June 1944

Eastern Front

Gen Zeitzler arrives at the headquarters of Army Group Center in Minsk to meet with Field Marshal Busch. After the meeting, during which he is informed of the disintegration of the 3rd Panzer Army, Zeitzler telephones Hitler to request that 3rd Panzer be allowed to evacuate LIII Corps from Vitebsk. Predictably Hitler orders it to stand fast and hold at all costs.

As these exchanges are taking place, the situation at the front deteriorates. Forward units of the 6th Guards Army reaches the Dvina River and begins to cross, quickly followed by the 43rd Army. The IX Corps attempts to stabilize its lines with a counterattack but is repelled by the 43rd. By mid-afternoon the 6th Guards is across the Dvina at Beshenkovichi and pushes south to meet the advancing forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front.

Gen Gollwitzer, commanding the LIII Corps, asks permission to withdraw from Vitebsk. The 3rd Panzer Army and Army Group Center headquarters both believe this to be the only logical option but Hitler and the OKH forbid it. The VI Corps is once agains struck by the 5th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front. Outflanked to the north and south, its remaining units are torn apart by the 39th Army. As the VI Corps is annihilated, the LIII Corps is isolated in Vitebsk, both the 43rd Army and 39th Army linking up to open the road to the Dniepr and Mogilev. Hitler belatedly agrees to evacuate the LIII Corps but orders the 206th Infantry Division to remain behind and hold on to the last man. The decision comes too late though as the entire LIII Corps is already cut off.

Elements of the XXVIII Corps of the German 4th Army are severely attacked by the 11th Guards Army while the 5th Guards Tank Army moves up to the 5th Army sector. With his XXXIX Corps falling apart, Tippelskirch requests that he be allowed to pull back behind the Dniepr. Hitler refuses, instead allocating 2 infantry divisions to the 4th Army as reinforcement.

The 1st Belorussian Front begins its offensive. Supported by massed arty fire and waves of ground attack aircraft, the 3rd and 48th Armies crash into the XXXV Corps of Jordan's 9th Army. Fierce fighting erupts as the Germans try to halt the Soviet tanks and infantry that smashes into their line. However, sheer weight of numbers overwhelm the XXXV, one of its divisions disintegrating. Elements of the 3rd Army begin to open the junction of the German 9th and 4th Armies, separating the XXXV Corps from the XII Corps. With his flank in danger of collapsing, Jordan commits the 20th Panzer Division from reserve, aiming to halt the Russian attack and plug the hole before it becomes too large. South of the XXXV Corps, in the army's center, the XLI Corps is also under heavy attack but is held, despite the collapse of its left wing divisions. This prompted the XLI to fall back to the west, away from the XXXV Corps.

With Army Group Center under attack along most of its line, Hitler agrees to the allocation of reinforcements, sending the 5th Panzer Division of the LVI Panzer Corps up from the north Ukraine. This single division, with just 130 panzers, is expected to halt the Soviet steamroller which is crushing Army Group Center.