The 82nd 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, after ...

and later the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

. Formed in mid-1943, the corps served with the 37th Army during most of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It fought in the advance southwest from the

Dnieper } 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 ...

and into Romania and Bulgaria until August 1944. After the advance to Bulgaria it remained there on garrison duty for the rest of the war. Postwar, the corps transferred to the

Odessa Military District The Odesa Military District (russian: Одесский военный округ, ОВО; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operat ...

, where it was renumbered as the

25th Rifle Corps The 25th Army Corps was an army corps of the Soviet Ground Forces active from 1957–1960 and 1980–89. In its first period of existence it was in the Odessa Military District, and in its second period of existence it garrisoned the remote Kamchatk ...

in 1955.

World War II

The corps was formed as part of the 34th Army of the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-cre ...

on 15 July 1943 under the command of Major General

Pavel Kuznetsov Pavel Varfolomevich Kuznetsov (1878–1968) was a Russian painter and graphic artist. Life and career He studied at Saratov at Bogolyubov Art School (1891–1896), then Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1897–1904) and f ...

, who led it for the rest of the war. It initially existed as a headquarters without assigned troops, and transferred to the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the '' Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK ( ru , РВГК)) comprises reserve military formations and units; the Sta ...

in August with the 1st and 10th Guards Airborne Divisions. In September it was transferred to the 37th Army of the

Steppe Front The Steppe Front (russian: Степной фронт) was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had ...

(the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front (2-й Украинский фронт), was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943 the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the Second Jassy–Kishinev O ...

from 20 October), being reinforced by the 188th Rifle Division. The corps fought in the capture of

Left-bank Ukraine Left-bank Ukraine ( uk, Лівобережна Україна, translit=Livoberezhna Ukrayina; russian: Левобережная Украина, translit=Levoberezhnaya Ukraina; pl, Lewobrzeżna Ukraina) is a historic name of the part of Ukrain ...

east of

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; uk, Кременчу́к, Kremenchuk ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnipro River. The city serves as the administrative center of the Kremenchuk Raion (district) in Poltava Oblast (pr ...

, then crossed the

and captured a bridgehead northwest of Mishurin Rog during the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four ...

. Between October and December it attacked towards

Krivoi Rog Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...

. The 1st Guards Airborne was replaced by the

89th Guards Rifle Division The 89th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 1940 formation of the 160th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It would figh ...

in October, and the latter was replaced by the 28th Guards Rifle Division the following month. The

15th Guards Rifle Division The 15th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in February, 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 136th Rifle Division, and served in that role until well after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The di ...

replaced the 10th Guards Airborne in January 1944. Soviet_troops_on_truck_Krivoy_Rog_1944

Transferred to the

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front (Russian: Третий Украинский фронт) was a Front of the Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwester ...

with the army in mid-January, the corps fought in the advance into

Right-bank Ukraine Right-bank Ukraine ( uk , Правобережна Україна, ''Pravoberezhna Ukrayina''; russian: Правобережная Украина, ''Pravoberezhnaya Ukraina''; pl, Prawobrzeżna Ukraina, sk, Pravobrežná Ukrajina, hu, Jobb p ...

during the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, participating in the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive, the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive, and the

Odessa Offensive Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern sho ...

. In these operations it advanced 350 kilometers, crossing the

Inhulets The Inhulets () is a river, a right tributary of the Dnieper, that flows through Ukraine. It has a length of 557 km and a drainage basin of 14,460 km². The Inhulets has its source in the Dnieper Upland in a ravine (balka) to the we ...

Inhul The Inhul ( uk, Інгул) is a left tributary of the Southern Bug (Boh) and is the 14th longest river of Ukraine. It flows through the Kirovohrad and Mykolaiv regions. It starts near the village of Rodnykivka, Oleksandriia Raion in Kirovohra ...

Southern Bug , ''Pivdennyi Buh'' , name_etymology = , image = Sunset S Bug Vinnitsa 2007 G1.jpg , image_size = 270 , image_caption = Southern Bug River in the vicinity of Vinnytsia, Ukraine , map = PietinisBug ...

, and

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

while helping to capture the cities of

Voznesensk Voznesensk ( uk, Вознесенськ, ; russian: Вознесенск) is a city in Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of Ukraine and the administrative center of Voznesensk Raion (district). It hosts the administration of the Voznesensk urban hromada ...

, and

Tiraspol Tiraspol or Tirișpolea ( ro, Tiraspol, Moldovan Cyrillic: Тираспол, ; russian: Тира́споль, ; uk, Тирасполь, Tyraspol') is the capital of Transnistria (''de facto''), a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the th ...

. The 10th Guards Airborne briefly returned to the corps in February and the 15th Guards left it in March. The 10th Guards Airborne was replaced by the

92nd Guards Rifle Division 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

in April; the corps would include the 28th and 92nd Guards and the 188th for the rest of the war. The 82nd fought in the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive and the advance into Bulgaria in August. This was its last combat action, as it spent the rest of the war on garrison duty in Bulgaria.

Postwar

On 10 June 1945, the 82nd became part of the

Southern Group of Forces Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

along with the rest of the 37th Army, when the 3rd Ukrainian Front was redesignated. By spring 1946, the corps had been relocated to

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

in the

. The corps included the 34th Guards Mechanized Division (the former 92nd Guards Rifle Division) at

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( uk, Миколаїв, ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Southern Ukraine, the Administrative centre, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides U ...

, the 28th Guards Rifle Division at Odessa, and the 188th Rifle Division at Voznesensk. The latter was soon transferred to

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...

, where it became the 52nd Separate Rifle Brigade. By 1955, its headquarters had moved to Mykolaiv in the same district. In accordance with a

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

directive of 4 March 1955 and a

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

order of 13 June, the corps was renumbered as the 25th Rifle Corps. The latter was subsequently redesignated as the 25th Army Corps.

Commanders

The following officers are known to have commanded the corps: * Major General

(promoted to Lieutenant General 13 September 1944; 15 July 1943–December 1945) * Major General

Afanasy Gryaznov Afanasy Sergeyevich Gryaznov (; 8 July 1899 – 11 September 1969) was a Soviet Army major general. Gryaznov joined the Red Army during the Russian Civil War and rose to junior command positions after its end. Holding command and staff positions i ...

(December 1945–May 1946) * Lieutenant General Dmitry Kupriyanov (May 1946–18 August 1948) * Lieutenant General Mikhail Moskalik (18 August 1948–18 March 1949) * Lieutenant General Georgy Bukhovets (18 March 1949–July 1952) * Lieutenant General

Pyotr Fomenko Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko (russian: Пётр Нау́мович Фоме́нко; 13 July 1932 in Moscow – 9 August 2012 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater director, teacher, artistic director of the Moscow theater Pyotr Fomenko ...

(July 1952–4 June 1956)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Soviet Union corps Rifle corps of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1955