42nd Army (Red Army)

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The 42nd Army ( Russian 42-я армия ) was a major military unit of the Red Army that was deployed on the northern section of the Eastern Front during World War II . Together with the 8th and 55th Armies , it distinguished itself especially during the blockade of Leningrad .

history

1941

The 42nd Army was set up under the Stawka Directive of July 15 on the basis of the command of the 50th Rifle Corps (General Shcherbakov ) of the 23rd Army previously deployed on the Karelian Isthmus on September 1, 1941 on the Leningrad Front . After the Battle of Luga , the following units were subordinate to the 42nd Army deploying in the Krasnogwardeisk area :

  • 291. Protect - Division , the 2nd and 3rd Guards militia division (mid-September in the 85th and 44th Rifle Division renamed), the 51st Artillery - Regiment , the anti-tank artillery of regiments 690 and 740 as well as the fortified area Krasnogwardeisk.

After the German troops approached Leningrad , the 42nd Army fought together with the 8th and 55th Armies on the line from Troitsky to the south-east, via Sibilewo-Skworitsi to Krasnogwardeisk (including), defensive battles against the German 18th Army from September 9th . The army had to evacuate Krasnogwardeisk on September 12th after heavy street fighting. On the night of September 13th, the army units occupied the heights of Pulkovo and continued to defend the line via Strelna and Konstantinovka, after Kojrovo to the Kuzminka river. On September 14, had Army General Zhukov to command the Leningrad Front assumed that the 8 , 23, 42 and 55. army were assumed. The 42nd Army received the 10th Rifle Division as reinforcement. On September 18, the Germans broke through on Pushkin at the seam between the 42nd and 55th Army on the left . After General II Fedjuninsky received the supreme command, the situation stabilized until September 19, a second defense squadron was created and the positions made deeper. German troops made a final attempt to break through the defensive zone on the army's right wing and in the Pulkovo Heights area on September 23, but units of the 42nd Army were able to repel the offensive. On September 30th, the 42nd Army participated in the attempt to recapture Uritssk, Sosnovaya Polyana, the village of Volodarsky and the approaches to Strelna. The 42nd Army then defended the southern apron of Leningrad on the line Ligowo - Myasokombinat - Rybazkoye - southern suburb of Pulkowo for years until 1944 .

1944/45

During the Leningrad-Novgorod Operation, the 42nd Army advanced from the Pulkovo Heights to Krasnoye Selo and Ropscha in January 1944 . After the withdrawal of the German troops, the army continued its offensive on January 20, 1944, liberating the cities of Urizsk (January 20), Pushkin and Pavlovsk (January 24) and Krasnogwardeisk (January 26). On February 4th, the army troops crossed the ice of the Luga near Sabsk and advanced into Gdow , which had been liberated by partisans the day before. By the end of February 1944, the troops had reached the Pskov- Ostrov line , then encountered stubborn resistance and on March 12th went back on the defensive.

Army organization in April 1944

  • 14th Rifle Corps (128th and 378th Rifle Divisions)
  • 118th Rifle Corps (13th, 245th and 376th Rifle Division)

On April 24, 1944, the 42nd Army was integrated into the 3rd Baltic Front and took part in the Pskov-Ostrov operation (July 17 to 31), during which the strong Pskov pillar was taken (July 23), who controlled the southern regions of Estonia as a road node. On July 28, 1944, the high command of the 42nd Army was taken back to the Stawka reserve in Porchow and, from August 10th, it was placed under the 2nd Baltic Front . From September 14 to October 22, 1944, the 42nd Army took part in the reconquest of Riga during the Baltic Operation . At the end of August, the troops of the 8th Army broke through the enemy defense and reached Sigulda , where they temporarily returned to defense. From October 8-15, 1944, the army troops were relocated to the left wing of the front, in the area 60 km southwest of Riga. On October 16, the 42nd Army took part in the offensive towards Libau and fought for access to the German Tukkum defense line.

The 42nd Army participated in various compositions (took over many parts of the 8th Army ) until the end of the war in May 1945 in the blockade of Army Group North (from January 26, 1945 Army Group Kurland ) in the so-called Kurlandkessel . At the beginning of April 1945, the 42nd Army moved to the Leningrad Front area and was disbanded in June 1945.

