History
May to September 1943
The 6th Guards Army was formed on 1 May 1943 in accordance with the Stavka directive of 16 April 1943 from the 21st Army. [4]
By May 1943 the forces of 6th Guards Army, subordinated to Voronezh Front, were in well-entrenched positions in the southern sector of the Kursk Salient south of Oboyan. Here the Army faced the forces of the German Fourth Panzer Army. During May and June both sides prepared for the impending German summer offensive against the Kursk Salient (Operation Citadel), a salient into the German lines that had been secured by Soviet forces in the spring of that year. By early July, 6th Guards Army consisted of the 22nd Guards Rifle Corps (67th Guards Rifle Division, 71st Guards Rifle Division, and 90th Guards Rifle Division), and the 23rd Guards Rifle Corps (51st Guards Rifle Division, 52nd Guards Rifle Division, and 375th Rifle Division), as well as the army-controlled 89th Guards Rifle Division and the 96th Tank Brigade. It also included the 230th and 245th Separate Tank Regiments, 27th and 33rd Artillery Brigades, 60th Separate Armored Train Division, 1440th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 628th Artillery Regiment, 27th and 28th Anti-Tank Artillery Brigades, 293rd and 295th Mortar Regiments, the 5th, 16th, 79th and 314th Guards Mortar Regiments. The army also included the 26th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, which included the 1352nd, 1357th, 1363rd and 1369th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments. The 1487th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment was an independent unit. Anti-Tank Artillery Regiments were the 493rd, 496th, 611th, 694th, 868th, 1008th, 1240th, 1666th and 1667th. The 205th and 540th Separate Engineer Battalions provided engineering capabilities for the army. [5] [6] Additionally the Army had been heavily reinforced with artillery and anti-tank guns, and 6th Guards Army's defensive positions were heavily mined. [7]
On 4 July both sides engaged in an artillery duel and Fourth Panzer Army began probing attacks but the main offensive by Fourth Panzer Army's two panzer corps began on the morning of 5 July. [8] The main weight of Fourth Panzer Army's western corps fell on 67th Guards Rifle Division but the division, though suffering heavy losses, only gave ground slowly. On 67th Guards Rifle Division's right, 71st Guards Rifle Division was driven back more than five kilometres, but Fourth Panzer Army did not have the resources to fully exploit this success on its left flank. The main weight of Fourth Panzer Army's eastern corps fell on 52nd Guards Rifle Division. This division was driven back 10 kilometres on the first day, but German commanders were nonetheless disappointed at the rate of progress of their assault forces.
Voronezh Front command had, on the afternoon of 5 July, begun to move armoured forces forward to support 6 Guards Army. The main reinforcement came from 1st Tank Army. By the morning of 6 July the battered 67th Guards Rifle Division had been withdrawn north to defensive positions on the Psel River and Vorenezh Front had taken the decision to use 1 Tank Army defensively. Over the next 48 hours, despite the commitment of more Soviet reserves, including armour, the German penetration north towards Oboyan continued, and the defences of 51st Guards Rifle Division, part of 6th Guards Army's second echelon, had been shattered. The offensive by Fourth Panzer Army continued through 8 July and by 9 July the panzers had advanced close to Chistiakov's headquarters forcing him to withdraw further north, leaving Penkovskii at Kochetovka with a forward battle headquarters attempting to maintain contact with the Army's divisions. By that evening Chistiakov had managed to establish a new defensive line for his Army, but German forces had by then advanced to within 20 kilometres of Oboyan.
After 9 July, though the German effort against 6th Guards Army and 1st Tank Army on the direct route to Oboyan continued, these attacks were diversionary in nature since the German command had decided to direct its main effort further to the northeast off 6th Guards Army's left flank towards the village of Prokhorovka. Soviet High Command and Voronezh Front Headquarters were aware of this diversion of German effort and, in addition to deploying further armoured reserves to the Prokhorovka area, began a series of counter-attacks against Fourth Panzer Army's penetration towards Oboyan.
By the third week of July, after the failure of the German strategic effort against the Kursk salient had become apparent, and in response to Soviet offensives towards Orel and in the southern Ukraine, German forces south of Oboyan began to pull back to the positions they had occupied at the beginning of the month in order to release forces for deployment elsewhere.
