1st Guard Army (Red Army)

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The 1st Guard Army ( Russian 1-я гвардейская армия ) was a major military unit of the Red Army that was deployed in the Second World War 1942/1943 on the southern and 1944 on the central eastern front . In 1945 the army operated in Slovakia , then in Moravia and Bohemia .

history

First formation

The 1st Guard Army was formed at the beginning of August 1942 from the command of the 2nd Reserve Army and initially comprised the 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Guards Rifle Divisions , as instructed by the Stawka . These divisions were moved from the Ljubertsi train station near Moscow to the Don section on the southern eastern front. By August 10, two divisions and the headquarters of the army had reached the unloading stations in Frolovye and Ilowlya, two other divisions were on the way and the 41st Guards Division was being loaded into Lyubertsi. On the morning of August 11, the troops were taken to the Stalingrad area and assembled on the Rossoshka and Chervlenaya rivers and at Zapadnovka and Boreslavsky. The nearby Don bridgehead between Kletskaya and Bolschenabatovsky was defended by the 4th Panzer Army, the 21st and 63rd Armies operated on the right and the 62nd Army on the left. The headquarters of the 1st Guards Army was located at the Ilowlya train station and north of it, where by the evening of August 13 the 39th and 40th Guards Rifle Divisions under Major General SS Guryev and Al Pastrewitsch were unloaded. The squadrons of the 37th and 38th Guards Rifle Divisions also arrived by August 14th. On the orders of the front commandant of the Stalingrad Front , the 39th and 40th Guards Rifle Divisions were to intervene in the battle of the Don on the morning of August 16, together with the 37th Guards Rifle Division (Major General WG Sholudjew), which had just arrived , in order to support the German offensive stop and hold the bridgehead on the Don loop. In the northern section of the river loop, at Shochin and Dubovy, the 40th Guards Division and in the southern part at Khlebni and Trehostrovskaya the 37th and 39th Guards Rifle Divisions were assembled, with units of the 4th Panzer Army being relieved. The remnants of the 321st, 205th and 343rd Rifle Divisions, pushed off to the right by the German troops, were attached to the 1st Guard Army. In addition, the 38th Guards Rifle Division had just arrived at Novo-Grigoryevskaya on the Don, where it was supposed to defend the left bank of the river. Lieutenant General KS Moskalenko decided to proceed on the Perekopskaya - Sirotinskaya line. On August 17, however, the German 376th and 100th light infantry divisions resumed their own offensive, which took place in the direction of Novo-Grigoryevskaya and stormed the height of 238 and the villages of Jablonski and Shochin by 2 p.m. From August 19, the German attacks weakened again and the 38th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel AA Onufrjew) could be drawn across the river.

