| Baltic operation (1941) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Operation Barbarossa during the Eastern FrontofWorld War II | |||||||
 Execution of operation 22.06.1941 - 10.07.1941 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Germany |
 Soviet Union | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Wilhelm R. von Leeb Georg von Küchler Ernst Busch Erich Hoepner Alfred Keller |
Fyodor Kuznetsov Pyotr Sobennikov Vasili Morozov [ru] Nikolai Berzarin Gustav Jonson | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 3rd Panzer Group (parts) | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
655,000 1,389 tanks 7,673 artillery pieces 1,070 aircraft |
786,000[1] 1,393 tanks 5,573 artillery pieces 1,210 aircraft | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown |
75,202 killed 13,284 wounded 2,523 tanks & SPGs destroyed[2] 990 aircraft destroyed[2] Total: 88,486 casualties[1] | ||||||
The Baltic strategic defensive operation (Russian: Прибалтийская стратегическая оборонительная операция) encompassed the operations of the Red Army from 22 June to 9 July 1941 conducted over the territories of the occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in response to the offensive launched by the WehrmachtinOperation Barbarossa.
The operation consisted of three distinct smaller operations
The principal Red Army formations of the operation were the Northwestern Front and the Baltic Fleet, with the major ground forces consisting of the 8th (commander General Major Pyotr Sobennikov), 11th (commander Lieutenant General Vasily Morozov) and later 27th Armies.
The operation was conducted after the forces of the Baltic Special Military District were alerted in the morning of 22 June 1941 following a surprise attack by the German Wehrmacht'sArmy Group North which consisted of the 18th, 16th Field Armies and the 4th Panzer Group, and elements of the 3rd Panzer Group, supported by the Luftflotte1.[3]
On 22 June, the Soviet 8th Army was positioned in northern Lithuania opposed by the German 18th Army. The Soviet 11th Army defended the rest of the Lithuanian border with East Prussia and sought to contain the attacks of the German 16th Army and the 4th Panzer Group.
While the Soviet 8th Army retreated along the Jelgava–Riga–Tartu–Narva–Pskov direction, the Soviet 11th Army sought to initially hold the Kaunas and Vilnius sector of the front, but was forced to retreat along the Daugavpils–Pskov–Novgorod axis. These withdrawals, although costly in losses of personnel and materiel, avoided major encirclements experienced by the fronts to the south, and succeeded in delaying Army Group North sufficiently to allow Soviet forces time to prepare the defense of Leningrad.
The operation was not a single continuous withdrawal, but was punctuated by short-lived counterattacks, counterstrokes or counteroffensives.[4]
The subordinate formations and units of the Armies were:
Front subordination
The Soviet forces were defeated and forced to fall back. The next operation, according to the Soviet official history, was the Leningrad strategic defensive operation (10 July-30 September 1941), which attempted to establish a stable front along the Narva–Novgorod line.
