Lublin-Brest offensive operation. Lublin-Brest offensive operation Excerpt characterizing the Lublin-Brest operation
By mid-July 1944, Rokossovsky’s troops, building on their success, reached the Svisloch-Pruzhany line, which created a threat to the enemy’s Brest grouping from the northeast. In general, by July 15-16, the strategic position of the 1st Belorussian Front had improved significantly. The Polesie swamps that separated the two flanks of the front were passed, the front line was reduced, which significantly increased the density of troops and increased the possibilities of maneuver.
The front began active preparations for an operation to encircle the Lublin and Brest enemy groups, which became known as the Lublin-Brest campaign. The general plan of the offensive was approved by Headquarters on July 7 and was as follows. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front were supposed to reach Lublin with flank attacks from the north and south, bypassing the Brest fortified area. After which, developing the offensive, go out on a broad front to the line of the Vistula River and seize bridgeheads on its western bank. The start of the offensive was scheduled for July 18, 1944. The moment to start the operation was chosen well, since at the same time, the 1st and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, involved in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, were advancing to the south, which did not allow the enemy to freely maneuver reserves.
To carry out the Lublin-Brest operation, Rokossovsky’s front had: nine combined arms armies, including the 1st Polish, tank army, as well as six separate corps (3 cavalry, 2 tank and 1 mechanized). Air support was to be provided by two air armies. The troops of the 1st Belorussian were opposed by the forces of Army Groups “Center” and “Northern Ukraine” under the overall command of Model.
It was decided to deliver the main blow from the Kovel area in the general direction of Lublin and Sedlec. It was to the left wing of the front that the main forces, including the tank army, were transferred. On the eve of the offensive, thanks to the skillful regrouping of troops, an overwhelming superiority in forces and means was achieved: threefold in men, fivefold in artillery and tanks. On July 18, 1944, according to plan, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front went on the offensive.
On July 20, the shock units of the front, having broken the resistance of German troops, reached the Western Bug, along which the pre-war state border passed. On the same day, Soviet troops managed to cross the river, capture several bridgeheads on its western bank and enter the territory of eastern Poland. The German command's attempt to organize defense along the river bank was unsuccessful. On the very first day, the engineering units of the front began establishing crossings to transfer the main forces of the strike force to the captured bridgeheads. Having completed the crossing on July 22, the 2nd Tank Army began advancing towards Lublin.
The need to capture this Polish city was dictated by political motives. It was supposed to house the Polish Committee of National Liberation, which, in essence, was the provisional government of Poland. By July 23, Lieutenant General Bogdanov's troops reached the outskirts of the city and began their assault.
The 50th tank brigade of Colonel R. Lieberman, having covered more than 170 km in 3 days along a path difficult for tanks and breaking into the city as one of the first, fought for a whole day with superior enemy forces, after which it reached the highway and the Lublin-Warsaw railway and cut off the enemy's retreat.
By evening, Lublin was ours, although street fighting in some places continued for several more days. During the assault, the commander of the 2nd Tank Army was wounded and Major General of the Tank Forces A.I. Radzievsky took over his duties.
Together with the city, Soviet troops liberated prisoners of the Majdanek concentration camp. It was not just a concentration camp, but a so-called death camp, where the mass extermination of prisoners took place. Over the years of its existence, the Nazis killed more than 150 thousand people, mostly Russians, Poles and Jews.
From the memoirs of Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov: |
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Having liberated Lublin, the front's main striking force continued to successfully develop its offensive. Having made a rapid push to the west, on July 25 the troops of the 2nd Tank Army reached the Vistula in the Dęblin area. The city, turned into a fortress, was taken by a decisive assault on the same day. The exit to the Vistula disrupted communications between Army Groups Center and Northern Ukraine. This state of affairs clearly did not suit the German military leadership. In an effort to stop the advance of our troops and restore communication between the groups, the Germans launched a series of powerful counterattacks. But they failed to regain control of Demblin. On July 27, having transferred the defense of the city to the 1st Polish Army, Radzievsky's tankers began to advance along the eastern bank of the Vistula towards Warsaw.
To the north, in the direction of Sedlec, the 2nd Guards Cavalry and 11th Tank Corps were successfully advancing. Bypassing the strongholds of the German troops, Soviet soldiers reached the outskirts of Sedlec by July 25, and with a swift blow crushed the garrison guarding the city. By the evening of the same day, the city was liberated, which significantly worsened the position of the enemy Brest group.
The offensive of the troops and the right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front was successfully launched. The 65th and 28th armies approached the Western Bug north of Brest. On July 23, troops liberated a number of settlements northeast of the fortified city and approached it at a distance of 6-10 kilometers. The threat of encirclement loomed over the Brest group of the Wehrmacht. Trying to save the situation, the German command launched a series of powerful counterattacks, during which German troops managed to force part of the forces of the 65th Army to leave bridgeheads on the left bank of the Western Bug. Although the Germans managed to slow down our offensive northeast of Brest, they failed to achieve a decisive turning point. July 27 northwest of the city the right-flank 28th Army and the left-flank 70th Combined Arms Army met, the encirclement of the Brest group was completed.
