Operation Bagration Trivia Quiz

Answer: Konstantin Rokossovsky

Gen. Vatutin, a veteran of the Battle of Kursk, had been killed by Ukrainians earlier in the year.

Yeremenko was in command of the 2nd Baltic Front at the time, and, when the operation commenced, he helped to nearly annihilate German Army Group North.

Koniev was in command of the 1st Ukrainian front in the south, and he didn't take part until the latter part of the offensive.

Answer: Napoleonic Wars

Pyotr Bagration (1765-1812), generally rated one of the most outstanding Russian generals of the Napoleonic wars, as mortally wounded in the Battle of Borodino (1812) during Napoleon's advance on Moscow. There is a statue of him in Moscow today.

Bagration was a Georgian prince and served in the Tsarist Army.

Answer: Switch from a single thrust to a two-pronged assault

Up until then, Soviet doctrine stated that there should only be one main assault in an offensive. Rokossovsky's plan was rejected twice until Stalin personally approved Rokossovsky's plan. The plan also made extensive use of deception, most of which was successful.

Answer: It was the anniversary of the German invasion

It was the third anniversary of the start of Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941), the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Answer: Vitebsk

A break out attempt by the trapped soldiers was a disaster. By the time the Soviets cleared the city of German troops on June 27th, 30,000 Germans had been taken prisoner.

Answer: Romania

The Germans believed the offensive would strike in Romania, where most Axis oil supplies were, from Ukraine. Therefore, most of the Eastern Front reserve was in Romania. There was only one Panzer division reserve in Belorussia when Bagration began.

Answer: 11 days

Eleven days into the offensive (3rd July), the first Soviet troops broke through into the heart of the city of Minsk. The fighting for the city ended the next day, with the Germans losing as much as 40,000 troops. On 15 July most of the prisoners were publicly paraded through the streets of Moscow.

Answer: Ernst Busch

Field Marshal Busch was in command of Army Group Center from 1943 until June 28th, 1944 when he was sacked and out of a job until 1945, when he was recalled for the defense of Northern Germany.

Fedor von Bock was also in command of Army Group Center, but only from the beginning of Operation Barbarossa to the end of Operation Typhoon, when he was replaced by General von Kluge.

Erich von Manstein was the commander of Army Group South from late 1942 to early 1944, when Hitler forced his retirement.

Edward Richtofen is a villain in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Answer: August 19, 1944

By the time the Operation was declared finished, the Soviets had reconquered all of Belarus, cut off Army Group North from the rest of the Ostheer, and reached the border of East Prussia and the Vistula River. The Soviet Army was poised to start fighting in Germany itself.

Answer: It had been virtually destroyed

Army Group Center was virtually destroyed, and even after their near destruction, much of its manpower was diverted to other parts of the Reich, including the new Western Front in France. However, Army Group Center, now known as Army Group Vistula, still held the Eastern Front until the Battle of Berlin.

The German Wikipedia article on Operation Bagration (accessed on 21.1.2015) states that it is considered 'the most severe and costly defeat in German military history', with the loss of 28 divisions.