WWII - 1944, Soviets Destroying & Capturing German Army, Vitebsk, Jun44.

WWII - 1944, Soviets Destroying & Capturing German Army, Vitebsk, Jun44. German troop action in the Western Dvina region w/ Russian troops on motorcycles crossing grain field; soldiers thru woods & down river bank to boats. Crossing river on boats & log rafts w/ smoke screen. Men run ashore. 10:48:53 CU Machine gun firing & troops seen thru barbed wire. Wounded into trucks. Infantry advancing; artillery emplacements firing, pushed ahead. 10:49:56 Animated map illustrates Soviet encirclement of Germans at Vitebsk. 10:50:13 Infantry & artillery fighting, entering Vitebsk. Destruction & USSR removing mines on river bridge. Prisoners taken & surrendered troops marched out of town. 10:52:03 Soviet troop march thru city. High angle. People greeting Russians w/ hugs, kisses & flowers. 10:53:12 Artillery firing, rockets fired, planes overhead. Artillery firing at remaining German forces southwest of Vitebsk. Map. Burning plane; destroyed equipment, dead horses & Germans. Destroyed tanks & other equipment. German POWs marched past dead on road. 10:56:04 German officers walk past, salute Russian & sit at table to be questioned by USSR General Lunikov (sp?). Gen. Gollwitzer of 58th Army corps, Colonel Schmit, his Chief of Staff. German POWs marching along road. WW2; Eastern Front; Battles; Fighting; Soviet Operation Bagration;