The

Soviet Airborne Troops The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed b ...

formed a number of Airborne Corps 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 ...

Airborne corps 22 June 1941

Order of Battle

Each airborne corps was to have 8020 soldiers in total, armed with:Воздушно-десантные войска : история российского десанта / Алёхин Р. В. - М. : Эксмо, 2009 * 4500 semi-automatic rifles (

SVT-40 The SVT-40 () is a Soviet semi-automatic battle rifle that saw widespread service during and after World War II. It was intended to be the new service rifle of the Soviet Red Army, but its production was disrupted by the German invasion in 19 ...

) * 1257 submachine guns (

PPD-40 The PPD () is a submachine gun originally designed in 1934 by Vasily Degtyaryov. The PPD had a conventional wooden stock, fired from an open bolt, and was capable of selective fire. It was replaced by the PPSh-41. History Developed in the Sovi ...

and

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. The PPSh-41 saw ...

) * 440 light machine guns ( DP) * 18 heavy machine guns * 111 50 mm mortars * 21 82 mm mortars * 39 45 mm anti-tank guns * 18 76,2 mm guns * 50 light tanks (

T-38 T38 or T-38 may refer to: Aviation * Allison T38, an American turboprop aircraft engine * Northrop T-38 Talon, an American jet trainer aircraft * Slingsby T.38 Grasshopper, a British training glider Other uses * T38 (classification), a disabi ...

and

T-40 The T-40 amphibious scout tank was an amphibious light tank used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was armed with one 12.7 mm (0.5 in) DShK machine gun. It was one of the few tanks that could cross an unfordable river with ...

) * 864 flamethrowers ( ROKS) * 241 automobiles

Units

There were five airborne corps in total. Source soldat.ru forums. * 1st Airborne Corps: - became

37th Guards Rifle Division The 37th Guards Rechitsa, twice Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov, and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army which fought during World War II. The division was formed on 2 August 1942 from the 1st Air ...

in August 1942 **Major General

Matvei Usenko Matvei Alekseevich Usenko (; , – May 12 1943) was a major general of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. Biography In 1918 he joined the Red Army, and during the Civil War served with enough distinction to be awarded both ...

(23 June – October 1941) **Colonel, 19 January 1942 Major General

Viktor Zholudev Viktor Grigoryevich Zholudev ( Russian: Ви́ктор Григо́рьевич Жо́лудев; 22 March 1905 – 21 July 1944) was a Red Army major general and posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union. Zholudev fought in the 1929 Sino-Soviet c ...

(15 December 1941 – July 1942) * 2nd Airborne Corps: - became 32nd Guards Rifle Division in May 1942. **Major General Fedor Kharitonov (23 June – 9 September 1941) **Colonel

Iosif Gubarevich Iosif is the Romanian variant of the biblical name Joseph and may refer to: People *Iosif Amusin, Soviet historian *Iosif Anisim, Romanian sprint canoer * Iosif Ardeleanu, Romanian communist activist and bureaucrat * Iosif Blaga, Romanian literary ...

(May – October 1941) **Colonel, since 1942 Major General

Mikhail Tikhonov Mikhail Fyodorovich Tikhonov (; 11 November 1900 – 11 February 1971) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general and Hero of the Soviet Union. Tikhonov fought in the Russian Civil War and the Winter War. He commanded the 39th Guards Rifle Corps durin ...

(September 1941 – May 1942). * 3rd Airborne Corps * 4th Airborne Corps * 5th Airborne Corps: ( :ru:5-й воздушно-десантный корпус (СССР)) - converted to 39th Guards Rifle Division **Major General Ivan Bezugly (June – October 1941) **Colonel

Stepan Guryev Stepan Savelevich Guryev (; 1 August 1902 - 22 April 1945) was a Soviet Union, Soviet Red Army officer and major-general in World War II who led the 5th Airborne Corps (Soviet Union), 5th Airborne Corps, which was reformed into the 39th Guards Ri ...

(3 October 1941 – August 1942) From March to July 1942 5th Airborne Corps was in the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the '' Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK () or RGK ( comprises reserve military formations and units; the ''Stavka'' ...

(''Stavka'' reserve), training personnel, but at the beginning of August, due to the sharp deterioration of the situation in the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, the corps was immediately reformed as the 39th Guards Rifle Division (and joined the

Stalingrad Front The Stalingrad Front was a front, a military unit encompassing several armies, of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of St ...

