The 15th Air Army was a military formation of the
Soviet Air Forces
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
, active from July 1942 until December 1993.
History
It was formed between 11 July and 15 August 1942, in accordance with the directive of the commander of the
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
of 10 July 1942, on the basis of the Air Force of the
Bryansk Front
The Bryansk Front (russian: Брянский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War.
First Formation (August - November 1941)
General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first fo ...
. The formation of the army began in the village of Pavlovka (18 km southeast of the city of
Yelets
Yelets, or Elets (russian: Еле́ц), is a city in Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Bystraya Sosna River, which is a tributary of the Don. Population:
History
Yelets is the oldest center of the Central Black Earth Region. It was ment ...
) in the
Lipetsk Oblast
Lipetsk Oblast (russian: Липецкая область, Lipetskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Lipetsk. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,173,513.
Geography
Lipets ...
.
The 15th Air Army received its baptism of fire in the autumn of 1942, participating in the defensive battles near Voronezh and in the elimination of the enemy's foothold on the left bank of the Don. In the winter of 1943, it supported the front troops in the
Voronezh–Kastornoye operation.
In May 1943 it participated in an air operation to destroy German aircraft at airfields.
In July-August 1943, as part of the
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
, she participated in the
Orlov Strategic Offensive, and in September 1943, it supported the front troops in the
Bryansk Offensive
The second Smolensk operation (7 August – 2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simultaneously with the Lower Dnieper Offensive (13 Aug ...
.
In October 1943, the Army was transferred to the
2nd Baltic Front
The 2nd Baltic Front (russian: 2-й Прибалтийский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War.
History
The 2nd Baltic Front was formed on October 20, 1943 as a result of the renaming of the Baltic ...
, where it fought in the
Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive and
Riga Offensive (1944).
In 1945, the Army participated in the elimination of
Army Group Courland
Army Group Courland (german: Heeresgruppe Kurland) was a German Army Group on the Eastern Front which was created from remnants of the Army Group North, isolated in the Courland Peninsula by the advancing Soviet Army forces during the 1944 Balt ...
and German forces in the
Klaipeda area (January-February 1945).
On 1 May 1945 the Army comprised
5th Bomber Aviation Corps (4th, 5th Guards Bomber Aviation Divisions);
14th Fighter Aviation Corps (185th, 315th Fighter Aviation Divisions); the 284th, 313th Night Bomber Aviation Divisions; the 214th, 225th, 305th Assault Aviation Divisions; the 336th Fighter Aviation Division; four separate regiments: the 99th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment; the 187th Fire Correction Aviation Regiment; the 699th Transport Aviation Regiment; the 97th Aviation Regiment of the Civil Air Fleet, and the 87th Night Bomber Aviation Squadron. There were also the 1639th, 1683rd, and 1685th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments.
Also part of the Army was the 1003rd Separate Medical Evacuation Aviation Regiment.
During World War II, in total, 15th Air Army pilots made some 160,000 sorties.
After 1945
The 315th Fighter Aviation Division, and within it the
50th Fighter Aviation Regiment, was part of the army from July 1945 to August 1946.
In the post-war period, the army was part of the
Baltic Military District
The Baltic Military District () was a military district of the Soviet armed forces in the Baltic states, formed briefly before the Operation Barbarossa, German invasion during the World War II. After end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added ...
.
The 15th Air Army was renamed the 30th Air Army between 20 February 1949 and 4 April 1968.
The 15th Air Army was renamed the Air Forces of the Baltic Military District between December 1977 and May 1988. In spring 1980, the 899th Fighter Aviation Regiment, part of the 1st Guards Stalingradsko-Berlinskaya Red Banner Fighter Aviation Division, 15th Air Army, moved from Riga-Rumbula also in Latvia to
Lielvārde airfield. In July 1981 the regiment was redesignated as a Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment and shifted to the 39th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, still within the Air Forces, but now within the Air Forces of the Baltic Military District, as it had become.
On 1 January 1991 the 15th Air Army consisted of the:
*79th Separate Communications Regiment (Riga)
*249th Separate Mixed Aviation Squadron (Riga) with 7 Mi-8, 1 Mi-6 and a few transport aircraft
*285th Separate Electronic Warfare Helicopter Squadron (Jelgava, Riga area) with 19 Mi-8
*886th
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...
"Stalingrad" Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (
Jēkabpils
Jēkabpils (; german: Jakobstadt; pl, Jakubów) is a state city in Jēkabpils Municipality in southeastern Latvia roughly halfway between Riga and Daugavpils and spanning the Daugava River. Historic Jēkabpils lies on the left bank, in Selonia ...
, Latvian SSR) with 12 Su-24 and 14 Su-17M4. The regiment was known as the 16th Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (ORAP) during the Second World War.
*39th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division (
Liyelvalde, Riga area), activated 1981.
[Michael Holm]
39th Aviation Division Fighter-Bomber
retrieved January 2013.
**53rd Guards "Stalingrad" Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (
Šiauliai
Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County.
Names
Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different l ...
, Lithuanian SSR) with 35 MiG-27 and 11 MiG-23
**
372nd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (APIB) (
Daugavpils
Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...
, Latvian SSR) with 49 MiG-27 and 12 MiG-23
**
899th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (Lielvarde, Riga area) with 47 MiG-27 and 11 MiG-23.
The 15th Air Army was disbanded in December 1993 as the
North Western Group of Forces
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' i ...
was withdrawn from the now-free Baltic states.
Army Commanders
* 10.07.1942 - 21.07.1942 : Lieutenant-General of Aviation
Grigory Vorozheykin
Grigory Alekseyevich Vorozheikin (russian: Григорий Алексеевич Ворожейкин; 16 March 1895 30 January 1974) was a Soviet Air Force general and later Marshal of Aviation.
During the Great Patriotic War, he was chief of s ...
* 21.07.1942 - 01.05.1943 : Major General of Aviation Ivan Pyatykhin;
* 05.1943 - 05.1950 : Colonel-General of Aviation
Nikolai Naumenko
Nikolai Fedorovich Naumenko (russian: Николай Фёдорович Науменко; 17 October 1901 – 7 July 1967) was a Soviet military aviator who commanded the 4th Air and 15th Air Army during the Second World War
World Wa ...
;
* 05.1950 - 10.1953 : Colonel-General of Aviation F. P. Polynin,
* 10.1953 - 01.1957 : Lieutenant General of Aviation S. I. Mironov,.
* 01.1957 - 04.1958 : Lieutenant General of Aviation V. A. Vinogradov,;
* 04.1958 - 05.1973 : Colonel-General of Aviation F. I. Shinkarenko;
* 03.1979 - 10.1985 : Lieutenant General of Aviation Masalitin Piotr;
* 10.1985 - 02.1988 : Lieutenant General of Aviation Dmitri Bobrov ;
* 02.1988 - 07.1991 : Lieutenant General of Aviation Timchenko Vladimir Pavlovic;
* 07.1991 - 12.1993 : Major General of Aviation Mikhail Lipatov.
References
Sources
15th Air Army
{{Armies of the Soviet Air Forces
Air armies of the Soviet Air Forces
Military units and formations established in 1942
Military units and formations disestablished in 1993