The 13th Army (, ) was a name given to several
field armies
A field army (or numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, and with ...
of the
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 ...
's
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
. Later armies existed until the 1990s, and the army survived as part of the
Ukrainian Ground Forces
The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the Army, land forces of Ukraine and one of the five Military branch, branches of the Armed For ...
for some years.
Russo-Finnish War
The 13th Army was created again at the end of December 1939 as a ''separate 13th Army'' in the course of the Soviet advance into the Karelian Isthmus when the 7th Army was split into two, and also renamed separate, after being substantially reinforced. As part of the 1940 February Vyborg offensive they were coordinated by the North Western Front in Leningrad, both armies were able to breach either first or second defensive positions in the
Mannerheim Line
The Mannerheim Line ( fi, Mannerheim-linja, sv, Mannerheimlinjen) was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. While this was never an officially designated name, during the Winter War it ...
, but were unable to breach the main position. The separate 13th Army was allocated three of the eight rifle corps assigned to the operation.
Commanders
*
Vladimir Grendal (25 December 1939 – March 1940)
*
Filipp Parusinov
Fillip Alekseevich Parusinov (November 27, 1893 – October 25, 1973) was a Soviet army group commander. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks in the subsequent civil war. He was promoted to P ...
(March 1940 – April 1940).
World War II
The 13th Army (1st formation)
headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
was formed in May 1941 in the
Western Special Military District
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
, starting on 5 May in
Mogilev
Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...
in accordance with the decision of
Central Committee of the Communist Party
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the ...
and
Sovnarkom
The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...
of the USSR No.1113-460cc. dated 23 April 1941. It was intended to comprised 21st,
2nd, and 44th Rifle Corps. In the beginning of June
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Pyotr Filatov
Pyotr Mikhailovich Filatov (russian: Пётр Михайлович Филатов; 18 August 1893 – 14 July 1941) was a Red Army lieutenant general. A veteran of World War I, Filatov rose to brigade command during the Russian Civil War and was de ...
arrived to take command. From the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
the Army included the
21st Rifle Corps
The 21st Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the Western Front. It took part in the Great Patriotic War.
The headquarters formed in the Moscow Military District in September 1939. Assigned to the WSMD with the 17th, ...
,
50th Rifle Division, the
8th Anti-Tank Artillery Brigade and a number of other separate units. From the end of June 1941 the Army conducted defensive operations in the
Minsk Fortified Region, on the Borisov direction and on the
Dnieper river
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...
. The formation conducted operations as part of the
Soviet Western Front
The Western Front was a front of the Red Army, one of the Red Army Fronts during World War II.
The Western Front was created on 22 June 1941 from the Western Special Military District (which before July 1940 was known as Belorussian Special ...
and the
Soviet Central Front
The Central Front was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War formed on July 24, 1941.
The Central Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war.
The first entity existed for just a month during th ...
. Parts of the Army held up the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
advance for almost three weeks near
Mogilyev. The
172nd Rifle Division under Major General
Mikhail Romanov
Michael I ( Russian: Михаил Фёдорович Романов, ''Mikhaíl Fyódorovich Románov'') () became the first Russian tsar of the House of Romanov after the Zemskiy Sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia.
He ...
especially distinguished itself in the combat. Parts of the Army participated in the
Battle of Smolensk from 10 July to 10 September 1941. During September and October 1941 the Army was operating as part of the
Bryansk Front
The Bryansk Front (russian: Брянский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War.
First Formation (August - November 1941)
General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first fo ...
and included the
6th Rifle Division.
The Army fought as part of the
Central Front
The Central Front was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War formed on July 24, 1941.
The Central Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war.
The first entity existed for just a month during th ...
in the
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
in July 1943 under General
N.P. Pukhov, numbering four corps with twelve rifle divisions (including the
75th Guards Rifle Division
The 75th Guards Rifle Division () was a Red Army infantry division during World War II and afterwards, which later became the 75th Guards Tank Division and was finally disbanded in the 1990s.
The 75th Guards Rifle Division was redesignated at the ...
). The Army finished its war service in Germany within the
1st Ukrainian Front
The 1st Ukrainian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front (Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a ...
in 1945, consisting of the
24th Rifle Corps
The 24th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army. It was part of the 27th Army and took part in the Great Patriotic War. It appears to have been initially formed in the Kalinin Military District, around what is today Tver, in 1939. In 1940 it wa ...
