Operation Ostra Brama
| Operation Ostra Brama | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Operation Tempest in the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||||
Dislocation of Polish and German units at the start of the fighting. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Aleksander Krzyżanowski Antoni Olechnowicz Czesław Dębicki Mieczysław Potocki | Reiner Stahel | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| ~6,000 – 9,000 | Existing troops, plus 17,700 as reinforcements | ||||||||
| Part of a series on the |
| Polish Underground State |
|---|
Operation Ostra Brama (Polish: Operacja „Ostra Brama”, lit. 'Operation Sharp Gate') was the Polish Home Army's attempted takeover of Vilnius (Polish: Wilno) in wake of the German Wehrmacht's evacuation, ahead of the approaching Soviet Red Army's Vilnius offensive. A part of a Polish national uprising, Operation Tempest, the action happened on 7–13 July 1944. The operation's main goal was propagandistic – to claim Vilnius for Poland by retaking it before Soviet arrival. Despite the operation's failure, the Polish government-in-exile continued its political line that led to the catastrophic Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944.