Soviet High Command planned to respond with a major offensive against German positions northwest of Belgorod, the offensive to begin early in August. Elements of four combined-arms armies were to be concentrated into a 30 kilometre sector to achieve the initial breakthrough, for which 6th Guards Army would be employed on the right wing; and two tank armies would be available to exploit any breakthrough in order to develop the offensive south towards Kharkov.
The offensive began on 3 August with a massive artillery barrage. By the end of the first day the German 167th Infantry Division defending a sector of the frontline northeast of Tomarovka had been largely shattered by 6th Guards Army's attack and a gap had been opened in the German line. [11] Over the subsequent few days the Soviet tank armies were committed and the offensive was expanded to include additional Soviet armies on the flanks of the initial offensive. On 11 August elements of 6th Guards Army, advancing south with 1 Tank Army, were held by German forces for six days at Bogodukov 30 kilometres northwest of Kharkov.
By the third week of August Soviet armies east of Bogodukov had begun to encircle Kharkov from the west and south, and off 6th Guards Army's other flank Soviet armies were advancing far to the west of Akhtyrka. These advances left 6th Guards Army on a somewhat secondary sector of the frontline. At the end of September Chistiakov's army was withdrawn from Voronezh Front into the High Command Reserve.
October 1943 to May 1944
On 15 October 1943, 6th Guards Army was assigned to 2nd Baltic Front which was about to participate in an offensive, in conjunction with 1st Baltic Front further south, to break through the German lines in the Nevel area in order to threaten the flanks of the German Sixteenth Army to the north and the German Third Panzer Army to the south. Chistiakov's forces, still based on 22nd and 23rd Rifle Corps and with seven rifle divisions, was not involved in the initial attack, which commenced on 28 October, and which four days later broke through the German lines, but they were committed to exploit this breakthrough as part of the southern wing of 2nd Baltic Front in order to turn the flank of Sixteenth Army. In fighting that went on into the middle of December, German forces successfully constrained any widening of the breakthrough corridor by the two Baltic Fronts, but they were unable to close the gap between their two armies further west. Yet the two Baltic fronts lacked the mechanised forces that would have enabled them to exploit the penetration in depth, and instead they continued to attack the flanks of the two German armies, with 6th Guards Army and 3rd Shock Army attempting to cut the Pustoshka – Novosokolniki railway. By the end of the year German forces had been able to close the gap in their lines and had stabilised the frontline around what had become the Nevel Bulge. During February 1944, in a sector of the frontline that had developed into a positional stalemate north of Vitebsk, 6th Guards Army was assigned from the command of 2nd Baltic Front to that of 1st Baltic Front.
June to October 1944
The major Soviet summer offensive of 1944 (Operation Bagration) was to be conducted on the central axis in order to achieve the liberation of Belorussia (Belarus). As part of the opening phase of this offensive the German fortress of Vitebsk was to be encircled by the southern wing of 1st Baltic Front and the northern wing of 3rd Belorussian Front in order that a deep penetration could be made behind the left flank of the German Army Group Centre. Occupying the central sector of 1st Baltic Front's lines, 6th Guards Army had been strengthened to nine rifle divisions under three corps headquarters, and for the initial breakthrough phase, Chistiakov was assigned two artillery divisions. The opening offensive by 1st Baltic Front on 22 June was concentrated against a 20 kilometre sector of the frontline held by the German Third Panzer Army. A rapid breakthrough was achieved and by the next day forces from 6th Guards Army's 23 Guards Rifle Corps had taken Sirotino. By 24 June Chistiakov's forces were across the Dvina River deep behind Third Panzer Army's left flank, and, having broken through the German lines on the extreme left flank of Army Group Centre, they were able to advance west along the left bank of the river against virtually no opposition. The gap into which 6th Guards Army was advancing between the extreme left flank of Army Group Centre and the extreme right flank of Army Group North became known as the Baltic Gap. On 28 June Lieutenant-General Chistiakov was promoted to the rank of Colonel-General. Six days later, on 4 July, three divisions from the German Sixteenth Army attempted to close the Baltic Gap in an attack against 6th Guards Army west of Disna, but Chistiakov was able to block this attack, and his forces continued to advance along the left bank of the river towards Daugavpils. However, by the second week of July, 6th Guards Army's westward advance had begun to slow against increasing German opposition in increasingly difficult terrain. On 25 July Chistiakov's offensive towards Daugavpils was terminated because by then a parallel advance by another Soviet army along the right bank of the Dvina had placed it in a position where it could take Daugavpils from the north.
