Army (Soviet Army)

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The term Army, besides its generalized meaning (see "army") specifically denotes a major military formation in militaries of various countries, including the Soviet Union. During World War II ordinary Soviet armies initially consisted of a number of Rifle Corps. In the emergency of 1941 it was found that inexperienced commanders were finding difficulty in controlling armies with subordinate corps, and they were abolished, to be recreated later in the war.

Following the Second World War, an Army was reorganised with four to five divisions, often equivalent to a corps in most militaries. There were large variations in structure and size.

During a war, an Army of Soviet military was typically subordinated to a Front. In peace times an Army is usually subordinated to a Military district.

Special titles given to Soviet armies included 'Red Banner', following the award of the Order of the Red Banner and 'Shock'. The famous image of the flag over the Reichstag was of forces from 3rd Shock Army. The 1st Shock Army was formed, in accordance with pre-war planning that saw Shock Armies as special penetration formations, in November-December 1941 to spearhead the counteroffensive north of Moscow in December. [1] A total of five shock armies were formed, the 2nd (former 26th Army), 3rd, and 4th (the former 27th Army) by the winter campaigns of 1942-3. During the Stalingrad counteroffensive the 5th Shock Army was the last such formation formed. 2nd Shock Army was reformed three times, most famously after being encircled in the Liuban' operation south of Leningrad, after which its commander, General Andrey Vlasov, went over to the German side.

Armies which distinguished themselves in combat during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 often became Guards Armies (see Russian Guards). These included the 8th Guards Army.

From the Soviet Air Force, Air Armies were attached to Fronts. They were made up of two to three Aviation Corps. One of the longest serving, still active today in the Moscow Military District, is the 16th Air Army.

Contents

[edit] Regular armies

After the first shock of the German invasion, they were usually made up of three to five Rifle Divisions. Corps were gradually reintroduced as intermediate headquarters. Included