From here the enemy began his campaign against the USSR. On June 22, 1941, German divisions rushed to Brest, where they first encountered such powerful resistance. The enemy was able to take the garrison of the fortress only after many months. During their stay in Brest, the Germans managed to prepare the fortress and the city for defense. Northeast of the city, where the approaches to it were not covered by a water line, the enemy built three, and in some places four lines of continuous trenches. Wire barriers were installed everywhere, and all approaches were heavily mined. In the city itself, on the streets and squares, the Germans built bunkers. Cellars and many stone buildings were turned into firing points. 15-20 kilometers on the approaches to Brest were a continuous fortified line.
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Lublin-Brest offensive operation
On June 23, 1944, the Belarusian strategic offensive operation began, at the first stage of which (June 23 - July 4) Soviet troops reached the line of Polotsk, Lake Naroch, Molodechno, west of Nesvizh. As a result, a 400-kilometer gap was formed in the enemy’s strategic front, which he unsuccessfully tried to close with separate divisions transferred from various sections of the Soviet-German front and from the West. At the second stage (July 5 – August 29), the Siauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas, Bialystok and Lublin-Brest offensive operations were carried out.
The Lublin-Brest operation was carried out by troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky. The plan of the operation was to bypass the Brest fortified area from the north and south to defeat the opposing enemy groups and, developing an offensive in the Warsaw direction, to reach the Vistula. The front concentrated its main efforts on the left wing, which included the 70th, 47th, 8th Guards, 69th, 2nd Tank, 1st Polish armies, two cavalry and one tank corps. They were supported by aviation from the 6th Air Army. This group consisted of 7,600 guns and mortars, 1,743 tanks and self-propelled guns, and about 1,500 aircraft. It was supposed to defeat the opposing enemy and, having crossed the river on the 3-4th day of the operation. Western Bug, develop an offensive in the northwestern and western directions, so that by the end of July the main forces reach the line Lukow, Lublin.
The main blow was delivered by the 47th, 8th Guards and 69th armies with the task of breaking through the enemy’s defenses west of Kovel, ensuring the introduction of mobile troops into the battle and, in cooperation with them, developing an offensive towards Siedlce and Lublin. After crossing the Western Bug, it was planned to use the forces of the 8th Guards and 2nd Tank Armies to develop an offensive on Lukow, Siedlce (Siedlce), and by the 69th and 1st Polish armies - on Lublin, Michow. It was planned to use the 2nd and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps on the flanks of the tank army. The troops of the 47th Army were supposed to advance on Biała Podlaska and prevent the enemy troops operating east of the Siedlce-Luków line from retreating to Warsaw. The 70th Army attacked Brest from the south.
The right wing of the front (48, 65, 28, 61st armies, horse-mechanized groups of generals P.A. Belov and I.A. Pliev), supported by aviation of the 16th Air Army, had the task of striking in the Warsaw direction, bypassing the Brest group from North . The troops of the right wing had to capture the Baranovichi, Luninets area and, no later than July 10–12, reach the Slonim, r. Shara, Pinsk. In the future, take control of Brest and reach the river. Western Bug, capturing bridgeheads on its left bank.
The decisive role in the operation was assigned to the troops of the left wing of the 2nd Belorussian Front. In front of them, in the area from Ratno to Verba, 9 infantry divisions and 3 brigades of assault guns, the German 4th Tank Army (1,550 guns and mortars, 211 tanks and assault guns) were defending. To successfully break through the enemy’s strong defenses, the front’s strike group had a deep operational formation: the first echelon consisted of the 70th, 47th, 8th Guards and 69th Armies; second echelon - 1st Polish Army; The 2nd Tank Army, two cavalry and one tank corps were intended to develop success. In addition, 3 separate and one self-propelled artillery brigades, 26 tank and self-propelled artillery regiments and a self-propelled artillery division operated on the left wing. A total of 1,765 tanks and self-propelled guns.
The operational formation of the 2nd Tank Army was in two echelons, which was determined by the need to maneuver at the second stage of the operation, when the army could encounter deep enemy reserves, as well as the small width of the entry area into battle (12 km). In the first echelon of the army, the 3rd Tank Corps was advancing under the command of General N.D. Vedeneev and the 8th Guards Tank Corps, commanded by General A.F. Popov; in the second echelon - the 16th Tank Corps of General I.V. Dubovoy. Each tank corps of the first echelon received for reinforcement a light cannon artillery, an anti-tank artillery regiment, a guards mortar division, an engineer battalion, a heavy bridge battalion and two platoons of a cable-pole company. This strengthening of tank corps was aimed at increasing their independence in solving problems in operational depth.
The army anti-aircraft artillery group included the 24th anti-aircraft artillery division of the RVGK under the command of General I.G. Lyarsky. Two guards mortar regiments were allocated to the artillery reserve, one regiment and a division of anti-tank artillery to the artillery-anti-tank reserve, and an engineer battalion to the engineering reserve.
In the breakthrough areas, high densities of forces and assets were created: 1 rifle division, up to 247 guns and mortars and about 15 NPP tanks per 1 km of front. During the period of breakthrough of the enemy’s defense, one division each was transferred to the operational subordination of the commanders of the 47th and 69th armies, and an attack aviation corps was transferred to the 8th Guards Army.
