The 3rd 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 ...

Polish Campaign

The 3rd Army was formed on 15 September 1939 from the Vitebsk Group of Forces, part of the Belorussian Front, which had been formed four days earlier from the

Belorussian Special Military District The Byelorussian Military District (russian: Белорусский военный округ, translit=Belorusskiy Voyenyi Okrug; alternatively Belarusian; ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally formed just before World ...

for 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. Subs ...

. The army was commanded by '' Komkor'' Vasily Kuznetsov. It included the

4th Rifle Corps The 4th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army, active from the 1920s. First Formation It was formed during the Russian Civil War as part of the Western Front of the Red Army in May and June 1922. The corps headquarters was stationed in Vitebsk ...

with the 50th and 27th Rifle Divisions, in addition to the 5th Rifle Division, the 24th Cavalry Division, and the 22nd and 25th Tank Brigades. The units numbered 121,968 men and fielded 752 guns and 743 tanks on 17 September. The 3rd Army saw its first action in September 1939, taking part in the operation in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. The invasion was conducted under the terms of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

, which divided Poland between the Soviet Union and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and guaranteed that neither country would attack the other. Order of Battle on 2 October 1939: *

10th Rifle Corps The 10th Rifle Corps ( Military Unit Number 16058 until June 1956) was an infantry corps of the Red Army, which later became the 10th Army Corps after the Second World War. Interwar period The corps was formed by an order dated 12 July 1922 i ...

** 5th Rifle Division **

50th Rifle Division The 50th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army from 1936 to 1946. The division took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland and the Winter War. After Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the 50th fought in the Battle of Moscow, ...

** 115th Rifle Division *

3rd Rifle Corps The 3rd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army which saw service in World War II and in the 1950s. The corps was first formed in 1923 from the 3rd Army Corps in the Moscow Military District and fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland and t ...

** 139th Rifle Division **

150th Rifle Division The 150th Idritsa-Berlin Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class Motor Rifle Division (russian: Russian: 150-я Идрицко-Берлинская ордена Кутузова 2-й степени мотострелковая дивизия) of the Russian Gr ...

* 3rd Cavalry Corps ** 7th Cavalry Division ** 36th Cavalry Division *

15th Tank Corps The 15th Tank Corps (, ''15-y tankoviy korpus'') was a tank corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army. It formed in 1938 from a mechanized corps and fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland, during which it participated in the capture of the Grodno a ...

* 25th Tank Brigade

Eastern Front

After the start of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, it included three corps, including the

( 27th, 56th, and 85th Rifle Divisions), as well as the

21st Rifle Corps The 21st Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the Western Front. It took part in the Great Patriotic War. The headquarters formed in the Moscow Military District in September 1939. Assigned to the WSMD with the 17th, 2 ...

( 17th, 24th, 37th and

s) and 11th Mechanised Corps (

29th 29 (twenty-nine) is the natural number following 28 and preceding 30. Mathematics * 29 is the tenth prime number, and the fourth primorial prime. * 29 forms a twin prime pair with thirty-one, which is also a primorial prime. Twenty-nine is also ...

and 33rd Tank Division and 204th Motorised Division). The 3rd Army took part in the operations of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

Bryansk Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban la ...

during the defenses of

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

Lida Lida ( be, Лі́да ; russian: Ли́да ; lt, Lyda; lv, Ļida; pl, Lida ; yi, לידע, Lyde) is a city 168 km (104 mi) west of Minsk in western Belarus in Grodno Region. Etymology The name ''Lida'' arises from its Lithu ...

, and

Novogrudok Novogrudok ( be, Навагрудак, Navahrudak; lt, Naugardukas; pl, Nowogródek; russian: Новогрудок, Novogrudok; yi, נאַוואַראַדאָק, Novhardok, Navaradok) is a town in the Grodno Region, Belarus. In the Middle A ...

. The 3rd Army also took part in the Battle of Smolensk, where

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

troops captured the city in a difficult two-month campaign, and the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive ...

