The 'Polotsk Defensive Operation' was a Soviet undertaking in defence of Polotsk, and was the first of the nine sub-operations together constituting the 'Smolensk Strategic Defensive Operation' as the German 'Barbarossa' offensive advanced on Moscow (2/16 July 1941).

At the beginning of July 1941, the main forces of Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock’s Heeresgruppe 'Mitte' were still fighting to eliminate the Soviet forces encircled in the Białystok and Minsk stages of 'Barbarossa'. For the offensive toward Moscow through Smolensk, Generaloberst Heinz Guderian’s 2^nd Panzergruppe and Generaloberst Hermann Hoth’s 3^rd Panzergruppe, under the overall supervision of Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge, were allocated the task of spearheading the advance. In the Polotsk area, to the north-north-east of Minsk, the forward detachment of Generalleutnant Otto von Knobelsdorff’s 19^th Panzerdivision of General Adolf Kuntzen’s LVII Corps (mot.) within the 3^rd Panzergruppe made effective use of the good roads from Vilnyus through Glubokoye and Postavypassed to push forward some 125 miles (200 km) and reach the Zapadnaya Dvina river. This was the region, on the middle reaches of this river, in which General Leytenant Fillip A. Ershakov’s 22^nd Army (six infantry divisions) was completing its concentration after redeployment from the Ural mountains areas.

After a fierce but comparatively short engagement on 3 July, the 19^th Panzerdivision battle cleared the southern bank of the Zapadnaya Dvina river near Disna, and the next day used the excellent tactical air support provided by the Luftwaffe to seize a bridgehead across the river. To the right of the 19^th Panzerdivision, however, Generalmajor Friedrich Herrlein’s 18^th Division (mot.) ran up against the defences of the Polotsk fortified area in the area of Vetrino and Farinovo, and was brought to a halt by Polkovnik Aleksei I. Zygin’s 174^th Division. The continued stubborn resistance of the 174^th Division prevented the 18^th Division (mot.) from crossing the river, and Generalleutnant Friedrich Fürst’s 14^th Division (mot.) was was transferred from Minsk to the Polotsk area.

From 5 July, the 22^nd Army’s 98^th Division, 112^th Division and 174^th Division unsuccessfully counterattacked in the Disna area where, in turn, the Germans attempted to enlarge their bridgehead. By 7 July, the German troops came into full contact with the 22^nd Army across the full width of the latter’s area of defensive responsibility. The infantry divisions of the right flank of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s Heeresgruppe 'Nord' broke through the positions of the fortified area in the Sebezh area, but General Leytenant Andrei I. Eremenko, the West Front’s deputy commander, arrived in the area and managed to stabilise the situation.

On 8 July, the Soviet forces once more managed to prevent the enlargement of the German bridgehead in the area of Disna. At the same time, the 126^th Division, which had been transferred to this area only on the preceding day, sustained heavy losses: General Major Mikhail A. Kuznetsov, the divisional commander, was mortally wounded, and among the dead and wounded were divisional chief-of-staff, the divisional operations officer and two regimental commanders.

On this day, Generalleutnant Horst Stumpff’s 20^th Panzerdivision of General Rudolf Schmidt’s XXXIX Corps (mot.) crossed the Zapadnyi Dvina river near Ulla and broke through toward Vitebsk.

On 11 July revised orders were issued to the 22^nd Army, which was still involved in fierce battles with superior German forces passing round the flanks of the Sebezh and Polotsk areas: the LI Corps was to ready a new defensive line and, leaving no more than one rifle regiment and a garrison, the LXII Corps was to co-operate with General Leytenant Vasili I. Kuznetsov’s 19^th Army in destroying the German breakthrough in the Ulla area. However, the main forces of the LXII Corps were effectively pinned by German action, its 174^th Division defending itself with desperation on the edge of the Polotsk region and trying to restore the situation in the area where the Germans had penetrated at Borovukha.

The German command planned to encircle the grouping of Soviet troops in the area of Polotsk and Nevelsk with the forces on the adjacent flanks of Heeresgruppe 'Nord' and Heeresgruppe 'Mitte'. Against the 22^nd Army’s six divisions, the Germans committed General Walter Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt 's II Corps and General Georg Lindemann 's L Corps of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch’s 16^th Army of Heeresgruppe 'Nord', and the 3^rd Panzergruppe in the form of General Albrecht Schubert’s XXIII Corps of three infantry divisions and Kuntzen’s LVII Corps (mot.) with single Panzer and motorised divisions. In the Ulla area, the Zapadny Dvina river was crossed by three divisions of Schmidt’s XXXIX Corps (mot.).

On 12 July, the LVII Corps (mot.)'s 19^th Panzerdivision and 14^th Division (mot.) struck from a bridgehead in the Disna area and broke through the Soviet defences. Developing the offensive to the north-east, the 19^th Panzerdivision took Dretun, captured the Soviet supply base and continued the attack on Nevel in the course of the following day, but the defence of the units of the 22^nd Army’s second echelon (48^th Tank Division) dee delayed the German offensive. The advance of the 18^th Division (mot.) was slowed by the attack of the LXII Corps into its rear from the direction of Polotsk.

Meanwhile, the German pressure of the 22^nd Army’s front increased. On 15 July, Schubert’s XXIII Corps occupied the left-bank segment of Polotsk, and during the night of 16 July its units entered the right-bank part of the city. However, the 22^nd Army had blown all three bridges across the Zapadny Dvina river. On this day, the 19^th Panzerdivision entered Nevel, and Generalleutnant Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach’s 12^th Division of Heeresgruppe 'Nord' was brought forward to link with it. The two divisions of General Otto-Wilhelm Förster’s VI Corps approached the right flank of the XXIII Corps and participated in the breakthrough at Polotsk.

Threatened with encirclement, the 22^nd Army was ordered to withdraw, but some long-term defensive positions around Polotsk were left and continued to fight until 19 July.

The stubborn resistance of the 22^nd Army in the Polotsk region had delayed the German advance on the northern flank of this part of the Eastern Front’s central sector. After the Germans had bypassed Polotsk, they encountered the defences of the 22^nd Army’s second echelon in the area of Nevel and then of Velikiye Luki. The desperate resistance of the encircled Soviet troops made it difficult for the Germans to manoeuvre effectively, and the battles in the Velikiye Luki area also made a contribution to the withdrawal of the 22^nd Army’s main forces from the 'cauldron'.

On 20 July, the LI Corps (98^th Division and 112^th Division) of the 22^nd Army broke out of the encirclement, the remnants of these two divisions being amalgamated into consolidated regiments and deployed in the Soviet defences along the Lovat river. Formations of the LXII Corps, including the 174^th Division, broke out of the encirclement on 21 July. On this day, after after many days of bloody battles, the 48^th Tank Division, 126^th Division and 179^th Division drove the German troops out of Velikiye Luki.

To close the gap at the junction of the West Front and North-West Front, two armies were allocated from the Front of the Reserve Armies: these were General Ivan I. Maslennikov’s 29^th Army and General Major Vasili A. Khomenko’s 30^th Army. The battle for Smolensk now entered a new phase.