13th Army (Red Army)

The 13th Army ( Russian 13-я армия ) was a major unit of the Red Army in World War II that was deployed on the central section of the Eastern Front. After operations in the Minsk and Mogilew area at the beginning of the war in 1941, the army was pushed back to Jelez by German forces . Then the 13th Army took part in the Kursk Battle of 1943 , as part of the Voronezh and 1st Ukrainian Fronts in the liberation of Ukraine ( Chernigov area ) and in 1944 in the capture of the Sandomierz bridgehead . After participating in the Vistula-Oder operation , the army still fought in the Berlin and Prague operations .

history

Predecessor formations (1939/40)

On September 17, 1939, the Red Army crossed the Soviet-Polish border in the course of the German attack on Poland and advanced into what is now western Ukraine . The command of the Odessa Army Group was renamed the 13th Army and was part of the Ukrainian Front from September 17th to 28th. The army no longer took part in hostilities. In October 1939, the new Odessa Military District was established and the 13th Army initially became part of the district. During the Soviet-Finnish war , a new 13th Army was set up on December 25, 1939, and General WD Grendal was appointed as its commander . In the second phase of the war, the troops intensified the attacks by the 7th Army on the Karelian Isthmus in the Vuosalmi area. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of April 7, 1940, 90 members of the 13th Army received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The 13th Army was disbanded after the peace treaty with Finland.

1941

The 13th Army was reorganized in the Western Special Military District on the instructions of the Stawka on April 24, 1941. The formation of the new formation began on May 5, 1941 in Mogilev on the territory of the Special Western Military District. The composition of the 13th Army before the beginning of the World War was determined as follows:

2nd Rifle Corps (corps command changes from Minsk to Bielsk ; 49th and 113th rifle divisions)
44th Rifle Corps (Corps command moved from Dorogobusch to Minsk on June 19 ; 64th, 108th and 161st Rifle Divisions)
13th Mechanized Corps (under formation and assigned to 10th Army on June 22nd )

On June 17, the headquarters of the 13th Army arrived in Baranovichi , where the formations were gathering. When the German company Barbarossa started on June 22, the army received an order from the superior Western Front (Army General Pavlov) to advance into the Molodechno region , where the following formations then assembled:

2nd Rifle Corps (Major General AN Yermakov, with 100th and 161st Rifle Divisions)
44th Rifle Corps (Major General WA Yushkewitsch, with 64th and 108th Rifle Divisions)
47th Rifle Corps (Major General SI Powetkin , with 55th, 121st and 143rd Rifle Divisions)

The 13th Army was ordered to support the counterattacks of the mechanized tank group under IW Boldin in the Grodno area by attacking Radun. The troops encountered troops from German Panzer Group 3 east of Lida and were stopped. On June 25, the headquarters of the 13th Army was attacked by German tanks, suffered heavy losses and lost contact with the troops. On June 27, the headquarters moved to Minsk and took over the lead in the encirclement area during the Bialystok Battle :

44th Rifle Corps (General WA Yushkewitsch with 64th and 108th Rifle Divisions)
2nd Rifle Corps (General AN Yermakov , took over the 100th and 161st Rifle Divisions)
20th Mechanized Corps (General AG Nikitin with 26th and 38th Armored Divisions, 210th Motorized Division)

The bulk of the surrounded 13th Army evacuated Minsk on June 28 and withdrew to the east. The army headquarters united with the 50th rifle division. This formation was on the retreat from Logoisk to Pleschenitzi, including the cadets of the Vilna Infantry School pushed away by General Hoth , remnants of the 5th Panzer Division and the 84th NKVD regiment. On July 8th the army received orders to go further east, on the same day the army commander, Lieutenant General PM Filatov was fatally wounded (he died on July 14th in Moscow) and Lieutenant General FN Remezov was appointed as the new commander.

