The 12th 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 ...

formed multiple times during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

and

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 ...

Civil War & Polish-Soviet War

The 12th Army (

1st Formation) of the Soviet

was first formed from Soviet forces in the north-eastern Caucasus in 1918. The 12th Army (

2nd Formation) was formed from the 1st and 3rd Ukrainian Red Armies in central Ukraine in the summer of 1919. In July 1920 Simon Aralov was chief of

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

with this unit. it was disbanded in 1920.

Second World War

The 12th Army (1st Formation) (RKKA) of the Soviet

was formed from the Southern (Cavalry-Mechanised) Army Group of the Kiev Special Military District during 1939-40.http://victory.mil.ru/rkka/units/03/26.html 12th Army (Russian) It was then involved in the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

in 1939. It entered the

Second World War 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 ...

as part of the

Soviet Southwestern Front The Southwestern Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War, formed thrice. It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the Kiev Special Military District. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, fro ...

, comprising the *

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 ...

(including the 44th, 58th, and 192nd Rifle Divisions) * 17th Rifle Corps ( 60th Mountain, 69th Mountain, and 164th Rifle Divisions), * 16th Mechanised Corps (

15th 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 (number), 14 and preceding 16 (number), 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky ...

, 39th Tank Divisions, 240th Mechanised Division) * 10th, 11th and 12th Fortified Regions, and artillery, engineering and other units. It participated in the frontier battle to the west of Stanislau. In the second half of July as part of the

Soviet Southern Front The Southern Front was a front (Soviet Army), front, a formation about the size of an army group of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. The Southern Front directed military operations during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern ...

it conducted defensive fights in the direction of

Uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...

. During the

Battle of Uman The Battle of Uman (15 July – 8 August 1941) was the World War II German offensive in Uman, Ukraine against the 6th and 12th Soviet Armies. In a three-week period, the Wehrmacht encircled and annihilated the two Soviet armies. The battle oc ...

, the Twelfth Army was caught in a huge encirclement south of

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

along with the 6th Army. Thus the army's headquarters was disbanded on 10 August 1941, after the battle. The 12th Army was reformed in August 1941 as part of the

on the basis of 17th Rifle Corps. On 1 September 1941 its structure included 270th and 274th Rifle Divisions, the 11th Tank Division, 268th and 374th Corps Artillery Regiments, 64th and 181st Fighter Aviation Regiments, and a number of separate formations. The Army defended the left bank of the

Dnepr Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea * Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand * Dnepr (rocket), a 1999 space launch vehicle *Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river ...

around

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

, from the end of September to the beginning of December, 1941. It participated in the

Donbass The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...

defensive,

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While t ...

defensive and offensive, in January, 1942 in the Barvenkovo–Lozovaya Offensive operations, in the subsequent conducted defensive fights in Donbass and on Northern Caucasus (part of the

Battle of the Caucasus The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of t ...

). In the middle of April 1942 the 261st Rifle Division under Colonel A.M. Ilyin, the 4th Rifle Division (Colonel I.P. Rosly), the 74th Rifle Division under General F.E.Sheverdin, the 176th Rifle Division (General Vladimir Martsinkevich) and 54th Tank Brigade under Colonel K.S. Minarov were assigned to the Army. It was later in 1942 reorganised as a defensive zone HQ, but then reformed again by conversion of the previous 5th Tank Army in mid April 1943.Glantz, 2005, p.231, Poirier and Conner, p.38 It joined the Southwestern Front. Its structure included the 172nd, 203rd, 244th, 333rd and 350th Rifle Divisions and other formations. In April - July the Army was in Front reserve, and then participated in the Donbass and Zaporozhye offensive operations. In November the army HQ was disbanded, with its forces transferred to other armies.

Commanders

First formation

*Komandarm

Ivan Tyulenev Ivan Vladimirovich Tyulenev (; 28 January 189215 August 1978) was a Soviet military commander, one of the first to be promoted to the rank of General of the Army in 1940. Biography Tyulenvev was born into a soldier's family in the Simbirsk Go ...

(September 1939) *Komkor

Filipp Parusinov Fillip Alekseevich Parusinov (November 27, 1893 – October 25, 1973) was a Soviet army group commander. He fought in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I before going over to the Bolsheviks in the subsequent civil war. He was promoted to P ...

(October 1939 – 10 March 1941) *Major General

Pavel Ponedelin Pavel Grigoryevich Ponedelin (russian: Па́вел Григо́рьевич Понеде́лин; 4 March 1893 Moscow 25 August 1950) was a Soviet general executed after World War II for being taken prisoner by the Germans. Early life He fou ...

(11 March – 10 August 1941) POW

Second formation

*Major General

Ivan Galanin Ivan Vasilievich Galanin (; –12 November 1958) was a Red Army lieutenant general during World War II. Galanin was drafted into the Red Army in 1919 and fought as an ordinary soldier in the Russian Civil War. He became an officer during the inte ...

(25 August 1941 – 16 October 1941) *Major General

Konstantin Koroteyev Konstantin Apollonovich Koroteyev (russian: Константи́н Аполло́нович Короте́ев; –4 January 1953) was a Soviet Army colonel general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He became colonel-general in 1944 and was award ...

(17 October 1941 – 5 April 1942) *Major General

Andrei Grechko Andrei Antonovich Grechko (, ; – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976. Early life Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainian peasant ...

(5 April – 3 September 1942) *Colonel Aleksandr Sokolski (4–13 September 1942) *Lieutenant General Nikolai Kirichenko (13–20 September 1942)

Third formation

*Lieutenant-General

Ivan Shlemin Ivan Timofeyevich Shlyomin (russian: Иван Тимофеевич Шлёмин, – 10 January 1969) was a Soviet Lieutenant-General of the Red Army during World War II and a Hero of the Soviet Union. Biography Ivan Timofeyevich Shlyomin wa ...

(20 April - 19 May 1943) *Major-General Alexei Danilov (20 May - 30 October 1943).

References

*Grechko A., " fight for Caucasus ", 2nd edition, Moscow, 1973 *Grechko A., " years of war ", Moscow, 1976 *Arshanyan, " Operations of 12th army in an initial stage of war ", Military-Historical Journal, 1973, No. 6 *http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/a12/arm.html {{Armies of the Soviet Army

012 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...

Military units and formations established in 1919 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 1939 establishments in the Soviet Union