28th Army (Red Army)

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The 28th Army ( Russian 28-я армия ) was a major unit of the Red Army in World War II , which was deployed in 1941 on the central section and from 1942 in the Caucasus and then on the southern section of the Eastern Front. In the summer of 1944, the 28th Army was deployed in Operation Bagration in the Brest area; the battle of the army ended in May 1945 in Czechoslovakia .

history

1941/42

First formation

The 28th Army was set up in the Arkhangelsk Military District on July 1, 1941 on the basis of the Stawka Directive of June 25, 1941 . On July 5 the command was added to the reserves of the Supreme Command Center, and on July 15 it was assigned to the front of the reserve armies. The troops took part in the second phase of the Smolensk Kessel Battle (July 10 - September 10, 1941), setting up counterattacks in the direction of Roslavl and Pochinok . From the operational group Katschalow (149th, 145th rifle divisions and 104th armored divisions) - which was concentrated in the southeast of Roslavl, the 28th Army was created in the following structure:

  • 30th Rifle Corps (Lieutenant General IW Selivanov) with the 89th, 120th and 149th Rifle Divisions
  • 33rd Rifle Corps (Major General GA Chaljusin ) with the 145th, 217th, 222nd and 248th Rifle Divisions
  • 27. Mechanized Corps (Major General IJ Petrov ) with 57th and 59th Armored Divisions and 221st Motorized Division

On July 21, 1941, the 28th Army was subordinated to the Western Front . At the beginning of August 1941, the troops waged heavy defensive battles near Roslavl until parts of the army ran out of ammunition and the commander General WJ Katschalow was killed on August 4, while German Panzer Group 2 closed a ring around his army. The broken army was disbanded on August 10, 1941.

Second formation

The second formation of the 28th Army took place on November 15, 1941 in the Moscow military district with direct subordination to Stawka .

  • The new army initially consisted of the 359th, 363rd, 367th and 375th Rifle Divisions as well as artillery and other units. From the beginning of December the troops still in training were entrusted with work on the Unsha , the construction of the fortified area of Yaroslavl and the protection of the eastern bank of the Volga up to the Scheksna .

On April 10, 1942, the 28th Army was transferred to the Southwest Front . From May to July, after Tymoshenko's unsuccessful offensives during the Battle of Kharkov (May 12-29) and the fierce defensive battles in the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad operation (June 28 to July 24), the 28th Army suffered heavy losses . On July 12, 1942 the army was transferred to the southern front and on July 17 it was part of the first formation of the Stalingrad front . The second formation of the 28th Army was disbanded on July 31st as a result of the German Don offensive; the high command was used to form the 4th Panzer Army, which transfers troops to the 21st Army.

Third formation

The third formation of the 28th Army was set up on September 9, 1942, according to the Stawka directive of August 28, based on the Stalingrad military district on the south-eastern front.

  • The new army comprised the 34th Guards and 248th Rifle Divisions, the 52nd, 152nd and 159th Rifle Brigades, the 78th and 116th fortified areas and other parts.

On September 30, 1942, the 28th Army was incorporated into the 2nd Formation of the Stalingrad Front and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad . From September to October the troops thwarted the German attempts to advance through the Kalmyk steppe to the mouth of the Volga and to interrupt the railroad from Astrakhan to Kizlyar . In December, the 28th Army launched offensive operations in the direction of Elista and Salsk , and on December 31, the troops retook Elista.

1943

From January 1, 1943, the troops of the 28th Army were again part of the southern front (2nd formation) and successfully extended the offensive to the mouth of the Don. Salsk was liberated on January 22nd , then Rostov-on-Don on January 14th, in cooperation with the troops of the 5th Shock Army . On February 20, the army units reached the Mius , where they went over to defense. From August to October 1943, the 28th Army participated as part of the Southern Front in the Donbass Operation (September 13-22 ) and the Melitopol Operation (September 26th to November 5th). As a result of these operations, the Donbass was liberated and the Soviet troops reached the lower reaches of the Dnieper to the entrance to the Crimean peninsula , where a bridgehead was formed on the isthmus on the southern bank of the Sywasch .