Army organization on July 10, 1941

61st Rifle Corps (Major General FA Bakunin with 53rd, 110th and 172nd Rifle Divisions)
45th Rifle Corps (Major General GJ Magon with 148th and 187th Rifle Divisions)
20th Rifle Corps (Major General SI Jeremin with 137th and 160th Rifle Divisions)
50th Rifle Division
20th Mechanized Corps (Major General ND Wedenejew with 26th and 38th Armored Divisions and 210th Motorized Division)

On July 10, the Kesselschlacht near Smolensk began a new phase of attack by German Panzer Group 2 , during which the main forces of the 13th Army in the area between Mogilew (61st Rifle Corps and 20th Mechanized Corps) and Krichev (20th Rifle Corps) were cut off again . On July 12, the 13th Army headquarters was attacked again, large numbers of employees were killed, Lieutenant General FN Remezov was seriously wounded, and Lieutenant General VF Gerasimenko was appointed as the new commander. On July 18, the remnants (28th Rifle Corps with 6th, 55th Rifle Division) of the 4th Army (Colonel Sandalow ), which had previously been withdrawn into the reserve, were tactically subordinated to the 13th Army. After the creation of the Central Front on July 24th, the 13th Army was placed under her command. After Mogilev was surrendered on July 27 without the approval of the Stavka, Lieutenant General F. Gerasimenko was replaced by Major General KD Golubew. At the beginning of August, as a result of the German attack on Roslavl, the right flank of the 13th Army was torn open, and German troops penetrated into Roslavl. The 52nd Cavalry Division and the 21st Mountain Division under General OI Gorodowikow were assigned to the 13th Army to restore the situation.

Structure on August 10, 1941

45th Rifle Corps with 121st, 132nd, 137th, 148th Rifle Divisions
Gorodowikow group with 52nd Cavalry Division and 21st Mountain Division
25th Mechanized Corps with 50th Panzer Division and 219th Motorized Rifle Division
4th Airborne Corps

The German attack on Gomel split the central front , and the 13th Army was subordinated to the Brjansk Front on August 14 . On August 28, the German Panzer Group 2 started the offensive south and got into the rear of the Soviet south-western front .

Army organization on September 1, 1941

45th Rifle Corps (6th, 155th and 307th Rifle Divisions)
121st, 132nd and 143rd Rifle Divisions, 52nd Cavalry Division
4th Airborne Corps
50th Panzer Division, 43rd Panzer Battalion

A counterattack by the Brjansk Front with the 13th and 21st Armies in mid-September 1941 against the flank of Panzer Group 2 in the Roslavl-Novosybkov operation (August 30 - September 12, 1941) was unsuccessful. On October 1st, Guderian's tank group broke through the defense of the 13th Army as part of Operation Taifun and broke 60 km into the hinterland, the German XXIV motorized corps occupied Sevsk . As a result of the German attack, the 13th Army was surrounded together with the 3rd Army in the Battle of Brjansk and tried to break out until October 18. The continued offensive of Panzer Group 2 reached the Tula area between October 20 and 30, 1941 and tried to bypass Moscow from the south.

Army organization on October 4, 1941

6th, 121st, 132nd, 143rd, 148th, 155th, 298th and 307th Rifle Divisions
141st Tank Brigade and 43rd Tank Battalion, 55th Cavalry Division
Yermakov Group with 108th Armored Division, 141st Armored Brigade, 4th Cavalry Division

After the dissolution of the Brjansk Front (November 10), the remnants of the 13th Army were replenished and part of the Southwest Front . From November 11, the army led retreat fighting towards Yefremov and withdrew to the line southeast of Yefremov - east of Yelets - Volowo until December 5 . On December 4, Jelez was lost to the 134th Infantry Division of the German 2nd Army . Two days later, the 13th Army opened the counter-offensive at a width of 60 kilometers and retook Jelez.

With the beginning of the Soviet counter-attacks in the Moscow area, the 13th Army from 24 December participated in the Jelezer operation (6 to 16 December 1941), the second formation of the Bryansk Front joined and led the attack in the direction of Oryol continued . The assigned 5th Cavalry Corps under General Vasili D. Kryuchonkin , the 148th and 132nd Rifle Divisions were also able to liberate Liwny by December 25th . At the end of 1941 the army reached the new Skorodnoye - Kolpny front line, where it went on the defensive until mid-1942.

1942

At the end of December 1941, Major General Pukhov was received by Marshal SK Tymoshenko and a member of the NS Khrushchev Military Council and appointed as the new commander of the 13th Army of the Bryansk Front in place of General AM Gorodnyansky . The chief of staff A. W. Petrushevsky remained with the army until December 1943. General Puchow went to Liwny on January 3rd, where the headquarters of the 13th Army was set up. Until June 1942, the German 2nd Army west of Liwny concentrated its forces against the 13th Army and its neighbors on the left wing ( 40th Army ); it consisted of parts of the 45th, 88th, 95th and 299th Infantry Division and tank formations.

