2nd Guard Army (Red Army)

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The 2nd Guard Army ( Russian 2-я гвардейская армия ) was a major military unit of the Red Army that was deployed on the Eastern Front of World War II .

history

The 2nd Guard Army was set up in the city of Tambov on November 2, 1942 on the orders of the Stawka from October 23, 1942 , the staff of the 1st Reserve Army being used, the army initially remained directly subordinate to the High Command. On December 15, 1942, the 2nd Guard Army was assigned to the Stalingrad Front (2nd Formation) and from January 1, 1943 to the Southern Front (2nd Formation) and deployed in the south of the Eastern Front.

1942

The high command initially planned to deploy the 2nd Guard Army under Lieutenant General Rodion Malinowski as part of the Southwest Front for Operation Saturn and to break through from the Kalach region in the direction of Rostov - Taganrog . The elimination of the enclosed German 6th Army in the Stalingrad pocket was delayed and the danger of a counter-offensive by Army Group Don forced the Red Army to realign its original attack intentions. In this situation the Stawka made the 2nd Guard Army available to the command of the Don Front . In its first operations, the 2nd Guards Army comprised the 1st and 13th Guards Rifle Corps and the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps. The troops brought in were unloaded northwest of Stalingrad at the Ilowlja, Archeda, Lipki and Kachalino railway stations on the Tischkin connections. The first squadrons of the 2nd Guard Army arrived on December 10th and immediately advanced into the new concentration area between Wertjachy and Peskowatka, about 85 kilometers northwest of Stalingrad. From November 19, 1942 to February 2, 1943, the army operated on the Myshkova River during the Stalingrad operation. During Operation Wintergewitter , the 2nd Guard Army played a crucial role in repelling the German counterattack near Kotelnikowo . On December 16, the commander of the Stalingrad Front gave the army deployed near Wercne Kumski the task of moving to the new deployment area on the morning of the following day in order to attack the German troops on the Kowalewski - Gromoslawka line and in the direction of Kotelnikowo on the morning of December 18 throw back. In order to cover the advance of the 2nd Guard Army on the flanks on December 17th, the army was also assigned the 4th Mechanized Corps and the 4th Cavalry Corps as well as the 300th and 87th Rifle Divisions as reinforcements.

On the morning of December 19, the newly arrived German 17th Panzer Division went on the offensive in the Novoaksajski - Antonowo section. The Soviet 4th Cavalry Corps was pushed back to the Podstepinski, Verkhne-Rubeschny line and the 3rd Mechanized Guards Corps (until December 18, referred to as the 4th Mechanized Corps) were thrown back onto the Tunginski section. On the evening of December 23rd, the 6th Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Guard Army was added as reinforcement. On December 23, 1942, the chief of staff of the 2nd Guard Army, Colonel Sergei Biryusov compiled a table on the strength of the 2nd Guard Army. According to this, the army had 60 rifle battalions, 3 tank brigades, 11 tank battalions and 43 artillery divisions (419 tanks and 766 guns and mortars). The troops of the 2nd Guard Army, together with the troops of the 51st Army, went on the offensive on the morning of December 24th between the rivers Myshkova and Aksai against the German army group Hoth . The width of the attack zone of the 2nd Guard Army was 40 kilometers, the average advance depth was set at 24 kilometers per day. The troops broke the German resistance relatively quickly and secured the crossings over the River Myschkowa.

In order to expand the successful offensive, the army commander decided on December 25th at 2 p.m. to throw the second squadron of the army, the 7th Panzer Corps (Major General PA Rotmistrow ) and the 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps into battle. On December 26th, Soviet troops broke through the German defenses on the Aksai sector. In three days of intense fighting, the army was able to advance up to 30 kilometers deep. The 7th Panzer Corps occupied Werchne-Jablochny on December 26th. After the rapid defeat of the Romanian units deployed on the left, the cavalry corps attacked Schanutowsky and Samochin. The German 23rd Panzer Division still held positions in the Aksai river valley, but Army Group Don was forced to retreat to the Ketchenery, Verkhne-Salsk, Krajnaya Balka, Gremjakaya, Verkhne-Kurmojarskaya line on the evening of December 27th.

With the withdrawal of the 2nd Guard Army on the Verkhne-Jablochny and Scharnutowsky line, conditions were created to encompass the German troops in the Kotelnikowo region from the north and south. The 7th Panzer Corps, which suffered from a lack of ammunition and fuel, had to stop the offensive first. On the morning of December 27th the Romanian 4th Army was on the line northeast of Kiselewka, Iki-Zorgakin and Verkhne-Salsk. Against the German 57th Panzer Corps, Soviet troops advanced into the area 8 km north of Kotelnikovo. In view of this, a threat to the left flank of the Romanian cavalry corps was created in the Verkhne-Salsk region. The troops of the 2nd Guard Army Kotelnikowo were able to fight free until December 28th.

