5th Army in 1944 Legendary Army

For the first time, the 5th Combined Arms Army was formed by order of the People's Commissar for Military Affairs dated 08/11/1918 No. 15. In June 1924 it was disbanded.

Again, the 5th Army was formed in 1939 in the Kiev Special Military District. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, it was part of the Southwestern Front, but, having suffered heavy losses, in September 1941 the administration of the association was disbanded, and its formations and military units were transferred to other formations of the front.

In October 1941, the 5th Army was created again on the basis of the military units of the Mozhaisk fortified region and the 32nd Infantry Division, which arrived in Moscow from the Primorsky Territory. The first commander of the army was Major General D.D. Lelyushenko.

During the Great Patriotic War and the war with militaristic Japan, the 5th Army participated in the 21st operation, including the Battle of Moscow (October-April 1941-1942), the Smolensk offensive operation (August-October 1943), the Belorussian offensive operation (June-August 1944), East Prussian offensive operation (January-April 1945), Manchurian strategic offensive operation (August 1945).

During the period of fighting in East Prussia alone, the 5th Army defeated up to 10 enemy divisions. For the assault and capture of Keninsberg, the formations of the 72nd Rifle Corps of the army received the honorary name "Insterburg". The military operations of the army in East Prussia are rightfully considered an outstanding example of Soviet military art, they are one of the glorious pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

During the Great Patriotic War, the army was commanded by generals who later became outstanding military leaders: D.D. Lelyushenko, I.M. Fedyuninsky, V.S. Polenov, future marshals of the Soviet Union L.A. Govorov and N.I. Krylov.

For the feats accomplished during the Great Patriotic War and the war with Japan, 117 officers, sergeants and soldiers of the army were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 50 became full holders of the Order of Glory, more than 20 thousand were awarded orders and medals. All military units and formations of the army became order-bearing, and two formations became guards. For the victories won, the soldiers of the association were saluted 15 times by the capital of our Motherland - Moscow.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 22, 1968, the 5th Army was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for heroism and courage during the Great Patriotic War and success in combat training in peacetime.

In April 1969, one of the formations of the 5th Army participated in the suppression of a provocation on the Soviet-Chinese border near Damansky Island. For the courage, heroism and courage shown in defending the borders of our Motherland from Chinese adventurers, 219 soldiers of the formation were awarded orders and medals, and junior sergeant V.V. Orekhov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

4 people are forever enrolled in the lists of military units of the army: Heroes of the Soviet Union Junior Sergeant Kalinin Ivan Nikolaevich, Junior Sergeant Vladimir Viktorovich Orekhov, Guards Private Vasily Ivanovich Chipishchev, Guards Sergeant Evgeny Dikopoltsev.

October 11, 1941 is considered the day of formation of the 5th Red Banner Combined Arms Army. On the same day - October 11 - the annual holiday of unification is celebrated.

Abstract on the topic:

5th Army (USSR)



Plan:

    Introduction
  • 1 First formation
    • 1.1 Summer 1941
    • 1.2 Battle path of the 5th army
      • 1.2.1 The fighting of the 5th Army during the border battle of the Southwestern Front and the withdrawal to the line of the fortified area along the old state border from June 22 to July 8, 1941
      • 1.2.2 Combat operations of the troops of the 5th Army from Korostensky UR during the Kiev battle
      • 1.2.3 March-maneuver of the 5th Army on the Dnieper River and defensive battles in the Left-Bank Ukraine in the conditions of bilateral enemy coverage and encirclement
    • 1.3 Combat strength of the 5th Army
      • 1.3.1 On June 22, 1941 [TsAMO 1]
      • 1.3.2
      • 1.3.3 On July 20-22, 1941
      • 1.3.4 The combat composition of the armored and mechanized troops of the 5th Army
      • 1.3.5 Composition of the Air Force of the 5th Army
  • 2 Second formation
    • 2.1 Combat strength of the army
      • 2.1.1 The combat composition of the armored and mechanized troops of the 5th Army
      • 2.1.2 on November 1, 1941
      • 2.1.3 Composition of the Air Force of the 5th Army
      • 2.1.4 On 1 July 1942
      • 2.1.5 On 1 April 1945
  • 3 Commanders
  • 4 Literature
    • Sources
  • 6 Information sources
    • Notes

Introduction

5th Army (5A) - the operational association of the Red Army (combined arms army)


1. First formation

First formed in 1939 in the Kiev Special Military District. Army troops as part of the Ukrainian Front took part in the Polish campaign of 1939.

On the eve of the war, the army included the 15th and 27th rifle corps, the 9th and 22nd mechanized corps, the 2nd and 9th fortified areas, a number of artillery, engineering and other units (a total of 5 rifle, 4 tank and 2 motorized divisions). From the beginning of the war, the army was included in the Southwestern Front.


1.1. Summer 1941

In the early days of the war, the 5th Army entered into battle with the forces of the German Army Group South. Army troops fought in the Kovel and Lutsk directions, took part in the tank battle near Dubno. The forces of the army, retreating with battles from Kovel to Kyiv, suffered heavy losses. The remnants of the army were captured during the battle for Kyiv. The commander of the army, Major General of the Tank Forces M. I. Potapov, was captured while trying to get out of the encirclement. On September 20, 1941, the army administration was disbanded, and its formations and units were transferred to staff other armies of the Southwestern Front.


1.2. Battle path of the 5th Army

1.2.1. The fighting of the 5th Army during the border battle of the Southwestern Front and the withdrawal to the line of the fortified area along the old state border from June 22 to July 8, 1941

The 5th Army covered the Lutsk direction.
In front of the 5th Army, in the area from Vlodava to Krystynopol (174 km along the front), the enemy concentrated a large grouping of his troops in the 17th, 29th, 55th and 44th Army Corps of the 6th Army, 3rd, 48th and 14th Motorized Corps 1st Panzer Group. In total, this grouping consisted of 21 divisions.
On June 25, the 19th Mechanized Corps became part of the 5th Army.


