were then reduced by slower-moving infantry divisions while the panzers charged on, following the Blitzkrieg doctrine. Army Group Centre comprised two Panzer groups (2nd and 3rd), which rolled east from either side of Brest and affected a double encirclement at Belostok and west of Minsk. They were followed by 2nd, 4th and 9th Armies. The combined Panzer force reached the Berezina river in just six days, from their start lines. The next objective was to cross the Dnieper river, which was accomplished by 11 July. Following that, their next target was Smolensk, which fell on 16 July, but the engagement in the Smolensk area blocked the German advance until mid-September, effectively disrupting the blitzkrieg. With the capture of Smolensk and the advance to the Luga river, Army Groups Centre and North had completed their first major objective: to get across and hold the "land bridge" between the Dvina and Dnieper. The German generals argued for an immediate drive towards Moscow, but Hitler overruled them, citing the importance of Ukrainian grain and heavy industry if under German possession, not to mention the massing of Soviet reserves in the Gomel area between Army Group Centre's southern flanks and the bogged-down Army Group South to the south. After a meeting held in Orsha between the head of the Army General Staff, General Halder, and the heads of three Army Groups and armies, it was decided to push forward to Moscow since it was better, as argued by head of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, for them to try their luck on the battlefield rather than just sit and wait while their opponent gathered more strength. Occupation and Collaboration 1941 – June 1944 Atrocities against the Jewish population in the conquered areas began almost immediately, with the dispatch of Einsatzgruppen (task groups) to round up Jews and shoot them. Local gentiles were encouraged to carry out their own pogroms. By the end of 1941, there were more than 50,000 troops devoted to rounding up and killing Jews. In three years of occupation, between one and two million Soviet Jews were killed. June 1944 – May 1945 In the summer of 1944 a balcony-shaped frontline had shaped following advances by the Red Army during late 1943. This invited an encirclement attack to cut off and destroy Army Group Centre. For Operation Bagration, as it was to be called, the Red Army achieved