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 the Civil War, most Soviet armies consisted of independent rifle and cavalry divisions, and corps were rare. 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. For example, in the October 1944
Battle of Debrecen, the 27th Army was a massive organization with nine rifle divisions, an artillery division, and four attached Romanian infantry divisions. The 40th Army, by comparision, had only five rifle divisions. Both armies were part of the
Second Ukrainian Front.
During a war, an Army of the Soviet military was typically subordinated to a
Front. In peace time, 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.
As World War II went on, the complement of supporting units attached to Soviet armies became more numerous and complex. By 1945, a Soviet army typically had attached mortar, antitank, anti-aircraft, howitzer, gun-howitzer, rocket launcher, independent tank, self-propelled gun, armored train, flamethrower, and engineer-sapper units.
[2] In particular, the ratio of artillery pieces to riflemen increased as the war went on, reflecting the Soviet need for increased firepower as manpower reserves began to sag in the face of staggering losses of rifle troops.
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.
List of Soviet Armies in the Civil War
Regular armies
★ First Army - 1st Formation fought in Ukraine, Spring 1918. 2nd Formation fought on the eastern front.
★ Second Army - 1st Formation fought in Ukraine, Spring 1918. 2nd Formation fought on the eastern front.
★ Third Army - 1st Formation fought in Ukraine, Spring 1918. 2nd Formation fought on the eastern front. 3rd Formation fought on the western front, 1920.
★ Fourth Army - 1st Formation fought in Ukraine, Spring 1918. 2nd Formation fought on the eastern front. 3rd Formation fought on the western front, 1920. 4th Formation fought on the southern front, 1920.
★ Fifth Army - 1st Formation fought in Ukraine, Spring 1918. 2nd Formation fought on the eastern front.
★ Sixth Army - 1st Formation fought on the Northern Front, south of Archangelsk. 2nd Formation fought on the Southern Front, during the defeat of Wrangel.
★ Seventh Army - Defended Petrograd in the Western Front.
★ Eighth Army - Fought on the Southern Front.
★ Ninth Army - Fought in the Southern, Southeastern, and Caucasian Fronts.
★ 10th Army - Fought in the Southern, Southeastern, and Caucasian Fronts.
★ 11th Army - Formed from the Red Army of the Northern Caucasus and fought in the Southern, Southeastern, and Caucasian Fronts.
★ 12th Army - 1st Formation was formed from the Red Army of the Northern Caucasus. 2nd Formation was formed from the 1st & 3rd Ukrainian Red Armies and fought in the Western, Southern, and Southwestern Fronts.
★ Red Army of the Northern Caucasus - In the Caucasus, 1918.
★ Ukrainian Red Army - later divided into 1st-3rd Ukrainian Red Armies.
★ 1st Ukrainian Red Army - Fought west of Kiev/Kiiv, 1919.
★ 2nd Ukrainian Red Army - Fought east of Yekaterinoslav/Katerynoslav, 1919.
★ 3rd Ukrainian Red Army - Fought near Odessa, 1919.
★ Crimean Red Army - In the Crimea, 1919.
★ Latvian Red Army - In Latvia, 1919.
★ Lithuanian-Belorussian Red Army - In Lithuania and Belorus, 1919.
Horse armies
★ First Horse Army (
First Cavalry Army?)
★ Second Horse Army
List of Soviet Armies in World War II
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
★
Third Army - destroyed June-July 1941 while serving with
Soviet Western Front. Reformed twice and survived entire war and disbanded in August 1945
[3]
★
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.
[4]
★
Seventh Army (Soviet Union) 18 December 1944 headquarters redesignated HQ 9th Guards Army
[5] (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 In 1946 it comprised three rifle corps totalling nine divisions. These formations were reassigned to the North Caucasus, Tavrichiy and Kiev MDs and the Army HQ arrived at Yerevan in the
Transcaucasus Military District to take control of the 75th and 261st Rifle Divisions, soon followed by the 26th Mech Div and 89th and 164th Rifle Divisions. Disbanded circa 1989-92.
★ HQ, 8th Army - survived entire war and disbanded in September 1945 (July?), becoming HQ Western
Siberian Military District at
Novosibirsk.
★
Ninth Army - Started the war in the Odessa Military District, which became
Southern Front. HQ disbanded 29 October 1943.
★ HQ, 10th Army - During invasion of Poland comprised one corps, the 24th Corps with the 29th Rifle Division, the 139th Rifle Division and the Soviet 145th Rifle Division. On June 22, 1941 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.
[6]
★ HQ, 13th Army - First formed from Group Kozhevnikov during
Russian Civil War and fought in the Southern, Southwestern, and again Southern Fronts. Started World War II with
Soviet Western Front. Survived not only entire war, but also entire Cold War up to dissolution of USSR.
★ HQ, 14th Army - First formed during
Russian Civil War from the 2nd Ukrainian Red Army and the Crimean Red Army and fought in the Southern and Southwestern Fronts. Carried out 1944
Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation under
Karelian Front, probably including
45th Rifle Division. 31 July 1945 HQ disbanded and personnel used to fill out HQ, Belomorsk (White Sea) 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 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 - First formed during the
Russian Civil War from the Latvian Red Army and fought on the Western Front. 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 - First formed during the
Russian Civil War from the Lithuanian-Belorussian Red Army and fought on the Western Front. 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.
