- 1st Belorussian Front
Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=1st Belorussian Front
caption=
dates=1943-1945
country=flag|Soviet Union|1923
allegiance=
branch=
type=Army Group Command
role=Co-ordination and conduct of Red Army Operations in Ukraine, Poland, and Germany
size= Several Armies
command_structure=
current_commander=
garrison=
battles=Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive Kalinkov-Mozyr Offensive Rogachev-Zhlobin Operation
Bobruysk OffensiveWarsaw-Poznań Operation Battle of Berlin Battle of the Seelow Heights
notable_commanders=Marshal Konstantin K. Rokossovsky (October 1943-November 1944)
Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov (November 1944-June 1945)
anniversaries=The 1st Belorussian Front (alternative spellings are 1st Byelorussian Front and 1st
Belarus ian Front) was a Front of theSoviet Army during World War II. As such it was a Soviet formation equivalent to a WesternArmy group .Initially, the Belorussian Front was created on October 20, 1943 as the new designation of the existing Central Front. It was placed under the command of General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, who had been commanding the Central Front. It launched the Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive in 1943 and then the Kalinkov-Mozyr Offensive in 1944.
It was then renamed the 1st Belorussian Front (1BF) on 17 February 1944 following the Dnepr-Carpathian strategic offensive operation. A few days later, on 21 February, the
Rogachev-Zhlobin Operation commenced, which continued until 26 February. [Keith E. Bonn, "Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front", Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.42] The next operation was the Bobruysk Offensive, part ofOperation Bagration , and on 26 June the attacks of 1BF encircled Bobruisk, trapping 40,000 troops of the German 41st Panzer Corps (part of 9th Army). From 18 July-2 August the Front was part of theLublin-Brest Offensive . From 2 August to 30 September the Front was engaged cleaning out Germans to the east of the Vistula (during which the Battle of Radzymin took place from 1 - 10 August). Its 8th Guards, 28th, 47th, 65th, 69th, and 70th Armies were involved at Radzymin. Later during that same period, on 14 September, 1BF with the support of Polish forces capturedPraga , a suburb of Warsaw.The next attack was the
Warsaw-Poznań Operation , a part of theVistula-Oder Offensive . On 13 January, 1BF began an offensive toward Pillkallen inEast Prussia , against which they meet stiff resistance from the 3rd Panzer Army.The 1st Belorussian Front opened its attack on the German Ninth Army from theMagnuszew andPuławy bridgeheads at 08:30 on January 14, again commencing with a heavy bombardment.Duffy, p.72] The 33rd and 69th Armies broke out of the Puławy bridgehead to a depth of 30 km, while the 5th Shock and 8th Guards Armies broke out of the Magnuszew bridgehead. The 2nd and 1st Guards Tank Armies were committed after them to exploit the breach. On 25 January, the Front cut off the fortress city ofPoznań which held 66,000 Germans, and continued its 80 km a day advance, leaving the 8th Guards Army to lay siege to the city, which they finally took on 23 February. [Christopher Duffy, "Red Storm on the Reich", New York: Athenum Press, 1991, p.250]Berlin
Along with the
1st Ukrainian Front , 1BF then stormed Berlin in the climaticBattle of Berlin .
