Army Group Centre Army Group Centre ( ) was the name of two distinct German strategic army group s that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II . The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941 , as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union ( Operation Barbarossa ) . On 25 January 1945 , after it was encircled in the Königsberg pocket , Army Group Centre was renamed Army Group North ( " Heeresgruppe Nord " ) , and Army Group A ( " Heeresgruppe A " ) became Army Group Centre . The latter formation retained its name until the end of the war in Europe . Formation . Commander in chief on formation , June 1941 Fedor von Bock Subordinated units . June 1941 Campaign and operational history . Operation Barbarossa . On 22 June 1941 , Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched their surprise offensive into Soviet Union . Their armies , totaling over three million men , were to advance in three geographical directions . The Army Group Centre ' s initial strategic goal was to defeat the Soviet armies in Belarus , including occupation of Smolensk . To accomplish this , the Army Group planned for a rapid advance using Blitzkrieg operational methods for which purpose it commanded two Panzer Groups rather than one . A quick and decisive victory over the Soviet Union was expected by mid - November . The Army Group ' s other operational missions were to support the Army Groups to its northern and southern flanks , the Army Group boundary for the later being the Pripyat River . Offensive campaign in Belorussia . Army Group Centre was the strongest of the three German formations . Commanded by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock , it included the 4th and 9th Army , the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups and the 2nd Air Fleet . By mid - August 1941 it had crushed Soviet forces in huge encirclement battles : Battle of Białystok - Minsk and Battle of Smolensk . Once they had conquered the territories in the West of the Soviet Union , the Germans began their genocide regime , burning thousands of cities and villages , shooting and deporting hundreds of thousands of civilians . Soviet prisoners of war , 300 , 000 after the battle of Minsk alone , were either killed in concentration camps , or literally starved to death in prison camps , mostly nothing more than fields surrounded with barbed wire in the open . July 1941 3rd Panzer Group , 9th Army , 4th Army , 2nd Panzer Group , z . Vfg . 2nd Army August 1941 3rd Panzer Group , 9th Army , 2nd Army , Army Group of Guderian September 1941 3rd Panzer Group , 9th Army , 4th Army , 2nd Panzer Group , 2nd Army Early anti - partisan campaign . In spite of terrible losses , Soviet resistance was fierce and self - sacrificing . A partisan movement disrupted German supply lines . Bitter fighting in the Battle of Smolensk as well as the Lötzen decision delayed the German advance for two months . The advance of Army Group Centre was further delayed as Hitler ordered a postponement of the offensive against Moscow , and to conquer Ukraine first . Moscow campaign . Operation Typhoon . The German offensive against Moscow was resumed on 30 September 1941 . The delays turned out to be fatal to the German forces fighting their way on the approaches to the Soviet capital . Autumn rains turned roads into mud . In November , an unusually harsh winter set in , catching the Germans ill - equipped for winter warfare . Meanwhile , Soviet resistance grew plainly desperate , as soldiers engaged in infantry combat against German tanks . Suffering tremendous losses , the Soviets finally stopped the German advance in late November 1941 , when the advance elements of the German Army had the distant spires of the Moscow Kremlin in sight . The Soviet counter - offensive in the Battle of Moscow , which started on 6 December 1941 , would mark the first decisive blow against the German invaders , and the failure of the German Blitzkrieg . Army Group Centre was driven back out of reach of Moscow by April 1942 . It did however hold a narrow salient ( the Rzhev Salient ) which still threatened Moscow and would be the subject of numerous Soviet attacks in the coming year . October 1941 Commanders in chief 19 December 1941 Günther von Kluge Russian defensive campaign . 