  • HQ, 1st Army - served with Soviet Far East Front
  • HQ, 2nd Army - served with Soviet Far East Front
  • HQ, 3rd Army - destroyed June-July 1941 while serving with Soviet Western Front. Reformed twice and survived entire war and disbanded in August 1945 [2]
  • Soviet Fourth Army.Started war as part of Soviet Western Front. HQ 4th Army on 23 July 1941 became HQ, Central Front. Reformed from HQ 34th Army January 1944.
  • HQ, 5th Army - HQ officially disbanded 25 September 1941. Reformed October within Soviet Far East Front, took part in many operations, including Operation August Storm in the Far East. Still active within the Russian Ground Forces.
  • HQ, 6th Army - Part of Soviet Southwestern Front on the outbreak of war. 10 August 1941 headquarters disbanded. Reformed twice in 1941 and twice again in 1942. [3]
  • HQ, 7th Army - 18 December 1944 headquarters redesignated HQ 9th Guards Army [4] (Other information indicates that 9 Guards Army was formed from HQ Separate Airborne Army in January 1945) Stationed in Austria as part of the Central Group of Forces briefly after the war but then moved to Yerevan in the Transcaucasus Military District. Disbanded circa 1989-92.
  • HQ, 8th Army - survived entire war and disbanded in September 1945 (July?), becoming HQ Western Siberian Military District at Novosibirsk.
  • HQ, 9th Army - Started the war in the Odessa Military District, which became Southern Front. HQ disbanded 29 October 1943.
  • HQ, 10th Army - Started war as part of Soviet Western Front. Destroyed by German forces. HQ officially disbanded 5 July 1941. Reformed three times in 1941.
  • HQ, 11th Army - Part of North-Western Front on outbreak of war. HQ disbanded 18 December 1943.
  • HQ, 12th Army - Started war in Soviet Southwestern Front. HQ disbanded 10 August 1941 after the Army was caught in an encirclement south of Kiev along with the 6th and 18th Armies. Reformed twice in 1941 and reformed again by conversion of previous 5th Tank Army in mid April 1943. [5]
  • HQ, 13th Army - Started war with Soviet Western Front. Survived not only entire war, but also entire Cold War up to dissolution of USSR
  • HQ, 14th Army - Carried out 1944 Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation under Karelian Front. 31 July 1945 HQ disbanded and personnel used to fill out HQ, Belomorsk Military District. After withdrawal from the war of Finland, it remained in the Kola peninsula, coming under the command of the Belomorsk Military District and having two rifle corps. The Army may have been re-established in 1947 with 121st Rifle Corps(?) and and 1222nd Artillery Regiment. According to some data, there were plans for its use in Chukotia and, in the case of war, landing in Alaska. It was probably disbanded in the middle 1950s.
  • HQ, 15th Army - 15th Army was active in the Far East Military District before Operation Barbarossa began. It was probably formed between September 1939 and December 1940. After the end of the war and the completion of Operation August Storm, 15th Army was immediately relocated to Kamchatka and the Kuriles. Its composition after the crushing defeat of Japan was changed substantially. It comprised 2 rifle corps (8 divisions) and two fortified regions.
  • HQ, 16th Army - HQ disbanded 8 August 1941 after encirclement just west of Smolensk as part of Soviet Western Front. Reformed three times in 1941; under Bagramyan's leadership, the 16th Army performed so well during the February 1943 Bryansk offensive that the Army was redesignated the 11th Guards Army.[6]
  • HQ 17th Army (17 OA) ended its existence 4 months after the end of the war with Japan.
  • HQ 18th Army (18 OA) became after the war a Mountain Army in the territory of the Carpathian Military District and North Bukovina, where it was disbanded in May 1946. Some of its elements were used to form HQ 8 Mechanised Army.
  • HQ, 19th Army - HQ disbanded 20 October 1941. Reformed three times in 1941, and after the war remained in Poland until 1947, having two Guards Rifle Corps containing six divisions.
  • HQ, 20th Army - HQ disbanded 20 October 1941
  • HQ, 21st Army - HQ awarded 'Guards' status and renumbered to HQ 6th Guards Army on 16 April 1943.
  • HQ, 22nd Army - HQ disbanded in August 1945 and personnel used to form HQ, Tavricheskii Military District in the Crimea. 109th Rifle Corps arrived with the Army HQ. Still active with the Russian Ground Forces.
