Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (1945–54) Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (1954–89) Western Group of Forces (1989–94) | |
---|---|
Active | 1945–1994 |
Country |
|
Branch | |
Type | Group of forces |
Part of | |
Headquarters | Wünsdorf (now in Zossen) |
Engagements | East German uprising of 1953 |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | See list |
The Western Group of Forces (WGF), [lower-alpha 1] previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG) [lower-alpha 2] and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG), [lower-alpha 3] were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany was formed after the end of World War II in Europe from units of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. The group helped suppress the East German uprising of 1953. After the end of occupation functions in 1954 the group was renamed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. The group represented Soviet interests in East Germany during the Cold War. Before changes in Soviet foreign policy during the early 1990s, the group shifted to a more offensive role and in 1989 became the Western Group of Forces. Russian forces remained in the eastern part of Germany after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and German reunification until 1994.
Period | Native designation | German | English | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Short | Long version | Short | Long version | Short | Long version | |||
1945–1954 | ГСОВГ | Группа советских оккупационных войск в Германии | GSBD | Gruppe der Sowjetischen Besatzungstruppen in Deutschland | GSOFG | Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany | ||
1954–1989 | ГСВГ | Группа советских войск в Германии | GSSD | Gruppe der Sowjetischen Streitkräfte in Deutschland | GSFG | Group of Soviet Forces in Germany | ||
GSTD | Gruppe der Sowjetischen Truppen in Deutschland | |||||||
1989–1994 | ЗГВ | Западная группа войск | WGT | Westgruppe der Truppen | WGF | Western Group of Forces |
The Group of Soviet Occupation Forces, Germany was formed after the end of World War II in Europe from formations of the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts, commanded by Georgy Zhukov. On its creation on 9 June 1945 it included: [1]
The 4th Artillery Corps also became part of the GSFG in 1945.
An order of 29 May 1945 had ordered the disestablishment of the 47th, 77th, 80th, 89th, 25th, 61st, 91st, 16th, 38th, 62nd, 70th, 121st, and 114th Rifle Corps, and of the 71st, 136th, 162nd, 76th, 82nd, 212th, 356th, 234th, 23rd, 397th, 311th, 415th, 328th, 274th, 370th, 41st, 134th, 312th, 4th, 117th, 247th, 89th, 95th, 64th, 323rd, 362nd, 222nd, 49th, 339th, 383rd, 191st, 380th, 42nd, 139th, 238th, 385th, 200th, 330th, 199th, 1st, 369th, 165th, 169th, 158th, and 346th Rifle Divisions. [2] The 89th Rifle Division was not disbanded and instead transferred to the Caucasus. [3]
In January 1946, the 2nd Shock Army left the Soviet Zone. A month later, the 47th Army was disbanded, with its units withdrawn to the Soviet Union. In October the 5th Shock Army was disbanded. In 1947 the 3rd and 4th Guards Mechanized Divisions (Mobilization), former mechanized armies, arrived in the group from the Central Group of Forces. In 1954 the 3rd Shock Army became the 3rd Red Banner Combined Arms Army (Russian : 3-я краснознаменная общевойсковая армия). [4] The 3rd Guards Mechanized Army became the 18th Guards Army on 29 April 1957. On the same day, the 4th Guards Mechanized Army became the 20th Guards Army. [3]
After the abolition of the occupation functions in 1954, the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany became known as the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG) on 24 March. The legal basis for the GSVG's stay in East Germany was the Treaty on Relations between the USSR and the GDR of 1955. [5]
Withdrawals from East Germany in 1956 and 1957/58 comprised more than 70,000 Soviet army personnel, including 18th Guards Army Staff.
The GSFG had the task to ensure for the adherence to the regulations of the Potsdam Agreement. Furthermore, they represented the political and military interests of the Soviet Union. In 1957 an agreement between the governments of the USSR and the GDR laid out the arrangements over the temporary stay of Soviet armed forces on the territory of the GDR, the numerical strength of the Soviet troops, and their assigned posts and exercise areas. It was specified that the Soviet armed forces were not to interfere into the internal affairs of the GDR, as they had done during the East German uprising of 1953.
