The Battle of Białystok–Minsk was a German strategic operation conducted by the Army Group Centre during the penetration of the Soviet border region in the opening stage of Operation Barbarossa lasting from 22 June to 3 July 1941. Its goal, the encirclement and destruction of the Red Army's Western Front forces around Minsk, was accomplished. All major Soviet counter-attacks and break-through attempts failed and the defenders were defeated, allowing for the Wehrmacht to take many Soviet prisoners and to further advance into the Soviet Union at a pace so swift that some believed the Germans had effectively won the war against the Soviet Union already.