Baltic Operation

For the Soviet World War II oensive, see Baltic While the Soviet 8th Army retreated along the Jelgava
Oensive.
RigaTartuNarvaPskov direction, the Soviet 11th
Army sought to initially hold the KaunasVilnius
The Baltic Operation, also known as the Defensive sector of the front, but was forced to retreat along
the DaugavpilsPskovNovgorod direction.
These
operation in Lithuania and Latvia (O
withdrawals,
although
costly
in
losses
of
personnel
and
) encompassed the operencirclements experienced by
materiel,
avoided
major
ations of the Red Army from 22 June to 9 July 1941
conducted over the territories of the occupied Lithuania, the Fronts to the south, and succeeded in delaying the
Latvia and Estonia in response to an oensive launched Army Group North suciently to allow preparation for
the defence of Leningrad.
by the German army.

The operation was not a single continuous withdrawal, but was punctuated by short-lived counterattacks,
counterstrokes or counteroensives.[4]

Operational parts

The operation consisted of three distinct smaller operations

3 Subordinate Red Army formations

Border Defensive Battles (2224 June 1941)

The subordinate formations and units of the Armies were:

Battle of Raseiniai also known as

the 'Kaunas Counterattack'

8th Army
10th Rie Corps

iauliai Counter-Oensive Operation (2427

June 1941)[2]

10th Rie Division

48th Rie Division
90th Rie Division

Defense of the Hanko Naval Base (22 June2

December 1941)

11th Rie Corps

11th Rie Division

125th Rie Division

Execution

12th Mechanised Corps

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 P.P. Sobennikov), 11th (commander General
Lieutenant Morozov) and later 27th Armies.

23rd Tank Division

28th Tank Division
202nd Motorised Division
9th antitank artillery brigade

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 's Army 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
Luftotte 1.[3]

11th Army
16th Rie Corps
5th Rie Division
33rd Rie Division
188th Rie Division

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.

29th Rie Corps

179th Rie Division
184th Rie Division
3rd Mechanised Corps
1

6 SOURCES
2nd Tank Division
5th Tank Division
84th Motorised Rie Division (Russian:
)
23rd Rie Division
126th Rie Division
128th Rie Division
27th Army
22nd Rie Corps
180th Rie Division
182nd Rie Division
24th Rie Corps
181st Rie Division
183rd Rie Division

5 References
[1] G.F. Krivosheev Colonel-General (Author), John Erickson (Foreword), Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in
the Twentieth Century, Greenhill Books, London, 1997
ISBN 1-85367-280-7
[2] Also known as the Battle of Kelm in German as in
Glantz, David M., Atlas and operational summary: the
border battles, 22 June-1 July 1941; daily situation maps
prepared by Michael Avanzini
[3] p.69, Bishop
[4] p.70, Glantz
[5] p.36, Wagner

6 Sources

16th Rie Division

67th Rie Division
3rd Separate Rie Brigade
Front Subordinate
65th Rie Corps
11th Rie Division
16th Rie Division
5th Airborne Corps (2nd, 10th and 201st airborne
brigades)
Northwestern Front Air Force (commanded by L.P.
Ionov)[5]
4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 57th mixed air divisions
10th antitank artillery brigade (
)
10th, 12th and 14th air defence brigades (
)
110th, 402nd and 429th high power artillery
regiments (
)
units and subunits of support troops
1st Long Range Bomber Corps of the Stavka Reserve

Consequences

The Soviet forces were defeated and forced to fall back.

The next operation, according to the Soviet ocial history, was the Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation
(10 July-30 September 1941) which attempted to establish a stable front along the NarvaNovgorod line.

Wagner, Ray (ed.), Fetzer, Leland, (trans.), The Soviet Air Force in World War II: the ocial history,
Wren Publishing, Melbourne, 1973 ISBN 0-85885194-6
Bishop, Chris, The Military Atlas of World War II,
Igloo Books, London, 2005 ISBN 1-904687-53-9
Glantz, David, M., Colossus reborn: The Red Army
at war 1941-1943, University Press of Kansas,
Lawrence, 2005 ISBN 0-7006-1353-6

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Baltic Operation Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Operation?oldid=649391342 Contributors: Welsh, Renata3, Roger Davies,

Illythr, Neelix, Cydebot, Rickyyeo2503, Dodo19~enwiki, Buckshot06, The Anomebot2, Mrg3105, Cyfal, DJ Sturm, Addbot, Magus732,
Yobot, , ArthurBot, Xqbot, Anotherclown, Minh Tm-T41-BCA, Ryan.opel, ChuispastonBot, Gunbirddriver, Estopedist1, Helpful
Pixie Bot, Hanseat84, Hamish59 and Anonymous: 1

7.2

Images

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7.3

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