1.2.2. Combat operations of the troops of the 5th Army from Korostensky UR during the Kiev battle

1.2.3. March-maneuver of the 5th Army on the Dnieper River and defensive battles in the Left-Bank Ukraine in the conditions of bilateral enemy coverage and encirclement

1.3. Combat strength of the 5th Army

1.3.1. On June 22, 1941 [TsAMO 1]

  • 15th Rifle Corps
    • 45th Rifle Division
    • 62nd Rifle Division
  • 27th Rifle Corps
    • 87th Rifle Division
    • 124th Rifle Division
    • 135th Rifle Division
  • 2nd (Vladimir-Volynsky) fortified area
  • 1st artillery anti-tank brigade
  • 21st Corps Artillery Regiment
  • 231st Corps Artillery Regiment
  • 264th Corps Artillery Regiment

1.3.2. The combat composition of the armored and mechanized troops of the 5th Army

  • 9th Mechanized Corps
    • 20th Panzer Division
    • 35th Panzer Division
    • 131st Motorized Division
    • 32nd Motorcycle Regiment
  • 22nd Mechanized Corps
    • 19th Panzer Division
    • 41st Panzer Division
    • 215th motorized division
    • 23rd Motorcycle Regiment
  • 5th Pontoon Bridge Regiment

1.3.3. On July 20-22, 1941

  • 195th Rifle Division
  • 200th Rifle Division
  • 62nd Rifle Division
  • 228th Rifle Division
  • 193rd Rifle Division

1.3.4. The combat composition of the armored and mechanized troops of the 5th Army

  • 19th Mechanized Corps
  • 9th Mechanized Corps
  • 22nd Mechanized Corps

1.3.5. Composition of the Air Force of the 5th Army

  • 7th separate reconnaissance aviation squadron - formed in the second half of July 1941. It was armed with aircraft: 21 R-10, two I-15bis and one U-2. Squadron commanders - Captain A.A. Troshin. It operated as part of the Air Force of the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front.

2. Second formation

Again, the 5th Army was created on October 11, 1941 as part of the Western Front on the basis of the troops of the Mozhaisk combat site (former Mozhaisk UR) as part of the 32nd and 133rd rifle divisions, the 18th, 19th, 20th tank brigades and a number of artillery, engineering and other units. Until December 1941, army troops, participating in the Battle of Moscow, fought stubborn defensive battles in the areas of Mozhaisk, Zvenigorod, and Kubinka. In December 1941 - January 1942, the army launched a counteroffensive, as a result of which they liberated Mozhaisk and entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Gzhatsk.

In March 1943, the army took part in the Rzhev-Vyazemsky offensive operation, during which the cities of Gzhatsk and Vyazma were liberated, in August - September 1943, during the Smolensk operation of 1943, it participated in the liberation of Smolensk.

In 1943-1944, the army as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front participated in the Orsha, Vitebsk, Belorussian and East Prussian offensive operations. At the final stage of hostilities, the army participated in the liquidation of the Zemland grouping of enemy troops.

In April 1945, the army was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters, and then transferred to the Far East as part of the Primorsky Group of Forces (since August 5, 1945 - the 1st Far Eastern Front). In August - September 1945, the army (17th, 45th, 65th and 72nd rifle corps, 105th SD, tank, artillery brigades, a number of separate units) participated in the Harbino-Girinsky operation.


2.1. Combat strength of the army

2.1.1. The combat composition of the armored and mechanized troops of the 5th Army

2.1.2. on November 1, 1941

  • 18th brigade
  • 19th tank brigade
  • 20th tank brigade
  • 22nd tank brigade
  • 25th tank brigade
  • 36th MCP
  • 27th team

2.1.3. Composition of the Air Force of the 5th Army

  • 148th Separate Communications Aviation Squadron - formed in the second half of July 1941. It was armed with 8 U-2 aircraft. It operated as part of the Air Force of the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front.

2.1.4. On 1 July 1942

  • 19th Rifle Division
  • 32nd Rifle Division
  • 50th Rifle Division
  • 108th Rifle Division
  • 144th Rifle Division
  • 329th Rifle Division
  • 336th Rifle Division
  • 82nd Motorized Division
  • 37th Rifle Brigade
  • 43rd Rifle Brigade
  • 60th Rifle Brigade

2.1.5. On 1 April 1945

  • 45th Rifle Corps
    • 157th Rifle Division
    • 159th Rifle Division
    • 184th Rifle Division
  • 65th Rifle Corps
    • 97th Rifle Division
    • 144th Rifle Division
    • 371st Rifle Division
  • 72nd Rifle Corps
    • 63rd Rifle Division
    • 215th Rifle Division
    • 277th Rifle Division

3. Commanders

  • Potapov M. I. (June - September 1941), major general of tank troops
  • Lelyushenko D. D. (until October 17, 1941), Major General
  • Govorov L. A. (October 18, 1941 - April 1942), major general of artillery, from 11.1941 lieutenant general of artillery
  • Fedyuninsky I. I. (April - October 1942), major general, from June 1942 lieutenant general
  • Cherevichenko Ya. T. (October 1942 - 02/27/1943), Colonel General
  • Polenov V. S. (02/27/1943 - October 1943), lieutenant general
  • Krylov N. I. (October 1943 - October 1944), lieutenant general, from July 1944 colonel general;
  • Shafranov P. G. (October - December 1944), lieutenant general.
  • Krylov N. I. (from December 1944 until the end of the war), Colonel General;

4. Literature

  • Isaev A.V. From Dubno to Rostov. - M.: AST; Transitbook, 2004.
  • Vladimirsky A.V. On the Kiev direction. According to the experience of conducting combat operations by the troops of the 5th Army of the South-Western Front in June-September 1941 - M .: Voenizdat, 1989.
  • Krylov N. I., Alekseev N. I., Dragan I. G., “Towards victory. Battle path of the 5th army. October 1941 - August 1945", Moscow, 1970.

Sources

  1. TsAMO, fund 229, inventory 9776ss, case 3, sheet 122. Original

6. Sources of information

  • The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945: The active army. - Zhukovsky; Moscow: Kuchkovo field; Animi Fortitudo, 2005.
  • Battle near Moscow. Chronicle, facts, people: in 2 books. - M.: OLMA-PRESS, 2002. - Book. one.
  • Khazanov D.B. 1941. Battle for the sky. From the Dnieper to the Gulf of Finland. - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2007.

A. I. Makarov

Battle path of the 27th division of the 5th army

A. I. MAKAROV - a member of the CPSU since 1917, a former military commissar of the 236th Orsha rifle regiment of the 27th division of the 5th Red Army, during the civil war he participated in the liberation of Siberia (including Novonikolaevsk) from Kolchak and interventionists. Currently a personal pensioner.

December 1918. There were heavy battles with the combined forces of the White Guards and interventionists. But the troops of the 3rd Army were able to retain the main core of the Ural workers and already in the second half of January 1919, in some areas, they switched to active operations.

The widely conceived operation of the White Guard command was reduced to local successes.

The general winter offensive of the armies of the Eastern Front, which began in November - December 1918, did not stop, despite the temporary withdrawal of the 3rd Army in December and the surrender of Perm. The 2nd Army of the Eastern Front successfully crossed to the left bank of the Kama and advanced significantly in the Kungur direction.

On the front of the 5th Army, where I was seconded by the commissar of the regiment, in the first half of December there were battles with varying success.

The Samara group of whites managed to capture Belibey for a while. But already from mid-December 1918, the initiative passed entirely into the hands of the Soviet troops.