[7]
★ HQ 17th Army (17 OA) ended its existence 4 months after the end of the war with Japan.
★ HQ
Eighteenth Army(18 OA) was destroyed in the
Battle of Uman. Reformed, took part in 1943
Kerch-Eltigen Operation. It 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 formally disbanded 20 October 1941, after having been wiped out in the
Vyazma Pocket, along with various formations under its command, including the
89th Rifle Division, first formation. 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, having been destroyed in the Vyazma Pocket
★ HQ, 21st Army - HQ awarded 'Guards' status and renumbered to HQ 6th Guards Army on 16 April 1943.
★
Twenty-Second 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 - Involved in the
Yelnya Offensive, August-September 1941. HQ disbanded 10 October 1941, having been destroyed in the Vyazma Pocket. 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
★
Twenty-Ninth Army- formed in June 1941, joined
Soviet Reserve Front
★ HQ, 30th Army - formed on 13 July 1941, comprising the 119th, 242nd, 243rd and 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 the 244th, 246th, 247th and 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,
Thirty-Fifth Army - formed in June-July 1941, joined
Soviet Far East Front. Within Far East 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.
[8]
★ HQ, 37th Army - formed during August 1941, and encircled along with the 5th, 21st, and 26th Armies during the
Battle of Kiev (1941). Served in southern areas of the
Russo-German War. Occupied Bulgaria in 1944 and remained there until of the war. Renamed 10th Mechanized Army postwar.
★ 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.
[9]
★ 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.
[10] 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.
[11]
★ 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. Took part in
Battle of Königsberg in April 1945 where it included the 69th Rifle Corps. 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, 56th Army - took part in 1943
Kerch-Eltigen Operation in the Black Sea.
★ 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.
[12] The HQ was reformed in the mid 1990s in the
North Caucasus Military District.
★ HQ, 59th Army - took part in
Battle of the Bay of Viipuri July 1944.
★ HQ, 60th Army - this army's
322nd Rifle Division liberated
Auschwitz in January 1945.
★ 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 - Formed from 8th Reserve Army Aug. 42. 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.
[13]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.
[14]
★ 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.
[15] 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.
★ Independent Coastal Army. Served in
Crimea during 1941 - 1945.
Guards armies
★
1st Guards Army - first formed August 1942 from 2nd Reserve Army
[16] Reformed three times.
★
Soviet Second 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.
★
Fourth 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
★
Seventh 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.
★ 18th Guards Army - formed postwar, served in Group of Soviet Forces Germany, but withdrawn from Germany in 1979 and later disbanded.
★ 20th Guards Army - formed postwar, served in GSFG; withdrawn in 1990s to
Moscow Military District and now headquartered at
Voronezh.
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 (101st Guards, 46th and 372nd) 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.
★ 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 October 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.
[17] Part of
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany for a time after the end of the war.
Reserve armies
The
STAVKA formed ten reserve armies in mid 1942 to bolster the Reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command (RVGK).
[18]
★ 1st Reserve Army - became 64th Army (see above).
[19]
★ 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
[20]
Tank armies
Normally made up of two to three
Tank Corps and
Mechanized Corps. Guards Tank Armies were made up of a number of Guards Tank and Mechanized 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.
[21] 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. Reformed May 1943 and redesignated 3rd Guards Tank Army on May 14, 1945. Known as 3rd Mechanized Army in 1946 and headquarted in
Luckenwalde, Germany.
★ 4th Tank Army - Formed July 1942. Ceased to exist from December 1942 until July 1943. Achieved Guards status postwar.
★ 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.
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
References
1. Glantz, 2005, p.144
2. 47th Army in January 1945 had nine rifle divisions, a Guards gun-artillery brigade, a rocket launcher regiment, five anti-aircraft regiments, an independent tank regiment, four regiments of self-propelled guns, an armored train unit, a DUKW truck battalion, an engineer-sapper brigade, and two flamethrower units.
3. Deiscvuyuschaya Armiya (Operational Army) 1941 -1945, 2005, cited by konev at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=101869&, 17 June 2006
4. Glantz, 2005, p.712n98, 100
5. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=61112
6. Glantz, 2005, p.231
7. Steven Zagola, Operation Bagration, p.13, via Amazon.com
8. David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War, University Press of Kansas, 1998
9. Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, 1975, p.203
10. John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975, p.202
11. David Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.54
12. David Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.59
13. David Glantz, From the Don to the Dnepr, Frank Cass, 1991, p.152, 382
14. Feskov et al, The Soviet Army during the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk 2004
15. http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-15298.html
16. http://stalingrad.ic.ru/s1garm.html
17. Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, 2005, p.62
18. Glantz, 2005, p.97
19. http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-11609.html
20. Craig Crofoot, Armies of the Bear, Vol. I Part 1
21. Glantz, 2005, Table 7.10, p.260
Bibliography
★
Kursk order of battle.
★
John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975
★ Feskov et al, The Soviet Army during the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk 2004
★
David Glantz, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941-43, University Press of Kansas, 2005,
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