Operation Bagration

In this episode, we examine Operation Bagration, the Soviet Union’s massive summer 1944 offensive that shattered Germany’s Army Group Centre and transformed the military balance on the Eastern Front. Launched shortly after the Normandy landings, the campaign demonstrated the scale, coordination, and growing effectiveness of the Red Army as Soviet forces broke through German defenses, liberated large areas of Belarus, and inflicted devastating losses on the Wehrmacht. We also consider how Operation Bagration fit into the wider Allied war effort, the political tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies, and the ways later historical narratives have sometimes minimized the Soviet contribution to Nazi Germany’s defeat. By focusing on one of the largest and most consequential offensives of World War II, the episode highlights the importance of viewing the European war as a genuinely multi-front conflict.