After the start of the German Don offensive , the 13th Army, together with the 38th Army , carried out unsuccessful diversionary attacks during the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad operation (June 28 - July 24, 1942) in order to counterattack the 5th Panzer Army in front of Voronezh support. On the left wing of the Brjansk Front, the Voronezh Front was formed, which had the task of defending the eastern bank of the Don under all circumstances.

1943

In the spring of 1943, the troops of the 13th Army, in cooperation with the troops of the Voronezh Front, participated in the Voronezh-Kastornoye operation (January 24 - February 2). At 8 a.m. on January 26, the mortar and artillery units launched the attack between the small rivers Olym and Kshen. During a snowstorm and frost, parts of the 13th Army advanced across the Tim River , liberated the cities of Shchigry and Fatesch on February 5 and 7, and cut off the railway line between Orel and Kursk . By the end of February the army had reached the Maloarchangelsk area , forming the northern section of the Kursk front arc .

The 13th Army went over to the central front and occupied positions on both sides of the Oryol-Kursk railway line with the front facing north with the center at Ponyri station. On the right the formations of the 48th Army defended , on the left the formations of the 70th Army . Between April and June, the 13th Army, occupying a strip 32 kilometers wide, created a powerful defense up to thirty kilometers deep. Colonel General Model's German 9th Army prepared the attack for the Kursk Battle of 1943 on the northern front arc . Two days before the attack, on the night of July 4th to 5th, General KK Rokossovsky , the commander of the Central Front, appeared at the headquarters of the 13th Army to check the state of defense. The following units of the 13th Army defended the line between Olchowatka via Ponryi to Maloarchangelsk:

17th Guards Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General Andrei L. Bondarew ) with the 6th, 70th and 75th Guards Rifle Divisions
18th Guards Rifle Corps (Major General Iwan M. Afonin ) with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Guards Airborne Divisions
15th Rifle Corps (Major General Ivan I. Lyudnikow ) with the 8th, 74th and 148th Rifle Divisions
29th Rifle Corps (Major General AN Slyishkin ) with the 15th, 81st and 307th Rifle Divisions

On July 15, 1943, the troops of the Central Front launched the counterattack. The 13th and 70th Armies crossed the lines that had been captured by the Germans by July 5th and continued to advance towards Kromy . The associations had to take part in the removal of a bridgehead that the Germans had formed at Orel. The rifle divisions of Generals Barinov, Onuprienko, Jelschin, Petrushin , Mishchenko, Ignatov and Kasarjan reached the new lines between Navlja and Desna behind the 2nd Panzer Army . In the course of the further offensive, the 13th Army was regrouped from the right wing of the central front on the left flank and advanced along the southern bank of the Desna.

In the Chernigov-Poltava operation (from August 26, 1943) the 60th Army managed to break into the German defense lines south of Sevsk . After the deployment of the 65th and 31st Armies , the penetration was extended to 100 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers deep by August 31. As a result of this offensive, the 13th Army advanced rapidly towards the Dnieper in September and crossed the river. On September 18, the army reached the Desna Arch south of Chernigov . It was impossible to conquer Chernigov immediately without bridging the Desna, where the 57th and 217th infantry and 8th armored divisions and the Hungarian 1st division secured. The German leadership attached great importance to the defense of Chernigov, as the city was an important traffic junction and one of the last bastions to be held east of the Dnieper. On September 18th, after dark, the first squadron of the 13th Army began to cross the Desna on improvised landing gear. By the morning of September 21, units under Mishchenko (148th SD) and Sarajev (181st SD) as well as the 28th Rifle Corps (Major General AN Netschajew) and Petrushin's 129th Tank Brigade, in cooperation with units of Generals Below and Malejew, were cleaning out the came to the northeast, the city of Chernigov from the enemy. The further route led the 13th Army to the Dnieper, where the rifle corps of Generals Lyudnikow and Bondarjew were operating as the advance guard. The transition was completed on the night of September 22nd. With the access to Pripyat and Chernobyl , the 13th Army was assigned to the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, General Watutin . On November 19, the city of Ovrutsch was occupied in cooperation with partisan detachments under Saburov . On the western Dnieper, the partisan formations under Fedorov and Begma accompanied the army on the advance. On December 24th, General Watutin's troops went on the offensive in the area southwest of Kiev. The 13th Army protected the right flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front during the Kiev offensive . At the end of 1943, the Army Chief of Staff, General AV Petrushevsky, was replaced by General GK Malandin . A little earlier, General DD Kubeev appeared as the new artillery commander and replaced General Pankow, who had died in an air raid on the city of Korob. The troops of the 13th Army liberated Korosten (December 29, 1943) and Nowograd-Wolynski (January 3, 1944) at the end of the year .

