51st Army (Red Army)

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The 51st Army ( Russian: 51-я армия ) was a field army of the Red Army that was deployed in both the south and north of the Eastern Front during World War II . The army took part in the battle on the Kerch peninsula between December 1941 and January 1942 and was severely decimated by the Bustard Hunt operation in May 1942. The newly organized army fought in the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43 and helped to repel the German relief attempts. In 1944 the army proved itself in the reconquest of the Crimea . From the end of 1944 until the end of the war, the army was involved in the blockade of German troops in Courland . The army was active in two periods until 1997 after the war. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the army continued to exist as part of the Russian ground forces.

history

1941

The 51st Army was formed on the basis of the 9th Independent Rifle Corps (General P. Batow ) on August 20, 1941 on the Stavka directive of October 14, 1941 for the defense of the Crimea . Colonel-General FI Kuznetsov was appointed as the commander, and Major General Batov was appointed as his deputy.

  • The army comprised the 9th Rifle Corps (106th and 156th Rifle Divisions), the 27th and 27th Rifle Divisions, the 40th, 42nd and 48th Cavalry Divisions, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd. and 4th People's Militia Division of the Crimea, as well as several separate units.

The 9th Rifle Corps, which defended the position at Perekop , could not withstand the pressure of the German 46th and 73rd Infantry Divisions ( LIV Army Corps ) and had to withdraw to the Crimea on September 28th. To strengthen the 51st Army, the Stawka decided on September 30th to evacuate the defensive area of Odessa and use their troops to defend the Crimea. The task of the 51st Army was to secure the Arabat Spit, the Chongar isthmus and the south coast of the Sivash and Ishun positions. From October 22nd, the 51st Army was placed under the command of the Crimea; it had already been fighting against German attacks on the Ishun Isthmus since October 18th. On October 30, she was given the task of defending the important naval base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol - and the Kerch Strait . The Soviet troops in the Crimea counted together with the four rifle divisions and 1 cavalry division of the coastal army, 12 rifle divisions and 4 cavalry divisions. Until October 18, the German LIV concentrated. Army Corps on the Perekop Isthmus. Two divisions of the XXX. Army corps were approaching halfway between Genichesk and Perekop. The main strike of the German 11th Army was conducted over the Perekop isthmus, the subordinate Romanian mountain corps was supposed to advance over the isthmus at Chongar. On October 20, the German troops managed to break through at Ischun, instead of counter-attacking the flank, the commander of the 51st Army tried to stop the breakthrough on a large scale. 4 rifle divisions and 1 rifle division were deployed on the Chongarsk peninsula to defend the isthmus. Two divisions of the coastal group marched from Sevastopol to the isthmus, but were unable to intervene earlier than October 23. The 276th, 106th, 271st and 156th rifle divisions of the 51st Army, which were pursuing 5 German divisions, slowly retreated towards Dschankoj on October 26th . On October 29, the 51st Army tried in vain to gain a foothold along the poorly prepared defensive line between Novo-Tsaritsyno-Saki. The troops of the coastal army had to retreat through the mountains via Alushta and Yalta to Sevastopol. On November 4, the Kerch Defense Sector was created on the orders of the Crimean Commander, based on the command of the 51st Army. On November 3rd, German troops occupied Feodosia , and the next day the 170th Infantry Division succeeded in penetrating the Kerch Isthmus, through which armored trenches were dug across the entire width. When Kerch fell on November 16, the bulk of the 51st Army was evacuated to the Taman peninsula .

1942

At the end of January 1942, the 51st Army was on the defensive on the Novaya Pokrowka - Koktebel line and was subordinated to the Crimean front .

  • On February 1, the army comprised the 138th and 302nd Mountain Divisions, the 224th, 390th and 396th Rifle Divisions, the 12th Rifle Brigade, the 83rd Marine Rifle Brigade, the 105th Separate Mountain Rifle Regiment, the 55th Rifle Brigade Tank brigade and the 229th tank battalion.

