Operation Bagration

Operation Bagration^[a] (Russian: Операция Багратион, romanized: Operatsiya Bagration) was an operation by the Red Army of the Soviet Union against the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany that happened on the Eastern Front of the European theatre of World War II and took place from June - August 1944. The operation was targeted at German army group center stationed in german occupied Soviet Byelorussia. Two weeks earlier Operation Overlord was started by the Western Allies restarting the Western Front and now germany and the other european axis powers had to fight on three fronts. the eastern front, the Italian Front, and the western front. It is to be considered to be one of the greatest military defeats in german history with 450,000 casualties.^[17]

Operation Bagration
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Deployments during Operation Bagration
Date 22 June – 19 August 1944 (1 month and 4 weeks) Location Soviet Union (present-day Belarus, Baltic states, and Ukraine), and Eastern Poland Result Soviet victory[1] Territorial changes Red Army retakes all of Byelorussian SSR, most of the Lithuanian SSR and gains foothold in Eastern Poland.
Belligerents
Germany  Hungary[2]  Romania	Soviet Union Poland Air support:  France
Commanders and leaders
Ernst Busch  Walter Model  Hans Jordan  Georg-Hans Reinhardt  Kurt von Tippelskirch  Walter Weiß  Vincenz Müller (POW)	Konstantin Rokossovsky  Georgy Zhukov  Aleksandr Vasilevsky  Ivan Bagramyan  Georgiy Zakharov  Ivan Chernyakhovsky
Units involved
Army Group Center 9th Army 3rd Panzer Army 4th Army 2nd Army	1st Baltic Front 1st Belorussian Front 2nd Belorussian Front 3rd Belorussian Front 1st Polish Army Fighter Squadron 2/30 Normandie-Niemen
Strength
Initially: 486,493 combat personnel[3] ~849,000 total[4] 118 tanks[5] 452 assault guns[5] 3,236 field guns and howitzers[5] 920 aircraft[5] In total (Soviet sources):[6] 1,036,760 personnel ~800 tanks 530 assault guns 7,760 field guns 2,320 anti-aircraft guns ~1,000–1,300 aircraft	Initially: 1,670,300 personnel 3,841 tanks and 1,977 assault guns[5][7] 32,718 guns, rocket launchers and mortars[5] 7,799 aircraft[5] In total (Frieser): ~2,500,000 personnel ~6,000 tanks and assault guns[5] ~45,000 guns, rocket launchers and mortars[5] ~8,000 aircraft[5][8]
Casualties and losses
Zaloga: 300,000–375,000 killed, missing or captured[9] ~150,000–225,000 killed or missing ~150,000 captured Frieser: 399,102[10] 26,397 killed 109,776 wounded 262,929 missing and captured Glantz and House: ~450,000 combat casualties[7] Isayev: ~500,000 combat casualties[11] Soviet sources: 539,480 killed, missing or captured[12][13] ~381,000 killed 158,480 captured	Glantz and House:[14] 770,888 (including ≈550,000 combat casualties) ~180,000 killed or missing ~340,000–590,848 wounded or sick 2,957 tanks and assault guns[15] 2,447 guns[16] 822 aircraft[16]

Notes

1. Named after Prince Pyotr Bagration