  • HQ, 23rd Army - survived the entire war within the Leningrad Military District. Began war in the Northern Front consisting of 19th and 50th Rifle Corps and 10th Mechanised Corps (consisting of 21st and 24th Tank Divisions and 198th Mechanised Division). It was disbanded in the period of reductions, (in the late 1950s?) although its 30th Guard Rifle Corps and all its divisions were preserved.
  • HQ, 24th Army - HQ disbanded 10 October 1941. Reformed; redesignated 4th Guards Army on 16 April 1943 (Glantz, 2005, p.511)
  • HQ, 25th Army - began war in Far East Military District. In June 1941 comprised 39th Rifle Corps wih 32nd Rifle Division, 40th, and 92nd Rifle Divisions, plus 105th Rifle Division as Army troops. It was situated within what may have been the Maritime Province Military District up to 1955, covering boundary with Korea and China, when it was disbanded. Immediately after the end of the war with Japan it included two rifle corps (6 divisions) and 8 fortified regions, but they were all reorganised in 1946 into machine-gun artillery divisions.
  • HQ, 26th Army - HQ officially disbanded 25 September 1941 after Battle of Kiev (1941). Reformed three times in 1941, at one point being after being redesignated HQ 2nd Shock Army; finally disbanded in Romania in 1947.
  • HQ, 27th Army - HQ redesignated HQ, 4th Shock Army on 25 December 1941. Reformed, 27th Army was involved in the Battle of Kiev (1943) and the Battle of Romania (1944).
  • HQ, 28th Army - formed June-July 1941
  • HQ, 29th Army - formed in June-July 1941, joined Western Front
  • HQ, 30th Army - formed on 13 July 1941, comprising 119th, 242nd, 243rd, 251st Rifle Divisions, 51st Tank Division, 43rd Corps Artillery Regiment, 533rd and 758th Anti-tank Regiments. Joined Soviet Western Front. Redesignated 10th Guards Army 16 April 1943.
  • HQ, 31st Army - formed by 10 July 1941, comprised of 244th, 246th, 247th, 249th Rifle Divisions initially (Glantz, Stumbling Colossus).
  • HQ, 32nd Army - formed in June-July 1941, joined Reserve Front, and then eventually Karelian Front.
  • HQ, 33rd Army - formed July-August 1941, joined Reserve Front
  • HQ, 34th Army - formed July-August 1941, joined Reserve Front. Initially comprised 245th, 257th, 259th, 262nd Rifle Divisions and 25th and 54th Cavalry Divisions. Disbanded to reform HQ 4th Army January 1944.
  • HQ, 35th Army - formed in June-July 1941, joined Far Eastern Front. Within Far Eastern Front comprised 35th, 66th, 78th Rifle Divisions and 109th Fortified Region.
  • HQ, 36th Army - HQ formed between 22 June 1941 and August 1941 in the Transbaikal Military District.[7]
  • HQ, 37th Army - formed during August 1941, and encircled along with the 5th, 21st, and 26th Armies during the Battle of Kiev (1941)
  • HQ, 38th Army - Formed during August 1941. Erickson says Mikhail Kirponos ordered this Army to form to hold the Cherkassy bridgehead, on the basis of 8th Mechanised Corps, keeping General Ryabyshev as commander. [8]
  • HQ, 39th Army - formed between August and December 1941
  • HQ, 40th Army - The Army was first formed from elements of the 26th and 37th Armies under the command of Major General K.P. Podlas in August 1941 at the boundary of the Bryansk Front and the Soviet Southwestern Front. By 25 August 1941 the 135th and 293rd Rifle Divisions, 2nd Parachute Corps, 10th Tank Division, and 5th Anti-Tank Brigade had been assembled to form the force.[9] The Army was later involved in the Battle of Kiev (1943) and the Battle of Romania (1944) but was disbanded during July 1945. It was re-created during May 1979 to cover the boundary with unstable Afghanistan with three motor rifle divisions (the 5th Guards, 108th and 68th), and entered Afghanistan in December 1979 without the last division, but had the Russian 201st Motor Rifle Division added to its composition during January 1980. The Limited Contingent of Soviet Troops in Afghanistan was formed on its basis. After the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 it was reduced to 59th Army Corps.
  • HQ, 41st Army - Formed in the Kalinin Front in May 1942 but disbanded in April 1943, its headquarters forming the Reserve Front.[10]
  • HQ, 42nd Army (42 OA) Formed August 1941 under Lt Gen F.S. Ivanov, consisting of the 291st Rifle Division and the 2nd and 3rd Leningrad Militia Divisions. Ended its existence in the summer of 1946 on the Baltic coast.
  • HQ, 43rd Army ended its existence in the summer of 1946.
  • HQ, 44th Army - formed between June-August 1941, Transcaucasus Military District.
