Soviet Union ~100,000 1942 1943 1944 The Vilnius offensive (Lithuanian: Vilniaus operacija; Russian: Вильнюсская наступательная операция, lit.

During the invasion of Poland, the city was seized by the Soviet Union and later transferred to Lithuania under the terms of the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty.

While a large part of the Soviet force was employed to reduce the German pocket east of Minsk, following the Minsk offensive, Stavka, the Soviet High Command decided to exploit the situation along the breach to the north, by turning mobile formations towards the major traffic centre of Vilnius, in eastern Lithuania.

Remnants of the 4th Army that had escaped the encirclement, and units of the 5th Panzer Division (reorganised into an ad hoc Kampfgruppe, later redesignated XXXIX Panzer Corps, under General Dietrich von Saucken) retreated to form a defence before Maladzyechna, an important rail junction; but the 5th Guards Tank Army cut the route between there and Minsk on 3 July.

During the battle for the city itself, the Soviet 5th Army and 5th Guards Tank Army engaged the German garrison (German: Fester Platz Wilna), consisting of Grenadier-Regiment 399 and Artillery Regiment 240 of the 170th Infantry Division, Grenadier-Regiment 1067, a battalion from the 16th Parachute Regiment, the anti-tank battalion of the 256th Infantry Division and other units) under the command of Luftwaffe Major-General Reiner Stahel.

A fierce battle on the banks of the Neris ensued as men of the Polish Home Army unsuccessfully attempted to stop the relief troops.

While the German aim of holding Vilnius as a Fester Platz or fortress was not achieved, the tenacious defence contributed to stopping the Red Army's drive west for a few precious days.

By the end of July, the 3rd Belorussian Front was ordered to conduct the Kaunas offensive to extend the gains of Operation Bagration further.

The accounts may be, in fact, referring to the small number of troops from the 16th Parachute Regiment participating in the defence; other elements of the same unit were present in the relief force.