11th Guard Army (Red Army)

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The 11th Guard Army ( Russian 11-я гвардейская армия ) was a major unit of the Red Army in World War II , which proved itself in the summer of 1943 in the Oryol Operation . In autumn 1944 the army broke into East Prussia and then fought in the Königsberg area until the end of the war . The army continued to exist with a changed organization during the Cold War and was only dissolved in 1992.

history

1943

The 11th Guard Army was formed on May 1, 1943 according to the Stawka directive of April 16, by renaming the 16th Army deployed in the Sukhinichi area on the western front .

  • The army led by General Iwan Bagramjan initially consisted of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps and the newly formed 16th Guards Rifle Corps.

For the Oryol operation (July 12 - August 18, 1943), the army troops took part in the following army division in the advance on Bolchow and Schisdra :

8th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General PP Malyshev

  • 11th, 26th and 83rd Guards Rifle Divisions

16th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General AW Lapschow

  • 1st, 16th and 31st Guards Rifle Division
  • 169th Rifle Division

36th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General AS Ksenofontov

  • 5th, 18th and 84th Guards Rifle Division
  • 108th and 217th Rifle Divisions

Parts of the 36th Guards Rifle Corps made several tactical break-ins into the positions of the German 2nd Panzer Army . Together with the 4th Panzer Army (Lieutenant General WM Badanow ) the breakthrough on Bolchow was forced. On the right wing of Baghramjan, the 16th Guards Rifle Corps made the breakthrough to the Resseta. After six guard divisions broke through at the seam between the German 211th and 293rd infantry divisions , the 5th Panzer Corps (Major General MG Sachno ) was introduced into the gap to advance against Uljanowo. The 50th Army (Lieutenant General IW Boldin ) supported the attack on the right wing in the Kirov area ; from July 18, the 2nd Guard Cavalry Corps (Major General WW Krjukow ) intervened in the fighting near the left neighbor . On August 6, the 8th and 36th Guards Rifle Corps approached from the northwest and southeast of the city of Chotynez , the 16th Guards Rifle Corps (from July 14 under General IF Fedjunkin ) advanced simultaneously on Karachev. On July 30th, the 11th Guards Army became part of the third formation on the Brjansk Front . The troops continued their offensive in the south and southwest of Orel in the direction of Bryansk . The 8th Guards Rifle Corps and the 1st Panzer Corps were able to cut off the railway line to Karachev by August 9 . The 36th Guards Rifle Corps penetrated the western part of Chotynez, which was evacuated in time by the Germans. Building on this success, the Soviet 11th Guards Army turned west and on August 12 began the attack on Karachev from the south and east. The threat forced the Germans to use the 78th Sturm Division and abandon the city on August 14th. By July 26th, the German troops were forced to abandon the Oryol front arc and retreat to the Hagen Line east of Bryansk.

On October 15, 1943, the 11th Guard Army of the Baltic Front (renamed the 2nd Baltic Front on October 20 ) and, from November 18, the 1st Baltic Front .

Army organization in June 1944

8th Guards Rifle Corps (Major General Nikolai Michailowitsch Savadowski )

  • 5th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Nikolai Lwowitsch Volkov)
  • 26th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Grigory Ivanovich Tschernow)
  • 83rd Guards Rifle Division (Major General Alexei Grigoryevich Maslow)

16th Guards Rifle Corps (Major General Jakow Stepanowitsch Vorobjew )

  • 1st Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Pawel Fedorowitsch Tolstikow)
  • 11th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Nikolai Georgijewitsch Zyganow )
  • 31st Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Iwan Kusmitsch Tscherwin)

36th Guards Rifle Corps (Major General Pyotr Grigoryevich Schafranov )

  • 16th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Georgi Andrijanowitsch Wassiljew)
  • 18th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Symbat Melikowitsch Daniljejan)
  • 84th Guards Rifle Division (Major General Georgi Borisowitsch Peters)

2nd Guard Panzer Corps (Major General Alexei Semjonowitsch Burdenji )

  • 4th Guard Panzer Brigade (Colonel Oleg Alexandrowitsch Losik)
  • 25th Guard Panzer Brigade (Colonel David Jakowlewitsch Klynfeld)
  • 26th Guard Panzer Brigade (Colonel Stepan Kuzmich Nesterow)

On May 27, 1944, the army for Operation Bagration was subordinated to the 3rd Belarusian Front on the eastern border of Belarus : The first attack by the 11th Guard Army on June 23 was initially intercepted by the German 4th Army , the Soviet Troops achieved only minor gains in terrain, but the breakthrough came on June 25. On June 26, 1944, the German troops were forced to withdraw from the area around Orsha before the overwhelming strength of Soviet troops and an impending encirclement. Armored units of the 11th Guards Army quickly advanced towards Minsk . The cut off German units were pushed back west in the course of the following days.

The commander of the front troops, Army General I. D. Chernyakhovsky , had ordered the main strike on the right wing against Vilna with the 5th Army , Lieutenant General NI Krylov , the 5th Guards Tank Army and the 3rd Guards Mechanical Corps (Lieutenant General VT Obukhov). The 11th Guards Army (Lieutenant General KN Galitsky) took part in the fighting between Orsha and Minsk (June 29 - July 4), liberating Borisov on July 1 and Molodechno on July 5 . Together with the 31st Army (Lieutenant General VV Glagolew) and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant General NS Oslikowski), the Lida railway junction was liberated on the morning of July 7, and the city of Vilnius was liberated between July 5 and 20.

