Vitebsk–Orsha offensive
1944 military offensive
The Vitebsk–Orsha offensive (Russian: Витебско-Оршанская наступательная операция) was part of the Belorussian strategic offensive of the Red Army in summer 1944, commonly known as Operation Bagration. During the offensive, Soviet troops captured Vitebsk and Orsha. A Soviet breakthrough during the offensive helped achieve the encirclement of German troops in the subsequent Minsk offensive.
Planning
The immediate goals of the Soviet offensive were:
Break through the defences of 3rd Panzer Army to the north and south of Vitebsk and encircle the city, which occupied a salient in the German lines.
Break through the heavily fortified area around the main Moscow-Minsk highway and liberate the town of Orsha.
Commit motorised / cavalry exploitation forces through the gap opened once the highway had been cleared, opening the way for the encirclement of the German 4th Army in the Minsk offensive operation.
Soviet intelligence had revealed the depth of the German defences on the Moscow–Minsk highway near Orsha. As a result, the attack of Galitsky's 11th Guards Army in this sector was to be preceded by specialised engineer units; mine rolling PT-34 tanks of the 116th Separate Engineering Tank Regiment were committed along with assault engineer companies and assault gun regiments in several waves against the fortified and mined positions of the 78th Sturm Division.
Deployments
Wehrmacht
Third Panzer Army (Colonel-General Georg-Hans Reinhardt)
IX Corps (General Rolf Wuthmann)
LIII Corps (General Friedrich Gollwitzer)
VI Corps (General Georg Pfeiffer)
Northern flank of Fourth Army (General Kurt von Tippelskirch)
XXVII Corps (General Paul Völckers)
Reserve: 14th Infantry Division, 286th Security Division
The cities of Vitebsk and Orsha had been declared Fester Platz – fortified towns to be held at all costs – under the command of Gollwitzer (Vitebsk) and General Traut of the XXVII Corps's 78th Sturm Division (Orsha).
The above units were under the overall command of Army Group Centre (Field-Marshal Ernst Busch).
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