An attempt by the commander of the Samara group of White Czechs and White Guards, General Voitsekhovsky, with the help of the reserves of the units of the 12th Ural Division and the French artillery unit, to delay the advance of Soviet troops in the area of ​​Chishma station, was unsuccessful.

Parts of the 5th Army, despite fatigue and an acute shortage of supplies, knocked down the White Guards and interventionists from their positions and rushed to Ufa.

In the battles near Ufa, I was wounded in the back, and I was in the hospital until the evacuation of Ufa. Among the white soldiers, cases of surrender became more frequent. In a few days, about 8 thousand soldiers surrendered in the Ufa direction of the 5th Army. Kolchak's attempt to replenish the troops with workers and peasants mobilized in the front-line regions of the Urals did not produce the expected results. Many conscripts refused to join Kolchak's army and went into the forest in groups.

On December 31, 1918, units of the 5th Army liberated Ufa, and a few days later - Birsk. The capture of Ufa by the 5th Army provided protection for the left flank of the 1st Army and created an advantageous position for an attack on Orenburg not only from Buzuluk, but also from Sterlitamak. On January 22, 1919, the Red Army liberated Orenburg.

Comrade Tukhachevsky was then commander of the 1st Army. The Ural White Cossacks were cut off from the Kolchak army. Great assistance to the Soviet troops of the Eastern Front was provided by the partisan movement, which unfolded by the autumn of 1918 under the leadership of underground communist organizations in the rear of Kolchak. On the authority of the Central Committee of our party, a Bolshevik underground was created in the Urals and Siberia, which was headed by the old underground Bolshevik of the Urals, Sergei Fomich Baranov, later secretary of the Saratov regional committee of the CPSU (b).

With the active assistance of the underground at the time of the occupation of the city of Zlatoust, we already had more or less complete information about the state of Kolchak's White Guard gangs.

In Zlatoust, the 1st brigade of the 27th rifle division was replenished with workers from the Southern Urals. Up to 200 people came to our 236th Orsha Rifle Regiment, including 60-70 members of the CPSU (b).

The battles for Chelyabinsk lasted 10-12 days. Near the village of Dolgoderevenskaya, we received the strongest rear blow. There was not enough equipment, food, commanders were not quite well selected in some parts.

But we have not given Chelyabinsk to Kolchak anymore. In the defense of the city, the workers of Chelyabinsk and the suburban coal mines rendered great assistance. Up to 700-800 workers joined our regiments. After we took Chelyabinsk and its suburbs, the Whites began to quickly, without fighting, retreat to the river. Tobol. The Whites managed to fortify themselves and kept us near the Tobolsk sector. Searches began, reconnaissance in the camp of the White Guard units, the determination of their combat capability. We firmly fortified on Tobol.

There were cases on the Tobol when whites surrendered to us in order to bring decay into our units.

picture

Battles on the Tobol

The main forces of the 5th Army advanced along the railway line Kurgan - Petropavlovsk - Omsk. The 3rd Army delivered the main blow along the Yalutorovsk-Ishim railway line.

After a short stop, on August 20, Soviet troops crossed the Tobol and rushed to the east.

By the end of August, the regiments of the 5th Army in places advanced up to 180 km from Tobol and were 70 km from the Ishim River. This forced the Kolchakites to increase resistance. On September 1, the enemy launched a series of counterattacks. The advance of the Soviet troops was suspended. The initiative temporarily passed to the Whites. Soviet intelligence officers discovered a large grouping of white troops on the right flank of the army and several divisions in the railroad strip. It became clear that the Kolchakites were preparing for a big operation.

Meanwhile, a decisive battle was approaching. By October 14, 1919, on the Eastern Front, the superiority of forces was on our side. There were already spare regiments in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Troitsk fortified areas. The Soviet soldiers were burning with the desire to put an end to Kolchak as soon as possible and to free the workers and peasants of Siberia from the landowner-bourgeois dictatorship of the White Guards and the violence of the interventionists.

The Kolchakites at one time had to fight on two fronts, and even the most downtrodden soldiers increasingly understood that the whole people were fighting against them, that an army without reserves (from mobilization everyone flees to the forests, to the partisans, etc.) is doomed to complete defeat. To all this was added insufficient provision of their army with uniforms and equipment. Meanwhile, the rains began to fall and the cold began. This further undermined the spirit of Kolchak.

But the Kolchakites nevertheless decided to move on to active operations by mid-October. They had no other choice. The White Guards learned that the Soviet troops themselves would soon begin to cross the Tobol. Indeed, the command of the Red Army was ahead of the enemy.

In Omsk, in a large, well-finished Pullman carriage, completely lined with icons, banners, banners (headquarters of the Kolchak armies), General Dieterikhs gave the last orders to prepare for the crossing of Tobol, and our soldiers moved east, seizing the initiative.

At dawn on October 14, 1919, units of the 5th Army began fierce battles along the entire front. The White Guards resisted fiercely. In some places, at first, they even managed to throw the Soviet regiments into the river and again force them to retreat to the western bank of the Tobol.

However, already on the first day of the offensive, the main parts of our army crossed the river and significantly expanded their bridgehead on the eastern bank. The decisive days of fighting were approaching.

And so Kolchak's General Sakharov abandoned the so-called Izhevsk division, known to everyone for his services to Kolchak, she was helped by the 11th Ural division. But the breakthrough of the Soviet troops was so great that the Izhevsk division was surrounded in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe village of Glyadinskoye and only broke through to the east at a high price.

She lost at least a thousand people here. By the end of the third day of the offensive, the right flank of the 5th Army had advanced significantly. The enemy began to retreat along the entire front. General Diterichs, frightened by the successes of the Soviet troops and the defeat of the White Guards, on October 24 ordered:

“In view of the unexpected colossal withdrawal of the left flank of the 3rd Army by the morning of October 24, which caused the withdrawal of the entire front and the hasty evacuation of the rear, take urgent and energetic measures to clear the Omsk and Kulomshisky knots.”

Soviet troops quickly advanced to the Ishim River, crushing the enemy and capturing entire regiments. The whole Carnatorus regiment went over to the side of the Red Army. In two weeks, units of the Red Army covered a distance of 250 km.

In the course of the battles with the Kolchakites on the Eastern Front, their own cadres of commanders and commissars grew up from among the workers and peasants. Many thousands of rank-and-file fighters received a great hardening.

Soviet soldiers wrote new heroic pages in the history of the struggle of the people against the enemies of the Motherland.