1942 for Army Group Centre opened with continuing attacks from Soviet forces around Rzhev . The German Ninth Army was able to repel these attacks and stabilise its front , despite continuing large - scale partisan activity in its rear areas . Meanwhile the German strategic focus on the Eastern Front shifted to southwestern Russia , with the launching of Operation Blue in June . This operation , aimed at the oilfields in the southwestern Caucasus , involved Army Group South alone , with the other German army groups giving up troops and equipment for the offensive . Despite the focus on the south , Army Group Centre continued to see fierce fighting throughout the year . While the Soviet attacks in early 1942 had not driven the Germans back , they had resulted in several Red Army units being trapped behind German lines . Eliminating the pockets took until July , the same month in which the Soviets made another attempt to break through the army group ' s front ; the attempt failed , but the front line was pushed back closer to Rzhev . The largest Soviet operation in the army group ' s sector that year , Operation Mars , took place in November . It was launched concurrently with Operation Uranus , the counteroffensive against the German assault on Stalingrad . The operation was repulsed with very heavy Soviet losses , although it did have the effect of pinning down German units that could have been sent to the fighting around Stalingrad . Campaign in central Russia . Following the disaster of Stalingrad and poor results of the Voronezh defensive operations , the army high command expected another attack on Army Group Centre in early 1943 . However , Hitler had decided to strike first . Before this strike could be launched , Operation Büffel was launched to forestall any possible Soviet spring offensives , by evacuating the Rzhev Salient to shorten the frontline . Commanders in chief 12 October 1943 Ernst Busch Belorussian anti - partisan campaign . From early 1942 , there was an intensified movement , by the Soviets , to create armed resistance in the areas occupied by the Germans . This was particularlu true in western Belorussian . This effort was directed by the Stavka headquarters , in Moscow , utilising partisan cells trained before the war , local party officials that escaped the Gestapo , and a considerable number of Red Army troops that evaded massive encirclements of 1941 . By early 1943 , this movement , though only loosely interrelated within the region , numbered an estimated 250 , 000 combat and support personnel , with sophisticated bases , long range communication equipment . These cells were increasingly disruptive to rear services and lines of communication of the German army . Combating these partisan groups , and bands , demanded constant security deployment of German troops , desperately required by the increasingly personnel - starved field forces . There was also an increase use of volunteer police personnel , from the occupied territories particularly the Ukraine and Baltic States , alongside special Waffen - SS and army units . The following major anti - partisan operations were conducted in the rear of Army Group Centre , alongside many smaller operations : Increasing coordination of the partisan activity resulted in the conducting of Operation Concert against the German forces . Operation Citadel . In July and August 1943 the Soviets succeeded in stopping the German offensive Operation Citadel into the Kursk Salient and counterattacked towards Orel and Kharkov . In tandem with the offensive into Ukraine another offensive , the Smolensk Operation , was launched against Army Group Centre between August and October 1943 . The attacks made slow progress but were successful in recapturing Smolensk and the important rail junction at Nevel , forcing the German line back on a broad front , however the attack foundered on the strong German defensive works in the Vitebsk - Orsha - Mogilev area ( the Ostwall defensive line ) . Wotan Line defensive campaign . Further Soviet offensives against Army Group Centre - the Gomel and Orsha Operations in November 1943 and the Vitebsk Operation in February 1944 were unsuccessful against the strong Ostwall defences . However , the Soviets did succeed in almost encircling the heavily fortified town of Vitebsk . In comparison to the great Soviet victories in Ukraine since Stalingrad , Soviet progress on the central front ( roughly the area Minsk - Smolensk - Moscow ) in the period early 1942 - early 1944 had been disappointing . Soviet planners launched several offensives hoping for a grand encirclement and destruction of Army Group Centre yet had only succeeded in forcing the German line back on a broad front with heavy Soviet casualties . There were several reasons for this comparative lack of success - the terrain here was much more heavily forested and thus favoured the defender , German units in this area had had time to prepare comprehensive fortifications