The 2nd Air Army (; 2 VA) was an

air army Air army is a term used in several countries, notably French Air and Space Force, France, as the equivalent term to air force. In Russia, an air army is a major command within the Russian Air Force. Historically, a Imperial Japanese Army Air Serv ...

of the Red Army Air Force (

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

) during the

Second World War 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 ...

. Formed in May 1942, the army fought in the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

and was one of the major Soviet air formations in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

and the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

. During the final two years of the war, the army provided air support for the Soviet troops of the

1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

, including the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive, the Berlin Offensive, and the Prague offensive. After the end of the war, the army was stationed in Austria and Hungary as part of the Soviet occupation forces. Renumbered in 1949 as the 59th Air Army, it was disbanded in 1955 when Soviet troops withdrew from Austria.

World War II

The army was formed on 12 May 1942, in accordance with an order of the NKO of 5 May 1942, from the Air Force of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

. Originally supporting the Bryansk Front, the army was transferred to support the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

on 9 July. It participated in defensive battles in the Voronezh sector, and then supported the troops of the Southwestern Front in the counter-offensive at Stalingrad (

) between 16 November and 21 December, in collaboration with the 8th Air Army, the

16th Air Army The 16th Red Banner Air Army () was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical ...

and the 17th Air Army in the fight for supremacy in the air. During this period the 2nd Air Army was under the operational control of the Southwestern Front before returning to the

. As part of the Voronezh Front (renamed the

on 20 October 1943) the army participated in the

, the

, Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, Rovno–Lutsk Offensive, Proskurov–Chernovtsy Offensive, Lvov-Sandomierz, Sandomir-Silesia, Lower Silesian Offensive, Upper Silesian Offensive,

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–Od ...

and the Prague Offensive. For the Berlin Offensive, the air army was among the largest in the Soviet Air Force with an inventory of 2,004 aircraft.

Postwar

After the war 2nd Air Army was stationed in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and Hungary as part of the Soviet occupation forces, serving as the air force of the

Southern Group of Forces The Southern Group of Forces (YUGV) was a Soviet Armed Forces formation formed twice following the Second World War, most notably around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. First Formation On June 15, 1945, the 26th and 37th Armies (fr ...

. It was renumbered as 59th Air Army in 1949 as many Soviet Air Force units received new numbers. The 59th Air Army was disbanded in Austria, but its core was relocated to the town of

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; ; ; ; Serbian language, Serbian: ''Стони Београд''; ), known colloquially as Fehérvár (), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the Regions of Hungary, regional capital of C ...

to become the air force of the newly created Special Corps when the Soviet forces withdrew in September 1955. Later the

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (; ) was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Formed in 1941, it continued being a service branch of the Russian Armed Forces after 1991 until it was merged into the Air Force in 1998. Unlike Western ...

formed a 2nd Army of Air Defence Forces which operated in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, but this formation was disbanded around 1991–92.

Commanders

The army was commanded by: * 05/05/1942 – Major General of Aviation Stepan Krasovsky * 05/07/1942 – Konstantin Smirnov,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, (Major General Aviation from 17 October 1942); * 03/27/1943 – May 1947 – Stepan Krasovsky, (Krasovsky was promoted to Lieutenant General Aviation with effect from 20 December 1942 and Colonel General Aviation from 4 February 1944); * September 1947 - Colonel-General Stepan Ulyanovich Rubanov * July 1950 - Colonel-General Vasily Nikolaevich Bibikov * July 1953 - Colonel-General Georgy Vasilevich Zimin * May 1954 - Colonel-General David Yakovlevich Slobozhan

Composition

12 May 1942

* 205th, 206th, 207th Fighter Aviation Divisions * 208th Night Bomber Aviation Division * 223rd Short-Range Bomber Aviation Division * 225th, 226th, 227th Assault Aviation Division * Two independent aviation regiments.

5 July 1943

At the beginning of the Soviet defensive phase of the Battle of Kursk, the army included the following units: * 1st Bomber Aviation Corps (1st BAK) (Colonel Ivan Polbin) (from 1944 – 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Corps), equipped with

Petlyakov Pe-2 The Petlyakov Pe-2 ( — nickname «Пешка» (Pawn); NATO reporting name: Buck) was a Soviet Union, Soviet twin-engine dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war,Ethell 1996, p. 152. it ...

**1st Guards Bomber Aviation Division (Colonel Fyodor Dobysh) **293rd Bomber Aviation Division (Colonel G.V. Gribakin) * 1st Assault Aviation Corps (1st ShAK) (Major General of Aviation Vasily Ryazanov) (from 1944– 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps) in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine, all three divisions of the corps, received the honorary title – Krasnograds'ka, Poltava, Znamenskaya. The corps received the honorific Kirovograd. **266th Assault Aviation Division (Colonel F.G. Rodyakin), Il-2 **292nd Assault Aviation Division (Colonel Filipp Agaltsov), Il-2 **203rd Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel K.G. Baranchuk), Yak-1 * 4th Fighter Aviation Corps (4th IAK) (Major General of Aviation Ivan Podgorny) ** 294th Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel V.V. Sukhoryabov), Yak-1 and Yak-7 ** 302nd Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel B.I. Litvinov), La-5 * 5th Fighter Aviation Corps (5th IAK) (Major General of Aviation Dmitry Galunov) ** 8th Guards Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel I.P. Laryushkin), La-5 ** 205th Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel Yu. A. Nemtsevich), Yak-1 and Yak-7 ** 291st Assault Aviation Division (291st ShAD) (Colonel (promoted to Major General of Aviation February 1944) Andrey Vitruk, Il-2 in three assault regiments and Yak-1, Yak-7 and La-5 in one fighter regiment ** 208th Night Bomber Aviation Division (208th NBAD) (Colonel Leonid Yuzeyev), U-2, R-5, Tupolev SB, Pe-2 and A-20B ** 256th Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel N.S. Gerasimov), Yak-7 and Yak-9

1 December 1944

On 1 December 1944, the army included the following units: * 2nd Guards Bomber Aviation Corps **1st Guards Bomber Aviation Division **8th Guards Bomber Aviation Division * 4th Bomber Aviation Corps **202nd Bomber Aviation Division **219th Bomber Aviation Division * 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps ** 8th Guards Assault Aviation Division ** 9th Guards Assault Aviation Division ** 12th Guards Fighter Aviation Division * 2nd Guards Assault Aviation Corps ** 5th Guards Assault Aviation Division ** 6th Guards Assault Aviation Division * 3rd Assault Aviation Corps ** 307th Assault Aviation Division ** 308th Assault Aviation Division ** 181st Fighter Aviation Division * 2nd Fighter Aviation Corps **7th Guards Fighter Aviation Division **322nd Fighter Aviation Division * 5th Fighter Aviation Corps **8th Guards Fighter Aviation Division **256th Fighter Aviation Division * 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Corps **9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division **22nd Guards Fighter Aviation Division **23rd Guards Fighter Aviation Division * 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment * 208th Night Bomber Aviation Division * 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment * 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment * 193rd Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment * 118th Fire Correction Aviation Regiment * 4th Medical Aviation Regiment * 1002nd Separate Communications Aviation Regiment

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Armies of the Soviet Air Forces 02 02 Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1949