1944

Parts of the 77th Rifle Corps under General NI Ivanov , which bypassed enemy resistance centers and made their way through the woods of Volhynia , liberated Sarny by January 11 and advanced in the direction of Lutsk - Rowno - Zdołbunów . In the woods across the Goryn River , the partisan detachments under Colonel Begma and Medvedev helped organize the advance. The army reached the line from Roshishche - Turgovitsa - Shumskoye. In the Rovno-Lutsk operation , the 13th Army was assigned an important role, 9 rifle divisions and 6 cavalry divisions as well as the 25th Panzer Corps were assigned for this purpose: The main strike was to be carried out by the 76th Rifle Corps from the Sarny area to the west and 6th Guards Cavalry Corps had to carry out extensive encirclement and bypass the cities of Lutsk and Rovno from the north-west. On the right flank of the 13th Army, the 77th Rifle Corps had the task of advancing with the 397th Rifle Division on Stolin , while the 143rd Rifle Division was to cross the Goryn section together with the 76th Rifle Corps. Between Rowno and Lutsk, the 7th Panzer Division , the 454th Security Division and the SS Corps and the Hungarian 1st Light Division defended on the opposing side . On February 1, fighting began on the streets of Rovno, the next morning Lutsk was liberated and on the evening of February 2, Zdołbunów was occupied. By March 17, the rifle divisions of Generals Nekhaev, Cherokmanov, and the tanks under Anikuschkin (25th Panzer Corps) and Colonel Pushkarev conquered the city of Dubno and pushed the German SS police group Prützman and parts of the 7th Panzer Division back. On March 19, the 24th Rifle Corps under General Kirjuchin captured the city of Kremenets with the help of the 2nd Air Army under Krasovsky . When approaching the city of Brody, the cities of Chervonoarmeisk , Tortschin and Berestechko were taken, and the German resistance at Werba was broken. The German troops retreated to Radzivilov via Pochajew and Podkamień . To the left of this, the German troops had to withdraw to Tarnopol before the 60th Army .

On July 14th, the Lviv-Sandomierz operation began the breakthrough on Lviv . Troops of the 13th Army broke through the enemy defenses north and south of the city of Brody . The rifle corps of Generals Cherokmanov (27th SK), Kirjuchin (24th SK) and Puzikow (102nd SK) comprised the German XIII. Army Corps . The 6th Guards Rifle Division under General Onuprienko had crossed the western Bug and occupied the city of Rawa-Ruska on July 20 . In the "Kessel von Brody" were the German 340th and 361st Infantry Divisions , the Territorial Division of the Governor General, the Radowitz Panzer Group and other enemy formations. Soon other troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated the cities of Lemberg, Przemyśl and Jaroslau , and the German defense on the San collapsed.

The troops of the 13th Army and the 1st Guards Panzer Army were able to form a western bridgehead on the Vistula in the Sandomierz area on July 29th. The 350th Rifle Division under Major General Gennady Wechin crossed the river and built a western bridgehead in the area north of Baranow . The river was forced between Tarnobrzeg and Baranow, whereupon the divisions under Onuprienko, Pakratow, Gladkow and Muratow passed. Behind them Katukov's tanks followed on to the west bank of the river. The military engineer Klyuchnikov looked for a suitable place to build a bridge on the bank. On July 30 and 31, the 3rd Guard Army (Colonel General NW Gordow ) crossed the Vistula north of Sandomierz . Further bridgeheads were built on the left bank of the Vistula, so that the bridgehead was enlarged to 30 km wide and 25 km deep by the end of August. could be. By August 10, it was extended to 60 km at the front and 50 km in depth. On August 14th, the 3rd Guard Army and the 13th Army went on the offensive and occupied the city of Sandomierz the following day. Numerous enemy infantry and tanks attacked us at Kolschubow, Grimbow and Tarnobrzeg, nothing could stop our rapid movement for the Vistula. Repeated counterattacks by the German 72nd and 88th Infantry Divisions , the 97th and 100th Jägerdivision , the 1st, 3rd, 16th, 17th and 23rd Panzer Divisions were repulsed with high losses.

