6th Army (Soviet Union)

6th Army (Soviet Union)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=6th Army


caption=
country=Soviet Union
type=
branch=Red Army, Soviet Army
dates=1939 - 1998
command_structure= Leningrad Military District (1960-1998)
size=several corps or divisions
garrison=Petrozavodsk (c.1960-1998)
battles=Soviet invasion of Poland (1939), Operation Barbarossa, Second Battle of Kharkov, others
notable_commanders=
The 6th Army was a field army of the Soviet Red Army formed four times during World War II and active with the Russian Ground Forces up until 1998.It was first formed in August, 1939 in the Kiev Special Military District from an existing Army Group (a corps-sized formation). [6th Army- б. Восточная (первоначально - Винницкая, затем - Волочиская армейская группа КОВО (0000 Там же, а также "Другая война. 1939-1945". М., 1996, с.248.) КОВО. Lenskii 2001.]

In September 1939 it participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland. At the beginning of war the Army (6th and 37th Rifle Corps (which included the 80th Rifle Division), 4th and 15th Mechanized Corps, 5th Cavalry Corps, 4th and 6th Fortified Regions, and a number of artillery and other units [Niehorster, [http://orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/012_ussr/41_oob/kiev/army_06.html, Order of Battle, 22 June 1941] ] ) was deployed on the Lvov direction. It started the Second World War as part of the Soviet Southwestern Front. The army's headquarters was disbanded 10 August 1941 after the Battle of Uman. In this battle, the 6th Army was caught in a huge encirclement south of Kiev along with the 12th Army. It was immediately reformed within the Southern Front on the basis of 48th Rifle Corps and other units, and defended the west bank of the Dnepr River northwest of Dnepropetrovsk. [Bonn/Glantz, Slaughterhouse, Aberjona Press, 2005, p.311] It was then transferred to the Soviet Southwestern Front and took part in defensive actions in the Donbas, the Barvenkovo-Lozovaia operation, and the Second Battle of Kharkov, but along with the 57th Army, was surrounded in the Izyum pocket with the loss of 200,000 plus men in casualties alone, and afterwards formally disbanded.

The Army was reformed in July 1942 for the third time from the 6th Reserve Army, comprising the 45th, 99th, 141st, 160th, 174th, 212th, 219th, and 309th Rifle Divisions plus the 141st Rifle Brigade. It was assigned in sequence to the Voronezh, Southwestern, and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. In January 1943, the 6th Army smashed through the defensive lines of the Alpini divisions of the Italian 8th Army as part of Operation Little Saturn. In 1944 it took part in the Nikopol-Krivoi Rog, Bereznogova-Snigorovka, and Odessa offensives. However in June 1944 it was broken up again, and only reformed in December 1944 with troops posted in from 3rd Guards and 13th Armies. On 1 January 1945 the Army consisted of the 22nd Rifle Corps (218th and 273rd Rifle Divisions), the 74th Rifle Corps (181st and 309th Rifle Divisions), the 359th Rifle Division, the 77th Fortified Region, and other support units. [ [http://www.tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1945/19450101.html Combat Composition of the Soviet Army] , 1 January 1945]

During 1945 the Army took part in the Sandomir-Silesia, and the Lower Silesia offensives. During the Lower Silesia offensive in February 1945, 6th Army besieged Fortress Breslau ("Festung Breslau") in the Battle of Breslau. It then fought in the Bresla offensive.

After the end of World War II, the 6th Army was withdrawn from Germany and stationed briefly in the Orlovskiy Military District before being disbanded in the Voronezh Military District late in 1945. Its second formation was (re)formed in the Leningrad Military District in 1960 with headquarters at Petrozavodsk. In January 1996 it consisted of the 161st Artillery Brigade, the 182nd MRL Regiment, the 485th Separate Helicopter Regiment, the 54th Motor Rifle Division (Allakurtti), the 111th Motor Rifle Division (Sortavala), and the 131st Motor Rifle Division (Pechenga). [Andrew Duncan, 'Russian forces in decline - Part 2,' Jane's Intelligence Review, October 1996, p.444] . It finally disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1997-98.

References and See Also

*http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/a06/arm.html
*Keith E. Bonn, Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 8th Army (Soviet Union) — 8th Army Active 1939 (1939) 1945 Country Soviet Union Branch Red Army Size several …   Wikipedia

  • 9th Army (Soviet Union) — The 9th Army of the Soviet Union s Red Army was a Soviet field army, active from 1939 – 43, and then after the war from 1966 to 1989. It was active during the Winter War against Finland as part of the Leningrad Military District, beginning… …   Wikipedia

  • 5th Army (Soviet Union) — Infobox Military Unit unit name=5th Army caption= country=Soviet Union, Russia type= Field army branch=Red Army, Soviet Army, Russian Ground Forces dates=1939 ndash;current command structure= size= World War II: usually several corps ( 10… …   Wikipedia

  • 4th Army (Soviet Union) — Infobox Military Unit unit name=4th Army caption= country=Soviet Union type= branch=Red Army, Soviet Army dates=1939 circa 1991 2? command structure= Transcaucasian Military District (1950s 1990s) size=two or more Rifle corps garrison=Baku… …   Wikipedia

  • 40th Army (Soviet Union) — Infobox Military Unit unit name=40th Army caption= nickname= motto= colors= march= ceremonial chief= type= branch=Soviet Army dates=1941 1945, 1979 1990 country=Soviet Union allegiance= command structure= size=varied in size; usually several… …   Wikipedia

  • 26th Army (Soviet Union) — The 26th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union s Red Army, active from 1941. Operational history 26th Army was a part of the Southwestern Front (Soviet Union) and defended the Soviet German border between Przemyśl and Carpathian Mountains in… …   Wikipedia

  • 13th Army (Soviet Union) — The 13th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union s Red Army, first created before World War II, which served from about 1939 to the 1990s.It was first formed from Group Kozhevnikov during Russian Civil War and fought on the Soviet Southern… …   Wikipedia

  • 10th Army (Soviet Union) — The 10th Army of the Soviet Union s Red Army was a field army active from 1939 to 1944.The Army was formed in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, and then deployed to the Western Special Military District. During the Soviet invasion… …   Wikipedia

  • 18th Army (Soviet Union) — The 18th Army of the Soviet Union s Red Army was formed on 21 June 1941 on the basis of HQ Kharkov Military District and armies of the Kiev Special Military District. The Army s commander in 1941 was General Leitenant Andrew Kirilovych Smirnov.… …   Wikipedia

  • Air Army (Soviet Union) — An Air Army was a formation of the Soviet Air Force from 1936 until its dissolution in 1991. Air Armies continue to be used in the successor Russian Air Force.The first three Air Armies, designated Air Armies of Special Purpose were created… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”