). In the second half of 1942 under the Moscow the 5th Airborne Corps was formed again, but it did not see action, because in December 1942 it became the 7th Guards Airborne Division. This formation of the corps was commanded by Colonel

Fedor Afanasev Fyodor, Fedor () or Feodor is the Russian-language form of the originally Greek-language name "Theodore" () meaning "God's gift" or "god-given". Fedora () is the feminine form. "Fyodor" and "Fedor" are two English transliterations of the same Ru ...

(August – November 1942) and Major General of Shore Duty Terenty Parafilo (25 November – December 1942).

Airborne corps formed after 22 June 1941

On September 4, 1941 the formation of five new airborne corps was ordered, numbered 6 to 10. Also, the establishment strength of the corps was increased to 10328 soldiers. * 6th Airborne Corps: - converted to

40th Guards Rifle Division The 40th Guards Rifle Division was one of a series of ten Guards rifle divisions (32nd – 41st) of the Red Army formed from airborne troops in the spring and summer of 1942 in preparation for, or in response to, the German summer offensive. It fo ...

**Major General Alexander Pastrevich (October 1941 – August 1942) **Major General Kirzimov Alexander Ilyich (August – December 1942) * 7th Airborne Corps: **Colonel, since 1942 Major General Joseph Gubarevich (October 1941 – August 1942) **Major General Peter Lyapin (August – December 1942). **The corps was formed on 5 December 1941 in the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at differen ...

with the 14th, 15th, and 16th Airborne Brigades. The corps remained in the Moscow district training until 29 August 1942, when it was reformed and redesignated as the

34th Guards Rifle Division The 34th Guards Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army during World War II. History The 34th Guards Rifle Division was originally formed on 29 August 1942 from the 7th Airborne Corps in the Moscow Military District. It was assigned ...

. The second formation of the 7th Airborne Corps started forming in August 1942 in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

with the 14th, 15th, 16th Airborne Brigade. The new 7th Airborne Corps was still forming near Moscow on 8 December 1942 when it was redesignated as the 2nd Guards Airborne Division. *8th Airborne Corps: - converted to

35th Guards Rifle Division The 35th Guards Rifle Division () was a division of the Soviet Red Army in World War II. Formed from an airborne corps in the summer of 1942, the division fought in the Battle of Stalingrad with the 62nd Army (Soviet Union), 62nd Army, then serv ...

**Colonel, 1942 Major General Vasiliy Glazkov (October 1941 – August 1942) **Colonel Ivan Nikitich Konev (29 August – December 1942). * 9th Airborne Corps: - converted to 36th Guards Rifle Division **Major General Ivan Bezugly (October 1941 – 30 March 1942. " r the use of combat aircraft for personal purposes, the non-fulfillment within the required period of the orders of the VDV Military Council about the transfer of aircraft to other formations" removed from the held post, and is from June lowered in the service rank to Colonel.) **Colonel, since 1942 Major General Mikhail Denisenko (March – August 1942) * 10th Airborne Corps: **Colonel, 1942 Major General Ivanov Nikolai Petrovich (November 1941 – August 1942)

From Summer 1942

In Summer 1942 the

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 ...

converted all ten airborne corps into guards rifle divisions to bolster Soviet forces in the south. Among them was the 6th Airborne Corps, which became the

. Yet:

'.. e Stavka still foresaw the necessity of conducting actual airborne operations later during the war. To have
uch a force Uch (; ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf (; ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of th ...
the Stavka created eight new airborne corps (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th) in the fall of 1942. Beginning in December 1942, these corps became ten guards airborne divisions (two formed from the 1st Airborne Corps and the three existing separate maneuver airborne brigades).'

The reformed 9th Airborne Corps was commanded by Colonel Mamontov Aleksey Georgievich (18 August – 29 October 1942) and Major General Travnikov Nikolai Grigorevich (29 October – December 1942). The reformed 10th Airborne Corps was commanded by Major General Alexander Kapitokhin (29 August – December 1942). These divisions were numbered 1st,

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

, 3rd,

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

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 Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a cont ...

, formed from 9th Airborne Corps (2nd formation), 6th,

7th Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...