  • HQ, 45th Army - formed between June-August 1941, Transcaucasus Military District For almost the entire war it was situated in Iran and ended its existence in 1946 after return to the USSR.
  • HQ, 46th Army - formed between June-August 1941, Transcaucasus Military District. Disbanded in Summer 1945.
  • HQ, 47th Army - formed between June and August 1941, Transcaucasus Military District. It was stationed in Halle, Germany, until 1947, when it was disbanded.
  • HQ, 49th Army - headquarters returned at the end of the war from Germany to the Gor'kiy region, where it was reformed as the Gor'kiy Military District.
  • HQ, 50th Army - Apparently formed August 1941 and joined Bryansk Front. Disbanded in July 1945 when it was reorganised as the headquarters of the Eastern Siberian Military District in Irkutsk.
  • HQ, 51st Army - Raised in August 1941 in Crimea. Involved in Battle of the Crimea (1944). Moved during June 1945 from the Baltic States to the Urals with almost all its forces. Headquarters moved without its troops to Sakhalin in the Far East Military District in 1953.
  • HQ, 52nd Army - took part in Battle of Romania (1944) and Vistula-Oder Operation.
  • HQ, 53rd Army (53 OA) - after the crushing defeat of Japan was brought out to Siberia, where it was disbanded in 1947.
  • HQ, 55th Army - Formed 31 August 1942 under Leningrad Front, from units in the Slutsk-Kolpino area. Initially comprised 168th, 70th, 90th, 237th Rifle Division and 4th Leningrad Militia Division. Involved in the Battle of Krasny Bor (1943).
  • HQ, 57th Army (57 OA) - Reformed twice in 1942 having been destroyed. Reformed again in March 1943 from remnants of 3rd Tank Army. On the completion of the war was relocated from Austria to Romania, where it became part of the Southern Group of Forces. It was disbanded together with the Southern Group of Forces in 1947.
  • HQ, 58th Army - Formed in the Siberian Military District in November 1941, but then redesignated the 3rd Tank Army in May 1942. Reestablished within the Kalinin Front in June 1942 but then redesignated the 39th Army in August. It was reformed in the Transcaucasian Front from the 24th Army in August-September 1942 but reorganised into Headquarters Volga Military District in October 1943.[11] The HQ was reformed in the mid 1990s in the North Caucasus Military District.
  • HQ, 61st Army (61 OA) - It arrived in the North Caucasus from Germany during June 1945 and became the headquarters of the Donskoy Military District.
  • HQ, 62nd Army - Activated in October 1941 as the 7th Reserve Army, the Army was redesignated the 62nd Army at Stalingrad in July 1942. It included the 13th Guards Rifle Division. It was among the victors of Stalingrad and thus redesignated the Eighth Guards Army.
  • HQ, 63rd Army - Formed from 5th Reserve Army. Involved in Battle of Stalingrad
  • HQ, 64th Army - Formed from 1st Reserve Army. Involved in Battle of Stalingrad, became 7th Guards Army on 16 April 1943
  • HQ, 65th Army - 4th Tank Army was converted into 65th Army in late October 1942. Involved in the Battle of Stalingrad. Re-converted back into 7th Red Banner Tank Army in 1946.
  • HQ, 66th Army - which became 5th Guards Army. Involved in Battle of Stalingrad.
  • 67th Army (67 OA) at the end of the war was guarding the coast of the Baltic States from Tallinn to the south, and during August 1945 it was disbanded.
  • 69th Army (69 OA) Formed by the elevation of 18th Guards Rifle Corps to Army status in late 1942/early 1943. Commanded by Lt Gen M.I. Kazakov, on the eve of Operation Star in February 1943 the Army comprised the 161st, 180th, 219th and 270th Rifle Divisions, plus smaller formations. [12]The Army was moved without troops from Germany to Transcaucasia in June 1945, where its HQ may have been reorganised as the HQ of the Baku District. [13]
  • 70th Army. The highest-numbered Army was the 70th, formed from NKVD troops after an authorising decree was signed by Stalin on 14 October 1942.[14] On February 5, 1943 this army was designated as the 70th Army with Far-Eastern, Transbaikal, Siberian, Central-Asian, Ural and Stalingrad divisions renamed respectively: 102nd, 106th, 140th, 162nd, 175th and 181st Rifle divisions, a total of 69236 personnel. The 70th Army was instantly transferred to Konstantin Rokossovsky’s Soviet Central Front, which was preparing a local offensive, and suffered its first defeat. In June 1945 it arrived, possibly just an HQ without any troops, from Germany, in the South Urals, where it's HQ may have been reorganised as the South Urals Military District.