The offensive began on the morning of July 18. Units of the 8th Guards Army, having broken through the main line of defense, reached the river. Ryzhovka. Its banks were very swampy and presented a serious obstacle to tanks. In this regard, it was decided to use the 11th Tank Corps after the rifle divisions had broken through the second line of enemy defense, and to bring the 2nd Tank Army into battle after capturing the bridgehead on the Western Bug.
On July 19, the 11th Tank Corps of General I.I. was brought into battle. Yushchuk. Pursuing the enemy, he immediately crossed the Western Bug and entrenched himself on its left bank. Following the tank corps, the advanced units of the 8th Guards Army and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps began to cross over to the bridgehead.
July 21 I.V. Stalin demanded from the representative of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Marshal G.K. Zhukov and the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky, no later than July 26–27, to capture the city of Lublin, for which, first of all, use the 2nd Tank Army and the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps. Directive No. 220149 emphasized: “This is urgently required by the political situation and the interests of an independent democratic Poland.”
On the same day, the troops of the 2nd Tank Army reached the Western Bug and began to cross over three bridges and ford to its left bank. 107th Tank Brigade of the 16th Tank Corps, commanded by Colonel T.P. Abramov, who covered the left flank of the army, together with units of the 7th Cavalry Corps liberated Chelm on July 22. Formations of the 3rd and 8th Guards Tank Corps went on the offensive towards Lublin. The 7th Guards Cavalry Corps was advancing on the left.
Units of the 3rd Tank Corps, having covered 75 km in 13 hours, bypassed Lublin from the north and began fighting for its northwestern and western outskirts. At the same time, the 50th Tank Brigade of Colonel R.A. Lieberman, acting in the vanguard of the corps, immediately burst into the city center. However, she was unable to gain a foothold and, under pressure from superior enemy forces, retreated to the western outskirts of Lublin.
On the morning of July 23, after a 30-minute artillery preparation, the main forces of the 2nd Tank Army began the assault on Lublin. At the same time, the 3rd Tank Corps maneuver to the north-west was used. The 7th Guards Cavalry Corps bypassed the city from the south. The attack from the east was carried out by the 8th Guards Tank Corps. The 16th Tank Corps was moved north as a barrier. Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, by the end of the day a significant part of Lublin was liberated, and up to 3 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were captured. During the assault, Army Commander General S.I. was seriously wounded by machine gun fire. Bogdanov. Chief of Army Staff General A.I. took command. Radzievsky.
For the liberation of Lublin, heroism and courage shown in battles, the honorary name of Lublin was assigned to the 59th Guards Tank Brigade, 62nd Guards Heavy Tank, 1107th and 1219th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiments.
After the liberation of Lublin, Marshal Rokossovsky ordered the 2nd Tank Army to capture the Dęblin, Puławy area and seize the crossings across the river. Vistula, and subsequently develop success in the direction of Warsaw. In the second half of July 24, the second echelon of the army was introduced into the battle - the 16th Tank Corps, which took Dęblin by storm and reached the Vistula. To the left, having captured Puławy, the 3rd Tank Corps reached the river. However, the enemy managed to blow up the crossings across the Vistula and, in order to cover the approaches to Warsaw, began hastily transferring their reserves from the western bank of the river to the Prague area (a suburb of Warsaw). Taking into account the current situation, the front commander turned the 2nd Tank Army from west to north. It was supposed to, advancing along the highway in the general direction of Garwolin, Prague, capture the outskirts of the Polish capital and capture the crossing of the Vistula in this area.
General Radzievsky decided to leave the 16th Tank Corps on the Vistula until it was replaced by suitable combined arms formations, and to advance in the given direction with the forces of two tank corps (3rd and 8th Guards). After the shift, the 16th Tank Corps was to follow the 8th Guards Tank Corps in readiness to enter the battle on the outskirts of Warsaw. The army reserve included a tank brigade, an army anti-tank artillery brigade and a rocket artillery regiment.
The troops of the 2nd Tank Army, developing an offensive in the direction of Garwolin, Prague, twice independently broke through the enemy defenses, which were hastily occupied by the enemy. The line Stoczek, Garwolin, on which only the advanced units of the approaching enemy reserves settled, was broken through on July 27 on the move on a wide front (29 km) by the forces of the forward detachments and head brigades of tank corps without artillery preparation and deployment of the main forces. The Sennitsa, Karchev line (on the near approaches to Warsaw), occupied by the main forces of the enemy reserves, could not be broken through on the move. Therefore, it was necessary to prepare the attack within 10 hours. The breakthrough of this line was carried out by tank corps in three independent sectors, which led to the fragmentation of the opposing enemy forces and their destruction in parts.
Horse-mechanized group of General V.V. Kryukova (2nd Guards Cavalry, 11th Tank Corps), developing an offensive to the northwest, captured the cities of Parchev and Radzyn on July 23. On the night of July 25, she started a battle for Siedlce. After stubborn fighting, the city was occupied on July 31 by the joint efforts of infantry, cavalry and tanks.