(
117th Guards Rifle Division,
280th Rifle Division
The 280th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, formed twice. It was first formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed in the Battle of Bryansk (1941), Bryansk pocket in the fall of 1941. The ...
,
395th Rifle Division), 27th Rifle Corps (
6th Guards Rifle Division and
121st Guards Rifle Division), 102nd Rifle Corps (
147th Rifle Division and 172nd Rifle Divisions, which took part in the
Battle of Halbe
The Battle of Halbe (german: Kesselschlacht von Halbe, russian: Хальбский котёл, Halbe pocket) was a battle lasting from April 24 – May 1, 1945 in which the German Ninth Army—under the command of General Theodor Busse—was des ...
),
17th Artillery Division, and many other smaller artillery and other formations.
Commanders
* Lieutenant General Pyotr Filatov (25.05 - 8.07.1941)
* Lieutenant General
Fyodor Remezov
Fyodor Nikitich Remezov (; 6 June 1990) was a Soviet Army general during World War II who commanded several armies and military districts.
Remezov joined the Red Army in 1918 and fought in the Russian Civil War as a junior commander. After the ...
(9-13.07.1941)
* Lieutenant General
Vasyl Herasymenko
Vasyl Herasymenko ( uk, Василь Пилипович Герасименко) was a Soviet military leader from Ukraine who was nominally and temporarily appointed the People's Commissar of Defense of the Ukrainian SSR in 1944-45.
Biography
Vas ...
(14-26.07.1941)
* Major General
Konstantin Golubev
Konstantin Dmitryevich Golubev (27 March 1896 – 9 June 1956) was a Soviet general and army commander.
He was born in Petrovsk, Saratov Governorate (in present-day Saratov Oblast). He fought in World War I in the Imperial Russian Army before goi ...
(26.07 - 30.08.1941)
* Major General Auxentios Gorodnyansky (31.08.1941 - 2.01.1942)
* Major General
Nikolai Pukhov (3.01.1942 - 3.06.1946), from 14 February 1943 Lieutenant General, from 26 August 1944 Colonel-General
* Colonel General
Mikhail Shumilov
Mikhail Stepanovich Shumilov (; November 17, 1895 – June 28, 1975) was a Soviet Colonel general and commander of the 64th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. There he defended the southern outskirts of the city and the bridgehead of Beketov ...
(4.06.1946 – 18.02.1947)
* Colonel General
Issa Pliyev
Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev (also spelled as ''Pliev''; os, Плиты Алыксандры фырт Иссæ; russian: Исса Александрович Плиев; — 2 February 1979) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander. Pliyev wo ...
(19.02.1947 – 19.04.1948)
* Colonel General
Ivan Lyudnikov
Ivan Ilyich Lyudnikov, (russian: Иван Ильич Людников; Krivaya Kosa (Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire), – Moscow 22 April 1976) was a Soviet Army Colonel General and Hero of the Soviet Union.
Early life
Ivan Lyudnikov was b ...
(20.04.1948 – 2.12.1949)
* Lieutenant General Alexander Nechaev (3.12.1949 – 8.01.1953)
* Lieutenant General
Nikolay Oleshev (9.01.1953 – 5.04.1954)
* Lieutenant General
Gleb Baklanov
, birth_date =
, death_date =
, image =
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, birth_place = Moscow, Russian Empire
, death_place = Moscow, Soviet Union
, placeofburial = Novodevichy Cemetery
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...
(6.04.1954 – 23.02.1959)
Soviet Army
The Army was located for the entire postwar period in the
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
and
Carpathian Military District
The Red Banner Carpathian Military District (, ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period.