Towards the end of July, 6th Guards Army was committed to an advance on Riga from the southeast as part of a general offensive by 1st Baltic Front, which by the end of the month had reached the Gulf of Riga thereby isolating the bulk of Army Group North in Estonia and northern Latvia. However, 1st Baltic Front was only able to maintain its grip on the Gulf of Riga coastline for a few weeks and, though offensives against Army Group North continued throughout August and into September, they only made slow progress and Riga was not taken. By then 6th Guards Army had been deployed to the left flank of 1st Baltic Front west of Šiauliai in central Lithuania and the Army's chief of staff, Major-General Penkovskii, had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. On 24 September Soviet High Command decided to switch the direction of its offensive further south to strike west from the Shiauliai area to the Baltic coast at Memel (Klaipeda). Several Soviet armies were redeployed from the Riga area to the Shiauliai area for this offensive, which was ultimately to involve seven Soviet armies. Chistiakov's army and the neighbouring 43rd Army on Chistiakov's left were heavily reinforced and 1 Baltic Front provided them with ample concentrations of artillery. The offensive opened on 5 October and in the 6th Guards Army / 43 Army sector achieved a rapid breakthrough. With additional armies available to exploit this penetration due west towards Memel, Chistiakov's forces moved to the northwest aiming for the coastline north of Memel. By 8 October the coastline south of Memel had been reached by 43rd Army and German forces in the Baltic States had been permanently isolated from overland contact with Germany.
October 1944 to May 1945
After being isolated in the Baltic States, and under constant pressure from Soviet armies in Estonia and Latvia, Army Group North had abandoned Riga and had withdrawn to the Courland Peninsula by mid-October. Chistiakov's army, together with three other armies of 1st Baltic Front, was moved north to join the armies of 2nd Baltic Front in attempting to subdue the German forces defending the Courland Peninsula. [12]
During the second half of October, 6th Guards Army and seven other Soviet armies made a determined effort to break through the German Courland defenses, but without success. Chistiakov's army was to spend the rest of the war in the Courland Peninsula where it was involved in five further unsuccessful offensives to take the peninsula and during which it was subordinated to 2nd Baltic Front's command in February 1945 and subsequently to Leningrad Front's command. [12]
At the end of the war in Europe, the 6th Guards Army consisted of the 2nd (9th Guards, 71st Guards, and 166th Rifle Divisions), 22nd (46th Guards Rifle, 16th Lithuanian, and 29th Rifle Divisions), and 30th Guards Rifle Corps (45th Guards, 63rd Guards, and 64th Guards Rifle Divisions), the three of which commanded a total of nine rifle divisions. Other units attached to the army included a gun-artillery brigade, an antitank regiment, five anti-aircraft regiments, a mortar regiment, a rocket launcher regiment, a heavy tank regiment, two assault gun regiments, two sapper brigades, and a flamethrower battalion. [13]
Postwar
Between July 1945 and July 1946, it was commanded by Colonel general Ivan Grishin. [14] In July 1946 Gen Lt Pyotr Koshevoy took over. Koshevoy would command the army until its disbandment. [15]
The 6th Guards Army remained in the Baltic region after the war, comprising 2nd Guards Rifle Corps (9th Guards Rifle Division, 71st Guards Rifle Division, 166th Rifle Division) [16] 22nd Guards Rifle Corps, 23rd Guards Rifle Corps, and 130th Latvian Rifle Corps, with up to 12 divisions, in November 1945. Its headquarters moved from Siauliai to Riga in February 1946. It was disbanded on 20 March 1947. [17]
At the time of disbandment it retained two Guards Rifle Corps, the 2nd Guards Rifle Corps (26th Guards Mechanised Division and 71st Rifle Division) and 23rd (51st Guards and 67th RD), of whom three survived, and 71st Rifle Division was disbanded along with the army. [18]
The 40th Army of the Soviet Ground Forces was an army-level command that participated in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and was reformed specifically for the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979 to circa 1990. The Army became the land forces arm of the Soviet occupational force in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan.
The Soviet 21st Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II.
The 67th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 304th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially redesignated in the 65th Army of Don Front, in recognition of that division's leading role in reducing the German 6th Army during Operation Ring, the destruction of the encircled German and Romanian forces at Stalingrad. During the following months it was substantially rebuilt while moving north during the spring of the year. The division put up a very strong defense in the Battle of Kursk, facing some of the main elements of Army Group South, and then attacked through the western Ukraine after the German defeat. Along with the rest of 6th Guards Army it moved further north to join 2nd Baltic and later 1st Baltic Front in the buildup to the summer offensive against Army Group Center, winning a battle honor and shortly after the Order of the Red Banner in the process. During the rest of 1944 it advanced through the Baltic states and ended the war near the Baltic Sea, helping to besiege Army Group Courland in 1945. The 67th Guards was disbanded in 1946.