Subordinate units 1944/45

123rd Rifle Corps - from October 1944 to April 1945

  • 11th Rifle Division - from October to November 1944
  • 43rd Rifle Division - from October 1944 to January 1945
  • 123rd Rifle Division - from February 1945
  • 198th Rifle Division - from January to February 1945
  • 288th Rifle Division - October to February 1945

124th Rifle Corps

  • 2nd Rifle Division - from November 1944 to December 1944
  • 11th Rifle Division - November to December 1944
  • 48th Rifle Division - until November 1944, from December 1944 to January 1945
  • 123rd Rifle Division
  • 256th Rifle Division - until November 1944

130th Rifle Corps

  • 43rd Guards Rifle Division
  • 308th Rifle Division
  • 2nd Rifle Division - from December 1944 to January 1945
  • 239th Rifle Division - from February 1945 to March 1945

23rd Guards Rifle Corps - from March to April 1945

  • 51st Guards Rifle Division
  • 67th Guards Rifle Division

83rd Rifle Corps - from January 18, 1945 to April 1945

  • 11th Rifle Division - from January to February 1945
  • 119th Rifle Division
  • 198th Rifle Division - from February to April 1945
  • 360th Rifle Division - until March 1945

110th Rifle Corps - until April 1945

  • 2nd Rifle Division - until November 1944
  • 48th Rifle Division - November 1944 to December 1944
  • 168th Rifle Division - until December 1944, from January to March 1945
  • 256th Rifle Division - from November 1944
  • 268th Rifle Division

122nd Rifle Corps - from April 1945

  • 32nd Rifle Division - until May 1945
  • 56th Rifle Division
  • 85th Rifle Division
  • 198th Rifle Division - from May 18, 1945

8th Rifle Corps - from April 1945 to May 1945

  • 7th Rifle Division
  • 249th Rifle Division

Structure on February 1, 1945

  • 83rd Rifle Corps (11th, 119th, 360th Rifle Division)
  • 110th Rifle Corps (168th, 256th, 268th Rifle Division)
  • 123rd Rifle Corps (123rd, 198th and 239th Rifle Divisions)

Structure on April 1, 1945

  • 23rd Guards Rifle Corps (51st and 67th Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 8th (Estonian) Rifle Corps (7th and 249th Rifle Division)
  • 122nd Rifle Corps (56th, 85th and 332nd Rifle Divisions)
  • 130th (Estonian) Rifle Corps (43rd Guards and 308th Rifle Divisions)

guide

Commander

Members of the Military Council

  • Brigadierkommissar Konstantin Timofejewitsch Kurotschkin, 10 August to 15 September 1941
  • Corps Commissioner Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Klementjew, September 16, 1941 to September 4, 1942
  • Brigadierkommissar Benjamin Hoganowitsch Galstjan, September 4 to December 4, 1942
  • Major General Vasily Pavlovich Mschawanadze , December 4, 1942 to June 2, 1944
  • Major General Alexander Jemelyanovich Chmel, June 2, 1944 to May 9, 1945

Chiefs of Staff

  • Major General Nikolai Ivanovich Belyayev, August 5 to September 5, 1941
  • Major General Georgi Andreevich Larionov, September 5-16, 1941
  • Major General Lev Samoilowitsch Berezinski, September 16, 1941 to January 28, 1942
  • Major General Georgi Klementjewitsch Buchowetz, January 28, 1942 to January 15, 1944
  • Major General Pavel Georgievich Tichomirow, January 15-29, 1944
  • Major General Georgi Klementjewitsch Buchowetz, 29 January to 15 June 1944
  • Major General Alexander Kondratjewitsch Kondratjew from June 15 to July 27, 1944
  • Major General Vladimir Alexeyevich Krylov, July 27, 1944 to April 30, 1945
  • Major General JS Rybko, April 30 to May 9, 1945

literature

  • N. Kislitsyn, W. Subakov: Leningrad does not surrender , Progress Verlag Moscow 1984

Web links