4th shock army

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4th shock army

active December 1941 to May 1945
Country Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Soviet Union
Armed forces Soviet Union 1923Soviet Union Red Army
Armed forces Land Forces
Type army

The 4th Shock Army ( Russian 4-я ударная армия ) was one of the five shock armies set up by the Red Army during World War II . It emerged from the renaming of the 27th Army at the end of December 1941 and initially fought together with the 3rd Shock Army on the Northwest Front in the Toropez-Kholm operation , which created a large frontal prominence that the army held until the beginning of 1943. In the course of the Smolensk Operation in the summer of 1943, it advanced to Vitebsk , took part in the Newel Offensive in October 1943 and was then placed under the 1st Baltic Front . In the summer of 1944 she took part in the Polotsk Operation and the Reshiza-Dvinsk Operation, and in the fall of 1944 in the Baltic Operation , in which she was involved in the Riga Operation and the formation of the Courland Pocket . This was followed by participation in the battles of Courland until the end of the war.

history

The 4th Shock Army was created on December 25, 1941, at the same time as the 2nd and 3rd Shock Army , by renaming the 27th Army (1st Formation), which had been formed in the Baltic Special Military District at the end of May 1941 and was subordinate to the Northwest Front . As part of the Toropez-Cholm operation, she received the order, together with the 3rd Shock Army, to attack the interface between the German Army Group North and Army Group Center and to advance deep into the rear of Army Group Center. The 4th shock army was supposed to advance on Toropez and Velish , while the 3rd shock army attacking north of it was to advance on Kholm and Velikiye Luki . The ultimate goal of the ambitious operation was the recapture of Smolensk and the occupation of the strategically important land bridge between the Dnieper and the Daugava near Vitebsk and Orsha .

On January 9, the offensive began from the Seligersee / Ostashkow area . The deployment of the two shock armies was hidden by the Seligersee, which led to a complete surprise. The 4th Shock Army was able to penetrate up to 15 kilometers behind enemy lines on the first day of the offensive, while the 3rd Shock Army advanced more slowly. On January 11th, Peno was released . Proceeding along the Ostashkov – Andreapol railway line , the army covered 60 to 65 kilometers in eight days under the harshest winter conditions. Toropez was liberated on January 21, the next day the two shock armies of the Kalinin Front were subordinated. At the beginning of February the 4th Shock Army's offensive came to a standstill at Welisch and Demidow .

Contrary to German hopes, the large Soviet front at Toropez, which posed a constant threat to the German 9th Army fighting near Rzhev and the rear connections of the entire Army Group Center, could not be removed for the whole of 1942; on the contrary, one was forced to To clear the front arch of Rzhev in early 1943. In the autumn of 1943, the 4th Shock Army and the 3rd Shock Army took part in the offensive against Newel , in which a deep penetration was achieved at the interface between the 16th Army of Army Group North and the 3rd Panzer Army of Army Group Center. The army then swung south towards Gorodok - Vitebsk . In the course of the dissolution of the Kalininer Front, the 4th Shock Army came to the 1st Baltic Front on October 20th .

In the winter of 1943/44 the promontory of Gorodok was removed and the German 3rd Panzer Army was pushed back to the " permanent place " Vitebsk. A planned early capture of Vitebsk by the 1st Baltic Front failed in February / March 1944. Only in the course of Operation Bagration was the city captured on June 26, 1944.

Army organization on June 22, 1944

83rd Rifle Corps (Major General Nikolai Lavrentjewitsch Soldatow )

100th Rifle Corps (Major General Denis Wassiljewitsch Michailow)

  • 28th Rifle Division (Colonel Vasily Petrovich Fyodorov)
  • 360th Rifle Division (Colonel Yefim Alexandrowitsch Paschenko)

The 4th Shock Army came in late June and July at Polotsk and continue along the Daugava River to Daugavpils (russ. Dwinsk ) before ( Polotsk and Reschiza-Dwinsker operation ). Daugavpils was captured on July 27th. In the course of the further advance, the 4th Shock Army took part in the Riga operation in the autumn of 1944 , in which Army Group North narrowly escaped being cut off. In October 1944, however, the Kurland Kessel was closed, in which Army Group North (later Army Group Kurland ) remained enclosed until the end of the war, only supplied via the Baltic Sea . The 4th Shock Army was involved in the six battles of Courland until May 9th. From February 1945 it was subordinate to the 2nd Baltic Front and from April 1 to the Leningrad Front . It was dissolved immediately after the end of the war.

Commander

literature

  • Владимир Дайнес: Советские ударные армии в бою. Эксмо-пресс, 2009, ISBN 978-5-699-31536-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Алексей Валерьевич Исаев: Краткий курс истории ВОВ. Наступление маршала Шапошникова , Эксмо, 2005, Chapter 4 .