It was established on 3 May 1946 on the ...
s, initially comprising three
Rifle Corps A rifle corps (russian: стрелковый корпус, translit=strelkovyy korpus) was a Soviet corps-level military formation during the mid-twentieth century. Rifle corps were made up of a varying number of rifle divisions, although the allo ...
with a total of nine rifle divisions. From 1947 to 1949 it was commanded by General
Issa Pliyev
Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev (also spelled as ''Pliev''; os, Плиты Алыксандры фырт Иссæ; russian: Исса Александрович Плиев; — 2 February 1979) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander. Pliyev wo ...
who was a renowned commander of several
Cavalry mechanized groups during the war. It was for much of this period headquartered at
Rovno
Rivne (; uk, Рівне ),) also known as Rovno (Russian: Ровно; Polish: Równe; Yiddish: ראָוונע), is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the surrounding Rivne Raio ...
. Almost all its divisions were Guards formations: the 17th,
51st,
97th (the former 40th, 15th, and
97th Rifle Divisions). Only the
24th (subsequently resubordinated to Military District control) and the
161st Rifle Division were not Guards, but both were renowned combat formations.
In 1960 the following divisions were assigned:
*
15th Guards Motor Rifle Division
15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16.
Mathematics
15 is:
* A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and .
* A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious nu ...
(Vladimir-Volynskiy, Volynskaya Oblast) (former 51 Guards Rifle Division
*
24th Motor Rifle Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
(Yavorov, Lvov Oblast)
*
97th Guards Motor Rifle Division
The 97th Guards Mechanized Brigade () was a rifle, and then a motor-rifle division of the Soviet Union's Army, before becoming a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based in Slavuta in western Ukraine.
The full name of the divis ...
(Slavuta, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)(former 97 Guards Rifle Division)
*
99th Motor Rifle Division (Izyaslav, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
In 1960 the 24th Motor Rifle Division was transferred to district control. In January 1965 the 99th Motor Rifle Division was redesignated the 161st Motor Rifle Division.
On 22 February 1968 the army was awarded the
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...
.
In 1970 the following divisions were assigned:
*51st Guards Motor Rifle Division (Vladimir-Volynskiy, Volynskaya Oblast)
*97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Slavuta, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
*161st Motor Rifle Division (Izyaslav, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
In 1970 the 275th Motor Rifle Division (mobilisation) was activated, and the 62nd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade was transferred from the 8th Tank Army.
In 1980 the following divisions were assigned:
*51st Guards Motor Rifle Division (Vladimir-Volynskiy, Volynskaya Oblast)
*97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Slavuta, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
*
161st Motor Rifle Division (Izyaslav, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
*275th Motor Rifle Division (mobilisation) (Izyaslav, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
In 1987 the 275th Motor Rifle Division (mobilisation) was disbanded.
Divisions in 1988:
*51st Guards Motor Rifle Division (Vladimir-Volynskiy, Volynskaya Oblast)
*97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Slavuta, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
*161st Motor Rifle Division (Izyaslav, Khmelnitskiy Oblast)
Also part of the army in the late 1980s were the 119th and 442nd Independent Helicopter Regiments (Mi-24s), 62nd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (
Lyuboml), 49th Independent Engineer Regiment, and 38th Rocket Brigade (
Kremenets
Kremenets ( uk, Крем'янець, Кременець, translit. ''Kremianets'', ''Kremenets''; pl, Krzemieniec; yi, קרעמעניץ, Kremenits) is a city in Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center o ...
). In January 1992, the army, its facilities and most of the equipment was transferred to the newly-sovereign
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
Ukrainian Army
On 18 March 1992, in accordance with Decree No. 161 of the President of Ukraine, Major General
Petro Shulyak
Petro Ivanovych Shulyak ( uk, Петро Іванович Шуляк; born 29 March 1945, in Korshiv, Zdolbuniv Raion, Ukrainian SSR) is a member of the Ukrainian military, Colonel General who served as the Chief of General Staff and Commander ...
was assigned as the army commander.
Oleksandr Zatynaiko later became commander. On 27 December 1993, the 13th Army was redesignated as the
13th Army Corps.
See also
*
Battle of Kursk order of battle
Notes
References
*
*V.I. Feskov et al. 2004
*A. M. Vasilevsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union: A Lifelong Cause,
Progress Publishers
Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931.
Publishing program
Progress Publishers published books in a variety of languages: Russian, English, and many other European and Asian languages. They issued many scientific b ...
, 1981
{{Armies of the Soviet Army
Field armies of the Soviet Union, 013
Military units and formations established in 1919
Military units and formations disestablished in the 1990s
Armies of Ukraine