| Northwestern Operational Command (2001–present) 65th Army Corps 7th Army Corps 7th Tank Army 7th Mechanized Army 7th Separate Tank Division 7th Mechanized Army 65th Army (1942–1946) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 2001-[1] (current form) |
| Country |  Belarus |
| Branch | Belarus Ground Forces |
| Type | Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Barysaw |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Alyaksandr Bas[2] |
| Chief of Staff | Vadzim Shadura[3] |
| Notable commanders | Colonel GeneralPavel Batov Major GeneralAlexander Volfovich |
TheNorthwestern Operational Command (SZOK) is acommand of theBelarus Ground Forces. It is headquartered atBorisov and is commanded by Major GeneralAlyaksandr Bas. The command includes a mechanized brigade and a mixed artillery brigade. It was formed in 2001 from the 65th Army Corps.[4]
The command traces its lineage to the 65th Army of theRed Army, a field army of theSoviet Union duringWorld War II. It was formed in October 1942 from rebuilding elements of the first formation of the4th Tank Army on theDon Front. The army was commanded byPavel Batov until after the fall of Berlin, and served in various Fronts commanded byKonstantin Rokossovsky for the duration of the war.
Postwar, the 65th Army was moved to theBelorussian Military District, where it became the 7th Mechanized Army. In 1957 it became the 7th Tank Army. With thedissolution of the Soviet Union the army became part of the Belarus Ground Forces and was downsized into the 7th Army Corps in 1993. A year later it was renamed the 65th Army Corps.
4th Tank Army, under command of Maj. Gen.Vasily Kryuchenkin, launched numerous counterattacks against the German corridor to Stalingrad from August to October, 1942, until it was severely depleted in strength. (It was derisively known for a time as the "four-tank army" due to the few vehicles still operational.)[5]
Pavel Batov, who had previously commanded the51st Army and the3rd Army, assumed command on October 22, 1942, a command he would hold until the end of the War. He had orders to rebuild these forces as a combined-arms army, the 65th Army, as part of Rokossovsky's new Don Front. This was accomplished by mid-November, and at this time the army consisted of:
65th Army played a leading role inOperation Uranus, the encirclement of the German forces at Stalingrad. Attacking out of the Kremenskaya bridgehead on the south bank of theDon. Rokossovsky later wrote in reference to Batov and his army:
"[He] displayed fine initiative with an improvised mobile task force... By striking at the enemy's flank and rear, the task force ensured the swift advance of the other units."[5]
In the lead up toOperation Ring the 65th mounted an attack by two rifle divisions against the positions of the German44th Infantry Division on January 7, 1943. This attack penetrated the German defensive line and inflicted severe casualties. A counterattack by German armor contained the Soviet advance, but did not regain the original line, consumed scarce fuel and ammunition, and exposed the vehicles to concentrated artillery fire, leading to losses.[7]
When Ring kicked off at 0805 hours on January 10, 65th Army was backed by a 55-minute artillery barrage from over 500 guns and howitzers and 450rocket launchers on an attack front of 12 km, the highest density of Soviet artillery achieved to that point of the war. This was followed by air attacks from the 16th Air Army against positions to the rear of the main German line. About 0900 hours, shock groups of five rifle divisions of the Army, supported by the 91st Tank Brigade and six Guards heavy tank regiments (60-70KV tanks and 21Churchill Mark IV tanks). The front of the 44th Division was smashed quite quickly and four depleted battalions were overrun.[8]
Following the German surrender at Stalingrad, Rokossovsky's forces were redeployed northwest to become the newCentral Front in the region aroundKursk. 65th Army exploited a gap between the weakSecond German Army and theSecond Panzer Army, but was brought to a halt by the springrasputitsa, German reserves released by their evacuation of theRzhev Salient, and theGerman counter-offensive to the south of Kursk. 65th Army then dug in during the three-month lull in operations, towards the northwestern sector of the Kursk salient.
At this time the order of battle of the 65th Army was as follows:
Army strength: 100,000, 1,837 guns and mortars, 124 tanks and self-propelled guns.[9]
Due to its position in the western sector of the salient, the 65th emerged mostly unscathed from the Battle of Kursk, and was well equipped to exploit the German defeat. In late July and August the Army joined in the pursuit of German forces to theDnepr River. On 15 Oct., with divisional and army artillery firing 1,000 shells per minute in support, the193rd Rifle Division forced a crossing of the Dnepr.[10] From this point on, the 65th Army began earning a well-deserved reputation for its abilities in river-crossing and bridgehead operations.[11]
Rokossovsky's command was renamed1st Belorussian Front, and in June, 1944, 65th Army took part in major strategic operations inBelorussia. The Army's order of battle at this time was as follows:
In a well-known confrontation at the planning stage, Rokossovski convincedStalin that, given the terrain, it was better to strike two strong blows against the German forces than just one.[13] He was counting on Batov's ability to lead his Army across swampy regions south ofBobruisk, usingcorduroy roads, swamp shoes, and other means. 65th Army did not disappoint, and within a few days the GermanNinth Army was encircled and mostly destroyed. For his performance, Batov was promoted to Colonel General.[14]
65th Army crossed theBug River on July 22, and pushed on to cross theNarev River, north of Warsaw, by Sept. 4. Operation Bagration had run out of steam, but Batov's army held off strong German counterattacks against the Narev bridgehead for more than two months.[14] Following this, Rokossovski was reassigned to command of2nd Belorussian Front. A shift in Front boundaries accompanied this, and 65th and70th Armies became part of his new command. In the following months forces were built up in the Narev bridgehead for an offensive to be launched in January.