[edit] Guards armies

  • 1st Guards Army - first formed August 1942 from 2nd Reserve Army [15] Reformed three times.
  • 2nd Guards Army - after the war the Army returned to the Moscow Military District with 2 guard corps (6 divisions). According to Feskov et al, the Army HQ existed only on paper, after the reductions of the 1950s, although it is possible an operations group of several officers was present.
  • 3rd Guards Army (3 Gds OA) All formations of this army (except 76th Rifle Corps with the 287th and 389th Rifle Divisions) were disbanded in the summer of 1945, and the Army HQ was reorganised as part of the Volga Military District.
  • 4th Guards Army - redesignation of 24th Army
  • 5th Guards Army - redesignation of 66th Army, 16 April 1943. The Army arrived from Austria to the territory of the West Ukraine in 1946-1947, where it was disbanded, in contrast to some its divisions, including of those remaining in Austria (13th Guards MD and 95th Rifle Div). Up to its disbandment it had 3 guard rifle corps (9 divisions).
  • 6th Guards Army - redesignation of 21st Army, early 1943
  • 7th Guards Army - redesignation of 64th Army, 16 April 1943
  • 8th Guards Army - redesignation of 62nd Army after Battle of Stalingrad.
  • 9th Guards Army - seems to have been formed from Airborne Forces
  • 10th Guards Army - redesignation of 30th Army, 16 April 1943
  • 11th Guards Army, formed from 16th Army, ended the war in the Baltic Military District. Disbanded late 1990s in the Kaliningral Special Region (KOR), to form the Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the Baltic Fleet. In the 1950s it comprised 1st TD (former Tank Corps) and all the remaining Guards formations - 2nd Rifle Corps, 16th Koenigsberg Red Banner Rifle Corps (the 1st and 26th RD, 29 MD) and 36th Nemanskiy Red Banner Rifle Corps (5th and 16th RD, 30 MD). Subsequently the army's composition changed little, and for the entire postwar period it comprised the 40th Guards TD (former 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, then 28th Guards MD) and the 1st Tank, and the 1st and 26th Guards MRD (former Rifle Divisions). In 1960 the 5th Guards MRD (former RD) was disbanded.
  • 14th 'Budapest' Guards Army . Created in 1956 in the Odessa Military District on the basis of the 10th Budapest Guards Rifle Corps. It included a corps HQ and four motor rifle divisions: 28th, 59th, 86th Guards, 48th, and 180th. Following the end of the Cold War it became entangled in the War of Transnistria.

[edit] Shock armies

  • the 1st Shock Army (1 in A) after war was moved together with a number of its components to Central Asia, where its headquarters during July 1945 became HQ Turkestan Military District. The 306th and 376th Rifle Divisions became mountain-rifle divisions.
  • 2nd Shock Army - Until January 1946 it remained in the northeast of Germany with HQ at Schwerin), after which in full strength it was returned to the USSR, where its HQ was reorganised as HQ Arkhangel'sk Military District. It comprised 3 rifle corps by this time (9 divisions). After 2nd Shock was redesignated HQ Arkhangelsk MD 116th Rifle Corps and its divisions, 109th Rifle Corps (101-4 guard, 46-4 and 372-4) went to the North Caucasus Military District, and 134th Rifle Corps (102nd Guards, the 90th and 272nd RD) - in the Voronezh Region.
  • 3rd Red Banner Army (of Combined Arms) traced its history from the 3rd Shock Army of the times of the war. The Army was actually Assault(Shock?) in composition in between the 1960s and the 1980s. During the beginning of the 1990s the Army included the 7th, 10th, 12th, 47th Guard Tank Divisions.
  • the 4th shock army (4 in A) from the Baltic States in the summer of 1945 was directed to North Kazakhstan, where its HQ formed HQ Steppe District. Its 19th Rifle Corps may have been reassigned to combat Ukrainian insurgents in the Kharkov region.
  • 5th Shock Army - formed from 2nd Reserve Army in August 1942, redesignated as HQ South-Eastern Front Ocotber 1942, with its forces transferred to 24th Army, reestablished from 63rd Army in November 1942, renamed 3rd Guards Army in December 1942, and that same month reformed from 4th Reserve Army.[16]

[edit] Reserve armies

The STAVKA formed ten reserve armies in mid 1942 to bolster the Reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (RVGK).[17]

  • 1st Reserve Army - became 64th Army (see above). [18]
  • 2nd Reserve Army - HQ became basis for 1st Guards Army.
  • 3rd Reserve Army - Bryansk Front. HQ became basis for 2nd Tank Army.
  • 5th Reserve Army - became 63rd Army, see above
  • 7th Reserve Army - became 62nd Army for Stalingrad Front.
  • 10th Reserve Army - October 1942 had 6th Rifle Division (II Formation) join it [19]

[edit] Tank armies

Made up of three Tank Corps. Guards Tank Armies were made up of a number of Guards Tank Corps.

