3rd Army (Red Army)

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3rd Army

Lineup 1939-1945
Armed forces Red Army
Armed forces Land Forces
Type army
Butcher Second World War
Polish campaign (1939)
Battle of Bialystok-Minsk
Battle of Smolensk (1941)
Battle of the Bryansk cauldron
Offensive between Yelets -Bryansk
Operation Bagration (1944)
Lomscha-Rozan offensive operation
East Prussian Operation (1945)
Berlin operation

The 3rd Army ( Russian 3-я армия ) was a major unit of the Red Army in World War II . It was almost completely surrounded by the Western Front in the early stages of the Great War (June 1941) . Their troops fought in the Battle of Minsk and Brjansk and were involved in Operation Bagration ( Bobruisk Basin ) in the summer of 1944 . The army then advanced across Poland and took part in the East Prussian operation in 1945 . At the end of the war, the army fought in the Berlin operation and reached the Elbe .

history

1. Formation

The 3rd Army was formed on September 1, 1939 in accordance with the War Council of the Vitebsk Special Military District in Beloruss and set up on the basis of the 4th Rifle Corps in accordance with the Stawka directive of July 26, 1938. On September 17, 1939, the 3rd Army belonged to the troops of the Belarusian Front ( Army General M. P. Kowaljow ), which crossed the Soviet-Polish border and advanced towards Vilna .

2. Formation

At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa , the 3rd Army was part of the Western Front (Army General DG Pawlow ) and waged heavy defensive battles against the German Central Army Group in the Grodno , Lida and Nowogrodek area .

Army organization on June 22, 1941

4th Rifle Corps (Major General JA Yegorov)

  • 27th Rifle Division (Major General AM Stepanov)
  • 56th Rifle Division (Major General SP Sachnow)
  • 85th Rifle Division (Major General AV Bondowski)

21st Rifle Corps (Major General WB Borisov)

  • 17th Rifle Division (Colonel TK Batzanow)
  • 24th Rifle Division (Major General KN Galitzki )
  • 37th Rifle Division (Colonel AE Czechwoman)

11th Mechanized Corps (Major General DK Mostowenko)

  • 29th Panzer Division (Colonel NP Studnew)
  • 33rd Armored Division (Colonel MF Panow)
  • 204th Motorized Division (Colonel AM Piragow)

The 3rd Army, along with the 4th and 10th Armies, was included in the Battle of Minsk . Only weak parts were able to escape from the pocket via Minsk and then took part in the Battle of Smolensk . As part of the Brjansk Front (1st Formation) and later the Central Front (1st Formation), the 3rd Army fought together with the 13th Army in the Pochep and Trubchevsk area against further advances by Panzer Group 2 . As a result of the Battle of Bryansk , the 3rd Army was again surrounded by German troops until mid-October and most of them were captured. In November 1941, the newly formed army within the southwest front (assigned from November 11) continued its defensive battles in the Novosil area and withdrew to the line southeast of Bogorodisk - east of Yefremov until December 5 . After the counter-offensive of the Western Front near Moscow, the 3rd Army in the Association of the Brjansk Front (2nd Formation) took part in the Battle of Yelets and the liberation of Yefremov (December 13).

By the end of December 1941, the troops had reached the right bank of the Suscha east of Orel , where they returned to defense. Up until the summer of 1943, the army carried out several attacks at regular intervals with limited targets from its strongly pressed front line, thereby improving its positions.

Structure on January 1, 1943

  • 5th, 60th, 137th, 269th, 283rd and 287th Rifle Divisions and 79th Armored Brigade

On March 13, 1943, the army was briefly transferred to the Central Front and on March 27 to the Oryol Front (from March 28, the Brjansker Front). In July – August 1943, the 3rd Army took part in the Oryol operation , and from September to early October - the Bryansk offensive, at the end of which their troops went to the left bank of the Sosh near the town of Propoisk (Slavgorod) . From October 20, the troops fought on the Belarusian front and, with a new composition, carried out missions in the Gomel-Rechitza offensive (November 1943) and in the Rogachev-Shlobin operation (February 1944).

On April 17, 1944, the 3rd Army transferred to the 1st Belarusian Front (2nd formation) and on July 5, it transferred to the 2nd Belarusian Front (2nd formation). In Operation Bagration (from June 22, 1944), the army troops took part in the liberation of Belarus and the eastern regions of Poland. The 3rd Army was significantly involved in the battles for Bobruisk , Minsk and the Bialystoker Operation . The troops advanced more than 400 km to the west and liberated the cities of Nowogrodek (July 8), Wolkowysk (July 14), Bialystok (July 27), Ostrołęka (September 6) and Lomscha (September 13). In September 1944 it occupied the Narew line between Ostroleka and Roschan during the advance on East Prussia .

War year 1945

In January 1945, the 3rd Army attacked as part of the Mlawa-Elbinger Operation as part of the strike group of the 2nd Belarusian Front from the Roschan bridgehead in the direction of Willenberg (Velbark) and Mehlsack . On February 10, 1945, the army transferred to the 3rd Belarusian Front , which in March participated in the liquidation of the German enemy group southwest of Koenigsberg . At the beginning of April the 3rd Army was withdrawn to the front reserve and relocated to the area southeast of Küstrin , where it was assigned to the 1st Belarusian Front on April 16 , took part in the Berlin operation and the Halbe Kessel Battle . The advance of the army ended on May 8, 1945 on the Elbe northeast of Magdeburg .

On May 1, 1945, the 3rd Army comprised that

  • 35th Rifle Corps (250th, 290th and 348th Rifle Divisions)
  • 40th Rifle Corps (5th, 129th and 169th Rifle Divisions)
  • 41st Rifle Corps (120th Guards, 269th and 283rd Rifle Divisions)
  • the 4th and 44th Corps Artillery Brigade, as well as the 584th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment and other units.

The headquarters of the 3rd Army were moved to the Belarusian SSR after the war , where the army was converted into the short-lived headquarters of the Belarusian-Lithuanian military district in August 1945. The 3rd Army was briefly re-established with headquarters in Slutsk in 1946 , but when the Belarusian military district under Colonel General Nikolai Gusew reformed from July 1946, the army was finally disbanded in March 1947.

guide

Commanders

chief of staff

  • Brigade Commander / Major General Alexander K. Kondratjew (September 7, 1939 - July 31, 1941)
  • Major General Alexei S. Schadow (August 2, 1941 - May 11, 1942)
  • Major General / Lieutenant General Makar V. Iwashechkin (May 12, 1942 - July 9, 1945)

Member of the council of war

  • Division Commissioner Matwej P. Malanin (September 15, 1939 - August 14, 1940)
  • Brigade Commissioner PA Dibrow (August 14 - December 25, 1940)
  • Army Commissioner 2nd Rank NI Biryukov (April 5 - August 10, 1941)
  • Division Commissioner FI Schlykow (August 10, 1941 - April 19, 1942)
  • Major General / Lieutenant General Iwan P. Konnow (April 19, 1942 - July 9, 1945)

literature

Web links