The 32nd Rifle Corps was a corps of the
Red Army during
World War II, formed twice. Each formation was a distinct unit, unrelated to the other.
First formation
The corps headquarters formed in the
Transbaikal Military District in September 1939. It was commanded by Major General
Trofim Kolomiets
Trofim Kolomiets (1894 – April 1971) was a Soviet Army commander.
Biography
Kolomiets was born in Elisavetgrad, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine). He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World W ...
, its second and last commander, from 29 November 1939. On 22 June 1941 the corps included the
46th and
152nd Rifle Division
Fifteen or 15 may refer to:
*15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16
*one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015
Music
*Fifteen (band), a punk rock band
Albums
* ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005
* ''15'' (Ani Lorak album) ...
s and was part of the
16th Army. The corps and the 16th Army were transferred west and became part of the
Southwestern Front in late June. On 2 July they were transferred to the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
after the German breakthrough in the
Battle of Białystok–Minsk. The units of the corps were committed in attempts to recapture
Smolensk in mid-July. As the 152nd Rifle Division was placed under direct army control, the corps headquarters was left with only the 46th Division under its control by 17 July. The corps headquarters was disbanded on 15 August 1941 as the Red Army eliminated most corps headquarters due to command and control difficulties.
Second formation
The corps headquarters was reformed as part of the
3rd Guards Army
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 o ...
in late April and early May 1943 under the command of Major General
Dmitry Zherebin, who commanded it for its entire existence. The corps later served with the
5th Guards Army
The 5th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought in many critical actions during World War II under the command of General Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov. The 5th Guards Army was formed in spring 1943 from the 66th Army in recognition o ...
and the
5th Shock Army
The 5th Shock Army was a Red Army field army of World War II. The army was formed on 9 December 1942 by redesignating the 10th Reserve Army. The army was formed two times prior to this with neither formation lasting more than a month before bein ...
and fought in the
Donbass Strategic Offensive, the
Nikopol–Krivoy Rog Offensive, the
Uman–Botoșani Offensive, the
Warsaw–Poznan Offensive, the
East Pomeranian Offensive, and the
Berlin Offensive. The corps captured a bridgehead on the left bank of
Oder
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows thr ...
and later took
Kustrin between 30 January and 30 March 1945. It broke through German defenses and participated in the capture of the
Berlin city center between 16 April and 2 May. For his leadership of the corps Zherebin was made a
Hero of the Soviet Union and the corps received the honorific Berlin.
Postwar, the 32nd served as part of the 5th Shock Army of the
Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany. The corps headquarters was disbanded in December 1946. Its
60th Guards Rifle Division was disbanded, while the
295th Rifle Division
The 295th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and later the Soviet Army, formed twice.
The 295th's first formation was formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed within months during the Battle of Kiev. Refo ...
was sent to the North Caucasus and the
18th Mechanized Division transferred to the
3rd Shock Army
The 3rd Shock Army (russian: Третья ударная армия) was a field army of the Red Army formed during the Second World War. The "Shock" armies were created with the specific structure to engage and destroy significant enemy forces ...
.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Soviet Union corps
Rifle corps of the Soviet Union