3rd Shock Army
3rd Shock Army (1941–1954) 3rd Combined Arms Army (1954–1974) 3rd 'Red Banner' Combined Arms Army (1974–1992) | |
---|---|
Active | 25 December 1941–1992 |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Soviet Army |
Size | Varied over time |
Part of | East Pomeranian Offensive Battle of Berlin |
The 3rd Shock Army (
Campaign history
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Combatway_3rdShockArmy-en.png/400px-Combatway_3rdShockArmy-en.png)
The Army was created from the headquarters of
The headquarters of 60th Army was converted into the headquarters of 3rd Shock Army on 25 December 1941, under the command of General Lieutenant
It was initially a part of the
However, after a few days the offensive – the
The Army's next major effort was as part of the Nevel–Gorodok offensive operation in October–November 1943. Nevel was taken at the start of the offensive on 6 October 1943. The Kalinin Front had been renamed Baltic Front on 13 October 1943,[6] and under Yeremenko, used two armies on the left flank, the 43rd and 49th, to distract the Germans' attention from his main blow, from the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies against Third Panzer Army in the Nevel area.[7] This would see the Soviets astride the routes leading to the rear of Army Group North and cut vital rail links.
Following the Starorussa–Novorzhev offensive operation (February 1944), the Army's next attack was as part of 2nd Baltic Front's July 1944 offensive: the Rezhitsa–Dvina offensive operation. Beginning on 10 July, 3rd Shock Army had reached the Velikaya River by 12 July, captured the bridges despite the demolition charges laid on them, and moved on to surround
3rd Shock then took part in the blockade of the
As the Army moved quickly across Poland in March 1945 during the
The Army was in the second echelon of the 1st Belorussian Front in the Battle of Berlin.[9]
In April 1945, the 3rd Shock Army (HQ Stendal) as part of the 1st Belorussian Front had the following major component formations and units:
- 265th, 364th Rifle Divisions)
- (attached from front headquarters)
- 33rd Rifle Divisions)
- 207th Rifle Divisions)
- 1203rd, 1728th and 1729th Separate self–propelled assault artillery regiments
- 136th Gun–Artillery Brigade
- 45th Antitank Brigade
- 25th Sapper Brigade
- 5th and 13th Pontoon Bridging Brigades
The Army took Pankow, a suburb of Berlin, on 23 April 1945. A week later, two regiments of the
World War II service
Campaigns and Operations participation
- Winter Campaign of 1941–42 (Russian: Зимняя кампания 1941/42 г.) (5 December 1941 – 30 April 1942)
- Toropets–Kholm Offensive (9 January 1942 – 6 February 1942)[11]
- Summer–Autumn Campaign (Russian: Летне–осенняя кампания 1942 г.) (1 May – 18 November 1942)
- Winter Campaign of 1942–43 (Russian: Зимняя кампания 1942–1943 гг.) (19 November 1942 – 3 March 1943)
- Velikie Luki offensive(November 1942 – January 1943)
- Summer–Autumn Campaign of 1943 (Russian: Летне–осенняя кампания 1943 г.) (1 July – 31 December 1943)
- Nevel'–Gorodok offensive operation(October– November 1943)
- Winter–Spring Campaign (Russian: Зимне–весенняя кампания 1944 г.) (1 January – 31 May 1944)
- Staraya Russa–Novorzhev Offensive (February 1944)[12]
- Summer–Autumn Campaign of 1944 (Russian: Летне–осенняя кампания 1944 г.) (1 June – 31 December 1944)
- Rezhitsa–Dvinsk Offensive (10 July 1944 – 27 July 1944)
- Madona Offensive (1 August 1944 – 28 August 1944)
- Riga Offensive (1944)(14 September 1944 – 24 October 1944)
- Courland peninsula blockade (from October 1944 – 31 December 1944)
- Vistula–Oder Offensive(12 January – 2 February 1945)
- Berlin Offensive(16 April – 8 May 1945)
- Campaign in Europe during 1945 (Russian: Кампания в Европе 1945 г.) (1 January – 9 May 1945)
Notable service personnel
- Mikhail Budenkov: 3rd highest ranking sniper, Guards senior sergeant, sniper of 59th Guards Rifle Regiment (21st Guards Rifle Division, 3rd Shock Army, 2nd Baltic Front) (437 confirmed).[13]