On October 16, 1919, the 229th Novgorod Regiment met enemy resistance in the area of ​​​​the villages of Davydovo and Petrakovo. With fire from all types of weapons, the Kolchak troops stopped the advance of the Soviet troops. Then the commissar of the regiment, S.P. Vasiliev, with a group of fighters, bypassed the White Guards and appeared in their rear. Despite their small numbers, the Red Army men, inspired by the commissar, boldly attacked the enemy. The Kolchakites did not expect a blow and fled, throwing their weapons. 300 prisoners were captured, two guns and five machine guns.

On November 4, near the village of Bugrovar, the 43rd regiment fought a hot battle all day with two enemy units, supported by strong artillery fire. The Kolchakites managed to surround and disarm one of the battalions of the neighboring 237th regiment of our brigade and create a threat to bypass the 43rd regiment. Then the commander of the regiment, V. I. Chuikov, applied a skillful maneuver: he advanced one battalion to cover the flank, and with the rest he himself began to quickly bypass the enemy and soon surrounded him. For the fear of the captured battalion, he, at the head of a cavalry reconnaissance in the amount of 14 people, boldly rushed at the Cossacks, who disarmed the Soviet battalion, shot several enemy soldiers and caused a panic in the ranks of the White Guards. With his bravery, he captivated the entire regiment. As a result, the Soviet battalion was released, and the enemy fled, leaving 300 prisoners and many weapons. For the skillful leadership of the 43rd punk in battles and personal courage, V.I. Chuikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

On the same day, in the battle near the village of Vakorinsky (near Ishim), on the outskirts of Omsk, the commander of the 2nd cavalry division K.K. Rokossovsky (now Marshal of the Soviet Union) showed great resourcefulness and personal courage. Personally leading the division, he broke through the enemy's disposition in the equestrian formation with 30 horsemen, overcoming the stubborn resistance of the enemy's infantry cover, captured the enemy's battery in full working order.

Near the city of Ishim, on the outskirts of Omsk, the commanders and Red Army soldiers of the 262nd regiment of the 30th division, commanded by M.D. Solosidin, also distinguished themselves. Assistant regiment commander T. D. Shevoldin with a group of soldiers captured two enemy battalions. The fighters and commanders showed great ingenuity and endurance.

In early November, the headquarters of the 311th regiment learned from a survey of prisoners that the 44th Kustanai White Guard Regiment was located in the village of M. Balpash. The commander of the 311th regiment, P.F. Zelipugin, with a team of scouts, went to the enemy’s location. Knowing the pass, he freely passed the Cossack outpost, drove into the village and surrounded the headquarters of Kolchak. Entering the headquarters, Zelipugin disarmed all the officers and declared them under arrest. After that, the entire 44th White Regiment in the amount of 500 people was disarmed. The Red Army captured five machine guns, one gun and the entire convoy. When crossing the Tobol and when advancing beyond the Tobol River, Kolchak's troops were still fighting defensive battles, but to no avail. Kolchak soldiers surrendered in whole companies and units.

After forcing the Tobol River, the cavalry reconnaissance of our regiment began to scan the banks of the river and discovered a company of armed Czechoslovaks. She unexpectedly attacked the enemy from the rear and opened gun, machine-gun fire. A company of soldiers in the amount of up to 140 people, laying down their arms, actually surrendered to three people: Commissar Comrade Surkov, me - the platoon commander, and my orderly. Having suffered a defeat between Tobol and Ishim, the Kolchak command withdrew the remnants of the troops across the Ishim River.

On November 4, units of the 3rd Army entered the city of Ishim, capturing large trophies, including food.

After the loss of Petropavlovsk and Ishim, the Whites began a hasty retreat to Omsk. Here was Kolchak and his government. Omsk was the main base of the White Guard army.

That is why Kolchak decided to defend this city with all his might. However, among the Whites there was no consensus on this issue. So, General Dieterikhs considered the defense of Omsk hopeless and offered to retreat further to the east. But Kolchak did not want to hear about leaving Omsk, he was supported by Sakharov.

Kolchak said: “It is unthinkable to surrender Omsk. With the loss of Omsk, everything is lost.

The White Guards began to hastily prepare Omsk for defense. Six kilometers from the city, it was supposed to dig trenches and install thick wire fences. Troops were moving up to Omsk. At that time, a 30,000-strong garrison was in the city itself, and the remnants of the armies from the front also approached here.

Kolchak newspapers began another campaign to raise the spirit of the troops and the population. All fences were covered with leaflets with an appeal to the inhabitants of the city to join the army. Bells rang in all the churches, their ringing was very reminiscent of the "waste". The Bishop of Omsk addressed an appeal to the faithful, suggesting that they come to their senses and stand up for the "Orthodox faith against the Antichrists." Despite the fact that a lot of the bourgeoisie, former tsarist officials, police officers, and the top of the Cossacks gathered in the city, none of them showed a desire to take up arms. The bourgeoisie had long since packed their bags and dreamed of fleeing east as soon as possible. Officials of higher institutions from the first days of November went to work in full marching attire, so that at a convenient moment, as soon as the car on the train presented themselves, they would immediately jump into it and move into the depths of Siberia.

Among the Kolchak soldiers every day more and more intensified decomposition. It soon embraced a significant part of the officers, who indulged in unrestrained drunkenness and revelry.

Under these conditions, the command of the White Guards abandoned the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bdefending Omsk and ordered the remnants of the troops to retreat to the east.

On November 10, 1919, the Kolchak government fled from Omsk. The next day, Kolchak left in the direction of Irkutsk with five letter trains, and with him a train with a gold reserve. Every day the flow of evacuees grew. Soon the only railroad going to the east was loaded with trains. Before leaving Omsk, the Kolchakists took out of prison and shot three parties of chained Bolsheviks, 125-150 people each. Meanwhile, the advanced units of the Red Army were approaching Omsk.

On November 12, our 27th division was 100 kilometers from Omsk. The troops of the White Guards were approaching Omsk, they were very afraid that, due to the lack of crossings, the Red Army might overturn them into the Irtysh, but a severe frost hit, and the river stood up. The White Guards hurriedly crossed the Irtysh and, bypassing Omsk, retreated in the direction of Novonikolaevsk. Three brigades of the Soviet 27th division, of which one was advancing from the west, and the other two from the north and south, approached the city in a forced march.

On November 14, 1919, in the morning, the 238th Bryansk Regiment, having overcome a distance of almost 100 kilometers on carts in a day, entered Omsk. Following him, other regiments entered the city. But none of the White Guards expected that the Soviet troops would reach Omsk so quickly.

Therefore, on the morning of November 14, when the Red Army units entered the city, some officials who had not had time to evacuate were still on their way to work. A group of Red Army soldiers encountered one of these officials. It was General Rimsky-Korsakov, riding a trotter into the presence. Noticing that the soldiers on the street did not salute him, Rimsky-Korsakov immediately stopped his horse and began to scold the soldiers. Imagine the general's surprise when the lower ranks standing in front of him responded to his remark with a friendly laugh and surrounded the sled. Then the Red Army soldiers, with jokes, pulled their prisoner out of the sled, shook him out of his rich fur coat, took off his hat and, under escort, led him to the headquarters of the regiment.

