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26 June 2014, 09:01

Chronicle of Belarus' Liberation: 26 June 1944

26 June 1944 was the 1,101st day of the war… This day the Soviet Army liberated Gorki, Zhlobin, Kirovsk, Parichi, Uzda, Tolochin, Dubrovno and Vitebsk.

On the first day of Operation Bagration the 6th guards army and the 43rd army of the 1st Baltic Front broke through the Nazi defenses to the north of Vitebsk and advanced by another 12-16km. On the night of 24 June the Soviet Army reached the Western Dvina River, crossed it and captured several Nazi strongholds on the left bank of the river.

The German command was taken aback by the rapid advance of the 1st Baltic Front. Wehrmacht General Tippelskirch wrote: “The Soviet advance at the northwest of Vitebsk was particularly painful for us, because it took us by surprise, like no other offensive. The Soviets struck the poorly protected section of the frontline in the strategic part of the front”.

The Soviet advancement gained momentum when mobile units got involved: the 1st tank corps (General V. Butkov) of the 1st Baltic Front joined the operation on 23 June; the cavalry and mechanized group of General N. Oslikovsky joined the offensive as part of the 3rd Belarusian Front.

In the morning of 26 June the 5th guards tank army led by Marshal P. Rotmistrov joined the offensive 32-34km behind the frontline. Backed up by the aviation, the army took over Tolochin and reached the Minsk highway 50km to the west of Orsha. The cavalry and mechanized group led by General I. Pliyev spearheaded the attacks of the 1st Belarusian Front. The Soviet Army started the encirclement of the German troops near Vitebsk and Bobruisk in an effort to catch the Nazi in the converging pincers.

A day before – in the morning of 25 June – the 43rd army (General A. Beloborodov) of the 1st Baltic Front and the 39th army (General I. Lyudnikov) of the 3rd Belarusian Front bypassed the enemy and met near Gnezdilovichi. Five infantry divisions of the 3rd tank army of the Nazi (all in all, about 35,000 people) were encircled near Vitebsk. The Hitlerites resisted vehemently. On 26 June they attempted to break the encirclement and retreat to the southwest near Zaozerye, but failed. Realizing that they would not be able to break through, the Nazi decided to use locals as human shields. The Soviet Army let the civilians pass through the first line of battle and faced the Nazi in the hand-to-hand fighting.

On 26 June 1944 Vitebsk was cleared of the enemy, but the fight was still going on in the suburbs of the city. Taking part in the liberation of the city were the 145th rifle division (Major General P. Dibrov), the 204th rifle division (Colonel K. Baidak), the 155th fortified region (Colonel I. Savchenko) of the 92nd rifle corps; the 105th separate tank regiment (Mayor F. Zaitsev) of the 43rd army of the 1st Baltic Front; the 158th rifle division (D. Goncharov), the 164th rifle division (Colonel R. Sinitsyn) and the 262nd rifle division (Major General Z. Usachev) of the 84th rifle corps; the 957th self-propelled artillery regiment (Colonel V. Kuznetsov), the 139th army gun artillery brigade (Colonel D. Lukyanov) of the 39th army of the 3rd Belarusian Front; the 1st air army (Lieutenant General M. Gromov, Hero of the Soviet Union, Professor); the 1st Vitebsk partisan brigade (Commander M. F. Biryulin) and other units.

On 27 June, the troops of the 43rd and 39th armies supported by the air force attacked and surrounded the Nazi troops near Vitebsk and utterly destroyed them. The enemy lost 20,000 men. More than 10,000 surrendered.

32 units and formations of the 3rd Belarusian Front and 30 units and formations of the 1st Baltic Front were awarded the honorary title "Vitebsk".

On 26 June 1944 the Soviet Army liberated the districts of Dubrovno, Tolochin, Gorki, Kirovsk, Parichi, Zhlobin and Krupki.

An artillery salute was given in Moscow in honor of the liberation of the towns of Zhlobin and Vitebsk.

From the situation report of the Soviet Information Bureau dated 26 June 1944:

Today, the troops of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3rd Belarusian Front took over the oblast capital Vitebsk in Belarus. Having knocked out the Germans from the eastern part of the city yesterday, the Soviet troops started crossing the Western Dvina River at night and stormed the western part of the city. Our other units came to Vitebsk from the west. All night the Soviet Army was engaged in fierce battles, beating out the Nazis from houses, cellars and shelters.

By the morning of 26 June, Vitebsk was completely cleared from the Nazi invaders. More than 6,000 enemy corpses were left on the streets of the city. The Soviet Army seized 10 locomotives, 3 trains with military equipment, 1,100 vehicles, a huge amount of weapons and ammunition. Up to 1,000 German soldiers and officers were taken prisoners. West of Vitebsk our troops were tightening the ring around the German group. All enemy attempts to break out of the encirclement were successfully repelled. Many prisoners were taken. In a sweeping attack the Soviet troops cut the surrounded Nazi group into two parts and fought with them until the Nazi units were completely destroyed.

***

West and southwest of Vitebsk the units of the N-formation stormed the town of Beshenkovichi from three sides. More than 1,000 Nazis were killed in the battle for this strategic road junction. Repelling the counterattacks of the enemy, our troops successfully moved forward and liberated more than 700 locations taking a lot of trophies. The N-unit captured 6 tanks, 1 mortar and two artillery batteries.