Formations of the 65th and 28th armies, having repelled an enemy counterattack in the Cheremkhi area on July 23, reached the Western Bug by the end of the day on July 26, enveloping the Brest enemy group from the north and northwest. At this time, the 70th Army crossed the river south of Brest and bypassed the city from the southwest. Troops of the 61st Army approached it from the east. On July 28, formations of the 28th and 70th armies and the 9th Guards Rifle Corps of the 61st Army occupied Brest, and the next day in the forests west of the city they completed the defeat of up to 4 enemy divisions. After this, the 61st and 70th armies were withdrawn to reserve.
On July 27, the troops of the 47th Army reached the line Miedzyrzec, Łuków, the 8th Guards Army - west of Łuków, Dęblin, and the advanced units of the 69th Army approached the Vistula. Introduced on July 28 into the battle at the junction of the 8th Guards and 69th Armies, the 1st Polish Army reached the Vistula in the Dęblin area, where it took over its sector from the 2nd Tank Army.
By the end of the day on July 28, the main forces of the 1st Belorussian Front, having encountered stubborn resistance from the German 2nd Army reinforced by reserves at the line south of Lositsa, Siedlce, Garwolin, were forced to turn their front to the north. The enemy hastily transferred the 19th Panzer Division, the SS Totenkopf and Viking divisions, as well as the Hermann Goering division, which had recently arrived from the Italian front, and a number of infantry formations of the German 2nd Army to Warsaw from the south. At the same time, enemy aviation intensified its activities.
While the enemy in the Warsaw area strengthened significantly, the troops of the 2nd Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front lost their combat power. They, operating in a 60 km wide zone, failed to break through the Prague fortified area on the move on July 31. Therefore, General Radzievsky gave the troops the order to temporarily go on the defensive. This decision was approved by the front commander, because, according to updated intelligence data, the enemy group outnumbered the army by 1.5–2 times. The army took up defensive positions in a single-echelon operational formation. The first echelon included the 3rd, 16th and 8th Guards Tank Corps. The 109th tank brigade and the 87th motorcycle regiment were allocated to the general reserve, the 1239th self-propelled artillery regiment, the 1960th anti-tank artillery regiment to the artillery and anti-tank reserve, and the 357th engineer battalion to the engineering reserve. The mobile barrage detachment consisted of an engineer company with a supply of mines. The corps occupied defenses in strips up to 15 km wide and up to 7 km deep.
The transition of the 2nd Tank Army to the defensive turned out to be timely. On August 1, the enemy took active action. His aircraft dominated the air. Tank corps repelled up to 10–12 attacks per day. On August 2, units of the enemy’s 19th Tank Division managed to penetrate the junction of the 3rd and 8th Guards Tank Corps. The army commander decided to launch a counterattack to the flank and rear of the enemy units that had broken through. At 10 o'clock, after a powerful fire attack by rocket artillery, formations and units of the 2nd Tank Army struck the right flank of the 19th Tank Division. As a result, the enemy who broke through was cut off from the rest of the forces and destroyed by 12 o'clock. A close ulnar connection was restored between the army's tank corps, and the penetration of enemy troops into the defense was eliminated.
The situation became especially difficult on August 3, when the enemy dealt a strong blow to the right flank of the army. However, thanks to the timely introduction of army reserves into battle, the heroism and endurance of tank soldiers, all enemy attempts to push the army back from their positions were repulsed. Being separated from the main forces of the front by 20–30 km, it independently conducted the defense for three days with insufficient air cover - only one fighter aviation regiment of the 6th Air Army. The ferocity of the fighting can be judged by the losses suffered by the army units - 284 tanks and self-propelled guns, of which 40% were irrecoverable. With the approach of the 47th Army formations, the 2nd Tank Army was withdrawn to the front reserve.
On July 29-August 2, troops of the 8th Guards and 69th armies crossed the Vistula south of Warsaw and captured the Magnuszew and Pulawy bridgeheads on its western bank. By the end of the day on August 2, front troops reached the line west of Surazh, Tsiekhanovets, north of Kalushin, Radzymin, east of Prague, further south along the Vistula and continued fighting to expand bridgeheads on its western bank and for Prague.
As a result of the Lublin-Brest operation, the liberation of the southwestern regions of Belarus was completed and the eastern regions of Poland were liberated. The troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, having advanced 260 km, crossed the Vistula on the move, captured bridgeheads on its western bank, and created favorable conditions for a subsequent offensive in the Warsaw-Berlin direction. During the operation, maneuver by mobile troops was widely used, a combination of various methods of defeating enemy groups - the Brest one by encirclement and subsequent destruction, and the Lublin one - by delivering deep cutting strikes; the crossing of large water obstacles on the move was skillfully carried out with the capture and expansion of bridgeheads.
2014 is the year of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders. On June 23, 1944, Soviet troops launched the Belarusian offensive Operation Bagration, which lasted until August 29. This was one of the largest military operations of the entire war. The result of the operation was the defeat of the German Army Group Center, as well as the liberation of Belarus, part of the Baltic states, and the eastern regions of Poland. Soviet troops advanced 600 kilometers in depth and captured important bridgeheads on the Vistula. During Operation Bagration, Brest was liberated on July 28, 1944.