, in which the Red Army's winter counter-attack led by

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

Georgy Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

drove back

Army Group Center Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army for ...

over away from Moscow. During the second half of the Eastern Front, the 3rd Army took part 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 ...

, where numerically superior Soviet forces, using anti-tank defenses, defeated the German forces, thus stopping

Operation Zitadelle 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 robbing the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

of all hopes of victory on the Eastern Front. The 3rd Army took part in the

, Gomel–Rechitsa, and Rogachev-Zhlobin Offensives. During the final phases of the war, the 3rd Army took part in

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...

, the East Prussian Offensive, and the advance into eastern Germany, where it participated in the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

. On 1 May 1945 the 3rd Army consisted of the

35th Rifle Corps Military units *35th Fighter Wing, an air combat unit of the United States Air Force *35th Infantry Division (United States), a formation of the National Guard since World War I *35th Infantry Regiment (United States), a regiment created on 1 July 1 ...

( 250th, 290th, and 348th Rifle Divisions),

40th Rifle Corps 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

(

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

, 129th, and 169th Rifle Divisions), 41st Rifle Corps ( 120th Guards, 269th, and 283rd Rifle Divisions), 4th Corps Artillery Brigade, 44th Gun Artillery Brigade, 584th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment, and other formations and units.

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. E ...

, 1 May 1945

Post-World War II

The army headquarters was withdrawn to the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

, where it was reorganised in August 1945 as the short-lived Headquarters Belorussian-Lithuanian Military District. The Belorussian-Lithuanian Military District, according to a Czech internet source (valka), existed 31 Dec 44 – 9 July 1945, whereupon it was succeeded by the Minsk Military District. By this time the army consisted of three

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 ...

with nine rifle divisions. Later, all of them except the 120th Guards 'Rogachev' Rifle Division were disbanded. The army was briefly reformed with headquarters at

Slutsk Slutsk ( officially transliterated as Sluck, be, Слуцк; russian: Слуцк; pl, Słuck, lt, Sluckas, Yiddish/Hebrew: סלוצק ''Slutsk'') is a city in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2022, its population i ...

when the

Belorussian Military District The Byelorussian Military District (russian: Белорусский военный округ, translit=Belorusskiy Voyenyi Okrug; alternatively Belarusian; ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally formed just before Wor ...

was being reformed, under the command of Colonel General

Nikolai Gusev Nikolai Ivanovich Gusev (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Гу́сев; – 16 May 1962) was a Soviet Army colonel general. Drafted into the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, Gusev did not see action and was drafted into t ...

from July 1946, but was again disbanded in March 1947.

Commanders

* Vasily Kuznetsov (1 September 1939 – 25 August 1941) *

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 ...

(25 August – 13 December 1941) * Pyotr Pshennikov (13–28 December 1941), killed in action *

Pavel Batov Pavel Ivanovich Batov (russian: Па́вел Ива́нович Ба́тов; – April 19, 1985) was a senior Red Army general during the Second World War and afterwards, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Batov fought in World War I, where he ...

(28 December 1941 – 11 February 1942) *

Filipp Zhmachenko Filipp Feodosyevich Zhmachenko (russian: Филипп Феодосьевич Жмаченко; – 19 June 1966) was a Soviet Army colonel general and Hero of the Soviet Union. Biography Zhmachenko was born on 26 November 1895 to a Ukrainian ...

(11 February – 12 May 1942) * Pavel Korzun (12 May 1942 – 26 June 1943) *

Alexander Gorbatov Alexander Vasilyevich Gorbatov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Горба́тов; 21 March 1891 – 7 December 1973) was a Russian and Soviet officer who served as an officer in the Imperial Russian Army during the Fi ...

(27 June 1943 г. – 9 July 1945)

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Nafziger Collection

Combined Arms Research Library The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a United States Army library that supports the United States Army Command and General Staff College. Its collection of over 300,000 books covers all aspects of military scien ...

, Fort Leavenworth, KS. {{Armies of the Soviet Army 003 Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Soviet invasion of Poland