70th Army (Soviet Union)

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70th Army
ActiveOctober 1942 – August 1945
Country 
East Pomeranian Offensive
Berlin Strategic Offensive

The 70th Army was a

Lublin–Brest Offensive, and the Berlin Strategic Offensive
, among other actions.

Formation

The army began forming in October 1942 near

GULAG personnel.[2]

In a decree signed by Gen.

G.K. Zhukov
the army became part of the Red Army:

"The Stavka of the Supreme High Command orders:

1. Name the Separate Army formed by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, consisting of six rifle divisions, with separate reinforcing and support units, the 70th Army and include it in the Red Army on 1 February.
2. Give the formations of the 70th Army the following designations:

3. Determine the numbering and table of organization and composition of the units of 70th Army in accordance with the instructions of the Chief of the Red Army Glavupraform."[3]

The reinforcing and support units included the 27th Separate Tank Regiment and 378th Anti-Tank Regiment.

70th Army was assigned to the re-deploying Don Front (soon re-designated

Second Panzer Army, but was brought to a halt by the spring rasputitsa, German reserves released by their evacuation of the Rzhev Salient, and the German counter-offensive
to the south. The Front's armies created defenses in depth during the lull in operations during the spring.

On 1 July 1943, the army included the

140th, 162nd and 175th Rifle Divisions, and the 3rd Destroyer Brigade (2nd Destroyer Division).[5] The 3rd Destroyer Brigade eventually decades afterwards became the 152nd Rocket Brigade and still serves in Kaliningrad
. The army also had artillery forces and the 240th, 251st, and 259th Independent Tank Regiments.

Battle of Kursk

During the

2nd Tank Army and played a role in stopping the German 9th Army that was trying to break through to Kursk from the north.[6] During the subsequent Red Army counterattack, the 70th Army took part in Operation Kutuzov and attacked Trosna to the south of the town of Kromy
. On 5 Aug., its units reached the region southwest of Kromy, and on 17 Aug., they reached the German "Hagen" defense line near Domakha.

After the end of this operation, the field headquarters of the 70th Army was transferred to the Reserve of the Central Front and on 1 Feb. to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, where it received new units.

Lublin-Brest operation

During the second half of February 1944, the 70th Army was transferred to the front at the

Turya River north of Kovel. On 25 Feb., it was subordinated to the Belorussian Front and on 16 Apr. it joined that formation, which had been re-designated 1st Belorussian Front. In June, prior to the outbreak of the Soviet summer offensive
, the Army was still in the vicinity of Kovel, and its order of battle was as follows:

With just four rifle divisions, this was a small army by Soviet standards. It also contained the 3rd Sniper Battalion.[7]

During the

Lublin–Brest Offensive (18 July – 2 August), its units, along with units of the 61st Army and the 26th Army, surrounded Brest
from the south-east and destroyed up to four German divisions to the west of Brest.

Poland

After a short period assigned to the front reserves, on 10 Aug. the 70th Army attacked a region to the north of Warsaw. By the end of August, it reached the

Narew River near the town of Serock. As of 26 Aug. was reduced to just the 72nd Rifle Corps.[8] On 29 Oct., the 70th Army was back again as reserves of the 1st Belorussian Front and on 19 Nov. as reserves of the 2nd Belorussian Front
.

Germany

During the

Danzig (Gdansk) on 30 March. In the beginning of April 1945, 70th Army was transferred to the front reserve. At this time the army had the 66th Guards SU Brigade attached, the Red Army's only heavy SU brigade, a potent force of 60 ISU-122 self-propelled guns.[9] On 15 April it was sent to the region of Wittstock, Naugard (Nowogard
), and Sztuchow.

During the

Stettin
(Szczecin).

Post war

After the war, the headquarters of the Army was transferred to Chkalov (

South Urals Military District.[10]

Commanders

  • Major General German Tarasov (October 1942 – April 1943)
  • Lieutenant General Ivan Galanin (April – September 1943
  • Major General Vladimir Sharapov (September – October 1943)
  • Lieutenant General Aleksei Grechkin (October - November 1943)
  • Lieutenant General Ivan Nikolaev (January 1944 – March 1944)
  • Major General
    Alexander Ryzhov
    (March – May 1944)
  • Colonel General Vasily Popov (May 1944 to the end of the war)

Members of the War Council of the Army

  • Colonel from March 1943 Major General N.N. Savkov (October 1942 to the end of the war)

Chiefs of Staff

  • Major General Vladimir Sharapov (October 1942 – November 1943)
  • Colonel G.M.Abayev (November 1942 – February 1944)
  • Major General P.I. Lyapin ( February 1944 – March 1945)
  • Colonel A.P Penchevsky (March – April 1945)
  • Major General S.I. Teteshkin (April 1945 to the end of the war)[11]

References

  1. ^ Walter S. Dunn, Jr.; Stalin's Keys to Victory; Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007; p 121
  2. ^ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, 1996, pp 38, 39, 54, 65, 71, 73
  3. ^ David M. Glantz; After Stalingrad; Helion and Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2009; p 258
  4. ^ David Glantz, "Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky", in Stalin's Generals, (Harold Shukman, Ed.), Phoenix Press, 2001, p 187
  5. ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1 July 1943
  6. ^ Robin Cross; The Battle of Kursk; Penguin Books, London, 1993; p 166
  7. ^ Walter S. Dunn, Jr.; Soviet Blitzkrieg; Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2000; pp 209 - 211
  8. ^ [1] Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine p 3
  9. ^ Sharp, "Red Hammers", Soviet Self-Propelled Artillery and Lend Lease Armor 1941 - 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. XII, Nafziger, 1998, p 20
  10. ^ "70-я АРМИЯ" [70th Army]. bdsa.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  11. ^ В27 Великая Отечественная война 1941 – 1945 гг.: Действующая армия. — М.: Animi Fortitudo, Кучково ноле, 2005. — с. 144 – 145

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