- Abukhadzhi Idrisov: 11th highest ranking sniper, senior sergeant, 1232nd Rifle Regiment (370th Rifle Division, 3rd Shock Army, 2nd Baltic Front) (349 confirmed).[13]
Command staff
Commanders
- General Lieutenant M.A. Purkaev (December 1941 – August 1942)
- General Lieutenant Kuzma Galitsky (September 1942 – November 1943)
- General Colonel N.E. Chibisov (November 1943 – April 1944)
- General Lieutenant V.A. Yushkevich (April – August 1944)
- General Lieutenant M.N. Gerasimov (August – October 1944)
- General Lieutenant Nikolai Simoniak (October 1944 – March 1945)
- General Colonel V.I. Kuznetsov (March 1945 – end of the war)
Leaders of the Military Council
- Brigade Commissioner A.P. Riazanov (December 1941 – February 1943)
- General Lieutenant P.K. Ponomarenko (February – March 1943)
- General Major A.I. Litvinov (March 1943 – end of the war)
Chiefs of staff
- General Major A.P. Pokrovskiy (December 1941 – February 1942)
- General Major Mikhail Sharokhin (February – August 1942)
- General Major I.O. Yudintsev (August 1942 – March 1943)
- General Major M.M. Busarov (March May 1943)
- General Major F.A. Zuev (May October 1943)
- General Major Veniamin Beylin (October 1943 – August 1944)
- General Major from July 1945. General Lieutenant M.F. Bukshtynovich (August 1944 – end of the war).
Service in Germany
The 3rd Shock Army stayed in Germany after the end of the war, becoming part of the
The army kept the descriptive title "shock" until 1954, when it became the 3rd "Red Banner" Combined Arms Army (Russian: 3-я краснознаменная общевойсковая армия).[14] Army headquarters was located in Magdeburg from January 1946.[15]
There was an army reorganisation in June 1964 and a number of divisions were switched into and out of the army.[14] It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in 1974.
During the late 1970s, the divisions received
In 1980 the army comprised three divisions: the
Thus the army had four divisions in 1988:
- 7th Guards Tank Division (Rosslau, East Germany)[17][18]
- 10th Guards Tank Division (Altengrabow, East Germany)
- 12th Guards Tank Division (Neuruppin, East Germany)
- 47th Guards Tank Division (Hillersleben, East Germany)
During 1989–91, a past commanding officer of the Army (1969)
1988 order of battle
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Ro%C3%9Flau_%C3%96lpfuhlallee_Proletarier.jpg/220px-Ro%C3%9Flau_%C3%96lpfuhlallee_Proletarier.jpg)
- 7th Guards Kiev–Berlin Tank Division (Roßlau) (disbanded 1990)[17]
- 55th Guards Vasilkovskiy Tank Regiment (Lutherstadt–Wittenberg)
- 56th Guards Vasilkov Shepetovsk Tank Regiment (Zerbst)
- 79th Guards Bobruiskiy Tank Regiment (Roßlau)
- 40th Motor Rifle Regiment (Bernburg)
- 670th Guards Motorised Artillery Regiment (Cochstedt)
- 287th Guards Antiaircraft–missile Regiment (Roßlau)
- 4th Separate Guards Reconnaissance Battalion (Quedlinburg–Quarmbeck)
- 146th Separate Guards Communications Battalion (Roßlau)[17]
- 121st Separate Engineer Battalion (Roßlau)
- 165th Separate Chemical Defence Battalion (Roßlau)[17]
- 183rd Separate Material Supply Battalion (Roßlau)
- 58th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Roßlau)
- 186th Separate Medical Battalion (Dessau)
- 10th Guards Tank Ural Volunteer Division in the name of Marshal of Soviet Union R. A. Malinovsky (Altengrabow) (now at Boguchar in the Moscow Military District)[22]
- 61st Guards Sverdlovsk Tank Regiment (Altengrabow)
- 62nd Guards Permian–Keletskiy Tank Regiment (Altengrabow)
- 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk–Petrokovskiy Tank Regiment (Altengrabow)
- 248th Guards Unechskiy Motor Rifle regiment (Schönebeck)
- 744th Guards Ternopil Artillery Regiment (Altengrabow)
- 359th Guards Lvov Anti–Aircraft Artillery Regiment (Altengrabow)
- 7th Separate Guards Reconnaissance Battalion (Khalershtadt) later Altengrabow