The Omsk garrison offered no resistance to the Soviet regiments, with the exception of individual small detachments, which in some places opened fire on the Red Army. But the soldiers of the garrison with the first shots in the city poured out of the barracks and rushed to the military depots.

By the evening of November 14, the remaining regiments of the 27th division entered Omsk, and soon order was restored in the city.

On the day of liberation, a revolutionary committee was formed in Omsk, which appealed to the working people of the city:

"Comrade citizens! Finally, the veil of darkness and obscurantism fell. The chains of slavery, sticks and executions of defenseless workers and peasants are over. All power in the city is in the hands of the revolutionary committee of the city of Omsk.”

Soviet troops captured huge trophies in Omsk. Among them: 3 armored trains, 41 guns, over 100 machine guns, 500 thousand shells, 5 million rounds of ammunition, more than 200 locomotives and 3 thousand wagons. Many thousands of soldiers and officers were taken prisoner.

After the liberation of Omsk, units of the Red Army advanced another 40–50 km to the east and received a short rest.

After Omsk, the control of the White Guard armies broke down. The commander of the front, General Sahara, together with his headquarters, retreated in the train, lost among the huge number of echelons moving east. And in the middle of this huge railway convoy, Kolchak's trains trudged along.

By the end of November, the entire route east from Omsk to Irkutsk was packed with trains in which White Guard civilian and military institutions, officials, the bourgeoisie, industrial and military cargo were evacuated.

Along the same road, starting from Novonikolaevsk, ahead of the Kolchakites, the troops of the Polish, Romanian and Czech legions fled. All this soon mixed up and merged into one continuous line of running people. The actions of partisan detachments on the railroad made the retreat of the White Guards and interventionists even more difficult. In the conditions of a stampede to the east, the Kolchak command could not even think about providing any organized resistance to the units of the Red Army in the near future. It sought to break away from the Soviet regiments as far as possible and thereby preserve the remnants of the army. But the Red Army advanced rapidly. Its main forces were advancing along the railway line. The partisans provided great assistance to the units of the Red Army. The interaction of Soviet troops with partisan detachments began at the end of October 1919. At the end of November, a close connection was established between the 5th Army and the partisans of Altai, who had extensive experience in fighting Kolchak. The Altai partisans were already reduced to 25 regiments and numbered over 40 thousand people in their ranks.

In early December, units of the Red Army met with the rebels. It was a great holiday for the people.

“Finally, the long-awaited hour of our connection has come,” the Volchikhinsky district partisan headquarters wrote to representatives of the Soviet troops on December 5, 1919, “with a sense of joy, to tears, on behalf of the insurgent people and headquarters, we welcome you, comrade delegates, fighters of liberated Russia.”

To communicate with the rebels, coordinate operations and conduct political work, the command of the 5th Army sent representatives to the main headquarters of the partisans and revolutionary committees, mainly from political workers.

They launched a great propaganda work in the liberated villages. The task was to strengthen the influence of the Bolshevik Party among the rebellious Siberian peasantry, to strengthen political consciousness, to fight against manifestations of spontaneity and anarchism.

The activities of the representatives of the Red Army in the areas of the partisan movement did not remain fruitless.

There were Polish legions along the railway line from Barnaul to Novonikolaevsk. The offensive, the partisans in this area created a threat to the rear of the Kolchak troops. In early December, the partisans captured two armored trains here - "Stepnyak" and "Falcon", 4 guns, 11 machine guns, three wagons of shells and cartridges, and many other property. The combination of the actions of regular Soviet troops operating in the main direction to Novonikolaevsk, from Omsk, with the partisan movement behind enemy lines - Barnaul, was the most striking manifestation of the growing alliance between the working class and the working peasantry.

The partisan movement also intensified along the Siberian Railway, near Novonikolaevsk. And here the partisans were of great help in the offensive of the main forces of the Soviet troops advancing on Novonikolaevsk. On December 14, 1919, without any special resistance, we occupied the city of Novonikolaevsk, which waged a selfless struggle against the Kolchakites.

The struggle against the forces of counter-revolution was led by an underground party committee. The Bolsheviks of Novonikolaevsk issued proclamations, collected and sent weapons to the partisans. The arbitrariness of Kolchakism pushed the peasants to actively join them in joint actions with the Novonikolaev workers. Partisan detachments were created throughout Siberia. The detachments operated on the territory of the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region. Novonikolaev workers were also in them. The blows inflicted by the partisans on the Kolchak troops seriously disorganized the rear of the White Guards.

Near Novonikolaevsk, in unity with the partisans, units of our 27th division inflicted a decisive defeat on Kolchak. The enemy fled, leaving behind rifles, machine guns, artillery, equipment. However, on the eve of their flight from the city, the Kolchakites committed another serious crime - they killed 104 political prisoners. Among those shot was the first chairman of the Novonikolaev Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies V. R. Romanov. The brave fighters for the people's happiness are buried in a mass grave in the garden of Lenin's house. Their memory will live forever.

After a short rest, on the night of December 15, our units and the 236th Orsha Regiment launched a further offensive along the Siberian railway. The fighting began at the Eltsovka station. Our division, and in particular the 236th Orsha Regiment, had the largest and last battle under Art. Taiga. We had to bypass Art. Taiga and blow up the railway bridge. The reconnaissance blew up the bridge, and the Orsha 3-inch battery under the command of Comrade Sivets, having converted the battery from wheels to makeshift sleds, into a snowstorm, drove all three guns to the very bed of the railway in the evening and overturned the Kolchak train. The train crew was immediately captured.

In total, the battle near the Taiga lasted at least a day and ended late at night.

In the battle for the capture of Art. Taiga, our regiment commander comrade was killed. Terekhov. We managed to capture rich trophies. More than 40 echelons were with food, new Anglo-American uniforms and the best Polish cavalry horses. Then we reached Krasnoyarsk without any fights, or rather drove in carts. On the outskirts of Krasnoyarsk, our regular units met partisans from the army of TT. Shchetinkin and Kravchenko.

In the troops of the partisan army Kravchenko - Shchetinkin, good workshops were organized in the forests for the manufacture of equipment - edged weapons, machine-gun bullets, rifle grenades and explosives - I personally managed to see such workshops in the Taiga, between Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk.

The official meeting of the regular units of the 27th division of the 5th army with the Shchetinkin-Kravchenko partisans took place in the city of Minusinsk.

