The 7th Guards 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 army, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, ...

of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and of 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 ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

History

The 7th Guards Army was formed from the 64th Army on April 16, 1943. 64th Army had originally been formed from 1st Reserve Army in July 1942, and alongside the 62nd Army, fought the German offensive during the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later r ...

to a standstill, for which it was raised to Guards status. General Lieutenant M.S. Shumilov, who had commanded the 64th Army, continued to command 7th Guards Army through the rest of the war, though he was promoted to General Colonel in October 1943. It included the 15th, 36th, 72nd, 73rd, 78th and 81st Guards Rifle Divisions, which were incorporated in the 24th and 25th Guards Rifle Corps. As part of the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...

and 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 ha ...

since July 18, 1943, the Army participated in 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 ...

and the Battle for the

Dnieper River } 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 an ...

from July through August, 1943. Subsequently, as part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, it participated in the Kirovograd Offensive, and those of Uman–Botoșani, Jassy–Kishinev,

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. The 7th Guards Army was stationed in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

as part of the Central Group of Forces briefly after the war. On 1 May 1945 it comprised 23rd Rifle Corps ( 19th and 252nd Rifle Divisions), 25th Guards Rifle Corps ( 4th and 6th Guards Airborne Divisions, 25th Guards Rifle Division, 303rd Rifle Division, and

27th Guards Rifle Corps 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

( 72nd Guards, 141st, 375th, and 409th Rifle Divisions. In 1946 it comprised three rifle corps totaling nine divisions, and that year General

Ivan Fedyuninsky Ivan Ivanovich Fedyuninsky (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Федю́нинский; July 30, 1900 – October 17, 1977) was a Soviet military leader and Hero of the Soviet Union (1939). Early life Fedyuninsky was born into a peasant fa ...

took command for a period. These formations were reassigned to the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

, Tavria and

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

Military Districts and the Army HQ arrived at

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

in the Transcaucasus Military District to take control of the 75th and 261st Rifle Divisions, soon followed by the 26th Mechanised Division and the 164th Rifle Division. Postwar, in January 1946, the 72nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division was relocated to the Transcaucasus, where it became part of the 7th Guards Army in the cities of

and

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 ...

. In the late 1980s the Army consisted of: *15th Motor Rifle Division (MRD)(former 15th Rifle Division) –

Kirovakan Vanadzor ( hy, Վանաձոր) is an urban municipal community and the third-largest city in Armenia, serving as the capital of Lori Province in the northern part of the country. It is located about north of the capital Yerevan. As of the 2011 cen ...

* 75th Motor Rifle Division (former

75th Rifle Division 75th may refer to: *75th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2002, held on March 23, 2003 * 75th Avenue–61st Street Historic District, a national historic district in Ridgewood, Queens, New York * 75th Grey Cup, the 1987 Canadian Football Le ...

) – Nakhichevan, Category "C" with 5–10% manning * 127th Motor Rifle Division (former 261st Rifle Division) –

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

*164th Motor Rifle Division (former 164th Rifle Division) – Yerevan In November 1988 Colonel

Lev Rokhlin Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin (russian: Лев Яковлевич Рохлин; 1947–1998) was a career officer in the Soviet Army, Soviet and Russian armies. Rokhlin reached the top of the Russian military, quickly rising through the ranks during an ...

became the commander of the 75th MRD. In early 1990 the division was transferred to the

Soviet Border Troops The Soviet Border Troops (russian: Пограничные войска СССР, Pogranichnyye voyska SSSR) were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the '' Cheka''/ OGPU, then to NK ...

of the KGB, and Rokhlin was promoted to major-general in February of the same year. Later the division was transferred to the

Azerbaijani Army The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( az, Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri) were re-established according to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Armed Forces from 9 October 1991. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) had originally formed ...

, but to the representatives of the Nakhichivan government rather than authorities from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence. The 7th Guards Army was disbanded on 14 August 1992, following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. Lieutenant General Fyodor Reut was among the Army's last commanders. Most of the formations disbanded/dissolved, among them the 15th MRD, whose equipment were partly handed over to Armenia when it disbanded in 1992. The 15th MRD's traditions, honors and awards were transferred to the 5209th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base.Holm/Feskov 2015
15th Motor Rifle Division
/ref> The 127th MRD later became the Russian 102nd Military Base.

Commanders

* Mikhail Shumilov (April 1943 - February 1946) *

Yakov Kreizer Yakov Grigorevich Kreizer (russian: Яков Григорьевич Крейзер; 4 November 1905, Voronezh – 29 November 1969, Moscow) was a Soviet field commander. Before the war Kreizer's Jewish parents were granted permission to l ...

(April 1946 - April 1948) *

(April 1948 - November 1951) *

Filipp Cherokmanov Filipp Mikhailovich Cherokmanov (Russian: Филипп Михайлович Черокманов; 16 November 1899 – 8 June 1978) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general and Hero of the Soviet Union. Cherokmanov joined the Red Army during the Russ ...

(November 1951 - July 1955) *

Ivan Pavlovsky Ivan Grigorievich Pavlovsky (Russian:Ива́н Григо́рьевич Павло́вский) (February 11 (24) 1909 - April 27 1999) was a Soviet military leader, Commander-in-Chief Soviet Ground Forces, Ground Forces - Deputy Minister of Defe ...

(July 1955 - April 1958) * Sergey Maryakhin (May 1958 - May 1960) *

David Dragunsky David Abramovich Dragunsky (russian: Давид Абрамович Драгунский; – 12 October 1992) was a tank officer in World War II who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life Dragunsky was born on to a ...

(May 1960 - June 1965) * Anatoly Gribkov (June 1965 - December 1968) * Alexey Klyuyev (December 1968 - November 1971) *

Vasily Shakhnovich Vasily Vasilyevich Shakhnovich ( be, Васіль Васілевіч Шахновіч, translit=Vasil Vasilevič Šachnovič; russian: Василий Васильевич Шахнович; 12 January 1922 - 13 August 1983) was a Lieutenant G ...

(November 1971 - August 1975) * Stanislav Postnikov (September 1975 - June 1977) *

Konstantin Kochetov The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Gr ...

(June 1977 - 1979) * Bronislav Omelichev (1979 - May 1982) * Yury Shatalin (May 1982 - August 1984) * Mikhail Kolesnikov (August 1984 - February 1987) * Nikolay Pishchev (1989 - 1990) * Yevgeny Meshcheryakov (1990 - May 1991) * Fyodor Reut (May 1991 - August 1992)

Notes

References

*From Volga up to Prague", Moscow, 1966 *Shumilov, M., "Guardsmen", in the book "Kursk Fight", 3rd edition, Voronezh, 1982. *Narod.r
7th Guards Army
*Narod.r

{{Armies of the Soviet Army G07 Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 Guards Armies