60th Army (Red Army)

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60th Army

Lineup November 1941-1945
Armed forces Red Army
Armed forces Land Forces
Type army
Butcher Second World War
Voronezh-Kastornoye operation
Battle for Kursk
Battle of the Dnieper
Rovno-Lutsk operation
Lviv-Sandomierz operation
Moravian-Ostrava operation

The 60th Army ( Russian 60-я армия ) was a major unit of the Red Army that was deployed in the south of the Eastern Front during World War II . She fought mainly in Ukraine and advanced via Galicia into the protectorate .

history

First formation

The 60th (Reserve) Army was set up on November 15, 1941 in accordance with the guidelines of the High Command of November 2 in the Volga military district and initially remained directly subordinate to the Stawka .

  • The army initially comprised the 334th, 336th, 348th, 352nd, 358th, 360th Rifle, 11th Cavalry Divisions and a number of artillery and other units.

At the beginning of December it was given the task of defending a line of defense on the left bank of the Volga in the Kosmodemjansk region and the fortified area of Gorky , and on December 5 it was placed under the Moscow Inner Defense Area. Already on December 25, 1941, the command and the troops of the 60th Army were called in to set up the 3rd Shock Army .

Second formation

The second formation of the 60th Army was created on July 7, 1942 by renaming the 3rd Reserve Army.

  • With the 107th, 121st, 161st, 167th, 195th, 232th, 237th and 303rd Rifle Divisions, the 75th fortified area, and a number of tank, artillery and other formations, this army was defeated on September 9. In July it was incorporated into the Voronezh Front and fought north of Voronezh on the left bank of the Don River.

In the winter of 1943 she took part in the Voronezh-Kastornoye and Kharkov operations, during which she liberated Voronezh (January 25), Kastornoje (January 29), Kursk (February 8) and reached the Rylsk area in early March . On March 23, the army was brought to the Kursk Front and on March 26, transferred to the 2nd formation of the Central Front . In a new composition, the army took part in the Battle of Kursk and the liberation of the left bank of the Dnieper . During the offensive were the cities Glukhov (August 30), Konotop (September 6) and in cooperation with the 13th Army further Bakhmach on September 9 and Nezhin freed on 15 September. In the second half of September 1943, the 60th Army reached the Dnieper north of Kiev and was involved in the formation of bridgeheads east of Dymer near Stracholesje and Jasnogorodka. After expanding the bridgehead from Lyutesch to the Irpen section, the 60th Army took this place as a springboard to attack to the southwest. On October 6, 1943, the 60th Army was assigned to the Voronezh Front . From November 1943 to April 1944, the army took part as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front (from October 20, 1943) in the Kiev offensive , the Zhitomir-Berdychev and in the spring of 1944 in the Rovno-Lutsk operation . The 60th Army was also assigned the 4th Guard and 25th Panzer Corps for the attack in Volhynia . The 23rd Rifle Corps deployed on the right wing was supposed to take Ostrog . The left wing (15th and 30th Rifle Corps as well as 4th Guard and 25th Panzer Corps) had to tie up the German troops in the Ljubar area . The army also took part in the Proskurov-Chernivtsi operation that followed . The troops liberated several cities on their way and reached the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the following structure (April 1944) .

  • 15th Rifle Corps with 148th, 322nd and 336th Rifle Divisions
  • 23rd Rifle Corps with 8th and 359th Rifle Divisions
  • 28th rifle corps with 107th, 140th and 246th rifle divisions
  • 94th Rifle Corps with 117th Guards and 99th Rifle Divisions
  • 106th Rifle Corps with 135th, 302nd and 340th Rifle Divisions

In July 1944 the 60th Army was in the area south of Brody , as part of the Lviv-Sandomierz operation in collaboration with other armies, the cities of Tarnopol (July 27), Lemberg and Przemyśl were liberated , and the Vistula was south by the end of August reached the city of Dębica .

War year 1945

In January 1945, the 60th Army took part in the Vistula-Oder operation under the command of the Front, Marshal Konev . The troops liberated Krakow on January 19, together with the 59th Army (under Lieutenant General Korownikow ) , encompassed the Silesian industrial area from the south and liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27 .

Army organization on January 12, 1945

  • 15th Rifle Corps, Major General Pyotr Wakulowitsch Tertyschni with 107th and 336th Rifle Divisions
  • 28th Rifle Corps, Major General Mikhail Ivanovich Ozimin with 246th, 302nd and 322nd Rifle Divisions
  • 106th Rifle Corps, Major General Pavel Fedosejewitsch Ilinych with 100th, 148th and 304th Rifle Divisions

The 60th Army continued the offensive, reached the upper Oder in the Opole area and formed a bridgehead north of the city of Ratibor . In the course of the Upper Silesian operation , the units and units of the army, in cooperation with other armies of the front, participated in the encirclement of the German group in the Opole area, in cooperation with the 38th Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front and reached the Sudeten at the end of the operation - promontories. Then the army took part in the Upper Silesian and Lower Silesian operations . On March 16, the 60th and 59th Armies from the western Oder bridgehead between Cosel and Ratibor opened their attack to the west, on March 24th the 60th Army with the 28th Rifle Corps (Major General Ozimin) stormed Leobschütz. During the following Moravian-Ostrava operation on April 22nd, the city of Opava was stormed, and Sternberg was reached on May 5th . During the following Prague operation , the army liberated Moravian-Ostrava and broke through to Olomouc . In August 1945, the 60th Army was disbanded, and its headquarters were used to form the command of the Kuban Military District .

guide

Commanders

Chiefs of Staff:

  • Major General AP Pokrowski (October – December 1941)
  • Major General SN Krylov (July 1942 - February 1943)
  • Major General GA Ter-Gasparjan (February 1943 - July 1944)
  • Colonel SM Protas (July-August 1944)
  • Major General AD Goncharow (August 1944 - until the end of the war)

Members of the Military Council:

  • Brigadier Commissar AP Ryazanov (November – December 1941)
  • Army Commissioner FF Kuznetsov (July – October 1942)
  • Lieutenant General AI Zaporozhez (October 1942 - July 1943)
  • Major General VM Olenin (July 1943 - until the end of the war)

literature

  • Справочник "Освобождение городов: Справочник по освобождению городов в период Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945" / М.Л.Дударенко, Ю.Г.Перечнев, В.Т.Елисеев и др. - Воениздат, Moskva 1985.

Web links