Bagration Operation: the Cartographic Mark

In the spring-summer of 1944, when the Belarusian strategic offensive operation was under preparation, the Soviet command implemented a range of camouflage and misinformation measures. The overall result was a complete misinformation of the enemy about a powerful attack being prepared on the central section of the Soviet-German front. This fact was covered in detail in the memoirs of military commanders and in respectable writings of historians. However, such an important source as cartographic materials, primarily headquarters maps produced during military operations, has been unjustly neglected. The key sources for this paper were German maps, which showed not only the position of the German troops, but also the formations and alliances of the Red Army as seen by the German headquarters. Soviet front maps were included in the paper as a comparison with the real situation. All of these evidence the effectiveness of the Soviet intelligence in misinforming the enemy and the front commanders in implementing the camouflage of the strike groups.