a simultaneous offensive along the whole Russian line, agreeing instead to sequential offensives, with forces to the north and south of Belorussia advancing after the blow against Army Group Centre. Success here would carry the Red Army into Poland and, in the future, open a direct road to Berlin. The third option was chosen: an offensive in Belorussia against Germany’s Army Group Centre, which was holding the ‘Belorussian Balcony’ – a salient jutting eastwards into Soviet territory. But the meeting thought this too ambitious. The second option was to attack in the north, into the Baltic States, cutting off sizable German armies as the Red Army advanced on East Prussia and potentially Berlin. Yet this would have directed the main advance away from Germany. One was to continue with the success they had enjoyed in the Ukraine, ideal tank country, with an offensive which would carry the Red Army into the Balkans, where Romania and Bulgaria were already looking fragile allies of Hitler. The question was: where? The Soviet Commission of State Defence Committee began meeting in April 1944 to decide this, and they considered three options. The Germans had expected a major Russian offensive that summer. Yet victory came at a price: 180,040 Soviet soldiers killed or missing, 590,848 sick or wounded, and 2,957 tanks and 822 aircraft lost. The German losses were 381,000 killed and 158,480 captured, far greater than the losses at Stalingrad. In just 23 days, the Red Army advanced between 400km and 500km, an average of 20km a day.
By the summer, the Wehrmacht was fighting a war on three fronts: in Italy, in northern France, and on an Eastern Front that extended from the Baltic to the Balkans.
Steam Achievements, Cloud Saves and Trading Cards.Charts covering terrain effects, shooting modifiers and ranged weapons.Help covering each unit type including stats and information.Detailed combat analysis - see how the different factors such as terrain and armor affect the potential outcome.Advanced tactical features including flank attacks, airstrikes, strategic movement, indirect fire and mounting and dismounting from vehicles.Four troop classes Raw, Average, Veteran and Elite.Take command of an American battle group during WW2 in this turn based strategy wargame and help liberate Europe from the evil Axis power-base! Instantly get involved in the action by joining the Allied invasion of Europe during the Second World War.
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