By the evening of July 13th, parts of the 11th Guards Army managed to reach the river Nyemen near Alytus , while the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps was standing in front of Grodno . On July 14th, parts of the 16th Guards Rifle Corps of the 11th Guards Army near Alytus formed a bridgehead 20 km wide and 2 deep. In the afternoon of that day the 26th and 5th Guards Rifle Divisions of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps also crossed the river near the village of Neman . North of Grodno, the same success was achieved by the 31st Army. By the evening of July 15, the bridgehead on the west bank of the Nyemen was widened to a width of 28 km and a depth of 6 km with the support of the 5th Army. The units of the 3rd Belarusian Front had advanced in close cooperation with the Belarusian and Lithuanian partisans from the beginning of Operation Bagration up to 210 km deep and had created favorable conditions for breaking into the German Reich across the borders of East Prussia . The first major attack on East Prussia by the Soviet 11th Guard Army (General Galitzki) broke out on October 16, 1944 during the Gumbinnen-Goldaper operation in the following army structure:

8th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Sawadowski

  • 5th Guards Rifle Division, Colonel NL Volkov, later Major General GB Peters
  • 26th Guards Rifle Division, Major General GI Chernov
  • 31st Guards Rifle Division, Major General ID Burmakov
  • 83rd Guards Rifle Division, Major General AG Maslow
  • 120th Panzer Brigade (from mid-December 1944 Colonel NI Bukow)

16th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Stepan Saweljewitsch Gurjew

  • 1st Guards Rifle Division, Major General PF Tolstikov
  • 11th Guards Rifle Division, Major General NG Zyganov
  • 153rd Panzer Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel I. Timofejew

36th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Yefim Vasilyevich Ryschikow

  • 16th Guards Rifle Division, Major General MA Pronin
  • 18th Guards Rifle Division, Major General GP Isakov
  • 84th Guards Rifle Division, Major General IK Scherbina
  • 43rd Panzer Brigade, Colonel GA Timschenko

The last phase of the artillery preparation ended at 11.00 a.m., then the attack of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps and the 16th Guards Rifle Corps took place. The first attack squadron - 5th, 26th, 31st and 84th, in the second meeting the 83rd and 11th Guard Divisions had taken their attack position about 200–250 meters across from the German main battle line , four other divisions (1st, 5th ., 16th and 18th Guard Division) followed as a second attack squadron. On the left wing of the army, the 36th Guards Rifle Corps was deployed in the direction of Dobilin, was able to break through on the north wing of the 4th Army on both sides of the Wilkowischken – Gumbinnen road and reach the area south of Gumbinnen to Angerapp. The break-ins at the front of the XXVI. and XXVII. Army corps led to counter attacks by the XXXIX. Panzer Corps to be cordoned off until the end of October. On October 21, 1944, troops of the 11th Guards Army took part in the Nemmersdorf massacre (now Mayakovskoye ). The Soviets had thus brought the border into their hands on German soil in the Schirwindt - Eydtkau -Trakehnen- Rominten area to a depth of 40 kilometers.

1945

The Soviet 11th Guard Army achieved its operational breakthrough on January 18, 1945 in the area south of Gumbinnen after the introduction of the 2nd Guard Panzer Corps (Major General AS Burdenij ) in the course of the new battle for East Prussia . The German 4th Army on the left wing ( XXVI. Army Corps ) on the Inster was already outflanked by the 39th Army.

Army organization on January 12, 1945

8th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Savadovsky

  • 5th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Georgi B. Petrov
  • 26th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Gregori I. Chernov
  • 83rd Guards Rifle Division, Colonel Nikolai Ilyich Nikandrov

16th Guards Rifle Corps Lieutenant General Ivan Iosifowitsch Semjonow

  • 1st Guards Rifle Division, Major General Pavel Fedorowitsch Tolstikow
  • 11th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Nikoli Georgjewitsch Ziganow
  • 31st Guards Rifle Division, Major General Ivan D. Burmakov

36th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Pyotr Kirillowitsch Koschewoi

  • 16th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Adolfas Urbschas
  • 18th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Georgi Petrovich Isakov
  • 84th Guards Rifle Division, General Ivan Kuzmich Scherbina

On February 13, 1945, the army was subordinated to the 1st Baltic Front and on February 25th again assigned to the 3rd Belarusian Front (Samland Group). At the beginning of April 1945, the troops took part in the storming of Königsberg . The 11th Guard Army was deployed on April 6th against the southern front of the fortress. On the left wing of the southern front, the 36th Guards Rifle Corps was to lead the thrust north to the Pregel . In the middle, the 16th Guards Rifle Corps had the main thrust through the southern district of Panarth, also to the Pregel. Finally the 8th Guards Rifle Corps had to break through into the city center. On the morning of April 9th, the German troops tried to break through to the west. The 43rd Army prevented the outbreak. The attack by the German 5th Panzer Division from Samland was unsuccessful. After a long bombardment, the Soviet 11th Guard Army, supported by 1,500 aircraft, attacked the city center and forced the German garrison to surrender. During the Samland operation, the army troops captured the important German naval base in Pillau by April 25 and completed the defeat of the German Samland group on the Fresh Spit .

guide

Commander

Member of the council of war

  • Major General PN Kulikow (April 1943 to May 1945)

Army Chiefs of Staff

  • Major General PF Malyshev (April 1943)
  • Major General II Grischin (April to June 1943)
  • Colonel / Major General AN Bobkow (June 1943 and December 1943 to February 1944)
  • Major General NP Ivanov (June to December 1943)
  • Major General / Lieutenant General II Semenow (February 1944 to April 1945)
  • Major General II Lednew (April to May 1945)

literature

Web links