On August 18, the 1st Guard Army of the Stalingrad Front (later renamed Don Front ) was subordinated. From August 20, the 1st Guard Army took part in the counter-offensive on Don, where five divisions of the 1st Guard and 62nd Army operated directly against the flanks of the German shock group and the bridgehead on the right bank of the Don was expanded and secured . On August 23, the German troops went back on the offensive on the left bank of the Don. The defensive front at the seam between 4th Panzer and 62nd Armies was breached. Now the headquarters of the Stalingrad Front ordered to attack north of Stalingrad with the troops of the 1st Guard Army. For this purpose it was first ordered to move part of the armed forces (38th and 41st Guards Rifle Divisions) to Losnoje. For these battles the army had the 39th Guards, the 24th, 64th, 84th, 116th and 315th Rifle Divisions and temporarily the 4th, 7th and 16th Panzer Corps. On the morning of September 2, the 24th and 66th Armies were to launch a counterattack against the German XIV Panzer Corps, which had broken through to the Volga at Rynok, and which were to join the 62nd Army. The armed forces of the 1st Guard Army had arrived north of Stalingrad, including the 24th, 64th, 84th and 315th Rifle Divisions and the 4th and 16th Armored Corps, which were to lead the main strike as the Kovalenko group. The 1st Guard Army was to attack in the direction of Kotluban, Samofalowka and Gumrak. On September 3, at 7:30 a.m., the troops went on the offensive on the Kuzmichi Front - Height 139.7 - with the task of breaking through the German front and uniting with parts of the 62nd Army. The offensive was preceded by half an hour of artillery preparation, the attack was too weak and did not produce the desired effect. On September 4th, the troops of the neighboring 24th and 66th Armies attacked . The first thrust was set to the right of the 1st Guard Army and the second to the left. The troops of the 1st Guard Army were to attack on the night of September 4th on the left side of the Sukhoi Mechetka Canal, where the second squadron of the 38th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel AA Onufryev) was located. Panzer Corps (Lieutenant General WA Mischulin) attacked, with the 84th Rifle Division (Major General PI Fomenko) in the middle. The attack took place on September 5th at 6:30 a.m. after a half-hour artillery attack on the German positions. The 1st Guard Army, in cooperation with the 24th Army, had to advance to the front seam at Basargin and then to reach the Novy Put - Werchne-Tsaripinsiy line. The 4th Panzer Army had to advance with its left flank in the direction of Wertjachi, throw the enemy back over the Don and reach Marinovka; the 24th Army was to attack in the direction of Karpovka. Finally, the 66th Army was entrusted with the attack in the direction of Orlovka to cut off the German group that had broken through to the Volga. In preparation for the new offensive, the composition of the 1st Guard Army was almost completely renewed: Of the previously assigned units, only the 4th, 7th and 16th Panzer Corps remained, which had partially replenished their material losses. The army now comprised the 173rd, 207th, 221st, 258th, 260th, 292nd, 308th and 316th rifle divisions and a number of artillery units. The rifle divisions were under the commanders AA Onufrjew, SS Guryev, AI Pastrewitsch, NP Ivanov, ML Pesochin, VD Khochlow, LN Gurtjew, NE Zubarew and the tank corps were led by Generals JG Pushkin, AG Kravchenko , PA Rotmistrov , GS Rodin and AM Khazin. The 1st Guard Army, along with other units on the Stalingrad Front, diverted a significant part of the German armed forces, a circumstance which made it easier for the 62nd Army to defend Stalingrad. By September 23, the army shifted the focus to the right flank, but the German defense could not break through there either. On October 16, 1942, the army was withdrawn into the reserves of the headquarters, all subordinate divisions were transferred to the 24th Army and on October 25, the army command was disbanded and used to form the command of the new formation of the Southwest Front .

Second formation

In July 1942 General VI Kuznetsov was given command of the 63rd Army, which proved itself in the counter-offensive on the Don sector. On November 5, 1942, the 63rd Army was renamed the 1st Guard Army according to the instructions of the Stawka of November 1, 1942, subordinated to Lieutenant General Lelyuschenko and remained part of the Southwest Front. The army comprised the 1st, 153rd, 197th, 266th and 278th Rifle Divisions and the 1st Guard Mechanical Corps. The army took part in Operation Uranus , which led to the inclusion of the German 6th Army in the Stalingrad pocket. On the right wing of the 1st Guard Army, the 5th Panzer Army acted as a strike group for the northern attack wedge. On December 5, 1942, the 1st Guard Army was renamed the 3rd Guard Army , which then took part in the counter-offensive of the 3rd Panzer Army on the Middle Don against the Italian 8th Army .

Third formation

The third formation of the 1st Guard Army was formed on December 5, 1942 from the command of the 4th Reserve Army, the supreme command received Lieutenant General Vasili Ivanovich Kuznetsov. The army was part of the Southwest Front and was used in Operation Saturn during the Soviet counter-offensive in the area northwest of Stalingrad . Initially, the 4th and 6th Guards Rifle Corps, the 18th Panzer Corps and the 153rd Rifle Division were subordinate to her. At the beginning of 1943 it attacked the Donbass region during the Voroshilovgrad operation , took part in the Isjum - Barvenkov operation in the summer (July 17 to 27, 1943) and from August-September in the operations to liberate the left bank of the Dnieper. In October 1943, after the subordinate troops had been assigned to the 46th Army, the headquarters of the army was moved to the Konotop area , east of Kiev .