After the official ceremony, the partisan units joined the regular Red Army. Then our units were quartered in the village of Shushenskoye. A peaceful period of building socialism began, but when the Polish front opened, some of the division’s fighters and commanders again defended the honor, independence and freedom of the Motherland with weapons in their hands.

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On September 3, 1943, during the Donbass offensive operation (August 13 - September 22, 1943), the troops of the Southwestern and Southern Fronts completed the liberation of the Lugansk region from enemy troops. On this day, the Sovinformburo issued a message: “During September 3, in the Donbass, our troops continued to successfully develop the offensive and, moving forward from 15 to 20 kilometers, occupied over 150 settlements, including the city of Proletarsk, the city of Verkhnee, the city of Popasnaya, the city of Pervomaisk , the city of Irmino, the city of Kadievka, the city of Parizhskaya Kommuna, the city of Zugres, large settlements of Kalinovo, Krivorozhye, Bryansky, Lozovaya-Pavlovka, Alekseevo-Orlovka and large railway stations Loskutovka, Nyrkovo, Kamyshevakha, Manuilovka, Chernukhino, Loose, Serditaya, Zuevka " .

Two fronts, Southern and Southwestern, are forever inscribed in the history of the Luhansk region.

The South of the first formation and the South-West of the first formation were defeated in the Donbass in the forty-second year and were disbanded. But when, pushing off from the Volga, the Red Army began to rout the enemy in the south, both fronts were formed again. Fate (or the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command) provided the armies of the Southern and Southwestern regions with the opportunity to take revenge on the enemy. These were already other armies, another army - the offensive army, the army that owned the initiative, dictated its will to the enemy. Others were soldiers, commanders and commanders.

The fronts included new armies formed at the end of 1942 - the banners of these military associations did not know defeat ...

In the forty-second year, after leaving the Donbass, a formidable accusation was made by the Supreme: the troops of the Southern Front, having surrendered Starobelsk, Voroshilovgrad, Rostov, Novocherkassk to the enemy without serious resistance, covered their banners with shame ... This remains on the reputation of commanders forever. A year later, in 1943, the capital saluted the winners - the armies of the South and Southwest. The first salute during the war was given after the liberation of Lisichansk, on September 2.

One of the new formations formed for crushing blows, for breaking through the enemy's heavily fortified lines, was the 5th shock army. Legendary.

Formed December 9, 1942. The basis is the directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command of December 8. The first commander appointed was the commander of the troops of the Leningrad Front, Hero of the Soviet Union (the title was awarded in 1965), Lieutenant General Markian Popov. In the forty-second year, on the third of July, Markian Popov received the 40th Army, which suffered heavy losses during the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad defensive operation. Under the onslaught of enemy troops, the 40th Army retreated 150 kilometers. Essentially, the army was fleeing. Under the command of Markian Popov, the 40th quickly stabilized its sector of the front. In October, Popov was appointed deputy commander of the Stalingrad Front, Andrei Eremenko, and he actively participated in the organization of command and control.

It must be said that Stalin did not trust Markian Popov. Or disliked. This is no longer understandable. In the forty-fourth year, a prominent military leader was demoted in rank. In the fifty-third restored.

In the battles for the Donbass, for Ukraine, the 5th shock took part under the command of Vyacheslav Tsvetaev, Colonel General, Hero of the Soviet Union (1945). In essence, the army had two commanders - Vyacheslav Tsvetaev (December 1942 - May 1944) and Nikolai Berzarin (May 1944 - until the end of the war). Markian Popov accepted the army and immediately handed over command to Tsvetaev. Tsvetaev passed with this legendary formation Tormosin (participation in the defeat of the Tormosinskaya group of Germans, Stalingrad region), Rostov (Rostov offensive operation), Mius, Donbass, all of Left-Bank Ukraine. Nikolai Berzarin - from Chisinau to Berlin.

Under the command of Berzarin, the army liberated Chisinau, participated in the Vistula-Oder operation, - here the Fifth broke through the enemy defenses and ensured the introduction of the front's shock group - the 2nd Guards Tank Army - into the breakthrough. In the assault on Berlin, the 5th Army was assigned a combat mission of particular importance - to capture the center of the German capital, including the imperial office.

That's not all. Not someone else (colonel generals, army generals and even marshals in the Red Army in April 1945 was enough), but it was Nikolai Berzarin, the commander of the 5th shock army, that Georgy Zhukov appointed on April 24 the first Soviet commandant and head of the Soviet garrison in Berlin .

But that's not all. At the headquarters of the 5th shock army ...

Different orders can shine on the banner of a regiment, division, corps, the battle path can be marked by participation in great battles. There is nothing special about this. However, some formations cannot be said to be lucky - fate marked some formations with a special sign, it granted them the right to bring the last, golden touches to the history of the Great Patriotic War, the Second World War. For example, on May 1, 1945, the assault flag of the 150th Idritsa Rifle Division (as part of the 3rd Shock Army), one of hundreds of Soviet divisions, was hoisted over the Reichstag. And the assault flag became the official symbol of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, in a sense, the banner of the banners of the Red Army.

The 5th shock was no less fortunate, although, I repeat, the word "lucky" fits least of all into the dramatic context of the war. At the headquarters of the 5th shock, the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe officially ended: on May 8, 1945, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany (a second act - the first act of surrender was signed the day before by Colonel General Alfred Jodl) .

The time of signing the act is 22:43 CET, 00:43 Moscow time.

Place of signing - Karlshorst suburb of Berlin, the building of the dining room of the military school - the headquarters of the 5th shock army.

Agree, there is something symbolic in this.

... In the summer of 1943, the 5th Shock Army stormed the lines on the Mius River, the Donbass lay in the zone of its future operations, it was still a long way before Field Marshal Keitel's visit to its headquarters ... Remember the footage of the chronicle: upon entering, Keitel greeted the opponents by raising the marshal's baton, intently looked at Georgy Zhukov? By the way, Keitel was an opponent of the Barbarossa plan, but ironically, it was he who had to put an end to the war on behalf of defeated Germany.

It was very, very far away from the signing of the act of surrender at the headquarters of the 5th shock army.

In July 1943, the troops of the Southern Front faced a difficult task - to prevent the transfer of German reserves to the Kharkov direction by an offensive at the turn of the Mius River, and, if successful, in cooperation with the South-Western Front, to defeat the enemy's Donbass grouping and liberate the southern regions of Ukraine and Crimea.

The main blow was supposed to be delivered by the forces of the 5th shock army, the 28th and 2nd guards armies in the center from the Rovenka region in the direction of Uspenskaya, Artemovka, Fedorovka.

On July 16, the armies went on the offensive, and Manstein had to stop the offensive on Kursk and begin the withdrawal of troops to the previous lines in order to free up forces to eliminate the bridgehead on the Mius captured by the troops of the Southern Front. For this operation, the SS Panzer divisions Viking, Reich and Totenkopf were intended.