  • 1st Tank Army - first activated July 1943 from HQ 38th Army and assigned to Stalingrad Front, disbanded September 1943. Reformed in Jan-Feb 1943 in North-Western Front on the basis of HQ 29th Army. Awarded Guards title and became Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army in April 1944.
  • 2nd Tank Army - first activated Jan-Feb 1943 on the basis of HQ 3rd Reserve Army in Soviet Central Front. Reorganised in Feb-March 1943, but stayed in Central Front. Key formations included 11th and 16th Tank Corps, 11th Guards Tank Brigade, and 60th, 112th, and 194th Rifle Divisions. [20] Awarded Guards title and became 2nd Guards Red Banner Tank Army in November 1944. Postwar, the Army was in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany for many years.
  • 3rd Tank Army - formed from 58th Army (which see) in May 1942, encircled and almost totally destroyed in March 1943, redesignated 57th Army in April 1943.
  • 5th Guards Red Banner Tank Army - The Army was stationed for the entire postwar period in Belorussia and for almost all those years it included the 8th Guards, 29th and also the 193rd (formerly the 193rd Rifle Division) Tank Divisions.
  • 6th Guards Red Banner Tank Army - was in Mongolia for 15 years after the war. The friendship with China of those days and the Krushchev military reductions changed the fate of 6th Guards Tank Army, and in 1959 it was relocated to Dnepropetrovsk. Toward the end of the 1980s it retained three Guards Tank Divisions - the 17th, 42nd (the former 42nd Rifle Division) and the 75th (formerly the 75th Rifle Division).
  • 7th Red Banner Tank Army - created in 1946 in the territory of Poland from HQ, 65th Army and in 1947 was brought out into Belorussia.
  • 8th Red Star Tank Army was created in 1946 in the Carpathian Military District,when elements of the 52nd and 18th Armies were reorganised as the 8th Mechanised Army. Parts of the Army participated in the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The 8th Mechanised Army was redesignated the 8th Tank Army in 1957.

[edit] Order of battle

An example of Order of Battle for an army [1]:

17th Army:

  • 209th Rifle Division
  • 278th Rifle Division
  • 284th Rifle Division
  • 70th Separate Tank Battalion
  • 82nd Separate Tank Battalion
  • 56th Tank Destroyer Artillery Brigade
  • 185th Gun Artillery Regiment
  • 413th Howitzer Artillery Regiment
  • 1910th Tank Destroyer Regiment
  • 178th Mortar Regiment
  • 39th Guards Mortar Regiment
  • 1916th Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment
  • 66th Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
  • 282nd Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
  • 67th Mortar Brigade

[edit] References

  1. ^ Glantz, 2005, p.144
  2. ^ Deiscvuyuschaya Armiya (Operational Army) 1941 -1945, 2005, cited by konev at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=101869&, 17 June 2006
  3. ^ Glantz, 2005, p.712n98, 100
  4. ^ http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=61112
  5. ^ Glantz, 2005, p.231
  6. ^ Steven Zagola, Operation Bagration, p.13, via Amazon.com
  7. ^ David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War, University Press of Kansas, 1998
  8. ^ Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, 1975, p.203
  9. ^ John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975, p.202
  10. ^ David Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.54
  11. ^ David Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.59
  12. ^ David Glantz, From the Don to the Dnepr, Frank Cass, 1991, p.152, 382
  13. ^ Feskov et al, The Soviet Army during the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk 2004
  14. ^ http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-15298.html
  15. ^ http://stalingrad.ic.ru/s1garm.html
  16. ^ Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.62
  17. ^ Glantz, 2005, p.97
  18. ^ http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-11609.html
  19. ^ Craig Crofoot, Armies of the Bear, Vol. I Part 1
  20. ^ Glantz, 2005, Table 7.10, p.260

[edit] Bibliography

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