Advancing in the Orsha direction our troops entered Orsha from the north liberating more than 400 villages, including earth-road junctions Oboltsy and Smolyany. The enemy made attempts to hold up the Soviet troops at intermediate positions. Our troops swooped around the flanks to cut into the enemy's rear, destroy the personnel, and seize equipment and armament. The Nazis retreated, leaving weapons and ammunition behind. In one settlement our soldiers arrested 300 vehicles, three ordnance warehouses and over 30 heavy guns. In Oboltsy the Soviet cavalry battered the enemy garrison seizing 30 vehicles and capturing 100 Nazi soldiers. Elsewhere the Soviet units besieged and destroyed a big Nazi detachment taking captive 400 soldiers and officers. During the day of battles our units seized 14 tanks and mechanized guns, over 90 weapons of various types, 212 machine guns, 246 vehicles, 500 horses and many more.

***
In the Mogilev direction our troops approached the Dnieper River north of Mogilev cutting off an important lateral highway Mogilev - Orsha. The enemy's counterattacks were unsuccessful. The Soviet units continued the offensive inflicting many losses on the enemy, making them reel back to the west. Many captives and valuable trophies were taken.

***
The troops of the 1st Belarusian Front broke strong resistance of the enemy to free Zhlobin. The Nazis used their defensive lines to launch incessant fierce counterattacks, 16 of which were successfully rebuffed by the N-formation. The Soviets killed up to 2,000 Nazi soldiers and burned 15 tanks. The advancing Soviet Army killed over 900 Nazi soldiers and officers west of Rogachev seizing three tanks and three mechanized guns. Soviet pilots downed 13 enemy aircraft.

They Liberated Belarus

Nikolai Olshevsky was born to a peasants' family in the town of Skvir, Kiev Oblast on 27 January 1920. Took part in the Great Patriotic War since 1941. Fought in the Western Front, Bryansk Front and 2nd Belarusian Front. Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Olshevsky, tank commander of the 26th guards armored brigade (2nd guards armored corps, 11th guards army, 3rd Belarusian Front) played a key role in the liberation of Vitebsk Oblast and Minsk Oblast. In the battle for the crossing point Pogost in Orsha District on 26 June 1944 the tank crew under Nikolai Olshevsky's command destroyed the tiger tank, two canons and eight vehicles with the enemy's infantry. In July 1944 as part of the enemy elimination effort in the Minsk “pocket” the crew led by Nikolai Olshevsky destroyed two tanks, 20 vehicles with military cargo, 70 Nazi soldiers, and took captive more than 200 Nazi soldiers and officers. In August 1944 Nikolai Olshevsky was badly wounded during the liberation of Lithuania from the Nazis and died on 22 August 1944. He was buried in Vilnius. For the courage and heroism displayed in the battles against the Nazis Junior Lieutenant Nikolai Olshevsky was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title. A street in Minsk was named after him.

Timofei Svetlichny was born to a peasants' family in Kharkov Oblast of Ukraine on 1 May 1917. In 1940 he was called up to the Red Army. During the Great Patriotic War he served on the frontline since 1942, took part in the Battle of Kursk, liberated Smolensk Oblast, distinguished himself in the battles to liberate Belarus.

On the night of 26 June 1944 the squadron of rocket launchers located at the Obolyanka River crossing near the village of Kozhemyaky (Senno District, Vitebsk Oblast) fought a six-hour battle against the enemy who tried to break out of the encirclement. Soviet soldiers organized circular defense to repel enemy attacks with rocket fire, light weapons and grenades. The squad led by Sergeant Svetlichny that included gun layer Borodulin and driver Nazarenko operated the rocket launcher. During the fight the squadron killed more than 500 Nazi soldiers, destroyed 13 vehicles with military cargo and four cannons. When the vehicle caught on fire after a direct hit of the enemy the wounded commander continued to give instructions. He burned together with the rocket launcher. The squad comprising Sergeant Timofei Svetlichny, Staff Sergeant Pavel Nazarenko and Private Sergei Borodulin were nominated for the Hero of the Soviet Union title. The heroic squad was buried near the village of Kozhemyaky. In the summer of 1959 their remains were reinterred in a mass grave in Senno's Park of the 40th Anniversary of Komsomol. Senno has a monument honoring the heroes. Streets in the town were named after Timofei Svetlichny and Sergei Borodulin.

Boris Yurkin was born to a family of a railways worker in Orenburg in 1919. He took part in the Winter War. During the Great Patriotic War he fought in the 1st Baltic Front, took part in the liberation of Belarus. On the night of 26 June 1944 Sergeant Boris Yurkin who led an infantry squad of the 975th rifle regiment (270th rifle division, 6th guards army, 1st Baltic Front) crossed the Western Dvina River near the village of Ulla, Beshenkovichi District, Vitebsk Oblast. He destroyed the enemy's defense post with a grenade. Boris Yurkin was killed in close combat. He was buried in the village of Glybochka, Ushachi District, Vitebsk Oblast. For exemplary fulfillment of the military duty, courage and heroism Sergeant Boris Yurkin was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title. A secondary school in the village of Glybochka was named after the hero. There is a monument to Boris Yurkin in the school garden.

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