The 13th Rifle Corps () was a

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 ...

of the

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, afte ...

, first formed in 1922. On October 12, 1922, the Corps began forming in the

Turkestan Front The Turkestan Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, which was formed on the territory of Turkestan Military District by Order of the Republic of Turkestan on February 23, 1919. It was formed a second time by the directi ...

Alexander Todorsky Alexander Ivanovich Todorsky (8 September 1894 – 27 August 1965) was a Soviet general and komkor (corps commander). He fought for the Imperial Russian Army in World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks in the subsequent Civil War. Biogra ...

became the corps commander. The corps participated in the suppression of the Basmachi movement and was disbanded in 1935.

1922–1935 formation

On October 12, 1922, the Commander of the

issued Order No. 345 on the formation of the 13th Rifle Corps from units located in the Bukhara People's Republic and

Samarkand Oblast The Samarkand Oblast (russian: Самаркандская область) was an oblast (province) of the Russian Empire between 1868 and 1924. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day central Uzbekistan and northwestern Tajikistan. It was c ...

. The headquarters was established in the city of Novaya Bukhara. The corps was led by its Revolutionary Military Council. On October 12, 1922, the commander of the Turkestan Front issued Order No. 1436/575, in which the headquarters of the abolished Bukhara group of troops turned on the formation of Management 13th RC.TSGSA . F.895 , 672 etc.; 1922 - 1926.Website "Archives of Russia ." Central State Archive of the Soviet Army. In April–May 1923, the Revolutionary Military Council in housing were subject to Bukhara of the Red Army. Corps units were involved in the fight against Basmachis in Bukhara and Samarkand Oblasts. The Turkestan Front became the

Central Asian Military District The Red Banner Central Asian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, which existed in 1926–1945 and 1969–1989, with its headquarters at Tashkent (1926–1945) and Almaty (1969–1989). By USSR Order No.304 of 4 ...

in June 1926, and the corps its assignment with the latter. Its headquarters moved to Samarkand in October 1926. The corps headquarters was relocated to

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

when it transferred to 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 ...

in September 1927. Its headquarters was again shifted to Sverdlovsk in 1931 and there it briefly became part of the

Ural Military District The Red Banner Ural Military DistrictHistory of the Ural Military District / Edited by Alexander Egorovsky, Ivan Tutarinov – 1 – Moscow: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, 1970 – 352 Pages – 11,500 ...

in July 1935 before being disbanded in the same month.

First wartime formation (1936–1941)

The corps was reformed in the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exis ...

(КВО) in accordance with Order No. 194 of the military district of December 5, 1936, assigned to the 12th Army. Headquarters was located in the city of

Belaya Tserkov Bila Tserkva ( uk, Бі́ла Це́рква ; ) is a city in the center of Ukraine, the largest city in Kyiv Oblast (after Kyiv, which is the administrative center, but not part of the oblast), and part of the Right Bank. It serves as the admi ...

. Reformed 1936, in 12th Army, Kiev Special Military District, under General Major N.K. Kirillov, with 44th, 58th, and 192nd Mountain Rifle Divisions on 22 June 1941. The corps headquarters was disbanded in August of that year.

Second wartime formation (1942) and 31st Army Corps service

The corps headquarters was formed again on 13 October 1942 as part of the

Transcaucasian Front Transcaucasian Front or Transcaucasus Front (russian: Закавказский Фронт) was a front of the Soviet Red Army—a military formation comparable to an army group, not a geographic military front—during the Second World War. Th ...

, with which it spent the war. For most of 1945, the corps included the

392nd Rifle Division The 392nd Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served during the Great Patriotic War in that role. It was formed in August in the Transcaucasus Military District as a Georgian National division. It saw its ...

and the 94th Rifle Brigade.

Combat composition of the Soviet Army ''Boevoi sostav Sovetskoi armii'' ("Combat composition of the Soviet army") is an official Second World War Soviet Army order of battle published in five parts from 1963 through 1990 by the Voroshilov Academy of the General Staff and Voenizdat. ...

, 1945, via Soldat.ru. On 1 January 1948, still with

Transcaucasus Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Grou ...

, comprising

10th Guards Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

and

414th Rifle Division The 414th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army; very briefly in the winter of 1941/42, then from the spring of 1942 until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially considered a Georgians, Georgia ...

. The corps was redesignated as the 13th Mountain Rifle Corps in 1949. By 1951 it included the 10th Guards Mountain Rifle Division, and 145th Mountain Rifle Division, and was still in that configuration in 1954. The 13th Mountain Rifle Corps was disbanded by being redesignated 31st Special Rifle Corps on 1 July 1956, and then successively 31st Special Army Corps (1 October 1957) and 31st Army Corps (9 May 1961). In February 1962 the 145th Mountain Rifle Division was renamed the 145th Motor Rifle Division. On 1 June 1962 the 10th Guards Mountain Rifle Division was renamed

10th Guards Motor Rifle Division The 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division was a division of the Soviet Ground Forces. The full name of its predecessor division was the ''10th Guards Rifle Pechengskii, Twice Order of the Red Banner, Order of Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Red Star ...

. Formations in 1970 included: *

(Akhaltsikhe, Georgian SSR) * 145th Motor Rifle Division (Batumi,

Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Adjarian ASSR or Adzhar ASSR; ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა; russian: Адж� ...

) * 147th Motor Rifle Division (Akhalkalaki, Georgian SSR) * 6th Fortified Area (Akhaltsikhe,

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

) * 8th Fortified Area (

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of t ...

(Erge),

)

Commanders

*May 1923 - April 1925 :

*April 1924 – November 1925:

Ivan Fedko Ivan Fyodorovich Fedko (Russian: Ива́н Фёдорович Федько́; July 6, 1897 – February 26, 1939) was a Soviet Komandarm 1st rank and army commander. He was born in what is now the Left-bank Ukraine. He fought in the Imperial Russi ...

*July 1930 – 1933?:

Vitaly Primakov Vitaliy Markovich Primakov ( rus, Виталий Маркович Примаков, Vitaliy Markovich Primakov; uk, Віталій Маркович Примаков) (3 December 1897 – 12 June 1937) was a Soviet revolutionary, military le ...

*August 1932 – January 1934:

Semyon Uritsky Semyon Petrovich Uritsky (russian: Семён Петро́вич Ури́цкий; March 2, 1895 – August 1, 1938) was a Soviet General. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks. He was promo ...

*February 1934 – 1935: Andrei Sazontov *February 1938 - August 1941

Nikolai Kirillov Nikolai or Nikolay is an East Slavic variant of the masculine name Nicholas. It may refer to: People Royalty * Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855), or Nikolay I, Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855 * Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918), or Nik ...

1922–1935 formation

First wartime formation (1936–1941)

Second wartime formation (1942) and 31st Army Corps service

Commanders

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading