Belorussian Strategic Direction

The Belorussian Strategic Direction was a planning construct with the Soviet General Staff from 1943 to 1944.Fact|date=April 2008 This was not a field command, however, it did have a separate staff planning group within the Stavka which was created on need to have basis from officers more familiar with the needs of the operations in that direction, and the Front staffs.

Through the progress of operations by the Red Army in the European Theatre and their increased complexity, from the second half of 1943 there was an increasing reduction in the size of forces commanded by Front commanders. Coordination of several fronts within the Teatre was vested with a senior of several Front commanders, and the Belorussian Strategic Direction allowed this on the narrower front. Although it possibly briefly existed during the immediate period after the start of war in 1941 [ [http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/zaharov_mv/index.html Захаров М.В. Генеральный штаб в предвоенные годы. — М.: Воениздат, 1989 ] ] , the strategic direction came into being in the Summer of 1943 when the Belorussian Front was divided into three. The Belorussian Strategic Direction usually comprised the three Fronts until May 1945, although on occasion other Fronts such as the 1st Baltic Front during the Rogachev-Zhlobinsk offensive operation were subordinated to it for specific operations.

3rd Belorussian Front Commanders:
* General-Colonel, later General of the Army I.D. Chernyakhovskiy (April 1944 - February 1945) Killed in combat on February 18 in the region Melzak [ [http://www.thomasgraz.net/glass/gl-2280.htm] Pieniężno is situated at an altitude of 111 m on the river Wałsza (german: Walscha) in the east of Braniewo county of the Warmian-Masurian voivodeship in northern Poland.]
* Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky (February - April 1945)

* General of the Army Hovhannes Bagramyan (April - August 1945)

2nd Belorussian Front
* General-Colonel P.A. Kurochkin (February - April 1944)

* General-Colonel, I.E. Petrov (April - June 1944)

* General-Colonel, General of the Army G.F. Zakharov (July - November 1944)

* Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky (November 1944 - June 1945)

1st Belorussian front
* General of the Army , later Marshal K.K. Rokossovskiy (February - November 1944)

* Marshal G.K. Zhukov (November 1944 - June 1945)

Operations

The Fronts of the Strategic Direction participated in the following operations during its existence:
*Polesskaya offensive operation
*Rogachev-Zhlobinsk offensive operation
*Vitebsk-Orsha Offensive Operation
*Mogilev Offensive Operation
*Bobruysk Offensive Operation
*Minsk Offensive Operation
*Vilnus offensive operation
*Belostock Offensive Operation
*Lublin-Brest offensive operation
*Kaubas offensive operation
*Osovetsk offensive operation
*Warsaw-Poznan offensive operation
*Insterburg-Konigsberg offensive operation
*Mlavsk-El'ba offensive operation
*Rastenburg-Heilsberg offensive operation
*Braunsberg offensive operation/Heiligenbeil Pocket
*Assault of Konigsberg offensive operation/Battle of Königsberg
*Zemland offensive operation
*Danzig offensive operation
*Arnsval'de-Kolberg offensive operation
*Al'tdam offensive operation
*Stettin-Rostock offensive operation
*Zeelow-Berlin offensive operation
*Brandernburg-Ratenow offensive operation

ources and references

* Похлебкин, В.В., Великая война и несостоявшийся мир. М., 1997. cc. 202-208Pokhlebkin, V.V., The Great War and the unmaterialised Peace. Moscow, 1997, pp.202-208 (for names of commanders only)
* Захаров М.В. Генеральный штаб в предвоенные годы. — М.: Воениздат, 1989 Zakharov, M.V. General Staff in the pre-war years, Moscow, Voenizdat., 1989 (chapter 6) [http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/zaharov_mv/index.html]

Footnotes