- 152nd Separate Communications Battalion (Altengrabow)
- 131st Separate Guards Engineer Battalion (Magdeburg)
- 127 Separate Chemical Defence Battalion (Altengrabow)
- 1072nd Separate Material Supply Battalion (Altengrabow)
- 60th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Altengrabow)
- 188th Separate Medical Battalion (Altengrabow)
- 12th Guards Prikarpattiya Berlin Tank Division (Neuruppin) (disbanded 1991)[23]
- 48th Guards Vapnyarsko–Varshavsky Tank Regiment (Neuruppin)
- 332nd Guards Warsaw Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Tank Regiment (Neuruppin)
- 353rd Guards Vapnyarsko–Berlin Tank Regiment (Neuruppin)
- 200th Guards Fastov Motor Rifle Regiment (Burg)
- 117th Artillery Regiment (Mahlwinkel)
- 933rd Upper Dnieper Anti–Aircraft Missile Regiment (Burg)
- 18th Separate Guards Demblin Reconnaissance Battalion (Mahlwinkel)
- 490th Separate Guards Communications Battalion (Neuruppin)
- 136th Separate Guards Demblin Engineer Battalion (Neuruppin)
- 129th Separate Chemical Defence Company (Neuruppin)
- 1074th Separate Material Supply Battalion (Wulkow)
- 64th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Neuruppin)
- 208th Separate Medical Battalion (Wulkow)
- 47th Guards Lower Dnieper Tank Division (Hillersleben)(withdrawn to Moscow Military District, amalgamated in the mid-1990s with the 31st Tank Division as the 3rd Motor Rifle Division)[24]
- 26th Feodosiya Tank Regiment (Hillersleben)
- 153rd Smolensk Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Tank Regiment (Hillersleben)
- 197th Guards Vapynar–Warsaw Tank Regiment (Halberstadt)
- 245th Guards Gneznensky Red Banner Order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Regiment (Magdeburg)
- 99th Guards Pomeranian Artillery Regiment (Magdeburg)
- 1069th Order of the Red Star Anti–Aircraft Missile Regiment (Hillersleben)
- 112th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (Hillersleben)
- 73rd Separate Guards Communications Battalion (Hillersleben)
- 52nd Separate Guards Engineer Battalion (Hillersleben)
- 1077th Separate Material Supply Battalion (Hillersleben)
- 332nd Separate Chemical Defence Company (Hillersleben)
- 65th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Hillersleben)
- 63rd Separate Medical Battalion (Hillersleben)
Formations and units subordinate to Army
- 792nd Separate Special Purpose Company (Spetsnaz) (Cochstedt)
- 115th Separate Tank Regiment (Quedlinburg)
- 899th Separate Air Assault Battalion (Burg)
- 232nd Separate Protection and Security Battalion (Magdeburg)
- 178th Separate Helicopter Regiment (Borstel)
- 440th Separate Helicopter Regiment (Borstel)
- 296th Separate Helicopter Squadron (Mahlwinkel)
- 36th Missile Brigade (Altengrabow)
- 448th Missile Brigade(Born)
- 49th Guards Anti–Aircraft Missile Brigade (Planken)[25]
- 385th Guards Artillery Brigade (Planken)
- 451st Separate Anti–Tank Artillery Battalion (Magdeburg)
- 254th Separate Radio Engineering Regiment (Cochstedt)
- 15th Separate Radio Engineering Battalion (Magdeburg)
- 10th Separate Electronic Warfare Battalion (Stahnsdorf)
- 105th Separate Communications Regiment (Magdeburg)
- 457th Separate Radio Relay Cable Battalion (Magdeurg)
- 323rd Separate Engineer Battalion (Magdeburg)
- 36th Łódź Pontoon Bridge Regiment (Magdeburg)
- 2nd Separate Chemical Defence Battalion (Burg)
- 42nd Material Supply Brigade (Magdeburg)
- 298th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery battalion (Schönebeck)
- 302nd Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery battalion (Schönebeck)
- 1408th Military Hospital (Magdeburg)
- 989th Military Hospital (Altengrabow)
- 20th Sanitary and Epidemiological Detachmend (Magdeburg)
Postwar Commanders
- Colonel General Vasily Kuznetsov (May 1945 – 5 October 1948)
- Colonel General Alexander Luchinsky (5 October 1948 – 11 April 1949)
- Lieutenant General Aleksandr Ryzhov(11 April 1949 – 4 December 1950)