Following a resolution of the government of the Soviet Union in 1979 and 1980, 20,000 army personnel, 1,000 tanks and much equipment were withdrawn from the territory of the GDR, among them the 6th Guards Tank Division, with headquarters at Wittenberg.
Until the last years of Perestroika the GSFG was in the process of realignment as a more offensive force regarding strength, structure and equipment, before a clear reduction of the tank forces in 1989. The GSFG was renamed the Western Group of Forces on 1 June 1989. [6] The withdrawal of the GSFG was one of the largest peacetime troop transfers in military history. Despite the difficulties, which resulted from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the same period, the departure was carried out according to plan and punctually until August 1994. Between the years of 1992 and 1993, the Western Group of Forces in Germany (along with the Northern Group of Forces) halted military exercises.
The return of the troops and material took place particularly by the sea route by means of the ports in Rostock and the island of Rügen, as well as via Poland. The Russian Ground Forces left Germany on 25 June 1994 with a military parade of the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in Berlin. The parting ceremony in Wünsdorf on 11 June 1994 and in the Treptow Park in Berlin on 31 August 1994 marked the end of the Russian military presence on German soil.
In addition to German territories, the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany operational territory also included the region of town of Szczecin, part of the territories transferred from Germany to Poland following the end of the Second World War. The rest of Poland fell under the Northern Group of Forces, while the southern regions (Austria, Czechoslovakia) were under the Central Group of Forces.
Generals directing the withdrawals from Germany diverted arms, equipment, and foreign monies intended to build housing in Russia for the withdrawn troops. Several years later, the last GSFG commander, General Matvey Burlakov, and the Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev, had their involvement exposed. They were also accused of ordering the murder of reporter Dmitry Kholodov, who had been investigating the scandals. [7]
The Soviet troops occupied 777 barracks at 276 locations on the territory of the German Democratic Republic. This also included 47 airfields and 116 exercise areas. At the beginning of 1991 there were still about 338,000 soldiers in 24 divisions, distributed among five land armies and an air army in what was by then the Western Group of Forces. In addition, there were about 208,000 relatives of officers as well as civil employees, among them about 90,000 children. Most locations were in the area of today's Brandenburg.
In 1991 there were approximately 4,200 tanks, 8,200 armored vehicles, 3,600 artillery pieces, 106,000 other motor vehicles, 690 aircraft, 680 helicopters, and 180 rocket systems. [8]
At the end of the 1980s, the primary Soviet formations included: [9]
Other Group-level formations included:
The first three commanders-in-chief were also chiefs of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany.
No. | Portrait | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) | Marshal of the Soviet Union9 June 1945 | 21 March 1946 | 285 days | |
2 | Vasily Sokolovsky (1897–1968) | Marshal of the Soviet Union22 March 1946 | 31 March 1949 | 3 years, 9 days | |
3 | Vasily Chuikov (1900–1982) | Marshal of the Soviet Union1 April 1949 | 26 May 1953 | 4 years, 55 days | |
4 | Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union27 May 1953 | 16 November 1957 | 4 years, 173 days |
No. | Portrait | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Andrei Grechko (1903–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union27 May 1953 | 16 November 1957 | 4 years, 173 days | |
2 | Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) | Marshal of the Soviet Union17 November 1957 | 14 April 1960 | 2 years, 149 days | |
3 | Ivan Yakubovsky (1912–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union15 April 1960 | 9 August 1961 | 1 year, 116 days | |
4 | Ivan Konev (1897–1973) | Marshal of the Soviet Union9 August 1961 | 18 April 1962 | 252 days | |
5 | Ivan Yakubovsky (1912–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union19 April 1962 | 26 January 1965 | 2 years, 282 days | |
6 | Pyotr Koshevoy (1904–1976) | Marshal of the Soviet Union27 January 1965 | 31 October 1969 | 4 years, 277 days | |
7 | Viktor Kulikov (1921–2013) | Marshal of the Soviet Union1 November 1969 | 13 September 1971 | 1 year, 316 days | |
8 | Semyon Kurkotkin (1917–1990) | Marshal of the Soviet Union14 September 1971 | 19 July 1972 | 3 years, 308 days | |
9 | Yevgeny Ivanovsky (1918–1991) | Army General20 July 1972 | 25 November 1980 | 5 years, 128 days | |
10 | Mikhail Zaitsev (1923–2009) | Army General26 November 1980 | 6 July 1985 | 4 years, 222 days | |
11 | Pyotr Lushev (1923–1997) | Army General7 July 1985 | 11 July 1986 | 1 year, 4 days | |
12 | Valery Belikov (1925–1987) | Army General12 July 1986 | 12 November 1987 † | 1 year, 123 days |
No. | Portrait | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Boris Snetkov (1925–2006) | Army general26 November 1987 | 13 December 1990 | 3 years, 17 days | |
2 | Matvey Burlakov (1935–2011) | Colonel general13 December 1990 | 31 August 1994 | 3 years, 261 days |
Members (June 1993): [15]
The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army is an army of the Soviet Army, as a successor to the 62nd Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, which was formed during World War II and was disbanded in 1998 after being downsized into a corps.