The 90th Guards Rifle Vitebsk Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. Formed from the 325th Rifle Division in recognition of its actions during the winter of 1943, the division fought in the Battle of Kursk, the Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation, Operation Bagration, the Baltic Offensive, the Vistula–Oder Offensive, and the East Prussian Offensive.
The 38th Red Banner Army was a field army of the Soviet Union that existed between 1941 and 1991.
The 42nd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, created in 1941.
The 332nd Rifle Division was formed in August, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, based on a militia division that had started forming about two weeks earlier; as a result it was known throughout the war as a "volunteer" division and carried the name "Ivanovo" after its place of formation. It served in the Battle of Moscow and during the winter counteroffensive was assigned to 4th Shock Army, where it would remain, apart from one brief reassignment, until the beginning of 1945, a remarkably long time under a single army's command. During this offensive it helped carve out Toropets Salient, where it would remain until late in 1943 when it made a limited breakthrough to the west, with its army, in the area of Nevel. Throughout this period it shared a similar combat path with 334th Rifle Division. Near the start of the 1944 summer offensive 332nd was given credit for its role in the liberation of Polotsk and got its name as an honorific. The unit continued to give very creditable service for the duration of the war, distinguishing itself in the fighting through the Baltic states, and completing its combat path there. It continued to serve briefly into the postwar period.
The 22nd Guards Rifle Division was unique in being the only Guards rifle division formed twice during the Great Patriotic War. It was first formed from the 363rd Rifle Division in March 1942. Soon after forming it provided a command cadre for the second formation of the 53rd Army in Kalinin Front. Later, in the fall of that year, the division provided most of its personnel and equipment to form the new 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps, and was then disbanded. In April 1943, a new 22nd Guards was formed from the second formation of the 150th Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District, and went on to serve for the duration in 10th Guards Army. This formation first saw service in Operation Suvorov, the summer offensive of Western Front that liberated Smolensk in late September, and then fought through the autumn and winter in grinding battles towards the city of Orsha. During the summer offensive of 1944 it helped break the Panther Line in western Russia and then advanced into Latvia, winning a battle honor for its part in the liberation of Riga, before ending the war in Lithuania, helping to contain the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket. It was disbanded shortly after the war.
The 417th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in the spring of 1942 and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Although it was formed in the Transcaucasus, unlike the 414th and 416th Rifle Divisions formed in about the same place at the same time it was never designated as a National division. After its formation it remained in service in the Caucasus under direct command of the Transcaucasus Front until the summer of 1942, when it was redeployed first to the Northern Group of Forces in that Front and then to the 9th Army. As German Army Group A retreated from the Caucasus in January, 1943 the division was reassigned to the 58th Army and a few months later to 37th Army in North Caucasus Front. In July it redeployed northward to join Southern Front, where it was assigned to the 63rd Rifle Corps in 44th Army in mid-September as the Front fought through south Ukraine, eventually reaching the land routes to the Crimea. It took part in the offensive that liberated that region in April and May, 1944, fighting in the 51st Army and winning both a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner in the process. After the Crimea was cleared the 51st Army was moved far to the north, joining 1st Baltic Front. During operations in the Baltic states the 417th was further distinguished with the award of the Order of Suvorov. In March, 1945 it joined the Courland Group of Forces on the Baltic coast containing the German forces encircled in northwest Latvia. It ended the war there and was soon moved to the Ural Military District before being downsized to a rifle brigade. This brigade was briefly brought back to divisional strength during the Cold War.
