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278th Rifle Division
The 278th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, formed three times. The division was first formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed in the Bryansk pocket in the fall of that year. Reformed in January 1942, the division's second formation became a guards division for its actions in the Battle of Stalingrad. Formed a third time in the summer of 1943 in the Soviet Far East, the division fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August and September 1945 before being disbanded in the fall of that year. History First Formation The 278th began forming on 10 July 1941 at Livny in the Orel Military District. Its basic order of battle included the 851st, 853rd, and the 855th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 847th Artillery Regiment. On 15 August, the division was assigned to the 50th Army of the Bryansk Front. Just before Operation Typhoon, the German offensive on Moscow, began in late September, the division's 855th Rif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
38th Army (Soviet Union)
The 38th Red Banner Army was a field army of the Soviet Union that existed between 1941 and 1991. August 1941 to January 1942 The 38th Army was formed on 4 August 1941 after a large Soviet force had been surrounded by Axis forces in the area of Uman in the western Ukraine. Under the command of Lieutenant-General Dmitry Ryabyshev, 38th Army was based on the forces and headquarters of the 8th Mechanised Corps and incorporated other Soviet units then in the Cherkassy area. The army was subordinated to the Soviet Southwestern Front command, and Riabyshev's task was to defend the line of the Dnepr upriver from Kremenchuk, a task that became more urgent after the Soviet forces at Uman surrendered on 12 August and German forces began to close up to the Dnepr. On 30 August Riabyshev was assigned to command Soviet forces further south and Major-General Nikolay Feklenko was appointed to the command of 38th Army. By then 38th Army (based on seven rifle divisions, four cavalry divisions a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
17th Army (Soviet Union)
The 17th Army of the Red Army was a Soviet field army. Formed in 1940, the army served in the Soviet Far East during World War II and fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. It was disbanded postwar in mid-1946. History The 17th Army was formed from the 1st Army Group of the Transbaikal Military District on 21 June 1940. From 1941 to 1945, the army assumed a general defensive posture, including within Mongolia. On 22 June 1941 it included the 57th and 61st Tank Divisions, and the 36th and 57th Motor Rifle and 82nd Rifle Divisions. On 15 September, the Transbaikal Military District became the Transbaikal Front. During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the army was assigned to the Transbaikal Front. On the night of 9 August 1945, without artillery and air support, the 17th Army began the attack. By the end of the day the main forces of the army had advanced 50 kilometers, and the best part of the passing of the day, about 70 miles, reached the area of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
36th Army (Soviet Union)
The 36th Army was a military formation of the Red Army and the Soviet Ground Forces, formed twice. Formed in mid-1941, the army spent much of World War II as part of the Transbaikal Military District guarding the Manchurian and Mongolian-Soviet borders. During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, the army advanced over the Greater Khingan mountains and overran the Japanese Hailar fortified region in fierce fighting. It was disbanded after the end of the war in mid-1948. The army was reformed in 1976 from the 86th Army Corps, which had been itself established in 1968 as a result of rising Sino-Soviet tensions. It garrisoned the Transbaikal until being reduced to the 55th Army Corps in 1989 as the Cold War ended. First formation Garrison duty in the Transbaikal The army was formed in July 1941 in the Transbaikal Military District from the 12th Rifle Corps, under the command of Major General Sergey Fomenko, promoted to lieutenant general on 16 October 1943. It in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transbaikal Front
The Transbaikal Front (russian: Забайкальский фронт) was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air Army was added to the front, and, finally, in June–July 1945 the 39th and the 53rd armies, the 6th Guards Tank Army, and the Soviet Mongolian Cavalry Mechanized Group under Issa Pliyev. From September 1941 to January 1945, the Transbaikal Front sent to the Soviet fronts in Europe about 300,000 personnel, 1,440 tanks, and 2,230 guns. On November 1, 1941, the Front included the 17th Army with the 36th and 57th Motor Rifle Divisions and the 61st Tank Division, and four air divisions (two fighter, one bomber, and the 84th Mixed Aviation Division), the 36th Army with the 94th Rifle Division, the 210th Rifle Division, the 51st Cavalry Division, and the 31st and 32nd Fortified Regions, the 111th Tank Division, two independent tank batt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
60th Guards Rifle Division
The 60th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 278th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The division was formed in the 3rd Guards Army of Southwestern Front and immediately continued operations in the Soviet winter counteroffensive. In the spring of the year the Front was forced over to the defensive, but by August the division was part of the 1st Guards Army, fighting into the Donbass and towards the Dniepr River, winning a battle honor in the process. From late October into late November the 60th Guards helped force several crossings of that river in the Zaporozhe area and several dozen personnel were awarded the gold star as Heroes of the Soviet Union. During the winter it took part in the fighting around Krivoi Rog in the Dniepr bend, now as part of the 6th Army in the redesignated 3rd Ukrainian Front. In May, 1944 as it reached t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eighth Army (Italy)
