2nd Air Army

The 2nd Air Army (2 VA) was a formation of the Aviation of the Red Army (Soviet Air Force) as part of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Second World War. It was formed on May 12, 1942 by an order of the NKO of May 5, 1942 on the basis of the Air Force of the Bryansk Front.

The army participated in defensive battles in the Voronezh sector, and then supported the troops of the Southwestern Front in the counter-offensive at Stalingrad (Battle of Stalingrad), in collaboration with the 8th Air Army, the 16th Air Army and the 17th Air Army in the fight for supremacy in the air.

As part of the Voronezh (from 20 October 1943 the 1st Ukrainian Front) the army participated in the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of the Dnieper, Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, Rivne-Lutsk Proskurov-Chernivtsi Lvov-Sandomierz Sandomir-Silesia Lower Silesian Offensive Upper Silesian Offensive, Battle of Berlin and the Prague Offensive.

From its founding the army was part of the Bryansk Front. On 9 July 1942 is included in the Voronezh Front. From 16 November by 21 December 1942 was in operational control of Southwestern Front, and then returned to the composition of the Voronezh Front. On 20 October 1943, the Voronezh Front was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Front and 2 VA was subordinated to it.

The army was commanded by:

• 05/05/1942 - Stepan Krasovsky, Major General aviation
• 05/07/1942 - Konstantin Smirnov, Colonel, (Major General Aviation from 17 October 1942);
• 03/27/1943 - until the end of the war - Stepan Krasovsky, (Krasovsky was promoted to Lieutenant General Aviation with effect from 20 December 1942 and Colonel General Aviation from 4 February 1944);

Composition

May 12, 1942

• 205th, 206th, 207th Fighter Air Division(s)
• 208th Night Bomber Air Division
• 223rd Air Division blizhnebombardirovochnaya
• 225th, 226th, 227th Air Assault Division
• Two independent air regiments.

July 5, 1943

• 1st Bomber Air Corps (1bak) (Polbin, Colonel) (with 194? Year - 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Corps (1943-45 year))
• 1st Ground Attack Air Corps (1shak) (VG Ryazanov, Major General Aviation) (with 194? Year - 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps) in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine, all three divisions stationed in the Air Corps general assault Ryazanov, received the honorary title - Krasnograds'ka, Poltava, Znamenskaya. The body was renamed Kirovograd.
  • 3rd Guards Attack Air Division
    • 140th Kyiv Guards Assault Aviation Regiment (the scarlet banner which in future will decorate the Order of the Red Banner and Bogdan Khmelnitsky)
    • 141st Guards Assault Aviation Regiment?
  • 9th Guards Attack Air Division
    • 141st Guards Assault Aviation Regiment?
    • 155th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment
• 4th Fighter Air Corps (4iak) (ID Podgornyy, Major General Aviation)
• 5th Fighter Air Corps (5iak) (DP Galunov, Major General Aviation)
• 291st Attack Air Division (291shad) (AN Vitruka, 1942-1943 year - Colonel in February 1944, Major General Aviation) (from March 1943 - 10th Guards Attack Air Division, was awarded the honorary title "Voronezh" (May 1943) and "Kiev" (November 1943), with the July 1944 Red Banner (awarded the Red Banner, Suvorov 2 First Class, Kutuzov 2 nd degree));
• 208th Night Bomber Air Division (208nbad) (LI Yuzeev, Colonel)
• The editors of the newspaper "Wings of Victory" (Newspaper 2VA')

December 1, 1944

• 2nd Guards Bomber Air Corps (1 dc, 8 dc Bud)
• 4th Bomber Air Corps (202, 219 Bud)
• 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps
  • 8th Guards Assualt Aviation Division
  • 9th Guards Assualt Aviation Division
  • 12th Guards Iyad
• 2nd Guards Assault Aviation Corps
  • 5th Guards Assualt Aviation Division
  • 6th Guards Assualt Aviation Division
• 3rd Assault Air Corps (307, 308 Shad, 181 Iyad)
  • 307th Assualt Aviation Division
  • 308th Assualt Aviation Division
  • 181st Iyad
• 2nd Fighter Air Corps (7gv, 322 Iyad)
• 5th Fighter Air Corps (8 dc, 256 Iyad)
• 6th Guards Fighter Aviation Corps (9, 22, 23 Guards IAD),
• 11 rt Iyad,
• 208th Night Bomber Air Division
• 1 dc IAP,
• 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
• 193rd Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
• 118 крап
• 4 санап
• 1002 oans

After the war 2nd Air Army was stationed in Austria as part of the Soviet occupation forces. It was disbanded in 1949. Later the Soviet Air Defence Forces formed a 2nd Army of Air Defence Forces which operated in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, but this formation was disbanded around 1991-92.

Further reading

• Bonn, Keith E.; David Glantz and others (2005). Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front. Bedford, Pennsylvania: Aberjona Press. ISBN 0-9717650-9-X.