1944

In February 1944, the 28th Army took part in the Nikopol-Krivoy Roger operation (January 30 - February 29). From March 1, part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front , the troops also fought in the Bereznegovatoye-Snigiriov operation (March 6-18 ), with the army in cooperation with other armies Kherson (March 13) and Nikolaev (March 28). could be released. From March 30, 1944, the army came in reserve of the Stawka and was then transferred to the central section of the Soviet-German front, where they defeated the Germans from June to July as part of the 1st Belarusian front (from May 27) Army Group Center in Belarus was involved. Troops of the 28th Army successfully broke through the enemy defenses of the German 9th Army near Paritschi during Operation Bagration , fought in the Bobruisk area and took part in the Battle of the Minsk ( Cherven ).

3rd Guards Rifle Corps

  • 50th Guards Rifle Division
  • 54th Guards Rifle Division
  • 96th Guards Rifle Division

20th Rifle Corps

  • 48th Guards Rifle Division
  • 55th Guards Rifle Division
  • 20th Rifle Division

128th Rifle Corps

  • 61st Rifle Division
  • 130th Rifle Division
  • 152nd Rifle Division

The troops of the 28th Army forced the crossing on the western Bug in the Brest region , crossed the old state border and pursued the enemy through Polish territory to the west. On September 15, 1944, the army was withdrawn to the reserves of the Supreme Command Center and on October 13, transferred to the 3rd Belarusian Front to take part in the offensive in East Prussia . Intervening in the second phase of the Gumbinnen-Goldaper operation , the army troops broke through the enemy fortifications on the border zone and captured the town of Stallupönen (Nesterow) on October 25th .

1945

From January 13th to March 1945 the 28th Army fought in the unit of the 3rd Belarusian Front under Marshal Chernyakhovsky in the following structure of the Battle of East Prussia :

3rd Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Pyotr Alexejewitsch Alexandrov

  • 50th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Antoni S. Vladjatschankin
  • 54th Guards Rifle Division, Major General MM Danilov
  • 96th Guards Rifle Division, Major General SN Kuznezow

128th Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Pawel Fyodorowitsch Batitski

  • 130th Rifle Division, Major General KW Sitschew
  • 61st Rifle Division, Major General AG Schatzkow
  • 152nd Rifle Division, Colonel AT Kusin

20th Rifle Corps, Major General Nikolai Alexandrovich Blackev

  • 55th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Adam P. Turchinski
  • 48th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Gljeb N. Korchik
  • 20th Rifle Division, Colonel IG Nesterenko

The army troops were able to overcome the heavily fortified German defenses by January 18 and penetrated into the central part of East Prussia. In the further offensive they conquered the Baltic coast southwest of Königsberg in cooperation with other front troops and cut off the retreat route of the German 2nd Army . After Königsberg was surrounded, the army was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme Command Center on April 1, 1945 and transferred to the 1st Ukrainian Front on April 20 to take part in the Berlin operation (April 16 - May 8). After being transferred to Lusatia , the troops took part in the Prague operation (May 6-11, 1945). In cooperation with the 52nd Army , the units of the German 4th Panzer Army were thrown between Löbau and Görlitz and pushed back towards Zittau via Niska . The 28th Army advanced via Česká Lípa to the northeast of Prague , where the surrender of the bulk of the German Central Army Group was forced.

guide

Commander

Member of the Military Council

  • Brigadier Commissar WT Kolesnikow (June – August 1941)
  • Division Commissioner DG Dubrowski (November 1941 - January 1942)
  • Brigadier Commissioner N. Abramov (January - April 1942)
  • Brigadierkommissar NK Popel (April – July 1942)
  • Brigadierkommissar FP Luschko (July 1942)
  • Colonel / Major General AN Melnikow (September 1942 until the end of the war)

Army Chief of Staff

  • Major General PG Yegorov (June - August 1941)
  • Colonel General FI Kuznetsov (November - December 1941)
  • Major General AG Maslow (March - April 1942)
  • Major General AA Martyanov (April – June 1942)
  • Major General LV Wetoshnikov (June-July 1942)
  • Colonel II Izotow (July 1942)
  • Colonel JF Yeremenko (September 1942)
  • Major General SM Rogachevsky (September 1942 until the end of the war)

Web links