On May 8, 1942, the German company Trappenjagd was launched against the front. The army commander, Lieutenant General WN Lwow , was killed by shrapnel while changing position on May 11th. The German offensive ended on May 18, 1942 with the complete smashing of the Soviet defense, which was based on the incompetence of the commander DT Koslow and his conflict with the front commissioner Lev Mechlis . Three Soviet armies (44th, 47th and 51st) with 21 divisions, 176,000 men were lost. In the first half of May, the remaining Soviet troops were evacuated from the Crimea to the Kuban region . From May 20, the 51st Army was subordinated to the North Caucasus Front and until mid-June it covered the coast of the Azov Sea between Bataisk and Temryuk .

In June 1942, the 51st Army under Major General Nikolai Trufanov was relocated to the Don sector, where from July 10 they organized a line of defense between Verkhne Kurmojarskaya and Konstantinovskaya. On July 25th it was subordinate to the southern front , from July 31st to August 6th the Stalingrad front and then from August 6th to September 27th the south-eastern front . Back at the new formation of the Stalingrad Front, the 51st Army took part in the Battle of Stalingrad . After heavy defensive battles in August, the troops had to retreat to the line along the Little Derbet - Lake Tsatsa - Lake Barmantsak and Sarna. During Operation Uranus (from November 19, 1942) the 4th Mechanized Corps began its attack from the 51st Army sector. At the beginning of December the 51st Army was deployed to defend the German LVII at Kotelnikowo . To knock off armored corps . Between December 24 and 25, 1942, Major General NI Trufanov organized a local offensive operation with three rifle divisions advancing on the north bank of the Aksai River. After repelling enemy attacks in the second half of December, the 51st Army advanced on Salsk together with the 2nd Guards and the 28th Army .

1943

On January 30, 1943, the German Kampfgeschwader 51 hit the headquarters near Salsk, a wave of Ju 88 and He 111 destroyed the communications center, the office of the chief of staff and the operational headquarters of the 51st Army. From January 1943, the army took part in the reconquest of Rostov (January 1 to February 18) as part of the southern front . In March 1943 it was withdrawn to the front reserve and, after being regrouped on the Seversky Donets River, went over to defend the Krasnaya Polyana - Nizhny Nagolchik line . In July 1943 the army led offensive battles in the direction of Debaltseve and Zaporozhye and then took part in the Donbass Offensive (August 13 - September 22, 1943) and the Melitopol operation (September - November 1943). On October 20, 1943, the army was assigned to the 4th Ukrainian Front . In early November took place the advance on the coast of the Azov Sea and Taurien, the troops crossed the troops the Isthmus of Syvash and formed a bridgehead on the south coast this section.

1944

From April 8 to May 12, 1944, the 51st Army took part in the Battle of the Crimea as part of the 4th Ukrainian Front . During these operations, the 51st Army pushed the German XXXXIX. Mountain Corps returned across the Strait of Perekop . After the breakthrough of the tactically subordinate 19th Panzer Corps (General Wassiljew), the retreating opposing forces were pursued and Simferopol was liberated on April 13th , during which time the 51st Army included:

  • 1st Guards Rifle Corps (33rd Guards, 91st and 346th Rifle Divisions)
  • 10th Rifle Corps (216th, 257th and 279th Rifle Divisions)
  • 63rd Rifle Corps (263rd, 267th and 417th Rifle Divisions)
  • 77th Rifle Division and other support units

In mid-April the 51st Army reached the outskirts of Sevastopol, and in cooperation with the troops of the 2nd Guard Army , the troops took part in the attack on Sevastopol from May 9, 1944 . On May 20, 1944, the 51st Army was withdrawn to the Stavka reserve and then transferred to the Polotsk - Vitebsk region .

