54th Army (Soviet Union)

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54th Army
ActiveAugust 1941 – December 1944
Country 
Riga Offensive
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Col. Gen. I.I. Fedyuninsky
Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Sukhomlin
Lt. Gen. S. V. Roginsky

The

Second World War. It was first formed in the Leningrad Military District in August, 1941, and continued in service in the northern sector of the Soviet-German front until the end of 1944. It spent much of the war attempting to break the German siege of Leningrad, in which it helped to achieve partial success in January, 1943, and complete success one year later. During these operations the soldiers of the 54th served under five different commanders, most notably Col. Gen. Ivan Fedyuninsky in the winter of 1941–42. After helping to drive Army Group North
away from Leningrad and into the Baltic states in the first nine months of 1944, the army was deemed surplus to requirements on the narrowing front, and was officially disbanded on the last day of the year.

Formation

The 54th Army was first formed in August, 1941, in the Leningrad Military District, to the east of the city in the vicinity of the town of Volkhov.[1] Its first commander was Marshal of the Soviet Union Grigory Kulik. When it was first formed the army's order of battle was as follows:

It also contained four motorized engineer battalions, and by the end of September it had been reinforced with the

16th Tank Brigade.[2]

Leningrad was isolated on Sept. 8 when the German forces captured

First Sinyavino Offensive, gained only 6 – 10km. during 16 days of on-and-off heavy fighting. Kulik was heavily criticized by both STAVKA and Zhukov for this dismal performance. When the Germans pushed back even some of these meagre gains, Kulik was sacked, court-martialed and reduced in rank.[3] He was replaced by Lt. Gen. M.S. Khozin, a protege of Zhukov. On October 26, Khozin was promoted to command of the Leningrad Front and was replaced by Lt. Gen. I.I. Fedyuninsky, another Zhukov protege.[4]

Tikhvin Offensive

A second attempt on

8th Panzer Division east of the town.[6]

At this point, Fedyuninsky asked that 4th Army's Volkhov Operational Group of four rifle divisions and one rifle brigade be assigned to his command, which was approved on Nov. 12. While redeploying his forces, Fedyuninsky was faced with a German thrust to his army's rear toward Lake Ladoga. The successful counterattack by 285th Rifle Division and 122nd Tank Brigade set the stage for 54th Army to participate in the general Soviet counter-offensive along the entire front.[7]

On November 26 the army's main shock group (3rd Guards, 310th, and

80th Rifle Division and on Dec. 3 he renewed the attack on the German corps, driving its left flank southwards and successively encircling and destroying several companies of the 254th Infantry Division. The 115th and 198th Rifle Divisions then also arrived from Leningrad, joined the assault on the 15th, and helped drive the Germans back to Olomny by the 17th, enveloping the I Corps' left flank on the west bank of the Volkhov River. During their retreat, 54th Army's 1st and 2nd Ski Battalions constantly harassed the Germans' flank and rear. In the final stages, elements of three rifle divisions cut the MgaKirishi rail line, but the army was unable to capture the latter stronghold, which would remain in German hands until the autumn of 1943.[8]

Lyuban Offensive Operation

Having liberated the territory occupied by the Germans in their Tikhvin offensive and caused them significant casualties, Stalin expected his armies to be able to break the siege of Leningrad, as part of a series of offensives across the front. Gen. K.A. Meretskov of Volkhov Front wrote:

"The 4th Army on the right flank was supposed to attack in the general direction of Kirishi and Tosno to encircle and destroy the enemy that had advanced north of Mga to Lake Ladoga in cooperation with the Leningrad Front's 54th Army."[9]

The new offensive was launched by 54th Army on Jan. 4, 1942 when it once again attacked I Corps, to the west of Kirishi. Forty-eight hours of heavy fighting produced an advance of only 4 – 5km, after which a counterattack by 12th Panzer Division drove Fedyuninsky's troops back to their starting line. The attack was renewed on Jan. 13 and the village of Pogoste was taken on the 17th, but that was the limit of success.[10] By mid-February

5th Army in April,[13] and was replaced by Lt. Gen. A.V. Sukhomlin.[14]

Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda

54th Army was only marginally involved in the

Second Sinyavino Offensive
during August – October, and was engaged in mostly local fighting through the balance of 1942. At the beginning of 1943 its order of battle was as follows:

On January 12, Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts launched

Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda (Pole Star), with the objective of the complete destruction of Army Group North.[16]

The objective of 54th Army was to create a shallow encirclement, in conjunction with

Demyansk salient and its defenders.[17]

The 54th was reinforced before the offensive, which it began on Feb. 10. Sukhomlin attacked the German 96th Infantry Division, which was recovering from the earlier fighting at Sinyavino, with four rifle divisions, three rifle brigades, and the 124th Tank Brigade, and yet only managed to penetrate 3 – 4km on a 5km front in three days of heavy fighting. German reinforcements of small battlegroups from unengaged sectors brought the advance to a standstill; meanwhile, 55th Army was faring no better. On February 27, STAVKA ordered Pole Star halted, as almost no progress had been made on any sector.[18] On March 11, Sukhomlin was demoted to deputy commander of the army,[19] and Lt. Gen. S.V. Roginsky took over command, which he would hold until the army was disbanded.[20]

Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive

The front went back to relative inactivity for the remainder of 1943. At the beginning of October, after nearly two years of intermittent pressure, Army Group North evacuated the Kirishi salient to free up desperately needed reserves.[21] In spite of this, the army group was in a very precarious position as the Soviet Fronts began planning a winter offensive. Prior to the offensive, 54th Army's order of battle comprised:

111th Rifle Corps, with:

  • 44th Rifle Division
  • 288th Rifle Division

115th Rifle Corps, with:

  • 281st Rifle Division
  • 285th Rifle Division
  • 14th and 53rd Rifle Brigades

Independent Divisions:

  • 80th, 177th and 198th Rifle Divisions
  • 2nd Fortified Region
  • 124 Separate Tank Regiment
  • 107th and 501st Separate Tank Battalions
  • 48th Heavy Tank Battalion

plus nine assorted regiments of artillery.[22]

The plan that was issued to Roginsky between October and December must have looked familiar: a drive westwards towards Tosno, Lyuban and Chudovo as part of a short encirclement, followed by an advance southwest to Luga. However, in the past year the German forces had grown weaker, the Soviets stronger, and the offensive would be launched on three attack axes.[23]

The first two of these, from Leningrad itself and from the Oranienbaum bridgehead, began on Jan. 14. 54th Army launched the third prong on the 16th:

"The enemy, who has to defend simultaneously along several directions, was subjected to yet another assault – the Volkhov Front's 54th Army went over to the attack. The direction of the attack is toward Liuban'. However, the enemy's resistance still has not been overcome. He is continuing to cling fiercely to every clump of ground and launching counterattacks. It is requiring considerable bravery and selflessness to overcome him."

Roginsky led his attack with 80th Rifle Division and 115th Rifle Corps, adding 44th Rifle Division early on the 17th. Although the attack had only advanced 5km by Jan. 20, it was preventing German XXXVIII Army Corps from transferring forces to even harder-pressed sectors.[24]

On January 25 the army was reinforced with the new

Oredezh on Feb. 8. The next day, in a major regrouping, the 115th was transferred to 67th Army and Roginsky's headquarters redeployed to Novgorod to retake command of 111th as well as 119th Rifle Corps. Once this was complete, the army was ordered to penetrate the German defense west of Shimsk, thereafter advancing to Porkhov.[25]

At midnight, Feb. 13, Volkhov Front was disbanded, and 54th Army rejoined Leningrad Front. On the 17th this new command proposed that 54th and 8th Armies continue their offensive towards Ostrov, in order to breach the German Panther Line in that sector. The army resumed its offensive that day, aiming to take the Utorgosh – Soltsy – Shimsk line by the 19th, which would threaten the German X Corps, but that corps was successful in holding the line for three days as it withdrew. Following this, the 54th pursued for four days to a depth of 60km before liberating the town of Dno on Feb. 24, in conjunction with 1st Shock Army. Porkhov was taken on Feb. 26, and after another three days of combat and an advance of 65km, the army reached the Panther Line on Mar. 1, between Ostrov and Pskov.[26]

