| 9th Army | |
|---|---|
| 9-я армия | |
| Active | 1939–1943 |
| Country |  Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army |
| Type | Combined arms |
| Size | Field army |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | |
The9th Army (Russian: 9-я армия) of the Soviet Union'sRed Army was a Sovietfield army, active from 1939 to 1943.
It was active during theWinter War against Finland as part of theLeningrad Military District, beginning operations at the end of November 1939 under KomKorM.P. Duhanov with the49th and SpecialRifle Corps as well as assigned aviation units.[1] 9th Army was initially tasked with the capture ofKajaani andOulu.[2] Two divisions attached to the army, the44th and 163rd Rifle Divisions, were defeated by the Finns during theBattle of Suomussalmi. It appears to have been disbanded after the end of the war.
In 1940 the Army was created to take part in theSoviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. It was disbanded on 10 July 1940.
By 1941 the Army was designated the 9th Separate Army (briefly) and included the14th,35th and48th Rifle Corps (the last under then General MajorRodion Malinovsky),2nd Cavalry Corps,2nd and18th Mechanised Corps, 80th, 81st, 82nd, 84th, 86th Fortified Regions and a number of other units – the biggest army on the Soviet border before the GermanOperation Barbarossa began. However, it was more an administrative than an operational formation on 22 June 1941.[3] With General MajorM.V. Zakharov as chief of staff,[4] it was tasked to cover the Bălți, Chisinau, andOdesa approaches as part of GeneralIvan Tyulenev'sSouthern Front.
The first engagement came when Von Schobert'sEleventh Army crashed into the juncture of 9th and18th Armies. North ofJassy, the German assault fell on the 48th Rifle Corps which was coveringBălți. Tyulenev ordered a counterattack, and soon 48th Rifle and 2nd Cavalry Corps plus 2nd Mechanised Corps from Southern Front reserve were engaged at Bălți and Stefanesti. Tyulenev then drew off25th, 51st, and150th Rifle Divisions from two of Zakharov's rifle corps to form a new 'Coastal Group' to cover the eastern bank of thePrut River, the northern bank of theDanube and the Black Sea coast.[5] (This group later became theSeparate Coastal Army).
By early August, 9th Army was falling back toMykolaiv under repeated German blows, and by 17 August across the River Ingulets and over to the eastern bank of the Dnieper. The 'Coastal Group' was meanwhile falling back onOdesa. By early 9 October Army was falling back onTaganrog, after a failed attempt by Southern Front's three armies to hold a line between Pavlograd and the Sea of Azov had been shattered by an outflanking maneuver by Von Kleist's newly renamedFirst Panzer Army.[6] The resultingBattle of the Sea of Azov shattered 9th Army, virtually destroying it.
The Soviets' next move was a planned offensive orchestrated by Timoshenko, GlavKom Southwest. After still more retreats and the loss ofRostov, 9th Army stepped off on 17 November as part of an assault by both Southern and Southwestern Fronts, and by 29 November, 9th Army in conjunction with 56th Army and other units had cleared Rostov and the city was back in Soviet hands. 9th Army then joined Timoshenko's strategic reserve, to join the battle again when theBarvenkovo–Lozovaya Offensive operation began.[7] 9th Army joined this assault in January 1942 when it broke into the German front on the northern Donets along with 6th and 57th Armies, reaching the line Balakleya-Lozovaia-Slavyansk before being halted by repeated German counterattacks.
Still with Southern Front, 9th Army was then allotted a subsidiary part in the Kharkov offensive – theSecond Battle of Kharkiv – which kicked off in May 1942. Along with 57th Army, 9th Army was tasked to secure the southern part of theIzyum bulge in the front. While being in a secondary sector, 9th Army took much of the force of the German response, Operation Fridericus.[8] Eight hours into the German counterstroke, at noon on 17 May, elements of the First Panzer and Seventeenth Armies were ten miles into 9th Army's positions and threatening the neighbouring 57th Army's rear. Commander, Southern Front, General Lieutenant R. Ya. Malinovskii, at once drew5th Cavalry Corps, a rifle division, and a tank brigade out of reserve in an attempt to halt Von Kleist. However discussions and decisions atStavka about breaking off the Kharkov offensive in response did not come quickly enough, and 6th and 57th Armies were surrounded in the Izyum pocket with the loss of 200,000 plus men in casualties alone.
Later, as part of theNorth Caucasian andTranscaucasian Fronts, the Army fought on the big bend of the river Don (in the summer of 1942), and participated in theBattle of the Caucasus.
In November 1943 the army headquarters was disbanded, and its formations and units transferred to other armies.
Note: This order of battle disagrees in the matter of the 150th Rifle Division with material fromDavid Glantz, Stumbling Colossus
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