5th Guard Army (Red Army)

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The 5th Guard Army ( Russian 5-я Гвардейская армия ) was a large unit of the Red Army , which was used in the Second World War 1943 and 1944 on the central section of the Eastern Front and at the end of the war in 1945 in Poland and Czechoslovakia .

history

Lineup and composition

On May 5, 1943, the 66th Army , which had distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad , was renamed the 5th Guard Army in accordance with the Stawka Directive of April 16, 1943 and comprised the following large units:

  • 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Alexander Ilyich Rodimzew with 13th and 66th Guards Riflemen - and 6th Guards Airborne Division
  • 33rd Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Josif Ivanovich Popow with 95th and 97th Guards Riflemen and 9th Guards Airborne Division
  • 42nd Guards Rifle Division, Major General Fyodor Alexandrovich Bobrov (directly subordinate to the Army)
  • 29th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, Lieutenant Colonel MA Vyalov
  • 10th Panzer Corps, Major General Wassili Gerasimowitsch Burkow with 178th, 183rd and 186th tank brigades and 1st motorized rifle brigade

1943

During the Battle of Kursk , the steppe front formed the strategic reserve for repelling German attacks. On July 6, 1943, the 5th Guards Army advanced from reserve positions to the front line. On July 8, the army was assigned to the Voronezh Front . The 33rd Guards Rifle Corps first arrived on the battlefield on the night of July 10th. On the evening of July 11th, the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps took up their positions on the Psel near Obojan , Weseljiy and Semjonowka. On the morning of July 11th, the approach of the German II SS Panzer Corps was registered by the 95th Guards Rifle Division and the 9th Guards Airborne Division on Prokhorovka . On July 12, the army troops fought together with the 5th Guards Tank Army ( Pavel Rotmistrow ) in the Soviet counterattack in the section of the Voronezh Front in the Battle of Prokhorovka .

At the beginning of August the army supported the breakthrough of the 6th Guard Army in the direction of Bogoduchow in the Belgorod- Bogoduchow operation . On the night of August 3, the army advanced into its attack position and the German positions were breached within three hours. For the offensive, the army was used on a route that led from Gertsowka via Borissowka east of Gostishschewo. From August 12, the army took part in the Belgorod-Kharkov operation on both sides of the Vorskla, advancing to the southwest . On September 7th, the army again became part of Konev's steppe front. During the Battle of the Dnieper , the troops contributed significantly to the retaking of Poltava on September 23 and of Kremenchug on September 29. The army then crossed the Dnieper and formed a bridgehead on the right bank of the river. On October 20, the higher steppe front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front .

1944

In early January 1944, the 5th Guards Army fought in the Kirovograd Operation and in March and April in the Uman-Botosan Operation , both of which were part of the large-scale Dnepr-Carpathian Operation . At the beginning of May 1944, the 5th Guard Army reached the Romanian border on the Dniester in the Dubossary area . On June 26th, the 5th Guard Army was withdrawn into the Stawka Reserve. On July 13, the army was transferred to Galicia and transferred to the 1st Ukrainian Front . In mid-July, the army troops concentrated in the area south of Tarnopol and, in close cooperation with the 1st Guard Army (General Grechko ), participated in the Lviv-Sandomierz operation in July and August . The army troops reached the Vistula after the San crossing at Przemysl . For the next six months the army was engaged in heavy fighting with parts of the German 4th Panzer Army in order to maintain the Sandomierz bridgehead.

1945

In January 1945, after the start of the Sandomierz-Silesian Offensive , the 5th Guard Army broke out from the Vistula bridgehead at Baranów Sandomierski . In February and March the army fought in the Upper Silesian Operation to enclose the German troops in the Breslau area and to smash them in the Opole pocket.

Army organization January 1945

32nd Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Alexander Rodimzew

  • 13th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Dmitri Scherebin
  • 95th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Andrei Ivanovich Olejnikov
  • 97th Guards Rifle Division, Colonel Anton Prokofievich Garan
  • 60th Rifle Division, Major General Vasily Sokolov

33rd Guards Rifle Corps, Lieutenant General Nikita Fedotowitsch Lebedenko

  • 9th Parachute Rifle Division, Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Shumeyev
  • 14th Rifle Division, Colonel FA Taranyuk
  • 78th Rifle Division, Major General Alexander G. Motov

34th Guards Rifle Corps, Major General Gleb Vladimirovich Baklanov

  • 15th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Pyotr Tschirkow
  • 58th Guards Rifle Division, Major General Vladimir Vasilyevich Rusakov
  • 118th Rifle Division, Major General Mikhail Sukhanov

In April and May 1945 the 5th Guards Army fought in the Berlin Operation and the Battle of Bautzen . It was elements of the 5th Guard Army who made contact with the 69th US Infantry Division on April 25, 1945 in Torgau on the Elbe and divided the German Reich into two parts. The first contact was made between patrols near Strehla when US Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue crossed the Elbe in a boat with three men from an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. On the east bank he met Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gardjew, who led the 175th Guards Rifle Regiment, as the vanguard of the 58th Guards Rifle Division. On April 26, the commanders of the 69th Infantry Division of the 1st US Army met in Torgau, southwest of Berlin, with the 58th Guards Rifle Division (Major General Rusakow) of the 5th Guards Army. The 5th Guards Army participated in the Prague operation in early May . Sections of the army liberated the Leitmeritz satellite camp on May 9 and 10 .

post war period

In June 1946, only the command of the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps was initially disbanded. On July 20, 1946, Lieutenant General Afanassi Beloborodov became the commander of the 5th Guard Army, which was disbanded on March 20, 1947. The 14th Mechanized Guard Division became part of the 3rd Mechanical Guard Army.

guide

Commander in chief

chief of staff

  • Major General NI Ljamin (April 1943 - until the end of the war)

Member of the council of war

  • Colonel, since August 1943 Major General AM Krivulin (April 1943 - until the end of the war)

literature

  • А. С. Жадов: Четыре года войны , Moscow Military Publishing House 1978

Web links