On October 20, 1943, the army was subordinated to the 3rd Ukrainian Front , and on October 25th it was withdrawn to the Stawka reserves and transferred to the 1st Ukrainian Front on November 12th, subordinating the 74th, 94th and 107th Rifle Corps got. From November to December, the troops of the 1st Guard Army participated in the defense of the German counter-offensive on Kiev and from December 24th in the Zhitomir-Berdichev operation . At the end of February 1944, the army was deployed south-east of Shepetovka , where from March to April it led a main front attack in the Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation , which resulted in the encirclement of the German 1st Panzer Army in the Kamenets-Podolsk area . From July to August 1944, the troops took part in the Lviv-Sandomierz operation , with Stanislav being liberated on July 27th . On August 5, the 1st Guard Army was transferred to the 4th Ukrainian Front and took part in the Eastern Carpathian operation from September to October 1944 . On both sides of Sanok the 1st Guard Army opened the attack over the San against the positions of the German 96th Infantry Division . On September 9th, the 107th Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General D. W Gordejew) intervened in the fighting and was supposed to break through towards Komańcza in order to establish contact with the neighboring 38th Army . There were 3 rifle corps (18th Guards, 30th and 107th) with 8 divisions (12th Guards - 155th, 167th, 30th, 141st, 276th, 151st, 161st and 129th rifle divisions) in the Attack, the 11th Rifle Corps and 3rd Guards Rifle Corps formed the reserve. Because 4 German divisions (96th, 168th and 254th infantry and 101st Jäger divisions) and 2 Hungarian divisions (6th and 13th division) were now concentrated across from the 1st Guard Army, the Gastilovich group of 18th Army with strong flank attacks. On September 19, the 3rd Mountain Corps (Major General AI Wedenin) was brought into battle during the attack on Baligród . On September 26, the 95th Rifle Corps (Major General II Melnikow) and the 24th Rifle Division (Major General Fyodor A. Prokhorov) stormed Turka , bypassed the Hungarian positions near Bereszna and penetrated into the Hommona district by September 29 .

Army organization in January 1945

3rd Guards Rifle Corps, Major General AI Vedenin

  • 128th Rifle Division, Colonel Ephraim Ignatievich Dolgow
  • 242nd Rifle Division, Major General WB Lisinow
  • 318th Rifle Division, Major General Wassili F. Gladkow

107th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Dmitri Wassiljewitsch Gordejew

  • 161st Rifle Division, Colonel Nikolai Moisewitsch Gerschewitsch
  • 167th Rifle Division, Colonel Ivan Dmitrivich Drjachlow
  • 271st Rifle Division, Colonel Ivan Fedorowitsch Khomitsch
  • 276th Rifle Division, Major General Pyotr Maxsimowitsch Beschko

On January 18, 1945, the 1st Guard Army opened the offensive against the German XI during the Western Carpathian Operation in cooperation with the 38th Army . Army corps across the Ondava sector. The front of the German 253rd Infantry Division deployed in the area 25 km south of Jasło between Polany and south of Stropkov was torn up by the 11th and 107th Rifle Corps. The German troops were pushed back about 22 km and the next day Prešov (Eperjes) was taken. The army reached the Moravian-Ostrava area in the spring of 1945 and took part in the Prague operation in May . The 1st Guard Army was disbanded in August 1945.

Allegations

  • Stalingrad Front, August 18 - September 28, 1942
  • Don Front, September 28 - October 15, 1942
  • Stawka Reserve, October 16 - December 5, 1942
  • Southwest Front, December 5, 1942 - October 19, 1943
  • 3rd Ukrainian Front, October 20-25, 1943
  • Stawka Reserve, October 26 - December 12, 1943
  • 1st Ukrainian Front, December 12, 1943 - August 4, 1944
  • 4th Ukrainian Front, August 5, 1944 - May 9, 1945

guide

Commander in chief

Chiefs of Staff

  • Colonel SP Ivanov, August-October 1942
  • Major General IP Krupennikow, November - December 1942
  • Ivan Timofejewitsch Schljomin , December 1942 - January 1943
  • Wassili Wassiljewitsch Panjuchow, January 1943 - January 1944
  • Georgi Ivanovich Chetagurow, January 1944 - April 1944
  • Alexander Grigoryevich Batunin, April 1944 - May 1945

Members of the Council of War

  • Division Commissioner NW Abramov, August - October 1942
  • Brigadier Commissar I. Kolesnichenko, November - December 1942
  • Ivan Dmitrievich Rybinsky, December 1942 - August 1943
  • Ivan Wassiljewitsch Wassiljew, August 1943 - August 1944
  • Mikhail Vladimirovich Shevyakov, August 1944
  • Konstantin Petrovich Isajew, August 1944 - May 1945

literature

  • К.С. Москаленко : На Юго-Западном направлении. Воспоминания командарма. Книга I. - Наука, Moscow 1969.
  • А. А. Гречко : Через Карпаты - Воениздат, Moscow 1970.

Web links