On December 13, 1943, the Gorodok Offensive operation of the troops began

December 13, Minsk / Anna Gromyko - BELTA /. On December 13, 1943, the offensive operation of the troops of the right wing of the 1st Baltic Front, under the command of Army General Ivan Bagramyan, began in the area of Gorodok, Vitebsk region. This operation went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War as the Gorodok Operation. The main blow was delivered by the 11th Guards and 4th Shock Armies. The goal of the operation was to defeat the enemy's Gorodok grouping, which consisted of nine infantry and air-field, one tank divisions, and up to eight special and guard battalions of the 3rd Tank Army, and to eliminate the threat of encirclement of the 4th Shock Army, which had broken into the enemy's defenses west of Gorodok. With counter-strikes, the 11th Guards and 4th Shock Armies cut off and destroyed the enemy grouping north of the Bychiha railway station in the Mekhovsky district on December 17. On December 24, the 11th Guards Army, after fighting, captured the strong enemy stronghold of Gorodok. As a result of the Gorodok Operation, 4 enemy divisions were destroyed, 7 suffered heavy losses, and the enemy was pushed back more than 60 km. For the successfully conducted operation, twelve Soviet units and formations of the Red Army were awarded the honorary title "Gorodok". -0-