The 26th Army ( Russian: 26-я армия ''26-ya armiya'') was a

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 ...

of the Soviet Union's

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 ...

, active from 1941.

Operational history

First Formation

26th Army was a part of the Southwestern Front and defended the Soviet-German border between

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

and the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

in June 1941. The Army was located on the eastern bank of San river manning the 8th Fortified District. The 26th Army commander was Lt. Gen. Fyodor Kostenko who was a Ukrainian. Its opponent was the German Seventeenth Army under command of General

Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel Carl-Heinrich Rudolf Wilhelm von Stülpnagel (2 January 1886 – 30 August 1944) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who was an army level commander. While serving as military commander of German-occupied France and as com ...

. The 26th Army consisted of the 8th Rifle Corps, with the 99th Rifle Division, 173rd Rifle Division, and the 72nd Mountain Rifle Division, the 8th Fortified District, a number of artillery units (the 2nd Anti-Tank Brigade, 233rd Corps Artillery Regiment, 236th Corps Artillery Regiment, and the 28th Independent Anti-Aircraft Squadron, the 8th Mechanised Corps with the 12th Tank Division,

34th Tank Division The 34th Tank Division was a formation of the Red Army and Soviet Ground Forces that was formed twice. First formation The first formation was with 8th Mechanized Corps in 1941. The formation began to be formed on June 4, 1940; it was under ...

, and the

7th Mechanized Division The 7th Mechanized Corps was a mechanized corps of the Red Army, formed three times. The corps was first formed in 1934 in the Leningrad Military District and was converted into the 10th Tank Corps in 1938. The corps was reformed in the summer ...

), and the 17th Pontoon-Bridge Regiment on 22 June 1941. Headquarters was at Borislav. The Germans attacked the junction between 6th Army and 26th Army. On 23 June General Kirponos ordered 26th Army armour troops ( 8th Mechanized Corps) to move to Brody out of the command of Kostenko. Meanwhile, German assault created a twenty-mile breach on 24 June. During the night from 26th to 27 June, 6th and 26th retreated from frontier fortifications. The 26th Army and 12th Army now held a line from Ostropol to Bar. On 10 July Kostenko's Army together with 6th Army and 12th Army became threatened by south eastern swing of Kleist's 1st Panzer Group, which could cut them off from

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called 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. Approximately long, with ...

river. On 20 July two Rifle Corps of 26th Army attacked in northern direction towards the Dnieper. Only small part of the 26th Army with its commander reached the Dnieper. Most of its units were destroyed or captured by Germans. The 6th Army and 26th Army were split apart.

Second Formation

The 26th Army was quickly rebuilt in October 1941 by subsequent reinforcements and included elements of the 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps and now defended the Dnieper river at Kaniev and Rzhishchev south-west of Kiev. 6th and 12th Army ended up in

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

Pocket. 26th Army tried to relieve those armies and attacked in the Boguslav- Zwenigorodka direction. It didn't work. In September 26 Army itself became surrounded in the Kiev Pocket. The Soviets tried to break out, 26th Army was supposed to attack on Lubny. General Kostenko escaped from the encirclement with quite a large group of his soldiers. The army was disbanded and the remaining forces were assigned to the 50th Army.

Third Formation

The third time, 26th Army formed in November 1941 in the Volga Military District. On 18 December it was assigned to the newly formed Volkhov Front. In late December 1941 the army was redesignated as the

2nd Shock Army The 2nd Shock Army (), sometimes translated to English as 2nd Assault Army, was a field army of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. This type of formation was created in accordance with prewar doctrine that called for Shock Armies to ''o ...

. Commander: Lieutenant General Grigory Grigorievich Sokolov (November–December 1941)

Fourth Formation

The army was reformed for the fourth time within the Karelian Front in March–April 1942. On 1 January 1943 the army comprised 27th, 54th, 186th, and 263rd Rifle Divisions, 61st, 67th, 80th (less 2nd Battalion), and 85th Naval Infantry Brigades, artillery, and other units. Commander in 1943–1945 was Major General (later Lieutenant General) Lev Skvirsky.

Composition

At the end of the war the army consisted of:Marchand, Vol. XXIII, pg.45-6 : 30th Rifle Corps :: 36th Guards Rifle Division :: 68th Guards Rifle Division :: 21st Rifle Division : 104th Rifle Corps :: 74th Rifle Division :: 93rd Rifle Division :: 151st Rifle Division : 135th Rifle Corps :: 233rd Rifle Division :: 236th Rifle Division :Artillery, engineer, and tank units.

Commanders

* Lieutenant General Fyodor Kostenko (June–September 1941) * Major General Alexey Kurkin (October 1941) * Lieutenant General Grigory Grigorievich Sokolov (November–December 1941) * Major General Nikolai Nikishin (March 1942 – May 1943) * Major General (later Lieutenant General) Lev Skvirsky (May 1943 – January 1945) * Lieutenant General Nikolai Gagen (January–May 1945)

Post War Service

The army ended the war in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and was assigned to the Southern Group of Forces. The army along with most of its subordinate units were disbanded in 1947. The 25th Guards and 23rd Mechanized Divisions were reassigned to Ukraine.

References

* *

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20081216013802/http://docs.vif2.ru/ {{Armies of the Soviet Army 026