- Lieutenant General Andrey Matveyevich Andreyev (4 December 1950 – 6 January 1954)
- Lieutenant General (Colonel General 8 August 1955) Dmitry Alexeyev (6 January 1954 – 29 June 1956)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 26 November 1956) Leonid Baukov (29 June 1956 – 11 December 1959)
- Lieutenant General Mikhail Frolenkov (11 December 1959 – 11 August 1962)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 13 April 1964) Alexander Klyukanov (11 August 1962 – 7 July 1965)
- Lieutenant General Semyon Kurkotkin (7 July 1965 – 18 August 1966)
- Lieutenant General Vasily Gorban (18 August 1966 – 29 August 1969)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 29 April 1970) Valentin Varennikov (29 August 1969 – 11 June 1971)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 8 November 1971) Yevgeny Touzakov (11 June 1971 – 24 January 1973)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 4 November 1973) Leonid Kuznetsov (24 January 1973 – 15 November 1974)
- Major General (Lieutenant General 13 February 1976) Pyotr Makarchuk (15 November 1974 – 21 July 1977)
- Lieutenant General Mikhail Sotskov (21 July 1977 – July 1979)
- Lieutenant General Viktor Skokov (July 1979 – December 1982)
- Lieutenant General Boris Pyankov (December 1982 – July 1985)
- Lieutenant General Viktor Chechevatov (July 1985 – 1987)
- Lieutenant General Alexey Mityukhin (1987–October 1991)
References
- ^ p.762, Military Encyclopaedic dictionary, Editor in chief C.F. Akhromeyev, Moscow, Voyenizdat, 1986
- ^ David M. Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, p. 18
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 78
- ^ John Erickson (historian), The Road to Stalingrad, 2003 Cassel Military Paperbacks edition, p.280, 304
- ^ Erickson, 2003, p.306-7
- ^ Baltic Front was very quickly renamed 2nd Baltic Front
- ^ Erickson, Road to Berlin, 1983, 133–4
- ^ Erickson, Road to Berlin, 1983, p.313, 319–21, 414, 418, 420–1
- ^ "Rear Services of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation". Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ "ВЕЛИКАЯ ВОЙНА – Бобруйск". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ for Wehrmacht known as Sychevka and Vyazma battles, not to be confused with the Soviet Sychevka-Vyazma Offensive Operation (8 January 1942 – 28 February 1942)
- ^ See also http://lenbat.narod.ru/eng/kont.htm
- ^ a b "Боевой счет лучших советских снайперов периода Великой Отечественной войны — Журнал "Братишка"". Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ a b c d Michael Holm, 3 Red Banner Combined Arms Army, February 2015.
- ^ Feskov et al., Советская Армия в годы «холодной войны» (1945–1991), p. 40, Tomsk: Tomsk University Press, 2004, and Holm.
- ^ "Развертывание новых типов танков в GSFG/WGF". Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ a b c d Holm, Michael (2015). "7th Guards Kiev-Berlin order of Lenin twice Red Banner order of Suvorov Tank Division". Soviet Armed Forces 1945–1991: Organisation and order of battle. Holm. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ see also V.I. Feskov et al 2013
- ^ [1] and [2] Archived 27 September 2007 at archive.today
- ^ Army Quarterly and Defence Journal
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 399.
- ^ Holm, Michael. "10th Guards Tank Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ Holm, Michael. "12th Guards Tank Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ Holm, Michael. "47th Guards Tank Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ^ Holm, Michael. "49th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- Feskov, V. I.; Golikov, V. I.; Kalashnikov, K. A.; Slugin, S. A. (2013). Вооруженные Силы СССР после Второй мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Soviet Armed Forces after WWII: from the Red Army into the Soviet Army]. Vol. 1: Сухопутные войска. Tomsk: Издательство научно-технической литературы. ISBN 978-5-89503-530-6.