61st Army (Red Army)

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61st Army

Lineup November 1941-1945
Armed forces Red Army
Armed forces Land Forces
Type army
Butcher Second World War
Battle for Tula
Battle of the Dnieper
Operation Bagration
Baltic operation
Berlin operation

The 61st Army ( Russian 61-я армия ) was a large unit of the Red Army which was deployed in the Second World War in 1943 and 1944 on the central section of the Eastern Front. The 61st Army advanced in the first half of 1945 via Warsaw and the Oder in the area north of Berlin to the Elbe .

history

First formation

The 61st Army was deployed in the Volga military district during the Battle of Moscow on November 15, 1941 (according to the Stawka directive of November 2).

  • It comprised the 342nd, 346th, 350th, 356th, 385th, 387th and 391st Rifle Divisions and the 83rd and 91st Cavalry Divisions, as well as artillery and other units.

At the beginning of December 1941, the army was concentrated in the Rjaschsk , Ranenburg and Michurinsk areas . On December 6, the front divisions of the first two rifle divisions fought the German armed forces at Pavelets . On December 9th, the 61st Army briefly transferred to the southwest front and was then transferred to the newly created Brjansk Front (2nd formation) on December 24th . As part of the latter front, the troops of the 61st Army took part in the advances to Bolchow and Orel from the end of December 1941 to February 1942 . From the spring of 1942 to mid-1943, the 61st Army changed its affiliation several times: from January 13, 1942, it joined the West, from April 3 again to the Brjansker, from June 29, 1942 back to the West and from the 8 February 1943 back to the Brjansk Front. Once again part of the Western Front (from March 13th) troops of the 61st Army fought defensive battles southwest of Belew as far as the Tula area . In the summer, as part of the Bryansk Front (from March 29, 1943), the army took part in the strategic Oryol operation , during which it defeated the enemy Bolkhov group in cooperation with the 11th Guard and 4th Panzer Army July Bolchow liberated. From August 15, the 61st Army was withdrawn into the Stawka Reserve, and on September 7th it was transferred to the newly formed Central Front (from October 20th the Belarusian Front ).

2. Formation

The reorganized 61st Army subsequently took part in the operations of Chernigov-Poltava , Gomel- Rechitza and Kalinkowitschi - Mosyr , in which the city of Snowsk (September 21) in cooperation with the 65th Army Kalinkowitschi and with the 7th Guard Cavalry Corps Mosyr could be liberated. At the end of January 1944, the army and the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front advanced on the right bank of the Pripyat on Stolin . From February 24th the army belonged to the 1st Belarusian Front , from April 6th 1944 to the 2nd Belarusian Front (renamed 1st Belarusian Front from April 17th).

As part of the Belarus operation , the 61st Army, in cooperation with the partisans and the Dnieper flotilla , liberated Pripyat and Luninec (July 10). After that, Pinsk (July 14th) and Kobrin (July 20th) and, in cooperation with the 28th and 70th armies, the Brest-Litovsk fortress (July 28th) was occupied. At the end of July 1944 the 61st Army was withdrawn into the Stawka Reserve, on September 13th it was transferred to the 3rd Baltic Front and took part in the Battle of Riga (October 13th) during the Baltic Offensive . On October 17th, after the dissolution of the 3rd Baltic Front , the 61st Army was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front and participated in the blocking of the enemy Army Group in Courland . On December 20th, the 61st Army was withdrawn to the Stawka Reserve, on December 25th the army was transferred to the 1st Belarusian Front .

Army Outline January 1945

9th Guards Rifle Corps - Lieutenant General Grigori Alexejewitsch Chaljusin

  • 12th Guards Rifle Division - Colonel Dmitri Kuzmich Malkov
  • 75th Guards Rifle Division - Major General Vasily Akimowitsch Gorischin
  • 415th Rifle Division - Colonel Pavel Ivanovich Moshalkov

80th Rifle Corps - Major General Viktor A. Verzhizki

  • 82nd Rifle Division - Colonel Timofei Dmitrievich Dudorov
  • 212th Rifle Division - Colonel Sergei Mikhailovich Maslow
  • 356th Rifle Division - Major General MG Makarov

89th Rifle Corps - Major General Mikhail Alexandrovich Siyazov

  • 23rd Rifle Division - Colonel Ilya Mikhailovich Podberesina
  • 311st Rifle Division - Major General Boris Alexandrovich Vladimirov
  • 397th Rifle Division - Colonel Nikolai F. Andonov

As part of the 1st Belarusian Front, the 61st Army fought in January and early February 1945 during the Vistula-Oder operation in the Warsaw - Poznan area and from February to early April in the East Pomeranian operation . The front of the 2nd Belarusian Front ran from the mouth of the Oder , along the eastern bank to the south to Schwedt and Oderberg , where the 61st Army was located. The war ended with participation in the Berlin operation . The 61st Army led the advance from the Fehrbellin area over the Hohenzollern Canal to Havelberg . In cooperation with the Polish 1st Army , Berlin was bypassed from the north and the Elbe was reached southeast of Wittenberg by the end of the war . After the end of the war in Europe, the 61st Army became part of the Central Group of the Soviet Armed Forces, it was reorganized in Rostov-on-Don , but was disbanded in August 1945.

guide

  • Lieutenant General FI Kuznetsov (November – December 1941)
  • Lieutenant General MM Popov (December 1941 - June 1942)
  • Colonel General PA Below (June 1942 - until the end of the war)

Chiefs of Staff:

  • Major General MI Gluchow (November 1941 - January 1942)
  • Major General EK Korschenewitsch (January – December 1942)
  • Major General DI Samara (December 1942 - May 1943)
  • Colonel MM Salnikow (May-August 1943)
  • Lieutenant General AD Pulko-Dmitriev (August 1943 - until the end of the war)

Members of the Military Council

  • Corps Commissioner A. Kolobjakow (November – December 1941)
  • Division Commissioner / Major General DG Dubrowski (December 1941 - until the end of the war)

literature

  • MK Barbier: The Battle of the Kursk Arch. The greatest tank battle in history. Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2002, pp. 151–156.
  • Tony Le Tissier: Breakthrough on the Oder in 1945. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1997.

Web links