1943

The troops of the right wing of the south-western front reached the eastern bank of the north bank of the Donets on January 17, 1943 and began the fighting for the cities of Novocherkassk and Rostov on February 8 . On February 13, the army was able to liberate the cities of Novoshakhtinsk , Novocherkassk and February 14, Rostov-on-Don. On February 16 the river Mius was reached, here the German army division Hollidt offered stubborn resistance and forced the army on the defensive. From August 13 to September 22 the army took part in the Donbass offensive. At the end of September 143 their troops reached the lower reaches of the Dnieper River on the Black Sea coast during the Melitopoler operation . Since October 20th, the 2nd Guard Army was part of the 4th Ukrainian Front. In December 1943 he removed the German bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper near Kherson after heavy fighting.

1944 and 1945

In February 1944, the 2nd Guard Army was relocated to the Isthmus of Perekop . From April 8th to May 12th, she took part in the Battle of the Crimea (April 8th to May 12th), in which she entered the city of Sevastopol on May 9th, in collaboration with other troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Black Sea Fleet freed. From May to June 1944, the 2nd Guard Army was relocated to the area of ​​the towns of Dorogobusch , Jelnja . At this time the 11th and 13th Guards and the 54th Rifle Corps were subordinate to the army. From May 20, the army was in the Stawka reserve and on July 8, it was subordinated to the 1st Baltic Front . During Operation Doppelkopf in July 1944, the army troops were able to repel the German counterattacks to the west and northwest of Schaulen .

From October 5 to 22, 1944, the 2nd Guard Army took part in the Memel Offensive . From October to December the army was deployed between Prekuln and Saldus against the German Army Group Kurland .

On December 20, 1944, the 2nd Guards Army was assigned to the 3rd Belarusian Front. From January 13 to April 25, 1945, the army troops broke through the German front southwest of the city of Königsberg during the Battle of East Prussia and took part in the final phase of the war in the destruction of the German Samland group (General der Infanterie Gollnick ). The 2nd Guard Army was disbanded in September 1945.

Allegations

Subordinate military units 1942–1944

  • 1st Guards Rifle Corps, December 15, 1942 - February 25, 1944
  • 13th Guards Rifle Corps, December 15, 1942 - January 23, 1945
  • 7th Panzer Corps, December 18-29, 1942
  • 6th Mechanized Corps, December 26, 1942 - September 1, 1943
  • 4th Cavalry Corps, December 26, 1942 - January 14, 1943
  • 3rd Panzer Guard Corps, April 1, 1943 - November 3, 1943
  • 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, January 9, 1943 - February 6, 1943
  • 1st Rifle Corps, November to December 1944
  • 44th Rifle Corps, September to November 1944
  • 54th Rifle Corps, July 8 to November 1944
  • 1st Panzer Corps, August to October 1944

Structure at the beginning of January 1945

11th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Bagrat Issakowitsch Arushanjan

  • 32nd Rifle Division, Major General JJ Werbow
  • 2nd Guards Rifle Division, Major General Nikita Sergejewitsch Samochwalow, from February 11th Josif Antonowitsch Maximowitsch
  • 33rd Guards Rifle Division, Colonel Nikolai Ivanovich Krasnov

13th Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Anton Ivanovich Lopatin

  • 87th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Kirill Jakowljewitsch Timchik
  • 3rd Guards Rifle Division, Major General Grigory Fedosjewitsch Polischuk
  • 24th Guards Rifle Division, Colonel Pyotr Nikolayevich Domratschew

60th Rifle Corps, Major General Anissim Stefanowitsch Lyuchtikow

  • 154th Rifle Division, Major General AP Moskalenko, from January 10th Colonel IL Volkov
  • 251st Rifle Division, Major General NN Degtyarev
  • 334th Rifle Division, Colonel JJ Brystein

4th Guards Mechanized Corps, Lieutenant General Pavel Pavlovich Poluboyarov

  • 12th Guards Mechanical Brigade, Colonel Mykola Dushak
  • 13th Guards Mechanical Brigade, Colonel Semyon Konstantinovich Kurkotkin
  • 14th Guards Mechanical Brigade, Colonel Alexander J. Skidanov

guide

Commander in chief

Army Chiefs of Staff

  • Colonel M. Gretsow, October-December 1942
  • Major General Sergei Semenovich Biryusov , December 1942 - April 1943
  • Major General VN Razuvaev, April-August 1943
  • Major General PI Levin, August 1943 - May 1945

Members of the Military Council

  • Division Commissioner II Larin, November 1942 to January 1943
  • Major General NJ Subbotin , from February 1943 to January 1944
  • Major General V. Chereshnjuk, January 1944 to February 1945
  • Major General NI Ryaposow, February 1945 to May 9, 1945

Web links