Army Group Center had always been a formidable force, but by 1944 it was weaker and the Red Army stronger than anyone in the German military realized.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Welcome to the history of of Army Group Center.

Last time I laid out a day-by-day chronology of events from June 14th to June 22nd, the latter day marking the beginning of the Soviet 1944 offensive on the Eastern Front,

codenamed Operation Bagratian.

Stavka, the Soviet High Command, had specific goals in mind for Bagration, but the theory the the Red Army had developed over the course of the war, known as Deep Operation, called for a broader offensive at first.

The idea here was to keep the enemy confused as to what were the Red Army's actual objectives,

which would leave them uncertain as to where to send their reserves.

And so, taking advantage of their considerable numerical superiority, the Red Army attacked

everywhere along the northern part of Army Group Center's line. The shock of the initial artillery

bombardment and the large numbers of Soviet units pressuring the Germans caused their

defenses to crumble everywhere, up and down the front line.

On June 24th, just two days into the offensive, an entire German Corps occupying Vitebsk

was in danger of encirclement. Its commander requested permission to retreat.

Hitler granted permission for three of the Corps's four divisions to retreat. The fourth was to remain behind and defend Vitebsk as one of those

Festa pleza that were the key to Hitler's defensive strategy. By the time the Corps received

notice of Hitler's orders, V Tebsk was already surrounded.

The Corps commander decided to disregard Hitler's instructions and ordered all four divisions

to fight their way westward out of the encirclement. They could not.

June 24th also marked the beginning of the second part of Bagratian, a Soviet offensive at the southern end of Army Group Center's line.

After another huge artillery bombardment, the Soviet First Belarusian Front advanced in two prongs, one to the north and the other to the south of the German

9th Army. On June 25th, the commander of the German 4th Army, the easternmost of any of the

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