Baranovichi and Lida fall as Vilnius is encircled
Soviet forces captured the important road and rail junctions at Baranovichi and Lida while 3rd Belorussian Front drove around Vilnius. The Minsk pocket was still being cleared behind the spearheads, but the mobile formations were already operating far beyond the line from which the offensive had begun two weeks earlier. The advance now split into several geographic problems. To the north, Bagramyan pressed toward the Baltic gap between Army Groups Centre and North. Chernyakhovsky moved through Lithuania toward Kaunas and East Prussia. Farther south, Rokossovsky's forces headed for Brest and…
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