The 25th Army was a

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 ...

field army A field army (also known as numbered army or simply army) is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps. It may be subordinate to an army group. Air army, Air armies are the equivalent formations in air forces, and ...

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 ...

that served in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. Formed in June 1941, the 25th Army did not see combat until the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

in August 1945, when it advanced into northern Korea. After

it was responsible for the

Soviet Civil Administration The Soviet Civil Administration (SCA) was the government of the northern half of Korea from 24 August 1945 to 9 September 1948 though governed concurrently after the setup of the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea in 1946. Even thou ...

in the northern

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

, and helped establish a

Communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

under the rule of

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

. The army remained in North Korea until it was withdrawn in 1948, and was stationed in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

until its 1957 disbandment.

World War II

It was formed in the Soviet Far East Front on the basis of the headquarters of the 43rd Rifle Corps (in

) on 20 June 1941 in accordance with an order of 8 March. Headquartered at Voroshilov, it was commanded by Lieutenant General Filipp Parusinov. The army initially comprised 39th Rifle Corps with 32nd Rifle Division, 40th, and 92nd Rifle Divisions, as well as the

105th Rifle Division The 105th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army. Formed in the 1930s, the division spent World War II on the border in Primorye, seeing its only combat in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. It was disbanded shortly after the ...

and the 106th, 107th, 108th, 110th, and 111th Fortified Areas as Army troops. The army was responsible for defending the border in

. On 10 August 1943, the army became part of the Maritime Group of Forces, which on 20 April 1945 became part of the Far Eastern Front, and was soon directly subordinated to the Stavka. In June, Colonel General Ivan Chistyakov took command of the army. On 5 August, the army became part of the 1st Far East Front, which was redesignated from the Maritime Group of Forces in preparation for the

. At the time, the 393rd Rifle Division and the 7th and 113th Fortified Areas were in the army's direct subordination. By the beginning of the invasion on 9 August, the army included the 39th Rifle Corps with the 40th, the 384th, and the 386th Rifle Divisions, the 393rd Rifle Division, and the 7th, 106th, 107th, 108th, 110th, 111th, and the 113th Fortified Areas. Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 9 August 1945 During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the army fought in the Harbin–Kirin Offensive Operation. By the end of 10 August the army overcame Japanese resistance to capture the Dongning, Dongxin-zhen, and the Hunchun fortified areas, cut the Dongning-Tumyntsa-Hunchun road, advanced through Japanese defenses to a depth of to . On 11 August, the 25th Army captured Laoheishan and Hunchun, and on the next day captured the ports of Unggi and Rason on the east coast of Korea alongside landing forces of the Pacific Fleet. As a result of its advances, the army received the 5th Army's 17th Rifle Corps and the 88th Rifle Division and 10th Mechanized Corps from front reserve. With the reinforcements, the army also received a new task: to advance south and cut the communications between Japanese troops in Korea and those in Manchuria, and in cooperation with the Pacific Fleet landing forces, to capture ports on the east coast of Korea. In fulfilling this task, the army defeated parts of the Japanese 3rd and 34th Armies and captured Wangqing on 15 August,

Chongjin Chŏngjin (; ) is the capital of North Korea's North Hamgyong Province (함경북도) and the country's List of cities in North Korea, third-largest city. Sometimes called the City of Iron, it is located in the northeast of the country. History ...

on 16 August, Ranan and Yanji on 17 August, among others. Between 18 and 20 August, the army disarmed surrendered Japanese troops, and was redeployed to the

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

area at the end of the month.

Postwar

The army's headquarters was established at Pyongyang on 26 August after Chistyakov rejected the option of

Hamhung Hamhŭng (''Hamhŭng-si''; ) is North Korea's List of cities in North Korea, second-most populous city, the capital of South Hamgyong, South Hamgyŏng Province and the 16th largest city in the Korea, Korean Peninsula. Located in the southern part ...

on the previous day after the 25th Army was given the task of occupying what would become

. The location of the 25th Army's headquarters in Pyongyang probably determined the location of the future North Korean capital. Immediately after the end of the war with Japan it included 39th Rifle Corps (40th, 384th Rifle Divisions and 10th Mechanised Division) and 88th Rifle Corps ( 258th, 386th and 393rd Rifle Divisions) and 8 fortified regions (including the 7th, 106th, 108th, 110th, 111th, 113th, 150th, 162nd) but they were all reorganised in 1946 into machine-gun artillery divisions. There were also the 72nd, 76th, 218th, 259th Tank Brigades. On 1 October, the army became part of the Primorsky Military District. The two corps were disbanded in August 1946 and 65th Rifle Corps ( 63rd and 144th Rifle Divisions) was transferred to the 25th Army from the 5th Army. The

division of Korea The division of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone and a US occupation zone. These zones developed into separate governments, named the Democratic People's Republic of ...

between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

Soviet Union 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 ...

after the defeat of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

had been agreed to at the

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

in 1943. The 25th Army served as the occupation force in north of the 38th parallel while the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea was established in the south. Under the

the 25th Army helped place

and the Korean Workers' Party into power. They also assisted with the purges of former collaborators, businessmen,

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals ...

, and religious leaders. These people would either flee to the future

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

or would be banished or imprisoned in the Hamgyong Province. In late 1948, the army was withdrawn from North Korea and stationed in southern

on the Korean and Chinese borders, as well as on the Peter the Great Gulf coast. Its headquarters was located in Shkotovo. In March 1953 the army also included the 9th, 10th, 21st, and 24th Machine-Gun Artillery Divisions. The 10th Mechanized Division had become part of the 65th Rifle Corps by this time, and the 40th Rifle Division was directly subordinated to the army. In April 1953, the Primorsky Military District was disbanded, and the army became part of the Far Eastern Military District. The army's last commander was Lieutenant General (promoted to Colonel General 8 August 1955) Ivan Rubanyuk, who assumed command on 18 May 1953. The 65th Rifle Corps and its divisions were disbanded in the summer of 1956 and the remaining 25th Army rifle divisions became motor rifle divisions in the spring of 1957. On 1 May, the army included the 40th, 84th, 147th, and the 148th Motor Rifle Divisions. In December 1957, the army was disbanded and its remaining divisions transferred to the 5th Army. The 84th, 147th, and 148th Divisions were disbanded along with the 25th Army.

Commanders

During its existence, the 25th Army was commanded by the following officers: * Lieutenant General Filipp Parusinov (11 March 1941 – 25 June 1943) *Major General Alexander Maximov (25 June 1943 – 28 June 1945) *Colonel General Ivan Chistyakov (28 June 1945 18 February 1947) * Lieutenant General Gennady Korotkov (19 February 1947 19 April 1948) * Lieutenant General Vasily Shvetsov (20 April 1948 17 May 1953) * Lieutenant General (promoted to Colonel General 8 August 1955) Ivan Rubanyuk (18 May 1953 30 December 1957)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 025 Military units and formations established in 1941 1941 establishments in the Soviet Union Military units and formations disestablished in 1957