The Battle of Smolensk (July 10-September 10, 1941) refers to the fierce engagement of the Army Group Centre with the Soviet Army at Smolensk during the Great Patriotic War.
German armoured divisions of Army Group Centre began an offensive on July 10 to encircle Soviet forces in the Smolensk area. The offensive was met by the forces of the Western Front (Timoshenko), Reserve Front (Zhukov), Central Front (Kuznetsov), and Bryansk Front (Yeryomenko).
Smolensk fell on July 16, but Soviet resistance was strong, and several counter-attacks were conducted, the most noteworthy of these was the Yelnya Offensive, which was the most substantial reverse that the Wehrmacht had suffered up to that date and the first successful planned Soviet offensive operation in the Soviet-German war.
The Soviets even managed to temporarily break the German encirclement and to evacuate troops out of the Smolensk pocket. The bitter fighting had considerably delayed the overall German advance toward Moscow, so that defence lines further East could be strengthened, and thus effectively disrupted a blitzkrieg.
According to German military, their losses during the Battle of Smolensk were about 250,000 personnel.
Nearly all of the city of Smolensk was destroyed after the battle. In 1985 it was awarded the title Hero City.
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