2. Belarusian Front

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Standard of the 2nd Belarusian Front

The 2nd Belarusian Front ( Russian 2-й Белорусский фронт ) was a military formation of the Red Army in World War II , which was in action on the Eastern Front between February 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945 .

Constellations

The front was first formed on February 24, 1944 on the orders of the Soviet High Command using the High Command of the Northwest Front, which was dissolved at the end of 1943 . Your subordinate to the 47th, the 61st and the 70th Army and the 6th Air Army and the Dnepr - Flotilla . Later the 69th Army was also placed under the command of the front. On April 5, the front was disbanded by order of the Stawka and the high command was transferred to the reserve. The troops of the 2nd Belarusian Front were subordinated to the 1st Belarusian Front . On April 24, 1944, on the orders of the Stawka from April 19, 1944, a 2nd Belarusian Front was formed for the second time from the command of the 30th Army, to which the 33rd, 49th and 50th Armies from the Western Front were subordinated . In the further course of the war, the 2nd Belarusian Front became the 2nd Shock, 3rd, 19th, 43rd, 48th, 65th and 70th Armies , the 1st and 5th Guards Armored Army , the 4th Air Army and the Dnepr flotilla subordinated.

commitment

1944

During the operation in the Polesier Marshes (southern Pripyat region ) from March 15 to April 4, 1944, the troops of the 2nd Belarusian Front (First Formation) succeeded in pushing back the opposing forces over the Styr to Kovel and thus the conditions for to create the offensive towards Brest - Lublin .

The newly formed 2nd Belarusian Front (Second Formation) only carried out operations of local importance in Belarus in May 1944 , before the Mogilev operation as part of Operation Bagration was the first major operation of this army group from June 23-28, 1944 . They managed to cross the Dnieper and liberate the city. The front then supported the Minsk Operation from June 29 to July 4, 1944 . On July 5, 1944, the front carried out the Białystok Operation, which ended with the liberation of the city on July 27, 1944.

In cooperation with other fronts it was possible to liberate western Belarus between August and November 1944 and to advance to the border with Poland and East Prussia .

1945

In January 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Rokossowski became commander of the 2nd Belarusian Front and led it during their last two major offensives. As part of a major attack by four Soviet fronts on January 12, 1945, the 2nd Belarusian Front attacked East Prussia . On April 9, 1945, the Königsberg fortress fell to the Red Army. After the forces of the 2nd Belarusian Front were no longer tied up here, they advanced westward to the east bank of the Oder . During the first two weeks of April, the Soviet troops regrouped their army units in East Germany. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Konstantinowitsch Schukow concentrated his 1st Belarusian front , which was previously stationed along the Oder from Frankfurt in the south to the Baltic Sea , in the run-up to the Seelow Heights . The 2nd Byelorussian Front advanced to the abandoned positions north of the heights. While this regrouping was being carried out, gaps opened up in the front line through which the German 2nd Army, encircled near Danzig , could escape across the Oder.

In the early morning hours of April 16, the Berlin operation began , the final offensive for the conquest of Berlin with attacks by the 1st Belarusian Front and in the south of the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Konev . On April 20, the 2nd Belarusian Front joined the attack. On April 25, the 2nd Byelorussian Front broke out of its bridgehead south of Stettin and, by the end of the war, conquered German territory north of Berlin to the lines of the British 21st Army Group in the west, which had penetrated across the Elbe in some places .

On June 10, 1945, the high command of the front was renamed to the high command of the northern theater of war due to the Stawka order of May 29, 1945.

Front command

  • Colonel-General Pavel A. Kurochkin (February - April 1944)
  • Colonel General Ivan J. Petrov (April 12 - June 6, 1944)
  • Colonel General Georgi F. Sakharov (June 7th - November 17th 1944, Army General from July 28th 1944)
  • Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin K. Rokossowski (November 1944 - end of war)
  • Lieutenant General FE Bobkow ( Member of the Military Council , February - April 1944)
  • Lieutenant General Lew S. Mechlis (Member of the Military Council, April - July 1944)
  • Lieutenant General NE Subbotin (Member of the Military Council, July 1944 - end of the war)
  • Lieutenant General Vladimir J. Kolpaktschi (Chief of Staff, February - April 1944)
  • Lieutenant General SI Ljubarski (Chief of Staff, April - May 1944)
  • Lieutenant General AN Bogolyubov (Chief of Staff, May 1944 - end of the war).

Timetable

1944

1945

  • January: Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky is appointed commander of the 2nd Belarusian Front.
  • January 10th: The 2nd Byelorussian Front advances against Neustettin , but is stopped by German counter-attacks.
  • January 12th: The 2nd Byelorussian Front attacks the 2nd Army with nine armies along the Narew river north of Warsaw .
  • January 17th: The 47th Soviet Army of the 2nd Belarusian Front takes Warsaw.
  • January 24th: The 1st and 2nd Belarusian fronts attack Pomerania . The German 2nd Army is included.
  • February 27th: Parts of the 2nd Belarusian Front invade Pomerania.
  • February 28th: ​​The 2nd Belarusian Front takes Neustettin.
  • March 5: Graudenz fortress surrenders to the troops of the 2nd Belarusian front.
  • March 10: The 2nd Byelorussian Front takes Sopot in the Gdańsk Bay .
  • March 13: The 2nd Byelorussian Front starts an attack against the Braunsberg basin south of Königsberg .
  • March 18: The 1st Polish Army of the 2nd Belarusian Front conquers the Kolberg fortress .
  • March 23: the 2nd Belarusian Front attacks the 2nd Army in the Danzig area .
  • March 30th: Soviet troops capture Danzig.
  • April 20: The 2nd Belarusian front advances on the lower reaches of the Oder against Neubrandenburg , Stralsund and Rostock .
  • April 25: The 2nd Belarusian Front forms a large bridgehead on the Oder south of Szczecin and forces the center of the 3rd Panzer Army to go back to Prenzlau .
  • April 26th: The 2nd Belarusian Front takes Szczecin.
  • April 27: The 2nd Belarusian Front conquers Prenzlau and Angermünde 70 km northwest of Berlin.
  • April 30th: The 65th Soviet Army of the 2nd Belarusian Front takes Demmin without a fight ; Compulsory break: the two Peene bridges were blown up. Massive attacks on the civilian population.
  • May 4: The Wehrmacht garrison on the island of Rügen surrenders.
  • May 5: Parts of the 2nd Belarusian front invade Peenemünde .