MINSK
June 27th, 1941

Army Group Centre's initial attacks against the Soviet Union achieved complete surprise. Russian troops of the Western Military District were routed by the impact of Germany's panzer troops. Within days, Guderian's and Hoth's Panzer Groups had sliced through the Russian front, pocketing half a million men.
Remnants of the Soviet 3rd and 10th Armies were all that opposed the capture of Minsk, backed up by the 13th Army in Minsk itself. The battle for Minsk lasted two days and then the panzer groups were off again; Hoth's group taking the high road through Vitebsk and Orsha to Smolensk while Guderian's group took the low road through Bobruisk to Rogachev and beyond.
The hastily thrown together 16th and 20th Armies were all that stood in the way. Predictably they were smashed, then pocketed and finally overwhelmed by the infantry which followed hard on the heels of the panzers. The panzer groups reached Orsha and Rogachev on July 3rd. Here they regrouped for a day before preparing to get across the Dnepr.
The Soviet position had become desperate. Zhukov, freshly
promoted to command the Western Theatre, assembled a force of 20 divisions between Schlobin and Klimovicze. This force
was thrown against the German bridgeheads on the east bank of the Dnepr. It was to no avail. The panzers could not be stopped.