During the new offensive, 65th Army forced a crossing of theVistula River in early February. Rokossovski later noted:
"I had been with 65th Army since Stalingrad and had had ample opportunity to observe the splendid combat qualities of its men, commanders, and, of course, Pavel Batov, a brave and talented soldier."[14]
In March, 1945, the order of battle of 65th Army was as follows:
For theDanzig operation the army also had the 66th Guards SU Brigade attached, the Red Army's only heavy SU brigade, a potent force of 60ISU-122 self-propelled guns.[16]
The offensive propelled 65th Army into eastern Germany, finally to theOder River, nearStettin-an-Oder, where it once again forced a difficult river crossing in April 1945. Officials of the city surrendered to Colonel A. G. Frolenkov's 193rd Rifle Division on April 26.[17]
InDemmin on and around May 1, 1945, members of the65th Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. ManyDemmin civilians committed suicide.[18][19][20]
In April 1946, the65th Army was reorganised as the 7th Mechanised Army atŁódź. On 20 December, it became the 7th Tank Division (Mobilization), with its divisions becoming regiments. It was headquartered in Borisov from May 1948. On 21 March 1950, it was increased in strength to an army with its old designation.[21] In 1955 the 7th Mechanized Army was equipped with theIS-3,T-54,T-34 andPT-76 tanks, as well as theISU-122 self-propelled gun.
In 1957, the 7th Mechanized Army was transformed into 7th Tank Army.
In 1960, the 47th Guards Tank Division was renamed the 45th Guards Tank Division.
In 1965, the 45th Guards Rivne Tank Division became a training tank formation subordinated to theBelorussian Military District, and the 39th Guards Tank Division was reorganized into the37th Guards Rechitsa Tank Division.
From 1960 to 1980, the basis of the 7th Tank Army was formed by the3rd Guards Kotelnikovo, the 34th Dnieper, and the 37th Guards Rechitsa Tank Divisions. The formation actively participated in well-known large-scale exercises and maneuvers such as "Dnepr", "Neman", "Dvina",Exercise Zapad-81 and "Fall 88".[22] By a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 15 January 1974, for good results in combat training, the 7th Tank Army was awarded theOrder of the Red Banner.[4] A USSR Ministry of Defense directive dated 25 January 1989 ordered the disbandment of the3rd Guards Tank Division, effective from 1 June 1989. Instead, the19th Guards Nikolaevsk-Budapest Tank Division was moved from theSouthern Group of Forces in Hungary to Zaslonovo. On 7 November 1990 Tank Army had 764T-62 andT-72 tanks, 208 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, as well as 212 guns, mortars and multiple rocket launchers. It also included theScud-equipped76th Rocket Brigade.[23]
.png)
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus were created on the basis of theBelorussian Military District, including the 7th Tank Army. In 1993, the 7th Tank Army was renamed the 7th Army Corps, and in 1994 the 65th Army Corps. In December 2001, as a result of the reform of the Armed Forces of Belarus, the corps was transformed into the North-Western Operational Command (NWOC).[24] Since then the troops and staff of the NWOC have participated in the exercises "Neman-2001", "Berezina-2002", "The Shield of the Fatherland – 2004", "Shield of the Union – 2006", "West-2009" and others. A joint operational exercise of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, "Shield of the Union", was held in 2011. The exercise was held at theAshuluk range inAstrakhan Oblast in the Russian Federation.[25] The command participated in exercise "West-2011".[26]
The following units are part of the Northwestern Operational Command.[27]
Electronic warfare troops:
Corps of Engineers:
Storage Bases:
Die bislang größte bekannte Massenselbsttötung in der deutschen Geschichte ereignete sich im Mai 1945 in Demmin. Ca. 900 Einwohner nahmen sich vor und nach dem Einmarsch der Roten Armee das Leben, indem sie sich selbst in der Peene ertränkten (lit.: The greatest mass suicide that is known in the history of Germany so far took place in May 1945 in Demmin. About 900 citizens took their lives before, and after the Soviet invasion [of the town] by drowning themselves in the Peene river).
Die Schreckensbilanz am Ende: fast tausend Frauen und Kinder begehen Selbstmord (lit.: The horrible outcome: almost a thousand women and children commit suicide).[permanent dead link]
| Armies |
|
|---|---|
| Guards | |
| Tank/Mechanized | |
| Guards Tank/Mechanized | |
| Shock | |
| Cavalry | |
| Sapper |
|
| Reserve Army |
|
| Operational Commands | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brigades |
| ||||||||
 Military units and formations of theArmed Forces of Belarus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military educational institutions |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operational Command |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Centrally subordinated |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SSO Brigades | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Special forces |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Special Police |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military medical institutions |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disbanded | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guards units marked inbold. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)
.svg)