Marshal Georgy Zhukov was appointed commander of the 1BF, in November 1944, for its last two great offensives of World War II. After the capture of Poland and East Prussia from January-March 1945, the Soviets redeployed their forces during the first two weeks of April. Marshal Georgy Zhukov concentrated 1BF, which had been deployed along the Oder river from Frankfurt in the south to the Baltic, into an area in front of theSeelow Heights . The 2nd Belorussian Front moved into the positions being vacated by the 1BF north of the Seelow Heights. While this redeployment was in progress gaps were left in the lines and the remnants of the German II Army which had been bottled up in a pocket nearDanzig managed to escape across the Oder.In the early hours of April 16 the
Berlin Offensive Operation started with the objectives of capturing Berlin and linking up with Western Allied forces on theElbe . The operation started with an assault on the Seelow Heights by 1BF and by Marshal Konev's1st Ukrainian Front (1UF) to the south. Initially the 1BF had great difficulty smashing through the German lines of defence, but after three days they had broken through and were approaching the outskirts of Berlin. By 22 April 1BF had penetrated the northern and eastern suburbs of Berlin. They finished the encirclement of Berlin on 25 April when units of the 1BF and 1UF meet at Kietzen west of Berlin. After heavy street by street andhouse to house fighting , General Weidling, the commander of Berlin's garrison, met with General Chuikov and surrendered Berlin unconditionally at 15:00 hours local time on May 2. On 8 May, after a signing ceremony in Berlin, the German armed forces surrendered to the Allies unconditionally and the war in Europe was over.Following the war, the Front headquarters formed the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany .The Front's Commissars included
*Lt. General Konstantin F. Telegin [continuing from Central Front] (October 1943-May 1944; November 1944-June 1945)
*Colonel General Nikolai A. Bulganin (May 1944-November 1944)1945 time line
* 24 January: 1BF and 2nd Belorussian Fronts attack Pomerania. German II Army is cut off.
* 31 January: 1BF reaches the riverOder to the North ofKüstrin and establishes a bridgehead on the western side less than 60 km from Berlin.
* 1 February: 1BF surrounds the fortress town of Küstrin.
* 2 February: 1BF reaches the Oder to the south ofFrankfurt (Oder)
* 6 February: 1BF fans out along the east bank of the Oder between Frankfurt and Küstrin.
* 4 March: 1BF breaks through the German lines at Stargard and drives towards Stettin. It also establishes a new bridgehead across the Oder to the south of Frankfurt.
* 27 March: 1BF is involved in heavy street fighting in Danzig
* 28 March: 1BF capturesGotenhafen north of Danzig.
* 29 March: The fortress town of Küstrin falls to the 1BF after a siege lasting almost a month.
* 30 March: Soviet troops finally capture Danzig
* 16 April: 1BF and the 1st Ukrainian Front start the final offensive on Berlin from along theOder-Neisse line .
* 17 April: The 1BF assault against Berlin is stalled by tenacious German resistance on the Seelow Heights, 3 km west of the Oder, with great losses of troops and tanks for the Soviets.
* 18 April: 1BF continues to batter the German position across the Seelow Heights in a battle of attrition.
* 19 April: 1BF breaks through the German defences on the Seelow Heights and moves rapidly towards Berlin.
* 22 April: 1BF penetrates the northern and eastern suburbs of Berlin.
* 25 April: Units of the 1BF and 1st Ukrainian Fronts meet at Kietzen west of Berlin. Berlin is now completely encircled by eight Russian armies.
* 30 April: Zhukov refuses to grant the defenders of Berlin an armistice and demands an unconditional surrender
* 2 May: General Weidling, the commander of Berlin's Garrison meets with General Chuikov and accepts his terms of unconditional surrender of Berlin. The garrison in Berlin surrenders at 3pm local time.
* 8 May: In deference to the Soviets, the surrender ceremony to the Western Allies at Rheims on the previous day is repeated before Marshal Zhukov and other Soviet generals at Karlshorst, a suburb of Berlin.
*10 June: Front disbanded; its command transformed into the command of theGroup of Soviet Forces in Germany .Armies
The armies that were part of the 1st Belorussian Front included:
* 61st Army
* 1st Polish Army
* 47th Army
* 3rd Shock Army
* 5th Shock Army
* 8th Guards Army
* 69th Army
* 33rd Army
* 16th Air Army
* 18th Air Army
* 1st Guards Tank Army
* 2nd Guards Tank Army
* 3rd Armyources and References
*Keith E. Bonn, "Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front", Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.300
*Antill, P., [http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_berlin.html "Battle for Berlin: April – May 1945"]
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