Residents of Brest were faced with war already in the early morning of June 22, 1941. German troops occupied the city in the first hours of the war. The Red Army left him without a fight. At the same time, isolated pockets of resistance remained in the city. The battles for the Brest railway station went on for a very long time. The defenders of the station took refuge in deep and branched basements under the building, from which the Nazis could not smoke them out for several days. As a result, they simply began to flood the basements, which forced the last defenders of the station to surrender.
Despite the fact that the city was taken already in the first hours of the war, the Brest Fortress and its garrison forever went down in history as an example of military glory and valor. The defense of the fortress was carried out by separate units of the 6th and 42nd Rifle Divisions of the 28th Rifle Corps, which simply did not have time to leave the fortress to their deployment sites, as well as military personnel of the 17th Red Banner Brest Border Detachment and other individual units of the Western Special Military District. The Soviet units remaining in the fortress offered fierce resistance to the invaders. The organized resistance of the fortress defenders continued until June 30, 1941, by which time Minsk had already fallen. And isolated pockets of resistance remained in the fortress until the second half of July 1941. According to local residents, shooting could be heard in the fortress in early August.
Column of the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht, defeated in Belarus
For more than three years, Brest and the Brest Fortress were under the yoke of German occupation. All these years have passed under the sign of legalized terror. A very large part of the city's population in 1941 were Jews. Before the war, up to 22 thousand Jews lived in the city, accounting for more than 40% of its inhabitants. There were also a number of refugees from German-occupied Poland, also mostly Jewish by nationality. Mass executions of Jews began in the city as early as July 1941. According to available information from the reports of German punitive detachments in July 1941, they shot 4,435 people, of which more than 4 thousand were Jewish.
In December 1941, the Brest ghetto was created in the city, which existed until October 1942. As of December 1941, there were 18 thousand Jews there. Almost all of them were tortured and killed by the Nazis. On the night of October 15, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by German police units, and an operation to liquidate it began, which lasted until October 18. Of the entire Brest Jewish community, only 19 lucky ones managed to escape; the community practically ceased to exist. Needless to say, the residents of the city were looking forward to the liberation by Soviet troops.
Brest was liberated by the Red Army during the Lublin-Brest operation, which was led by troops of the 1st Belorussian Front, commanded by Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. According to the plan of this operation, Soviet troops with concentrated attacks, delivered around the Brest fortified area, were supposed to defeat the Nazi group in Brest and Lublin, further developing an offensive against Warsaw. The result of the operation was supposed to be access to the Vistula.
Soviet troops in Minsk
By a curious coincidence, the 70th Army, which took part in the Lublin-Brest operation and advanced around the city from the southwestern direction, was commanded by Colonel General (rank awarded on July 26, 1944) Vasily Stepanovich Popov. In 1941, Vasily Popov was still only a major general and commanded the 28th Rifle Corps, which included the 6th and 42nd Rifle Divisions stationed in the Brest area. Fate gave the general a unique chance to get even with the Germans for the bitterness of the defeats of June 1941.
From July 5 to July 28, 1944, units of the 28th, 61st, 65th, 70th, 16th air armies, as well as the Dnieper flotilla and a cavalry-mechanized group liberated all regional centers of the Brest region. The main blow was delivered by the troops of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front, parts of which were advancing in the Kovel-Lublin direction. By July 20, more than 400 settlements had been liberated, including regional centers of the Volyn region. On July 20, Soviet troops reached the Western Bug River, the Soviet border. On the same day, the advanced units crossed the river and entered Polish territory. On July 22, the first Polish city, Helm, was liberated and occupied by the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps. After another 2 days of fighting, the Red Army liberated Lublin. For this success, 16 units and formations of the 1st Belorussian Front were given the honorary name - Lublinsky.
On the right flank of the operation, stubborn battles with the Nazis were fought by the 28th, 48th, 65th armies, as well as a cavalry-mechanized group. With the entry of army units to the Svisloch-Pruzhany line, as well as to the near approaches to Brest, the preconditions were created for the encirclement of the entire Brest group of enemy troops. This task was to be solved by the forces of the 28th and 70th armies. At the same time, the enemy was well prepared for defense. In the Brest region, the Nazis created a very powerful defense center; their system of deeply echeloned fortifications included some forts of the Brest Fortress. However, the Germans did not succeed in the heroic defense of the fortress, which was carried out by units of the Red Army in June 1941.
Kholm Gate of the Brest Fortress
On July 28, Soviet troops from the 28th, 61st and 70th armies entered Brest and liberated the city. In his memoirs about the events of those days, Senior Lieutenant D. M. Neustroyev, commander of the reconnaissance company of the 48th Guards Rifle Division from the 28th Army, recalled: “I remembered the offensive and assault on the city of Brest and the fortress for the rest of my life. These were unforgettable and hot days. Our division was not advancing on the left flank of the 28th Army; soldiers of the 160th Infantry Division from the 70th Army were fighting to the south of us. When we finally entered the city, a huge ashes appeared in its place. In place of many houses, only chimneys blackened by fire stuck out, which stood like gloomy crosses in the German cemetery spread out here. The streets of the city were strewn with the corpses of German soldiers, and also clogged with destroyed artillery and various enemy equipment.”