Subordinate units from June 1944

1st Guards Rifle Corps - from June 1944

  • 257th Rifle Division - from August 25, 1944
  • 87th Rifle Division - June to August 1944
  • 279th Rifle Division - from June to September 1944
  • 347th Rifle Division - June to September 1944

10th Rifle Corps - from June 1944

  • 77th Rifle Division - from July 1944 to August, from January to February 1945
  • 91st Rifle Division - from June 1944 to February, from March 1945
  • 216th Rifle Division - June to August 1944
  • 257th Rifle Division - from June to August 25, 1944
  • 279th Rifle Division - from September 1944
  • 347th Rifle Division - from September 1944

63rd Rifle Corps - from June 1944

  • 77th Rifle Division - from June 1944 to July, from February to May 1945
  • 87th Rifle Division - from August 1944 to October and from December 1944 to May 1945
  • 267th Rifle Division - from June to September 1944
  • 16th Rifle Division - from August to September 1944

On July 1, 1944, the army was subordinated to the 1st Baltic Front (General Bagramjan ) and took part in Operation Bagration from June 23 to August 29 and in the Baltic Operation from September 14 to November 24 . The 51st Army reached the Riga Bay on July 31, cutting off the German Army Group north northeast of Riga . The army troops successfully carried out the attack in the direction of Panevėžys on Mitau and pushed through to Memel via Schaulen by October . An eastward attack by the German 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions during Operation Doppelkopf (August 16-27) threw the Soviet troops back and reached Autz , but then got stuck in front of Doblen and Schagarren . After regrouping, the army attacked westward in October and reached the Baltic coast in the Memel operation . Then the 51st Army took up position on the extreme western flank of the 1st Baltic Front , which was grouped across Courland against Army Group North (German 16th and 18th Army ). The 51st Army fought for progress during the First Battle of Courland (October 15-22, 1944), with the army troops about 10 kilometers across from the German III. SS Panzer Corps advanced. Then there was trench warfare in this section as well until the end of the war .

60th Rifle Corps - September to October 1944

  • 204th Rifle Division
  • 216th Rifle Division
  • 334th Rifle Division
  • 417th Rifle Division

1st Guards Rifle Corps

  • 204th Rifle Division - from August to October 1944
  • 334th Rifle Division - September to October 1944
  • 267th Rifle Division - from September 1944
  • 87th Rifle Division - October to December 1944
  • 346th Rifle Division - from October 1944
  • 156th Rifle Division - October to November 1944

1945

At the beginning of 1945, the 51st Army defended its positions in the Skuodas area , and from January 23 to February 1, it expanded the bridgeheads on the right bank of the Barta River. From February 2 to April 1945, as part of the 2nd Baltic Front and from April as part of the Leningrad Front , the army continued to blockade the German 16th and 18th Armies. On May 9, the army surrendered the German Army Group Kurland.

1st Rifle Corps - from February to April 1945

  • 145th Rifle Division - from February to March 1945
  • 306th Rifle Division - from February to April 1945
  • 344th Rifle Division - from March to April 1945
  • 357th Rifle Division - from February to April 1945

1st Guard Rifle Corps -

  • 53rd Guards Rifle Division - from March 1945
  • 91st Rifle Division - from February to March 1945

97th Rifle Corps - from May 8, 1945

  • 109th Rifle Division of May 8, 1945
  • 177th Rifle Division
  • 178th Rifle Division
  • 224th Rifle Division

In the cold war

In June 1945 the 51st Army and all formations left the Baltic States and moved to the Urals . In July 1945, the Army Command was converted into the headquarters of the Urals Military District. The previous 63rd Rifle Corps (77th, 279th and 417th Rifle Divisions) became part of the Urals District. The 10th Rifle Corps (87th, 91st and 347th Rifle Divisions) became part of the Kazan Military District and the 1st Guards Rifle Corps (53rd Guards, 204th and 267th Rifle Divisions) became part of the Moscow Military District. The army was reactivated in 1977 to secure Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and then remained active until 1997. Even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union , a new 51st Army continued to exist as part of the Russian ground forces.

guide

Commander

Chiefs of staff

  • Major General MM Ivanov (August - November 1941)
  • Major General GD Schishenin (November 1941)
  • Major General IS Savinov (November 1941 - January 1942)
  • Colonel GP Kotow (January - June 1942)
  • Colonel AM Kuznezow (June 1942 - April 1943)
  • Major General / Lieutenant General JS Daschewski (April 1943 - May 1945)

Members of the Military Council

  • Corps Commissioner AS Nikolayev, August 1941 to May 1942
  • Major General A. Chalezow, June 1942 to November 1943
  • Lieutenant General Vladimir Ivanovich Uranov, November 1943 to May 9th

Web links