The 4th Army was a Soviet field army of World War II that served on the Eastern front of World War II and in the Caucasus during the Cold War. It was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union, with its divisions being withdrawn to Russia and disbanded.
A mechanised corps was a Soviet armoured formation used prior to the beginning of World War II and reintroduced during the war, in 1942.
The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 1917. It was then part of the Soviet Armed Forces. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Leningrad Military District to form the new Western Military District. In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to reestablish it along with the Leningrad Military District, a decision confirmed in June 2023 by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yevgeny Burdinsky. The district was formally reconstituted on 26 February 2024 by a Presidential Decree №141, after the Western Military District was split.
The Baltic Military District was a military district of the Soviet armed forces in the Baltic states, formed shortly before the German invasion during World War II. After the end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added to the District's control in 1946, and the territory of Estonia was transferred back to the Baltic Military District from the Leningrad Military District in 1956.
The Volga–Ural Military District was a military district of the Russian Ground Forces, formed on 1 September 2001 by the amalgamation of the Volga Military District and the Ural Military District. The headquarters of the Ural Military District, located at Yekaterinburg became the new headquarters of the merged district. In 2010 the District was merged with part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Central Military District.
The Red BannerCarpathian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period.
The Southern Group of Forces (YUGV) was a Soviet Armed Forces formation formed twice following the Second World War, most notably around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The Far Eastern Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District.
The Central Group of Forces was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955 and troops stationed in Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring of 1968.
The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Group of Forces in the early 1990s, after the Soviet Union collapsed. The military district formed as a basis of the modern day armed forces of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as well as unrecognized polities of Abkhazia, the Republic of Artsakh and South Ossetia.
The Transbaikal Military District was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on 17 May 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was the headquarters of the district. It was finally disbanded on 1 December 1998 by being amalgamated with the Siberian Military District, though Chita remained the headquarters of the new amalgamated district.
The 20th Guards Combined Arms Army is a field army. In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the army became part of the Russian Ground Forces. Military Unit Number в/ч 89425.
The 3rd Guards Tank Army was a tank army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, then in Germany and Czechoslovakia until the defeat of Germany in 1945. Postwar, the army served as occupation troops in East Germany, went through several name changes, and was finally deactivated in 1969.
The 11th Guards Army was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1943 to 1997.
The 12th Guards Uman Orders of Lenin Red Banner and Suvorov Tank Division was a tank division of the Soviet Ground Forces. It drew its history from the World War II 16th Tank Corps. It was redesignated successively as 12th Guards Tank Corps (1943) and 12th Guards Tank Division (1946).
The Primorsky Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces that existed in from 1945 to 1953. Formed from the headquarters of the 1st Far East Front after the end of World War II, the district controlled troops on the territory of Primorsky Krai, North Korea and the Kwantung Peninsula. It was disbanded in 1953 and the territory became part of the Far Eastern Military District.
The Training Center for Junior Specialists of the Kazakh Ground Forces named after Karasai Batyr is a Ground Forces formation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The 47th Guards Nizhnedneprovskaya Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Tank Division, is a tank division of the Russian Ground Forces.