The 16th Rifle Corps was a corps of the

Soviet 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 ...

, formed twice. It took part in the Soviet invasion of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 1939 and destroyed in the Baltic Operation during

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 ...

. Reformed in 1942, the corps fought through the rest of the war on the Eastern Front, and was disbanded immediately postwar.

History

First formation

The corps was formed in November 1922 at

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

, part of the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at different ...

. It was relocated to

Orsha Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha ...

in October 1923 and

Bryansk Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban layout The location of the settlement was originally ass ...

in November, becoming part of the

Western Military District The Western Military District (russian: Западный военный округ, Zapadnyy voyennyy okrug) is a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, ...

. In January 1924, the corps received the honorific "named for the Bryansk Proletariat", but on 19 November was renamed the 16th Belorussian Territorial Rifle Corps and became a territorial unit after relocating to

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 October. In 1929, the corps was converted back into a regular unit. The 16th Corps fought in the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

in September 1939, occupying what became western Belarus. It became part of the 11th Army by 22 June 1941, under the command of Major General Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov. The corps fought against

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, from 22 June 1941, and was disbanded in August.

Second formation

The second formation became part of the 18th Army, 56th Army and 33rd Army. In 1945 it consisted of the 323rd Rifle Division, 339th Rifle Division, and

383rd Rifle Division The 383rd 'Miners' Rifle Division (russian: 383-я 'шахтёрская' стрелковая дивизия) was a formation of the Red Army, created during the Second World War. The division was officially created on 18 August 1941. It was give ...

as part of the 33rd Army. It was disbanded in July 1945.

Organization

1939: * 2nd Rifle Division * 100th Rifle Division 1941: ( 11th Army, North-Western Front) * 5th Rifle Division *

33rd Rifle Division The 33rd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 at Samara and moved to Belarus in the next year. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 and in the O ...

* 188th Rifle Division

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Soviet Union corps Rifle corps of the Soviet Union Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Soviet invasion of Poland