The 8th Army ( it, 8ª Armata) was a field army of the Royal Italian Army, which fought in World War I and on the Eastern Front during World War II. World War I After the disastrous defeat at Caporetto (November 1917) the Italian Army was completely reorganized by Armando Diaz and the new 8th Italian Army was formed under command of Enrico Caviglia. It consisted of : * 4th Army corps * the assault corps of General Francesco Saverio Grazioli. It participated in the successful Battle of the Piave River (June 1918) and Battle of Vittorio Veneto (October-november 1918). World War II In February 1940, the 8th Army was formed and based in Northern Italy. It was disbanded on 31 October 1940. It was recreated in July 1942, when the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia was expanded by Mussolini and named ''Armata Italiana in Russia'' (ARMIR). For further details see : * Italian Army in Russia * Italian participation on the Eastern Front Commanders * General Adalberto, Duke of Berg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Little Saturn
Operation Little Saturn was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Don and Chir rivers region in German-occupied Soviet Union territory in 16–30 December 1942. The success of Operation Uranus, launched on 19 November 1942, had trapped 250,000 troops of General Friedrich Paulus' German 6th Army and parts of General Hoth's 4th Panzer Army in Stalingrad. To exploit this victory, the Soviet general staff planned an ambitious offensive with Rostov-on-Don as the ultimate objective, codenamed "Saturn". Later Joseph Stalin reduced his ambitious plans to a relatively smaller operation codenamed "Little Saturn". The offensive succeeded in smashing the Axis troops and applied pressure on the over-stretched German forces in Eastern Ukraine. Another counter-offensive south of the Don prevented further German advances to the relief of the entrapped forces at Stalingrad. With subsequent operations, in January and February 1943, the Soviet armies ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
6th Army (Wehrmacht)
The 6th Army was a field army unit of the German Wehrmacht during World War II (1939–1945). It was widely remembered for being the most highly decorated German army unit until its defeat by the Red Army at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. It also acquired a reputation for the war crimes (such as the massacre of more than 30,000 Jews at Babi Yar in September 1941) that it committed under the command of Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau during Operation Barbarossa. Western campaigns Originally numbered as the 10th Army, this Army formed on 10 October 1939 with General Walther von Reichenau in command. Its primary mission was to guard the western defenses of Germany against British and French attacks during the Polish campaign. During the invasion of the Low Countries the 6th Army saw active service linking up with paratroopers and destroying fortifications at Eben Emael, Liège, and Namur during the Battle of Belgium. The 6th Army was then involved in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3rd Guards Army (Soviet Union)
The 3rd Guards Army () was a field army of the Soviet Red Army that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The army fought in the Battle of Berlin, during which it mopped up German resistance around Cottbus. 1942 to 1945 It was formed on December 5, 1942 by the redesignation of the 1st Guards Army (Second formation), in accordance with a Stavka order dated the same day, as part of the Southwestern Front. Lieutenant General Dmitry Lelyushenko was appointed to command the formation, and held the reins until March 1943 (and subsequently from August 1943 to February 1944). Up to the middle of December the army comprised the 14th Rifle Corps, 50th Guards, 197th, 203rd and 278th Rifle Divisions, 90th and 94th Separate Rifle Brigades, the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps, the 22nd Motor Rifle Brigade and three separate tank regiments. It began combat operations during Operation Little Saturn in mid-December, defeating German troops on the Middle Don and frustrating Operatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1st Guards Army (Soviet Union)
The 1st Guards Army was a Soviet Guards field army that fought on the Eastern Front during World War II. First Formation On August 6, 1942, the army formed from the 2nd Reserve Army with five Guards Rifle Divisions, the 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st. On August 9, the army was incorporated into Southeastern Front. On August 18, it was transferred to the Stalingrad Front (renamed Don Front on September 30). During the German Sixth Army's assault on Stalingrad in August 1942, the Red Army launched a counter-offensive to drive the German forces back. The 1st Guards Army and the 24th Army launched the attack. Little success was met. The 1st Guards Army managed an advance of just a few miles, while the 24th Army was pushed back right into its start-line. On October 16, 1942, the headquarters of the army transferred into Stavka reserve and its troops transferred to the 24th Army. On 25 October 1942 the army was disbanded, its headquarters was converted to the field ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus (russian: Опера́ция «Ура́н», Operatsiya "Uran") was the codename of the Soviet Red Army's 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The Red Army carried out the operation at roughly the midpoint of the five-month long Battle of Stalingrad, aiming to destroy German forces in and around Stalingrad. Planning for Operation Uranus had commenced in September 1942, and developed simultaneously with plans to envelop and destroy German Army Group Center (Operation Mars) and German forces in the Caucasus. Due to the length of the front lines created by the German 1942 summer offensive, which had aimed at taking the Caucasus oil fields and the city of Stalingrad, German and other Axis forces were over-extended. The German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