The battles for the city were indeed fierce, as evidenced by the significant losses of the Brest group of Nazi troops, which are confirmed by both warring parties. According to Soviet data, in the battles for Brest the enemy lost 7 thousand people in killed alone. The nature of the fighting is also evidenced by the very small number of prisoners taken by Soviet troops, only 110 people.
As a result of the successful completion of the Lublin-Brest operation, the expulsion of the Nazi occupiers from the territory of Belarus ended. During the offensive, the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army fought 260 kilometers and captured very important bridgeheads on the Vistula. These bridgeheads created favorable conditions for the further defeat of enemy troops in the Warsaw direction and became the prologue to the complete liberation of the territory of Poland.
Eternal flame in the Brest Fortress
Today the city and the fortress on the Bug River can be visited by everyone. Brest is a city with a 1000-year history (in 2019 it will officially celebrate this date), which always welcomes guests and receives tens of thousands of tourists from Russia every year. One of the visiting cards of the city, of course, is the Brest Fortress. Nowadays, anyone can visit the sites of the battles of June 1941, examine the surviving fortifications, the Brest Fortress memorial complex, visit the museum of the defense of the fortress, and honor the memory of the fallen defenders and residents of the city.
Based on materials from open sources.
Brest was liberated as a result of the Lublin-Brest operation (July 18 - August 2, 1944), which was carried out by troops of the 1st Belorussian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky.
The right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front consisted of the 48th, 65th, 28th armies and the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group. The center of the front was the 61st Army. The left wing consisted of the 70th, 47th, 8th Guards, 69th, 2nd Tank, 6th and 16th Air Armies, 7th Guards and 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, 1st th Army of the Polish Army.
The liberation of settlements in the Brest region began even before the Lublin-Brest operation, during the Belarusian offensive operation “Bagration” (June 23 – August 29, 1944).
In the period from July 5 to July 28, 1944, units of the 70th, 28th, 61st, 65th, 16th air armies, the cavalry mechanized group, and the Dnieper flotilla liberated the regional centers of the Brest region:
- July 5 – Lyakhovichi (horse-mechanized group);
- July 7 – Gantsevichi (23rd Rifle Division, 415th Rifle Division, 12th Guards Rifle Division of the 61st Army, partisans of the Lenin Brigade);
- July 7 – Stolin (12th Guards Rifle Division, 415th Rifle Division of the 61st Army);
- July 8 – Baranovichi (20th Rifle Division, 130th Rifle Division, 50th Rifle Division of the 28th Army, 18th Rifle Corps of the 65th Army);
- July 10 – Luninets (23rd Infantry Division, 55th Infantry Division of the 61st Army, Dnieper Military Flotilla, partisans of the Kirov Brigade);
- July 12 – Ivatsevichi (20th Infantry Division of the 28th Army);
- July 14 - Pinsk (55th Rifle Division, 415th Rifle Division, 12th Guards Rifle Division of the 61st Army, Dnieper Military Flotilla);
- July 15 – Bereza (48th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army);
- July 16 - Ivanovo (48th Guards Rifle Division, 55th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army, 212th Rifle Division, 12th Guards Rifle Division of the 61st Army);
- July 16 – Pruzhany (50th Guards Rifle Division, 96th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army, cavalry mechanized group);
- July 17 - Drogichin (12th Guards Rifle Division, 212th Rifle Division, 415th Rifle Division of the 61st Army);
- July 18 – Zhabinka (20th Infantry Division of the 28th Army);
- July 20 - Kobrin (20th Rifle Division of the 28th Army, 12th Guards Rifle Division, 212th Rifle Division, 415th Rifle Division of the 61st Army);
- July 20 – Malorita (76th Infantry Division of the 70th Army, partisans of the Lenin Brigade);
- July 22 – Kamenets (50th Guards Rifle Division, 54th Rifle Division of the 28th Army).
- On July 18, 1944, volleys of guns heralded the beginning of the Lublin-Brest operation.
The main blow was delivered by the troops of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front in the Kovel-Lublin direction. 70th Army of Colonel General Popov V.S., 47th Army of Lieutenant General Gusev N.I., 8th Guards. Army of Colonel General Chuikov V.I., 69th Army of Lieutenant General Kolpakchi V.Ya. with the support of the 6th Air Army, Aviation Lieutenant General F.P. Polynin. broke through the enemy defenses west of Kovel on a front of 30 km and within two days advanced 13 km. The 1st Army of the Polish Army under the command of Lieutenant General Z. Berling advanced in the second echelon.
By July 20, more than 400 settlements were liberated, including regional centers of the Volyn region: Lyuboml, Ratno, Turiysk, Zabolotye, etc.
On July 20, units of the 70th, 47th, 69th and 8th Guards. armies reached the river. Western Bug, crossed it and entered the territory of Poland. July 22, 7th Guards. The cavalry corps liberated the first Polish city of Chelm.
On July 24, troops of the 2nd Tank Army captured the city of Lublin. 16 units and formations of the 1st Belorussian Front were given the honorary name “Lublin”.