During March and the first half of April, the depleted armies of Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts were ordered into repeated attacks against this line, with meagre results reached at high cost. Finally, with even the weather against them, shortly after midnight on Apr. 18, Stalin ordered the Fronts onto the defense. The following day, 3rd Baltic Front was formed on the base of 20th Army headquarters, with 42nd, 67th and 54th Armies under command.[27]

Baltic Offensive and Disbandment

During the following months 54th Army rebuilt its forces in anticipation of a summer offensive. This began to its south on June 22, with the launch of Operation Bagration. As Army Group Center reeled back from the Red Army's attack, a gap opened between it and Army Group North, which the latter could do little to mend as it was under pressure from holding attacks. Finally, 3rd Baltic Front joined the offensive on July 8, with the intention to breach the Panther Line and seize Ostrov and Pskov. By the 19th, German 16th Army had pulled back to a switch line called the Lithuania position, but Soviet forces kept going, and Pskov had to be given up on the 22nd.[28]

After the breaching of the Panther Line, 3rd Baltic Front was directed northwest both to retake

Riga Offensive. Although most of the German forces were able to escape (only to be bottled up in the Courland Pocket), the former objective was won.[29]

As these offensives drew to a close, it became apparent that 54th Army was no longer needed on a front that was contracting in length as it drew closer to Germany. Following the capture of Riga in mid-October, 3rd Baltic Front was disbanded, and 54th Army was removed to STAVKA reserves. On December 13, Lt. Gen. Roginsky was placed in reserve; he would later briefly command 67th Army. On the last day of 1944, 54th Army was officially disbanded, and its forces were distributed to other formations.[30]

Commanders

  • Marshal of the Soviet Union Grigory Kulik (from 02.09.1941 to 25.09.1941);
  • Lieutenant General Mikhail Khozin (from September 26, 1941, to 26.10.1941);
  • Major General Ivan Fedyuninsky (from 27.10.1941 to 22 April 1942);
  • Major General Aleksandr Sukhomlin (from April 22, 1942, to March 11, 1943);
  • Major General, from 25.09.1943 Lieutenant General Sergey Roginsky (from March 11, 1943, to 13.12.1944);

References

  1. ^ David M. Glantz and Jonathan House, When Titans Clashed, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1995, pp 69–70
  2. ^ Glantz, The Battle for Leningrad 1941 – 1944, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS, 2002, p 83
  3. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 69, 75, 83
  4. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp xvii, xviii, 94
  5. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p 89, 94
  6. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p 101
  7. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p 102
  8. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 109–11
  9. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p 151
  10. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 158, 162
  11. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p 169
  12. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 172–73
  13. ^ "Biography of Army General Ivan Ivanovich Fediuninskii – (Иван Иванович Федюнинский) (1900–1977), Soviet Union". www.generals.dk. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  14. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, p xxi
  15. Combat composition of the Soviet Army
    (БОЕВОЙ СОСТАВ СОВЕТСКОЙ АРМИИ), ЧАСТЬ III, (Январь – декабрь 1943 г.), p 10
  16. ^ Glantz, After Stalingrad, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2009, p 403
  17. ^ Glantz, After Stalingrad, p 405
  18. ^ Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp 412–14.
  19. ^ "Biography of Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Vasilevich Sukhomlin – (Александр Васильевич Сухомлин) (1900–1972), Soviet Union". www.generals.dk. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  20. ^ "Biography of Lieutenant-General Sergii Vasilevich Roginskii – (Сергей Васильевич Рогинский) (1901–1960), Soviet Union". www.generals.dk. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  21. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 319–20
  22. Combat composition of the Soviet Army
    (БОЕВОЙ СОСТАВ СОВЕТСКОЙ АРМИИ), ЧАСТЬ IV, (Январь – декабрь 1944 г.), p 9
  23. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 333–35
  24. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 341, 347
  25. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 360, 368–70, 385
  26. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 388, 395
  27. ^ Glantz, Leningrad, pp 408–10
  28. ^ Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, Center of Military History U.S. Army, Washington, DC, 1968, pp 333–34
  29. .
  30. ^ "54-я АРМИЯ" [54th Army]. bdsa.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2016-07-03.

External links