11th Guards Army (Soviet Union)

11th Guards Army
Active 1943-1997
Country Soviet Union
Type Field army
Engagements Operation Kutuzov
Briyansk
Gorodok
Operation Bagration
Gumbinnen Operation
East Prussian Offensive
Battle of Königsberg
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Disbanded Redesignated as Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the Baltic Fleet

The 11th Guards Army was a Soviet field army active from 1943 to 1997, which traces its origins to the formation of the Soviet 16th Army in June – July 1940.

History

Before Operation Barbarossa, HQ 16th Army was formed in July, 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District (uniting the forces deployed in Dauriya). General Lieutenant М. F. Лукин (June - August 1941) took command.[1] In June 1941 it was relocated (with six Trans-Baikalian divisions) to Ukraine and subordinated to the Kiev Special Military District.[2] The Army HQ was disbanded on 8 August 1941 after encirclement (the Battle of Smolensk (1941)) just west of Smolensk as part of the Western Front. For its prowess in battle, the second formation of the 16th Army was redesignated as the 11th Guards Army on 16 April 1943.

On 1 June 1943 the 11th Guards Army consisted of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps (11th, 26th and 83rd Guards Rifle Divisions), 16th Guards Rifle Corps (1st, 16th & 31st Guards, and 169th Rifle Divisions), and the 5th, 18th, and 84th Guards, and the 108th and 217th Rifle Divisions, several artillery divisions, armoured units, and other support units.[3] The Army took part in the Orel Offensive (Operation Kutuzov), Briyansk, Gorodok, Operation Bagration, the Gumbinnen Operation the East Prussian Offensive, and finally the Battle of Königsberg under Bagramyan's command.

The army ended the war in the Kaliningrad region. By 1946 the 8th Guards Rifle Corps had left to join the Airborne Forces, becoming the 8th Guards Airborne Corps, and the 11th Guards, 83rd Guards, and 84th Guards Rifle Divisions had disbanded.[4]

It was based throughout the Cold War in the Kaliningrad oblast, forming part of the Baltic Military District. Pavel Batov commanded the army in the 1950s. In the 1950s it comprised 1st TD (former Tank Corps), 10th Rifle Corps (1956-60)[5] and all the remaining Guards formations - 2nd Rifle Corps, 16th Koenigsberg Red Banner Rifle Corps (the 1st and 26th RD, 29 MD) and 36th Nemanskiy Red Banner Rifle Corps (5th and 16th Guards Rifle Divisions, 30th MD).[6] Subsequently the army's composition changed little, and for the entire postwar period it comprised the 40th Guards Tank Division (former 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, then 28th Guards MD) at Sovetsk, and the 1st Tank, and the 1st Guards and 26th Guards MRD (former Rifle Divisions). In 1960 the 5th Guards MRD, a former Rifle Division, was disbanded.

After the war, stationed in the Kaliningrad region. Army Headquarters located in Kaliningrad, on the street. Komsomol.

Elements took part in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

It was disbanded on 1 February 1997 by being redesignated the Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the Baltic Fleet.[7]

Commanders of the Army

The following generals commanded the army.[8][9]

Notes

  1. ↑ http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/a16/arm.htm
  2. ↑ Lenskii 2001
  3. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1 June 1943
  4. ↑ V.I. Feskov et al 2004, 77.
  5. ↑ Holm, http://www.ww2.dk/new/army/corps/10sk.htm 10th Rifle Corps]
  6. ↑ Feskov et al., The Soviet Army in the period of the Cold War, Tomsk, 2004
  7. ↑ Morskoi Sbornik, No. 12, 1997, p.26, via Austin and Muraviev, The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia, Tauris, 2001, p.349. See also Morskoi Sbornik, No. 1, 1998, p.25, No. 2, 1998, p.29
  8. ↑ "11-я гвардейская армия". gako2006.narod.ru. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  9. ↑ Holm, Michael. "11th Guards Combined Arms Army". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-02-01.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.