, 8th, 9th, and 10th Guards Airborne Division. 'After the defeat of German forces at Kursk, the bulk of the airborne divisions joined in the pursuit of German forces to the Dnepr River. Even as ten guards airborne divisions fought at the front, new airborne brigades formed in the rear areas. In April and May 1943, twenty brigades formed and trained for future airborne operations. Most of these brigades had become six new guards airborne divisions (11th,

12th Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

, 14th, 15th, 16th) by September 1943. The Stavka however, earmarked three of these airborne brigades use in an airborne operation to cross the Dnepr River.' However, by January 1944, some of these formations (the 15th and 16th at least) were becoming Guards Rifle Divisions (the 15th became the 100th Guards in January 1944).

Guards Airborne Corps from 1944

David Glantz wrote in 1984:

In August
944 Year 944 ( CMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Byzantine forces are defeated by Sayf al-Dawla. He captures the city of Aleppo, and extends his c ...
the Stavka formed the 37th, 38th, and 39th Guards Airborne corps. By October, the newly formed corps had combined into a separate airborne army under Maj. Gen. I. I. Zatevakhin. However, because of the growing need for well-trained ground units, the new army did not endure long as an airborne unit. In December, separate airborne army the Stavka reorganized the separate airborne army into the
9th Guards Army The 9th Guards Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II, which fought in the Vienna Offensive and the Prague Offensive at the end of the war. The army was formed in January 1945 and included airborne divisions converted into infant ...
of Col. Gen. V. V. Glagolev, and all divisions were renumbered as guards rifle divisions. As testimony to the elite nature of airborne-trained units, the Stavka held the 9th Guards Army out of defensive actions, using it only for exploitation during offensives.

From December 1944, the original VDV divisions were reconstituted as Guards Rifle formations. * 37th Guards Svir Airborne Corps (19 January – 9 August 1944, and from 30 December 1944, 37th Guards Rifle Corps): **Lieutenant General

Pavel Mironov Pavel Vasilyevich Mironov (Russian: Павел Васильевич Миронов; 21 September 1900 – 29 October 1969) was a Red Army lieutenant general and Hero of the Soviet Union. Mironov led the 37th Guards Rifle Corps during World War I ...

(19 January 1944 – May 1946) ** 98th Guards Svirsk Rifle Division **

99th Guards Rifle Division The 99th Guards Rifle Division was a Red Army division of World War II. It was formed from the 14th Guards Airborne Division in January 1944. It fought in the Svir-Petrozavodsk Offensive between June and August 1944. It became the 99th Guards Airb ...

** 103rd Guards Rifle Division *

38th Guards Airborne Corps The 38th Guards Airborne Corps was an airborne corps of the Soviet airborne. It was activated during World War II in August 1944 and became a rifle corps in December of that year. The corps fought in the Vienna Offensive and the Prague Offensive ...

: **Major General, from 5 November, Lieutenant General Alexander Kapitokhin (9 August 1944 year – 25 March 1945) **General Lieutenant Alexander Utvenko (26 March 1945 – July 1946) ** 104th Guards Rifle Division ** 105th Guards Rifle Division ** 106th Guards Rifle Division * 39th Guards Airborne Corps: **General Lieutenant

(August 1944 – June 1945). **

100th Guards Rifle Division The 100th Guards Rifle Division was an elite Red Army airborne infantry division during World War II. The division fought in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive and the Vienna Offensive. Postwar, it was designated as an airborne division and disb ...

107th Guards Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

** 114th Guards Rifle Division (from 14th Guards Airborne Division (2nd formation))Michael Holm
114th Guards Airborne Division
accessed December 2103. There were significant reorganisations after the end of the war, and two new airborne corps (the 8th and 15th) were established. At the end of 1955 and the beginning of 1956 the

11th Guards Airborne Division The 11th Guards Airborne Division was the name of two separate airborne divisions of the Soviet Airborne Troops. The division was first formed in late 1943 from three airborne brigades and did not see action before its conversion to the 104th Guar ...

, 21st Guards Airborne Division, 100th Guards Airborne DivisionMichael Holm
100th Guards Airborne Division
retrieved January 2013. and 114th Airborne Divisions were disbanded as well as all the airborne corps headquarters.Vad777's Soviet Armed Forces site

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em *Lieutenant Colonel

David Glantz David M. Glantz (born January 11, 1942) is an American military historian known for his books on the Red Army during World War II and as the chief editor of '' The Journal of Slavic Military Studies''. Born in Port Chester, New York, Glantz ...

''The Soviet Airborne Experience''
Research Survey No. 4, Combat Studies Institute, November 1984
PDF
Corps of the Soviet Airborne Forces Airborne units and formations of the Soviet Union