1945

On January 12, 1945, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Sandomierz-Silesian Operation (January 12th - February 3rd) started their offensive from the Sandomierz bridgehead, the 13th Army was structured as follows:

24th Rifle Corps - Major General Dmitri P. Onuprienko

147th Rifle Division - Colonel Grigory Dudnik
350th Rifle Division - Major General Grigori Wechin

27th Rifle Corps - Major General Filipp M. Cherokmanov

6th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Georgi Ivanov
112th Rifle Division - Colonel Dmitri Tikhonovich Zhukov
280th Rifle Division - Major General Yefim Lashchenko

102nd Rifle Corps - Major General Ivan M. Puzikov

172nd Rifle Division - Major General Anatoly A. Krasnov
121st Rifle Division - Major General Logwin Danilowitsch Tscherwony
395th Rifle Division - Colonel Alexei Korusjewitsch

On January 15, the city of Kielce was liberated through the efforts of the right-wing combined troops of the Leljushenko tank army . Petrikau was occupied on January 18, and from January 25 the bridgehead at Steinau on the other side of the Oder was reinforced and expanded. The Germans blew up the railway and motorway bridge over the Oder near Steinau , and it was impossible to penetrate the city from the east, there were also strong fortifications on the southern and southwestern outskirts. When the cities of Primkenau , Sprottau , Sagan and Forst were conquered , an uninterrupted chain of fighting broke out. The command post moved to Halbau Castle when the Neisse near Buchholz was crossed on April 16 during the Cottbus-Potsdam operation and the defense on the east coast was taken up. During these operations, the 13th Army occupied Wittenberg on April 27 and, in collaboration with other troops, occupied Brandenburg (May 1). At the beginning of May 1945 the 13th Army took part in the Prague operation , where General AA Vlasov was captured west of Prague .

Army organization on May 1, 1945

24th Rifle Corps (117th Guards, 280th and 395th Rifle Divisions)
27th Rifle Corps (6th Guards, 350th and 121st Rifle Divisions)
102nd Rifle Corps (147th and 172nd Rifle Divisions)

guide

Commander

Filip Alexsejewitsch Parusinow (September - October 1939)

General Vladimir Dawidowitsch Grendal (December 25, 1939 - March 1940)

Filip Alexsejewitsch Parusinow (March 1940 - April 1940)

Lieutenant General Pyotr Mikhailovich Filatov (May 25 - July 8, 1941)

Lieutenant General Fyodor Nikititsch Remesow (July 9-13 , 1941)

Lieutenant General Wassili Filippowitsch Gerasimenko (July 13-26 , 1941)

Major General Konstantin Dmitrijewitsch Golubjew (July 26 - August 30, 1941)

Major General Avksenti Mikhailovich Gorodnyansky (August 31, 1941 - January 2, 1942)

Major General / Lieutenant General Nikolai Pawlowitsch Puchow (January 3, 1942 - May 1945)

Chiefs of Staff

Colonel Alexander Wassiljewitsch Petruschewski (May 1941 - December 1943)
Lieutenant General German Kapitonowitsch Malandin , (December 20, 1943 - July 9, 1945)

Members of the Military Council

Brigade Commissar Porfiri Sergejewitsch Furtenko (June - September 1941)
Brigade Commissioner Major General Markian Alexandrowitsch Koslow (September 1941 - May 1945)

literature

И.М. Белкин: 13-я армия в Луцко-Ровенской операции 1944 , Москва Воениздат 1960
М. Л. Дударенко, Ю. Г. Перечнев, В. Т. Елисеев: Справочник " Освобождение городов: Справочник по освобождению городов, в периодов в периодов в периодов, в периодов в периодов в период в в период великое 1985, 1919 Moscow, 19