The 1st Guards Army was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Guards field army that fought on the Eastern Front during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

First Formation

On August 6, 1942, the army formed from the 2nd Reserve Army with five Guards Rifle Divisions, the 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st. On August 9, the army was incorporated into Southeastern Front. On August 18, it was transferred to the Stalingrad Front (renamed Don Front on September 30). During the German Sixth Army's assault on

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

in August 1942, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

launched a counter-offensive to drive the German forces back. The 1st Guards Army and the 24th Army launched the attack. Little success was met. The 1st Guards Army managed an advance of just a few miles, while the 24th Army was pushed back right into its start-line. On October 16, 1942, the headquarters of the army transferred into

Stavka The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...

reserve and its troops transferred to the 24th Army. On 25 October 1942 the army was disbanded, its headquarters was converted to the field management of the 2nd formation of Southwestern Front according to the Stavka directive of 22 October 1942.

Commanders

*Lieutenant General Filipp Ivanovich Golikov (August 1942) *Guard Major General Artillery Kirill Semenovich Moskalenko (August–October 1942) *Guard Major General Ivan Mikhailovich Chistyakov (October 1942)

Second Formation

On November 5, 1942, 1st Guards Army was reformed from 63rd Army according to the Stavka directive of November 1. The army was a part of Southwestern Front. When the German troops were making their attack on

, the First Guards Army was facing the Italian Eighth Army in the upper part of the Don River. The Army participated in Stalingrad strategic offensive

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

. As the right flank of the front shock group, 1st Guards Army with 5th Tank Army created the appearance of the Stalingrad encirclement "boiler". On December 5, 1942, 1st Guards Army is split, its left wing being renamed 3rd Guards Army of the Southwestern Front.

Commander

*Lieutenant General Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko (November–December 1942)

Third Formation

The 1st Guards Army was created on December 8, 1942, according to the Stavka directive of December 5, 1942. The troops of the army was formed from the part of the operational group of Southwestern Front, and the headquarters of the army formed of management of 4th Army Reserve. It is composed of units of the right wing of the previous version of the 1st Guards Army and some reinforcement units : the 4th Guards Rifle Corps, the 6th Guards Rifle Corps, the 153rd Rifle Division, and the 18th Tank Corps. After the German relief operation was held, the 1st Guards Army, along with the 6th Army and 3rd Guards Army, launched an attack in Operation Little Saturn. During the operation the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

defeated the Italian Eighth Army and gained a respectable amount of territory. By the end of the year, the 1st Guards Army was outside Millerovo. The 1st Guards Army also took part in

Operation Saturn Operation Little Saturn () was a Red Army offensive on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II that led to battles in Don and Chir rivers region in German-occupied Soviet Union territory in 16–30 December 1942. The suc ...

, where the Red Army successfully drove back

Army Group South Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Ge ...

to the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The 1st Guards Army was part of the Soviet Southwestern Front, and took part in the victorious Soviet pushing into Germany in 1943 to 1945. Also, in 1943, the 1st Guards Army was the first unit of the soviet army to operate the new T-34/85 tank. Among its units when the war ended in 1945 was the 81st Rifle Division. In August, the 1st Guards Army became the headquarters of the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

Commanders

*Lieutenant-General, and from May 1943, Colonel-General Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov (December 1942 – December 1943) *Colonel-General Andrei Antonovich Grechko (December 1943 – the end of the war)

After World War II

The 98th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade was expanded into the 86th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division on 22 August 1956, stationed at

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

. The Special Mechanized Army became the 1st Separate Combined Arms Army in 1957, and in July 1958 withdrew from Romania to the

. When air defense units were reorganized on 30 July 1960 due to the replacement of anti-aircraft guns by

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s, the division was reorganized as the 108th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade of the 1st Separate Army, a unit of the Air Defense of the Ground Forces. In July 1958, the army was moved from its headquarters in

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and renamed the 1st Combined Arms Army. The 108th AA Rocket Brigade was based at Zolotonosha as the air defense brigade of the army for the rest of the

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In 1960 the army consisted of the 72nd, 81st and 115th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions, as well as the 35th Guards Tank Division. On 5 October 1967, it was renamed the 1st Guards Combined Arms Army at the request of now- Minister of Defense Grechko, who had commanded the army's third formation during World War II. On 22 February 1968, it was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. For a period the army HQ was actually an operations group of the District. By this time it had been awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

. It included among its forces the 72nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, and the 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Army leadership pledged allegiance to Ukraine which was formed out of the Soviet union republic, the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. In 1992 it was reduced to the 1st Army Corps of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, and then Territorial Directorate "North".

Commanders

The following officers commanded the 1st Guards Combined Arms Army and the previous 1st Combined Arms Army. * Lieutenant General Vasily Arkhipov (formation in 23 May 1960) * Colonel General Alexander Rodimtsev (23 May 1960 – 18 March 1966) * Lieutenant General Grigory Batalov (18 March 1966 – 13 June 1969) * Lieutenant General Sergey Molokoedov (13 June 1969 – 2 September 1970) * Lieutenant General Grigory Gorodetsky (2 September 1970 – 1973) * ?? (1973–1976) * Lieutenant General Alexander Elagin (1976 – September 1979) * Lieutenant General Aleksey Fyodorov (September 1979 – May 1982) * Lieutenant General Alexey Demidov (May 1982 – April 1985) * Major General Leonty Kuznetsov (May 1985 – May 1988; promoted major general 16 February 1988) * Lieutenant General Valentin Bobryshev (May 1988 – 1 August 1991) * Major General Andrei Nikolayev (1 August 1991 – February 1992)

Notes

References

* *
http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/ag01/arm.html
(Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:1st Guards Army (Soviet Union) G001 Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1991 Guards Armies Romania–Soviet Union relations