and the German leadership had been good , while Soviet leadership had been uninspired . Destruction of Army Group Centre . However , all this was to change in summer 1944 . In the spring of that year , the STAVKA started concentrating massive forces along the frontline in central Russia for a huge summer offensive against Army Group Centre . The Soviets also carried out a masterful deception campaign to convince the Germans that the main Soviet summer offensive would be launched further south , against Army Group North Ukraine . The German High Command was fooled and armored units were moved south out of Army Group Centre . The massive Soviet buildup opposite Army Group Centre was not detected . The offensive , code - named Operation Bagration , was launched on 22 June 1944 , the third anniversary of the German invasion and the beginning of the German - Soviet War in 1941 ( this was actually a coincidence , the attack had been unexpectedly delayed several days ) . 185 Soviet divisions comprising 2 . 3 million soldiers and 4 , 000 tanks and assault guns smashed into the German positions on a frontline of 200 km . The 800 , 000 - strong Army Group Centre was crushed . Up to 400 , 000 Germans became casualties . The Soviet forces raced forward , liberating Minsk on 3 July , the rest of Belorussia by mid - July , and reaching the Vistula and the Baltic States by early August . In terms of casualties this was the greatest German defeat of the entire war . Commanders in chief 28 June 1944 Walter Model Commanders in chief 16 August 1944 Georg Hans Reinhardt Defensive campaign in Poland and Slovakia . Discussion of the army group ' s situation in January 1945 should note that the army groups in the east changed names later that month . The force known as " Army Group Centre " at the start of the Soviet Vistula - Oder Offensive on 12 January 1945 was renamed " Army Group North " less than two weeks after the offensive commenced . At the start of the Vistula - Oder Offensive , the Soviet forces facing Army Group Centre outnumbered the Germans on average by 2 : 1 in troops , 3 : 1 in artillery , and 5 . 5 : 1 in tanks and self - propelled artillery . The Soviet superiority in troop strength grows to almost 3 : 1 if 200 , 000 Volkssturm militia are not included in German personnel strength totals . Defence of the Reich campaign . On 25 January 1945 Hitler renamed three army groups . Army Group North became Army Group Courland ; Army Group Centre became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group Centre . Battle of Berlin . The last Soviet campaign of the war in the European theater , which led to the fall of Berlin and the end of the war in Europe with the surrender of all German forces to the Allies . The three Soviet Fronts involved in the campaign had altogether 2 . 5 million men , 6 , 250 tanks , 7 , 500 aircraft , 41 , 600 artillery pieces and mortar s , 3 , 255 truck - mounted " Katyusha " rocket launchers ( nicknamed ' Stalin Organs ' by the Germans ) , and 95 , 383 motor vehicles . The campaign started with the battle of Oder - Neisse . Army Group Centre commanded by Ferdinand Schörner had a front that included the river Neisse . Before dawn on the morning of 16 April 1945 the 1st Ukrainian Front under the command of General Konev started the attack over the river Neisse with a short but massive bombardment by tens of thousands of artillery pieces . Commanders in chief 17 January 1945 Ferdinand Schörner Battle of Prague . Some of Army Group Centre continued to resist until 11 May , by which time the overwhelming force of the Soviet Armies sent to occupy Czechoslovakia in the Prague Offensive gave them no option but to surrender or be killed . Surrender . On 7 May , the day that German Chief - of - Staff General Alfred Jodl was negotiating surrender of all German forces at SHAEF , the last that the German Armed Forces High Command ( AFHC ) had heard from Schörner was on 2 May . He had reported that he intended to fight his way west and surrender his army group to the Americans . On 8 May , a colonel on the ( AFHC ) , was escorted through the American lines to see Schörner . The colonel reported that Schörner had ordered the men under his operational command to observe the surrender but that he could not guarantee that he would be obeyed everywhere . Later that day Schörner deserted his command and flew to Austria where on the 18 May he was arrested by the Americans . Further reading . Ian Kershaw , " The End : The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler ' s Germany , 1944 - 1945 " , ( New York : Penguin Press , 2011 ) . ISBN 978 - 1 - 101 - 56550 - 6 .