On the afternoon of July 16, the Germans recovered from the shock. Tank reserves were moving towards them from the nearest rear. In order to delay the further advance of the Soviet troops, the German command transferred a motorized division to the breakthrough site, which was preparing to be sent near Kursk, and immediately brought it into battle. From the south, units of two infantry divisions hurried to the breakthrough site in vehicles, from the north - the 32nd division and the non-commissioned officer school of the 6th army. On July 17, against the 5th shock army, in its zone of operations, the enemy brought into battle the divisions "Totenkopf", "Reich", the 3rd tank division, the 23rd tank division, withdrawn for this from the reserve of the 6th army. At the same time, aviation unleashed powerful bombing strikes on the combat formations of the 5th shock army. This caused significant losses and slowed down the pace of the offensive.

For two weeks there were stubborn battles with the participation of large tank and motorized forces from both sides! Result: the enemy eliminated the breakthrough and returned to the line.

The next offensive of the 5th shock army began on August 18. The attack was preceded by a 70-minute artillery preparation of 1,500 guns.

After artillery preparation, units of the 5th Shock Army went on the offensive: the tanks moved forward, the infantry behind the tanks. (The battlefield was shrouded in smoke and dust, the tankers did not see the flags set in the minefields, so the sappers had to go ahead of the tanks and show passages in the minefields.) From the air, the attack aircraft of the 7th Aviation Corps supported the army's offensive. The Mius-front was broken through to a depth of 8-9 kilometers.

Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky coordinated the course of the operation. He concentrated on a narrow sector of 22 kilometers 22 of the 28 available rifle divisions, all the tank troops and 80 percent of the artillery of the front, thanks to which the density of fire was 120 guns per kilometer of the front. There has never been such a thing in the strategic operations of the Soviet troops, so that 22 divisions operate on twenty kilometers, and only six on the remaining 130 kilometers.

During the bloody battles, the Mius Front was broken through, the enemy troops were cut into two parts.

The breakthrough of the front created the prerequisites for the liberation of Donbass and Crimea. Now the 5th shock army was moving only to the west.

On the Mius Front for 445 days of fighting in 1941-1942. and in 1943, the Soviet troops lost over eight hundred thousand people, including those killed, who died from wounds - 278 thousand. The greatest losses fall on the final stage of the Mius battles - from February 17 to August 31, 1943.

On September 1-3, events in the Luhansk region, in the Donbass, developed rapidly. The conditions for a successful offensive were formed as a result of the victory on the Mius.

On September 1, the troops of the Southern Front pursue the retreating enemy. The 51st Army of General Yakov Kreizer, advancing on the right wing of the front, liberated the cities of Krasny Luch and Shterovka, and the 5th shock army liberated the city of Snezhnoye. (Sovinformburo report: “Continuing the offensive, the troops of the Southern Front advanced from 6 to 10 kilometers during September 1, occupied over 30 settlements, including the cities of Krasny Luch, Snezhnoye, and the Shterovka station in the Donbass.”)

On September 2, the troops of the left wing of the Southwestern Front occupied Voroshilovsk (Alchevsk) and Lisichansk and continued to develop the offensive deep into the Donbass in a southwestern direction. (Sovinformburo: “In the Donbass, our troops continued to successfully develop the offensive and captured the city of Lisichansk, the city of Voroshilovsk, the city of Chistyakovo, the city of Novy Donbass, the regional center of Slavyanoserbsk and the large settlements of Nizhnee, Cherkasskoye, Rodakovo, Petrovo-Krasnoselye, Krasny Kut”)

On this day, the troops of the Central Front reached the lines south of Novgorod-Seversky, liberated Krolevets and cut the Bryansk-Kyiv railway. On this day, the ancient city of Putivl was liberated. More than settlements have been liberated in the Konotop direction, including Shostka, Voronezh-Glukhov, and Belopolye.

In the Smolensk direction, troops occupied over a hundred settlements.

South of Bryansk advanced up to ten kilometers.

To the west and southwest of Kharkov, offensive battles were fought.

On September 3, in the north of the Lugansk region, the enemy used all his might to stop the advance of the 6th and 8th Guards Armies. But at the same time, the 3rd Guards Army of Dmitry Lelyushenko advanced 20-30 kilometers and captured Proletarsk, Kamyshevakha, Popasnaya, Pervomaisk and moved through the sources of Lugan to Artemovsk. On September 3, Alexander Vasilevsky and Rodin Malinovsky decided to stop the further movement of the central grouping of the Southwestern Front, and to use the success of the 3rd Guards Army to develop the offensive.

On September 3, the 51st Army, the 5th Shock Army (Southern Front), with the assistance of the 2nd Guards Army, liberated Debaltseve, Ordzhonikidze, went to Khartsyzsk and Ilovaysk.

As a result of the Donbass offensive operation, the Donbass basin was completely liberated, Soviet troops advanced 300 kilometers and reached the Dnepropetrovsk-Melitopol line. The loss of the Donetsk coal basin dealt a big blow to the German economy; the Soviet Union, on the contrary, received 21 million tons of coal in 1944. By the beginning of 1945, coal mining was established at 75 percent of the coal enterprises. Already in 1943 in Donbass they began to restore the full metallurgical cycle, until the end of October the generators of Donbass power plants gave current. By September 1944, the output of engineering products reached a third of the pre-war level.

On September 7, 1945, the Allied Victory Parade in World War II took place in Berlin. The parade took place at the Brandenburg Gate.

The idea of ​​holding a joint Victory Parade was proposed by Marshal Zhukov.

The commanders of the garrisons of the allied occupation forces accepted the proposal.

The parade was commanded by an English general. Hosted by Marshal Zhukov.

Columns of troops and armored vehicles of the Berlin garrisons passed in a solemn march. The French infantry passed. Behind them - the British, behind the British - the Americans, by the way, walked at a walking pace, which surprised the Soviet officers a lot.

And who opened the Parade, who went ahead of the Americans, the British, the French? Of course, the Soviet infantry is a combined regiment of the 248th Infantry Division of the 5th Shock Army. The one legendary.

Laisman PUTKARADZE.

5th Guards Tank Army formed on February 25, 1943 on the basis of a directive of the General Staff of February 10, 1943 in the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. It included the 3rd Guards. and 29th tank corps, 5th guards. mechanized corps, 994th light bomber aviation regiment, artillery and other formations and units.

February 22, 1943 Directive of the NPO of the USSR No. 1124821 on the formation of the 5th Guards by March 24 in the Millerovo area. tank army.

