This week in the war, on 13 July 1944, Soviet forces liberated Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The fighting was heavy and the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army suffered considerable casualties.

Germany’s Army Group North was in danger of being cut off. Field Marshal Model and Army Group North commander, Colonel-General Johannes Friessner, had met with the Fuehrer a few days earlier to request permission to withdraw. Hitler had refused. He did not wish to jeopardize his supply of oil from Latvia and iron ore from Sweden.