The 45th Army was a

field army 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

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 ...

in World War II. Formed in late July 1941, the army spent most of the war guarding the Turkish border and disbanded in fall 1945.

History

The 45th Army was formed in late July 1941 in the

Transcaucasian 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 ...

from the

23rd Rifle Corps The 23rd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the 4th Army. It took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. On 22 June 1941 it was part of the Transcaucasian Military District comprising the 136th and 138th Rifl ...

. It included the 138th Mountain Rifle Division, 31st and

136th Rifle Division The 136th Rifle Division was a division in the Red Army during World War II. It was formed three times. 1st Formation 1939 – February 1942: On 22 June 1941 it was part of the 23rd Rifle Corps of the Transcaucasian Military District. Redesigna ...

s, 1st Mountain Cavalry Division, 55th Fortified Area and other units. The army's first commander was Konstantin Baranov. On 23 August, the army became 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 ...

. On 30 December 1941, it was subordinated to the Caucasian Front. The army guarded the Turkish border and covered

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

supply routes going through Iran. In October 1941 Andrei Alexandrovich Kharitonov became temporary commander of the army. Between December 1941 and April 1942 the army was led by Vasily Novikov. In April,

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 ...

became the army's commander. He would command 45th Army for the rest of its existence. The army was headquartered at

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. In July or August 1944, the 133rd Rifle Brigade became part of the army. The 116th Fortified Area joined the army in December 1944 or January 1945.

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. ...

, 1 January 1945 Postwar, it became part of the Tbilisi Military District. In fall 1945, the army included the 261st Rifle Division at

Leninakan Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

, the

349th Rifle Division The 349th Rifle Division formed in September, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Astrakhan. It was assigned to the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, and first saw action in January, 1942, during the winter counteroffensive, b ...

Akhaltsikhe Akhaltsikhe ( ka, ახალციხე ), formerly known as Lomsia ( ka, ლომსია), is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region (''mkhare'') of Samtskhe–Javakheti. It is situated on both banks of a small river Potskhovi (a left ...

, and the 402nd Rifle Division at

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 th ...

. The army also included five fortified areas: the 51st at Batumi, the 55th at Leninakan, the 69th at

Echmiadzin Vagharshapat ( hy, Վաղարշապատ ) is the 4th-largest city in Armenia and the most populous municipal community of Armavir Province, located about west of the capital Yerevan, and north of the closed Turkish-Armenian border. It is comm ...

, the 78th at Akhaltsikhe, and the 116th at

Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr; hy, Ախալքալաք / Նոր-Քաղաք, translit=Axalk’alak’ / Nor-K’aġak’) is a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Ak ...

. The army was disbanded in fall 1945. Both its

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

and

13th Rifle Corps The 13th Rifle Corps () was a rifle corps of the Red Army, first formed in 1922. On October 12, 1922, the Corps began forming in the Turkestan Front. Alexander Todorsky became the corps commander. The corps participated in the suppression of the B ...

and a number of divisions ( 261st, 296th, 349th, 392nd, 402nd, 406th Rifle Divisions) existed for a long time, and some until the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, 349th Rifle Division was disbanded by 1946.

Commanders

* Major General Konstantin Baranov (July - October 1941) * Colonel Andrei A. Kharitonov (October - December 1941) * Major General Vasily Novikov (December 1941 - April 1942) * Lieutenant-General

(April 1942 - until the end of the war)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 045 Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946