On the right flank, stubborn battles were fought by the 48th, 65th, 28th armies and the cavalry-mechanized group. The commander of the 28th Army A.A. Luchinsky recalled: “At the beginning of July 1944, Hitler’s command made an attempt to organize a new defense front on the Bialystok-Brest line. In the hundred-kilometer section of the Nazi defense between Bialo-Podlaska and Brest, a fairly strong enemy group was created, consisting of two tank and seven infantry divisions, six divisional groups and two separate brigades with a dozen security regiments.”
With the entry of the right wing troops to the line of Svisloch, Pruzhany and the approaches to Brest, conditions were created for the encirclement of the enemy’s Brest group. This task was to be completed by the troops of the 28th and 70th armies.
The Nazis created in the Brest region a powerful, deeply echeloned fortified area, replete with a large number of pillboxes, bunkers, minefields and other long-term and field fortifications, interconnected by communication passages. The forts of the Brest Fortress were included in the defense system.
July 28, 1944 by units of the 12th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel D.K. Maltsev), 212th Rifle Division (Colonel V.G. Kuchinev), 415th Rifle Division (Colonel P.M. Moshchalkov) 9- th Guards Brest Rifle Corps of the 61st Army, 48th Guards Rifle Division (Major General Korchikov G.N.) 20th Brest Rifle Corps of the 28th Army, 160th Rifle Division (Major General Timofeev N.S. .) The city of Brest was liberated by the 114th Brest Rifle Corps of the 70th Army.
The newspaper “Pravda” No. 181 for July 29, 1944 published the Order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the liberation of Brest and the article by Y. Makarenko “Liberation of Brest” with a detailed description of the course of hostilities.
In his memoirs about the liberation of Brest, senior lieutenant, commander of the reconnaissance company of the 48th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army, D.M. Neustroev, wrote: “The offensive, and then the assault on Brest and the Brest Fortress, I will remember for the rest of my life. These were hot and unforgettable days. The 48th Guards Rifle Division was advancing on the left flank of the 28th Army. South of Brest, that is, to the left of us, the 160th Infantry Division of the 70th Army was advancing... When we entered the city, we found a huge ashes in its place. In place of houses, blackened pipes stuck out, like gloomy crosses in a huge cemetery of the Nazis. The streets were littered with German corpses, filled with mutilated tanks, artillery and mortars...”
With the entry of Soviet troops onto the Vistula River and the capture of bridgeheads on its western bank, the Lublin-Brest operation was completed.
47 units and formations of the 1st Belorussian Front were given the honorary name “Brest”. More than 20 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for their distinction during the Lublin-Brest operation.
As a result of the Lublin-Brest operation, the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of Belarus was completed. During the operation, Soviet troops advanced up to 260 km and, having captured bridgeheads on the Vistula, created favorable conditions for the subsequent defeat of the enemy in the Warsaw strategic direction and the complete liberation of Poland.
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Lublin-Brest offensive operation (July 18 - August 2, 1944)
The Lublin-Brest offensive operation was carried out by troops of the 1st Belorussian Front with the aim of defeating the Brest and Lublin enemy groups. On the German side they were opposed by formations of the 2nd and 9th armies of Army Group Center and the 4th Tank Army of Army Group Northern Ukraine.
The 1st Belorussian Front achieved the greatest successes in the second half of July. By July 16, the troops of his right wing and center reached the line of the cities of Svisloch - Pruzhany - west of Pinsk. The operational position of the troops has improved significantly. If at the beginning of the liberation of Belarus two strong flank groupings of the front were separated by the vast swamps of Polesie, now Polesie is left behind, and the length of the front line has been reduced by almost half. The entry of the front's right wing into the area northeast of Brest created favorable conditions for the left wing to go on the offensive, which could lead to the encirclement of the enemy's Brest group.
Taking into account the current situation, the command of the 1st Belorussian Front was preparing the troops of the left wing to go on the offensive in the Kovel-Lublin direction. The operation plan was approved by Headquarters on July 7, 1944.
The idea of the new operation, called the Lublin-Brest operation, was to defeat the Lublin and Brest enemy groups with strikes from the front troops, bypassing the Brest fortified area from the north and south, and, developing an offensive in the Warsaw direction, to reach the border of the river on a wide front. Vistula. Consequently, the front troops, having approached the border of the USSR, immediately had to begin the liberation of the eastern regions of Poland.
Large forces took part in the Lublin-Brest operation: 9 combined arms armies (including the 1st Polish), 1 tank army, 2 tank, 1 mechanized, 3 cavalry corps and 2 air armies. The participation of the 1st Polish Army in the operation was clear evidence of the unity of the Soviet and Polish peoples in their desire to destroy fascism and liberate the Polish people.
It was decided to deliver the main blow by the troops of the left wing of the front. By the beginning of the offensive, the first echelon on this wing of the front included the 70th, 47th, 8th Guards and 69th armies, and the second echelon included the 1st Polish Army. The front also had in the Kovel area the 2nd Tank Army, the 11th Tank Army, the 2nd and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps and the 6th Air Army.
47th Army under the command of Lieutenant General N.I. Gusev, the 8th Guards Army, commanded by a Colonel General, and the 69th Army under the command of a Lieutenant General were tasked with breaking through the enemy defenses west of Kovel. Having made a breakthrough, the combined arms armies had to ensure the introduction of a tank army and cavalry corps into the battle and, in cooperation with them, develop an offensive in two directions - towards Siedlce and towards Lublin. Thanks to the skillful regrouping of troops, an overwhelming superiority in forces and means was achieved: threefold in men, fivefold in artillery and tanks. Aviation support for the troops was entrusted to the 6th Air Army under the command of Lieutenant General of Aviation F.P. Polynin. At the beginning of the offensive, this army had 1,465 aircraft.
5 days before the start of the operation, taking advantage of the success of Soviet troops in Belarus, the troops of the neighboring 1st Ukrainian Front went on the offensive. The front's strike group, operating in the Rava-Russian direction, crossed the Western Bug by July 17 with advanced detachments of mobile troops. At the same time, fierce battles broke out in the Lvov direction. Now the military operations of the 1st Ukrainian Front, in turn, created favorable conditions for the offensive of the troops of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front.
The offensive began on July 18 and developed successfully. On July 20, the troops of the shock group of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front reached the Western Bug on a broad front and crossed it in three places, entering Poland. In the next 2 days, the main forces of the armies crossed the river. 2nd Tank Army under the command of Lieutenant General of Tank Forces S.I. Bogdanov (from July 23 - Major General of Tank Forces
), having entered the battle in the zone of the 8th Guards Army on July 22, and already captured the city of Lublin on July 23.
Continuing the rapid offensive, the army reached the Vistula River in the Dęblin area on July 25. Two days later, the 1st Polish Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Z. Berling, arrived here. The 2nd Tank Army handed over its sector to it and began to advance along the eastern bank of the Vistula towards Warsaw. With the exit of the 2nd Tank and 1st Polish armies to the Vistula, the interaction between the groups of fascist German armies “Center” and “Northern Ukraine” was disrupted.
To the north of the strike force, a cavalry-mechanized group consisting of the 2nd Guards Cavalry and 11th Tank Corps was advancing. Rapidly moving to the northwest, the cavalry-mechanized group liberated the cities of Parczew and Radzyn and on the night of July 25 began fighting for Siedlce. The withdrawal of troops from the left wing of the front to the Vistula and the Siedlce region worsened the operational situation for the enemy’s Brest group. The offensive of the troops of the right wing of the 1st Belorussian Front also developed successfully. The 65th and 28th armies approached the Western Bug north of Brest. With the advance of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front to the Western Bug, conditions were created for the encirclement of the enemy's Brest grouping.
Fearing the loss of Brest, an important defense center in the Warsaw direction, the Nazi command pulled the remnants of the 2nd and 9th armies to it and tried to organize a strong defense to the northeast and east of the city. The enemy launched strong counterattacks from the north-west and south on Cheremkha. This slowed down the advance of our troops, but did not stop it. The encirclement of the Brest enemy group was completed on July 27 with the withdrawal of troops of the 28th and 70th armies to the Western Bug north-west of the city. The next day, July 28, the troops of these two armies stormed Brest. The famous fortress, which took the first blow of the fascist hordes in June 1941, again became Soviet.
The Red Banner is flying over the Brest Fortress again. July 28, 1944
Monument to liberation in Brest. Installed in 1965 in honor of the liberation of the city from German troops. Sculptor M. Altshuler. Architects A. Gorbachev and N. Milovidov
After capturing the areas of Brest and Siedlce, the 1st Belorussian Front advanced in the general direction of Warsaw. On July 31, the 2nd Tank Army began fighting on the near approaches of the Warsaw suburb of Prague. However, as a result of a counterattack by 5 tank and 2 infantry divisions of the enemy, Soviet troops were forced to go on the defensive.
The 8th Guards and 69th armies of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front crossed the Vistula south of Warsaw from July 27 to August 4 and captured bridgeheads on its western bank in the areas of the cities of Magnusheva and Pulawy. Fierce battles broke out to retain and expand the bridgeheads. The army command showed high skill in leading combat operations, and the soldiers and commanders showed courage and bravery.
The Lublin-Brest operation ended with the entry of troops of the 1st Belorussian Front to the Vistula and the capture of bridgeheads on its western bank.
As a result, the liberation of the southwestern regions of the BSSR from the German occupiers was completed and the eastern regions of Poland were liberated. Favorable conditions developed for the subsequent defeat of the enemy in the Warsaw-Berlin direction and the complete liberation of Poland. 47 particularly distinguished units and formations received the honorary names Brest, 16 - Lublin, 9 - Kovel, 12 - Kobrin.
During this operation, front troops crossed the Soviet-Polish border and cleared the Polish lands east of the Vistula from the invaders in their zone. Conditions were created for the liberation of all Polish territory. The 1st Polish Army fought valiantly with the Soviet troops shoulder to shoulder. The Polish partisans, who intensified their struggle at that time, provided significant assistance to the Red Army.
Roman Chekinov,
senior researcher at the Research Institute
Institute of Military History of the Military Academy
General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
