| 3rd Guards Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | December 1942 – 1945 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army,Soviet Army |
| Size | two or moreRifle corps |
| Part of | 1st Ukrainian Front, others |
| Engagements | |
The3rd Guards Army (Russian:3-я гвардейская армия) was a field army of the SovietRed Army that fought on theEastern Front inWorld War II.
The army fought in theBattle of Berlin, during which it mopped up German resistance aroundCottbus.
It was formed on December 5, 1942 by the redesignation of the1st Guards Army (Second formation), in accordance with aStavka order dated the same day, as part of theSouthwestern Front. Lieutenant GeneralDmitry Lelyushenko was appointed to command the formation, and held the reins until March 1943 (and subsequently from August 1943 to February 1944). Up to the middle of December the army comprised the14th Rifle Corps,50th Guards,197th,203rd and278th Rifle Divisions, 90th and 94th Separate Rifle Brigades, the1st Guards Mechanized Corps, the 22nd Motor Rifle Brigade and three separate tank regiments. It began combat operations duringOperation Little Saturn in mid-December, defeating German troops on theMiddle Don and frustratingOperation Winter Storm, a German attempt to relieve the6th Army trapped in theStalingrad Pocket created by the Soviet counteroffensive in theBattle of Stalingrad,Operation Uranus. During January and February 1943, it fought in theOperation Gallop, then defended the line of theDonets. Major GeneralGeorgy Khetagurov held command from March to August.[1]
In the summer and fall, the 3rd Guards Army fought in theDonbass Strategic Offensive, then in theZaporizhia Offensive in October. During the latter, the army broke through heavily fortified German defenses and capturedZaporizhia alongside the8th Guards Army on October 14, eliminating a German bridgehead on the left bank of theDnieper. Towards the end of the year, the army joined the4th Ukrainian Front, participating in fierce fighting to eliminate theNikopol bridgehead. During theNikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive in January and February 1944, the army crossed the Dnieper and capturedNikopol alongside the3rd Ukrainian Front's6th Army on February 8.[1]
3rd Guards Army was assigned in succession to theSoviet Southwestern Front,3rd,4th and since March 1944 theFirst Ukrainian Front led byMarshalIvan Konev. After a brief stint under the command of Lieutenant GeneralDmitry Ryabyshev in February and March 1944, from April 1944 to the end of the war in Europe Colonel GeneralVasily Gordov was in command. The Army participated in the Middle Don andVoroshilovgrad offensive operations, the defensive battles on the northern Donets River, in the Donbass and Zaporozhye offensive operations, in the liquidation of the Germans' Nikopol bridgehead, in theNikopol -Krivoi Rog and Proskurov - Chernovits operations, theLvov-Sandomierz Offensive, theSandomierz–Silesian Offensive, and theBattle of Berlin.
In the First Ukrainian Front's attack from theNeisse River intoSaxony and theBrandenburg area, the 3rd Guards Army attacked north ofCottbus into theSpree River. Part of it also attacked Cottbus and captured it. However, the 3rd Guards Army did not head north into the southern suburbs ofBerlin. Koniev had angled the5th Guards Army left towardsSpremberg and the 3rd Guards Army to the right to force theGerman troops back into Cottbus. A few days after the greatSoviet offensive of April 16, the 3rd Guards Army kept the pressure on the Germans around Cottbus.
Konev was warned of the mass of German troops in theSpreewald. He expedited the28th Army's advance that was intended to seal the gap between the 3rd Guards Army, effectively finishing off the Germans in the Cottbus area, and the3rd Guards Tank Army. On April 25, when theFirst Belorussian Front was fighting in the city itself during the Battle of Berlin, the 3rd Guards Army was rushed into positions close to the Berlin-Dresdenautobahn "to block all the forest roads leading from east to west." Gordov's troops chopped down tall pine trees to form tank barriers. However, the 3rd Guards Army did not manage to occupy the southern part of its sector, which meant that there was a gap between it and the 28th Army. However, that did not matter that much since German resistance in eastern Germany was now very limited, as theNinth andTwelfth Armies were retreating towards theElbe River, and resistance was limited to small pockets of concentration.
After the Berlin operation, the Army formed part of the Soviet force for thePrague Offensive.
The 3rd Guards Army briefly became part of theCentral Group of Forces when it was formed on 10 June 1945. At that time, it included the21st Rifle Corps with the149th,197th, and253rd Rifle Divisions, the76th Rifle Corps with the58th,127th, and389th Rifle Divisions, and the120th Rifle Corps with the54th,287th, and329th Rifle Divisions. The same Stavka order that established the group ordered the disbandment of the army's three rifle corps and all nine of its divisions,[2] a process completed by July. Its headquarters was soon transferred to become the headquarters of the reorganisedVolga Military District on 30 July.[3]
| Armies |
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| Guards | |
| Tank/Mechanized | |
| Guards Tank/Mechanized | |
| Shock | |
| Cavalry | |
| Sapper |
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| Reserve Army |
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