March 4, 1943 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 211 / org by the commander of the Southern Front and the 5th Guards. tank army on the urgent resupplying of the 3rd Guards. tank corps with personnel, weapons, vehicles and other property. This was due to the difficult situation of the Red Army in Kharkov.

March 8, 1943 Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command to the representative of the Headquarters Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, commander of the troops of the Southwestern Front and the 5th Guards. tank army on the transfer from 23 hours on March 8 of the 3rd Guards. tank corps at the disposal of Marshal Vasilevsky for use in the defense of Kharkov. Subsequently, after the approach of new forces to the Kharkov area from the Headquarters reserve, the 5th Guards was ordered. transfer the tank army to the command of the commander of the Southwestern Front.

March 19, 1943 Headquarters Directive No. 46076 to the commander of the 5th Guards. tank army on the concentration of army troops by the end of March 24 in the area of ​​​​Pukhovo station, Rybalchino, Evdakovo station, Khrestiki, Kolomeitsevo.

April 6, 1943 Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 46100 on the formation by April 30 of the Reserve Front under the command of Lieutenant General M. M. Popov. The front included the 2nd reserve, 24th, 53rd, 66th, 47th and 46th, 5th guards. tank army.

May 21, 1943 Order of the commander of the 5th Guards. tank army on the introduction of the “Brief Instructions on Certain Issues of the Combat Use of Units and Formations of the 5th Guards. tank army in connection with the partial redistribution of tanks and artillery in army units.

July 5 - 23, 1943 - participation of the 1st (until July 14), 2nd and 5th Guards. (since July 12) tank armies in the Kursk strategic defensive operation. During the defensive period of the Battle of Kursk (July 5 - 23), its troops, reinforced by the 2nd Guards. tank and 2nd tank corps, in the oncoming tank battle in the Prokhorovka area, they stopped the advance of the enemy strike group and inflicted significant damage on it.

July 6, 1943 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 12941 to the commander of the 5th Guards. tank army to include the 18th tank corps in its composition, without changing its location.

August 3 - 23, 1943 - participation of the 1st and 5th Guards. tank armies in the Belgorod-Kharkov strategic offensive operation (code name "Commander Rumyantsev").

September 8, 1943 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 40727 to the commander of the Steppe Front and the 5th Guards. tank army on the withdrawal of the army (18th, 29th tank and 5th guards mechanized corps, 53rd guards tank, 1st guards motorcycle, 678th howitzer artillery, 76th guards. mortar, 1529th and 1549th self-propelled artillery, 689th anti-tank artillery regiments, 6th anti-aircraft artillery division, 994th detachment aviation communications regiment) to the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command by the morning of September 10 in the area of ​​Dergachi, Peresechnaya, Yards.

October 3, 1943 Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 30211 on the transfer from October 7 to the troops of the Steppe Front of the 5th Guards. tank army.

October 15 - December 9, 1943 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army in combat operations in the Krivoy Rog direction.

January 5 - 6, 1944 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army in the Kirovograd offensive operation.

January 24 - February 17, 1944 - participation of the 1st, 2nd (from February 11), 5th Guards. and the 6th tank armies in the Korsun-Shevchenko offensive operation.

March 5 - April 17, 1944 - participation of the 2nd, 5th Guards. and the 6th tank armies in the Uman-Botoshansk offensive operation.

During these ongoing operations, the troops of the army fought about 500 km; participated in the defeat of large enemy groupings in the areas of Kirovograd and Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, in the crossing of the Southern Bug, Dniester and Prut rivers, the liberation of the cities of Kirovograd (January 8), Zvenigorodka (January 28) and Uman (March 10).

May 27, 1944 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 293747 by the commander of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and the 5th Guards. tank army about sending an army as part of the 3rd Guards. and the 29th tank corps with all parts of reinforcement and combat support, service establishments and army rear services by rail to the reserve of the Headquarters of the High Command.

On June 23, 1944, after a short stay in the reserve of the Supreme Command Headquarters, the army was included in the 3rd Belorussian Front.

June 23 - 28, 1944 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army in the Vitebsk-Orsha offensive operation.

Since July 26, formations and units of the army have been conducting offensive battles in order to complete the liberation of the territory of the Lithuanian SSR and reach the borders of East Prussia.

July 28 - August 28, 1944 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army (until August 3) in the Kaunas offensive operation.

August 3, 1944 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 204228 to the representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky about the transfer of the 5th Guards. tank army subordinate to the commander of the 1st Baltic Front.

August 8, 1944 - the release of Marshal of the armored forces P. A. Rotmistrov from the post of commander of the 5th Guards. tank army, the appointment of Lieutenant General t / m M.D. Solomatina.

August 18, 1944 - appointment as commander of the 5th Guards. tank army Colonel-General t / v V. T. Volsky.

October 5 - 22, 1944 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army in the Memel offensive operation.

November 29, 1944 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 298111 by the commander of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front and the 5th Guards. tank army to send the army (3rd guards and 29th tank corps, 47th mechanized brigade, army reinforcements and rear units) by rail to the reserve of the Headquarters of the High Command.

January 14 - 26, 1945 - participation of the 5th Guards. tank army in the Mlavsko-Elbing offensive operation. The army troops, introduced into the breakthrough on January 17 in the zone of the 48th Army, reached the Mlavsky fortified area by the end of the day, by the morning of January 19 they defeated the garrison defending it and, developing the offensive in the direction of Elbing, on January 25 they reached the Frisches-Haff Bay (Vistula ), cutting the main communications of Army Group Center.

February 9, 1945 Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 11022 on the transfer by 24.00 on February 10 from the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front to the 3rd Belorussian Front of the 50th, 48th, 5th Guards. tank armies.

February 28, 1945 Directive of the General Staff of the Spacecraft No. 12733 to the commander of the troops of the 3rd and 2nd Belorussian Fronts on the transfer of the 5th Guards. tank army as part of the 29th tank corps, 47th division. mechanized brigade and all army units from the 3rd Belorussian Front into the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front.

In early April 1945, the army, together with the attached 98th rifle corps and the 1st Polish tank brigade, fought to eliminate the remnants of German troops in the area of ​​the mouth of the Vistula River, where they celebrated Victory Day. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

For successful military operations, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief 17 times expressed gratitude to the troops of the army, 11 times the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, saluted the guardsmen. Many units and formations were awarded military orders, they were given the honorary titles of Znamensky, Kirovograd, Korsun, Dniester, Minsk, Kovno, Molodechno, Vilna, Tannenberg.

After the end of the war, the army was renamed the 5th mechanized and withdrawn to the territory of Belarus. The headquarters is located in Bobruisk.

As part of the active army:

  • from 07/10/1943 to 09/09/1943
  • from 10/07/1943 to 05/31/1944
  • from 06/23/1944 to 12/19/1944
  • from 01/08/1945 to 05/09/1945

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