| 12th Army | |
|---|---|
| 12-я армия | |
| Active | 1919–1920; 1939–1943 |
| Country |  Soviet Union |
| Branch | .svg) Red Army |
| Type | Combined arms |
| Size | Field army |
The12th Army (Russian: 12-я армия) was afield army of theRed Army formed multiple times during theRussian Civil War andWorld War II.
The12th Army (Russian Civil War 1st Formation) of the SovietRed Army was first formed from Soviet forces in the north-eastern Caucasus in 1918.
The 12th Army (Russian Civil War 2nd Formation) was formed from the 1st and 3rd Ukrainian Red Armies in central Ukraine in the summer of 1919. In July 1920Simon Aralov was chief ofintelligence with this unit. it was disbanded in 1920.[1]
The12th Army (1st Formation) (RKKA) of the SovietRed Army was formed from the Southern (Cavalry-Mechanised) Army Group of the Kiev Special Military District during 1939–40.[2]
It was then involved in theSoviet invasion of Poland in 1939. It entered theSecond World War as part of theSoviet Southwestern Front, comprising the
It participated in the frontier battle to the west ofStanislau. In the second half of July as part of theSoviet Southern Front it conducted defensive fights in the direction ofUman. During theBattle of Uman, the Twelfth Army was caught in a huge encirclement south ofKyiv along with the6th Army. Thus the army's headquarters was disbanded on 10 August 1941, after the battle.
The 12th Army was reformed in August 1941 as part of theSoviet Southern Front on the basis of 17th Rifle Corps.[2] On 1 September 1941 its structure included270th and274th Rifle Divisions, the11th Tank Division, 268th and 374th Corps Artillery Regiments, 64th and 181st Fighter Aviation Regiments, and a number of separate formations.[4]
The Army defended the left bank of theDnepr aroundZaporozhye, from the end of September to the beginning of December, 1941. It participated in theDonbas defensive,Rostov defensive and offensive, in January, 1942 in theBarvenkovo–Lozovaya Offensive operations, in the subsequent conducted defensive fights in Donbas and on Northern Caucasus (part of theBattle of the Caucasus). In the middle of April 1942 the261st Rifle Division under Colonel A.M. Ilyin, the4th Rifle Division (ColonelIvan Rosly), the74th Rifle Division under General F.E.Sheverdin, the 176th Rifle Division (General Vladimir Martsinkevich) and 54th Tank Brigade under Colonel K.S. Minarov were assigned to the Army.
It was later in 1942 reorganised as a defensive zone HQ, but then reformed again by conversion of the previous5th Tank Army in mid April 1943.[5] It joined theSouthwestern Front. Its structure included the172nd,203rd,244th,333rd and350th Rifle Divisions and other formations. In April – July the Army was in Front reserve, and then participated in the Donbas and Zaporozhye offensive operations. In November the army HQ was disbanded, with its forces transferred to other armies.
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