The 9th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in November, 1941, based on the 1st formation of the 78th Rifle Division and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was first assigned to the 16th Army just before the start of the winter counteroffensive west of Moscow before being very briefly reassigned to the 33rd Army and then to the 43rd Army during the fighting around Rzhev. In May, 1942 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its services, one of the first rifle divisions to be so recognized. After partially rebuilding it was railed south to Southwestern Front to help meet the German summer offensive. It gave very creditable service in the 38th Army as an infantry division facing armored divisions but suffered significant losses before it was returned to the Moscow Military District in September. In November it was assigned to Kalinin Front and played an important role in the liberation of Velikiye Luki during the winter, primarily in helping to block several attempts to relieve the besieged city. It remained in that Front for most of the rest of the war, for the most part in both the 5th and 2nd Guards Rifle Corps, before moving with the latter to 6th Guards Army, where it remained for the duration, fighting through the Baltic states during the summer and autumn offensives of 1944. In March, 1945 it joined the Courland Group of Forces of Leningrad Front on the Baltic coast containing the German forces encircled in northwest Latvia. Following the German surrender it was disbanded later in 1945.
The 12th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 258th Rifle Division and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was in 50th Army when it was redesignated but was soon assigned to the 49th Army, then to the 10th Army and finally to the 16th Army near the end of that month. In June it was assigned to the 9th Guards Rifle Corps of 61st Army where it remained almost continually for the duration of the war, serving under several Front commands but always on the central sector of the front. During the summer offensive in 1943 it fought through western Russia and into Belarus during the winter campaigns there. Along with the rest of 61st Army it took part in the second stage of Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944, advancing into the Pripyat marshes region, winning a battle honor and shortly thereafter the Order of the Red Banner. After a short time in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command it was moved to the 3rd Baltic and later the 1st Baltic Front driving into Latvia and Lithuania, being decorated with the Order of Suvorov for its part in the liberation of Riga. In December it was returned to the 1st Belorussian Front and took part in the offensives that propelled the Red Army into Poland and eastern Germany. After the fall of Berlin the division advanced to the Elbe River where it linked up with the US 84th Infantry Division. Following the German surrender it was disbanded in July, 1946.
The Battle of Nevel was a successful military operation conducted by the Red Army in the Pskov Oblast of western Russia and in northern Belarus during World War II, from October 6 to roughly December 16, 1943 although fighting persisted in the area into the new year.
The 46th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in October 1942, based on the 2nd formation of the 174th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was in the 6th Army of Voronezh Front when it won its Guards title, but was immediately moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding, where it was soon assigned to the 5th Guards Rifle Corps. In mid-November it moved with its Corps to join the 3rd Shock Army in Kalinin Front and played a leading role in the Battle of Velikiye Luki, both in the encirclement of the German garrison of that city and then in fighting off several relief attempts. It remained in the area through the spring and summer of 1943 before taking part in the breakthrough battle at Nevel and the subsequent operations to expand the salient and pinch off the German positions that 3rd Shock had partly surrounded. In June 1944 the 46th Guards was reassigned to the 6th Guards Army of 1st Baltic Front in preparation for Operation Bagration and made a spectacular advance into Luthuania through the "Baltic Gap" between Army Groups Center and North. The division would continue to serve in the Baltic states in 6th Guards for the duration of the war, winning the Order of the Red Banner in the process and ending on the Baltic coast in 22nd Guards Rifle Corps helping to contain the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket. Despite a creditable record of service the division was disbanded shortly after the end of hostilities.
The 206th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. Its first formation in March 1941 was based on the last prewar shtat for rifle divisions. When the German invasion began it was still organizing well away from the front near Krivoi Rog but was soon sent to the Kiev Fortified Sector where it eventually came under command of the 37th Army. It was deeply encircled by the German offensive in September and destroyed, but not officially stricken from the Soviet order of battle until late December.
The 71st Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 23rd Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War.
The 204th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was destroyed in the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The first formation was based on the shtat of July 29, 1941 and it then remained for nine months in the far east of Siberia training and organizing before it was finally sent by rail to the Stalingrad region in July 1942 where it joined the 64th Army southwest of the city. During the following months it took part in the defensive battles and later the offensive that cut off the German 6th Army in November. In the last days of the battle for the city it took the surrender of the remnants of a Romanian infantry division. Following the Axis defeat the division was recognized for its role when it was redesignated as the 78th Guards Rifle Division on March 1, 1943.
The 83rd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 97th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Throughout its combat path it was considered a "sister" to the 84th Guards Rifle Division.
The 84th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 110th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Throughout its combat path it was considered a "sister" to the 83rd Guards Rifle Division.
The 212th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was badly damaged and then redesignated about five weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
The 219th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was redesignated about 10 weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Due to a chronic lack of vehicles, and especially tanks, the division had been effectively serving as a motorized rifle brigade since June 22, so the redesignation was a formality and it was soon destroyed in the encirclement battle east of Kiev.
Soviet Union 
