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57th Army
Active October 1941 - February 1943
April 1943 - 1947
Country Soviet Union
Allegiance Red Army
Branch Infantry
Type Combined Arms
Size Army
Engagements Battle of Kharkov
Belgrade Offensive
Battle of the Transdanubian Hills
Vienna Offensive

The 57th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army that was created in 1941, and then disbanded and created a second time in 1943. The 57th Army was employed by the Soviets in the fight against Germany during World War II.

History[]

First formation[]

The 57th Army was formed in October 1941 and subordinated to the RVGK (reserves of the supreme command).[1] Still under RVGK control in December 1941, the 57th Army was made up of the following units.

333rd Rifle Division
335th Rifle Division
337th Rifle Division
341st Rifle Division

349th Rifle Division
351st Rifle Division
60th Cavalry Division
79th Cavalry Division

During the May 1942 Battle of Kharkov, the army was surrounded and practically destroyed.[2] Attempting to break out, General Podlas, the army commander, was killed in action. Slowly rebuilt, by December 1942, the army was part of the Stalingrad Front. The 57th Army was disbanded in February 1943 to form the headquarters of the 68th Army.[3]

Second formation[]

The 57th Army was formed a second time in April 1943 and subordinated to the Southwestern Front. The 68th Rifle Corps first appears in Soviet OOB 1 August 1943, as part of the 57th Army, Southwestern Front. Subordinate divisions at this time were the 19th, 52nd, and 303rd Rifle Divisions. The army subsequently fought in the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Hungary until the end of the war. During the final months of the war, the army occupied the southernmost position of the Soviet front line; to the south of 57th Army on the eastern front were Bulgarian (including the Bulgarian First Army) and Yugoslavian forces. At war's end, the 57th Army was subordinated to the 3rd Ukrainian Front, and commanded the following forces.

Infantry units

6th Guards Rifle Corps
10th Guards Airborne Division
20th Guards Rifle Division
61st Guards Rifle Division
64th Rifle Corps
73rd Guards Rifle Division
113th Rifle Division
299th Rifle Division
133rd Rifle Corps
84th Rifle Division
104th Rifle Division
122nd Rifle Division

Artillery units

160th Gun-Artillery Brigade
42nd Guards Corps Artillery Regiment
374th Antitank Regiment
523rd Mortar Regiment
71st Anti-Aircraft Regiment

Engineer units

65th Engineer-Sapper Brigade


Postwar, the 57th Army was stationed in Romania until 1947, at which time the army was disbanded.[4]

Commanders[]

  • 10.41 - 02.42 D. I. Riabyshev
  • 02.42 - 05.42 K. P. Podlas
  • 05.42 - 06.42 A. G. Batiunia
  • 06.42 - 07.42 D. N. Nikishev
  • 07.42 - 01.43 F. I. Tolbukhin
  • 05.43 - 10.44 N. A. Gagen
  • 10.44 - 05.45 M. N. Sharokhin

Notes[]

  1. Glantz, p. 58
  2. Newland and Chun, p. 77
  3. Glantz, p. 58
  4. Feskov, p. 45

References[]

  • Keith Bonn, Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005
  • V.I. Feskov et al., The Soviet Army in the Period of the Cold War, Tomsk University Press, 2004
  • David Glantz, Companion to Colussus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005
  • Jean-Luc Marchand, Order of Battle Soviet Army World War 2, 24 volumes, The Nafziger Collection
  • Samuel J. Newland and Clayton K. S. Chun, The European Campaign: Its Origins and Conduct, U.S. Army War College SSI, Carlisle, PA, 2011 - Online version

External links[]


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