566:
By mid afternoon 21st Army's two mobile corps had broken through the
Rumanian lines, and, as the cavalry corps turned east to attack the flank of Sixth Army's XI Army Corps, the tank corps advanced rapidly to the southeast in parallel with a tank corps from 5th Tank Army. On 21 November, the 21st Army's tank corps reached the Don near its eastern extremity and deep in Sixth Army's rear. The next day, further south, the tank corps from 5th Tank Army crossed the Don, and on 23 November linked up with mechanised forces from the Soviet's southern offensive. The whole of the German Sixth Army was surrounded in, and west of, Stalingrad, and five divisions of the Rumanian Third Army were encircled between the right wing of 21st Army and the left wing of 5th Tank Army in the Verkhe Fomikhinsky – Raspopinskaya area. Soviet commanders moved rapidly to secure the encirclement of Sixth Army. While part of 21st Army was committed to the subjugation of the surrounded Rumanian divisions on its right flank, the rest of the army advanced south and east into the Don bend. Sixth Army did not try to defend the right bank of the Don; the army's XI Army Corps had pull back to the left bank by 26 November and over the next few days pulled back further to the east to form part of a tighter defensive perimeter. Chistiakov's forces followed to form the western face of the Stalingrad encirclement, an encirclement that included a further six Soviet armies. In all, 22 Axis divisions were caught in the Stalingrad encirclement east of the Don. This was a far larger force than the Soviet high command had expected to ensnare, and throughout December piecemeal Soviet attacks on the Stalingrad perimeter achieved little. To break through the German defences a carefully prepared and coordinated offensive would be required. By the beginning of January 1943 the Soviet armies of the Stalingrad perimeter had been brought under one Front command (Don Front), and the general offensive (Operation Ring) began on 10 January. By this time the combat effectiveness of Sixth Army had been eroded by shortages of food, fuel and ammunition, yet the attacks against most of the perimeter made little progress. Only on the western and north-western face of the perimeter, where the German defences were weakest, was significant progress made by 21st Army and its neighbouring 65th Army. Six days later Pitomnik, the larger of Sixth Army's two major airbases, was taken, and Gumrak, the second airbase fell on 22 January. Four days later forces from 21st Army, advancing towards Stalingrad from the west, met forces from 62nd Army which had broken through the centre of the city to its western outskirts. Sixth Army was cut in two, and by early February the last German forces in the city had surrendered.
741:
Mala (formerly
Steinau), which was downriver from Wroclaw (formerly Breslau), and at Brzeg, which was between Wroclaw and Opole. Both 5th Guards Army and 21st Army were concentrated into the southern bridgehead, with 21st Army on the left wing. The breakout from the northern bridgehead began on 8 February and within days had forced a gap of more than 100 kilometres in the German lines. The breakout from the Brzeg bridgehead against the German Seventeenth Army began on 14 February. 5th Guards Army advanced to the west and northwest to encircle the substantial German garrison at Wroclaw, and 21st Army advanced to the southwest towards Grodkow. The subsequent advance of 21st Army was modest compared to that made by the armies of 1st Ukrainian Front further west. As the axis of 1st Ukrainian Front's offensive shifted to the west, 21st Army found itself on a relatively inactive sector of the frontline. It was not until mid-March that 1st Ukrainian Front was able to deploy sufficient forces to its left flank to conduct an offensive there. By then, the Front was ready to mount a combined attack north and south of Opole towards the Prudnik area, an attack that was expected to outflank much of Seventeenth Army. The northern force, which included 21st Army, was to attack southwest from the Grodkow area. The southern force would attack to the west from the Kedzierzyn-Kozle area. Within four days, a number of German divisions in the Opole area had been destroyed by this offensive and by the end of the month, 21st Army occupied a 70 kilometre sector of the frontline some 40 kilometres southwest of Wroclaw. In April, this frontline stabilised again as 1st Ukrainian Front's resources were directed to the west for the impending offensive across the Neisse into central Germany.
586:
retake
Smolensk (Operation Suvorov). At that time the army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Nikolai Krylov (chief of staff – Major-General Pavel Tikhomirov), included eight rifle divisions. The first phase of Operation Suvorov began on 7 August (without 21st Army's initial participation) but made little progress. Spas Demensk was taken on 13 August but thereafter the offensive began to stall. Changing the axis of the offensive from southwest towards Roslavl to a westerly offensive towards Elnia, Western Front renewed its efforts on 28 August using 21st Army and 10th Guards Army to spearhead the attack. Elnia was taken three days later, but 21st Army was unable to advance further to the west. Western Front ordered another operational pause until mid-September. By the time the offensive was resumed on 14 September, the defending German Fourth Army had been so weakened by the transfer of forces to other sectors of the frontline, that it made no determined attempt to defend its positions. Instead, it began a planned withdrawal to more defensible positions east of Orsha. As Fourth Army withdrew, Western Front's armies followed, and in the second half of September, 21st Army advanced 140 kilometres west from Elnia to the Belorussian border southwest of Krasnii where it was stopped by determined German resistance in prepared positions.
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crossed the Don to attack German Sixth Army positions on the right bank of the river in the
Serafimovich – Kletskaya sector. This attack was made to support the Soviet 62nd Army which was under severe pressure from Sixth Army in the Don bend, but the attack was only partially successful and by early August the offensive had stalled. Yet it left Danilov's forces in control of substantial bridgeheads on the right bank of the river at Serafimovich and Kletskaya, bridgeheads that the over-stretched Sixth Army did not have the resources to eliminate. By the fourth week of July Sixth Army had secured bridgeheads on the left bank of the Don at its eastern extremity, and were preparing for an advance across the narrow strip of land to the Volga north of Stalingrad. In conjunction with other Soviet forces facing Sixth Army, 21st Army launched desperate attacks on Sixth Army's positions to try to relieve the pressure on 62nd Army's defences on the left bank of the Don. These attacks failed to prevent Sixth Army from reaching the Volga, but 21st Army managed to enlarge its bridgehead at Serafimovich.
706:. After four days of intense fighting, during which both sides fed reserves into the battle, the Finns were pushed back, but their lines did not break under the heavy Soviet manpower. On 3 July, 21st Army attacked Finnish defensive positions at Ihantala, but the attack had been anticipated by the Finns and after several days of effort, 21st Army's forces had made few gains. By 6 July, after four weeks of intense fighting and after having sustained heavy casualties, 21st Army's offensive capacity was exhausted as a result of their swift advance. Within days, some of 21st Army's best units were being withdrawn for deployment to other Soviet armies further south, and by mid-July, the offensive in the Karelian Isthmus had been terminated. 21st Army remained with Leningrad Front until the end of September 1944, when it was again returned to the high command reserve.
525:. Within days of the opening of the German offensive, the right wing and centre of 40th Army had disintegrated and German mechanised forces were advancing rapidly towards Voronezh. On 30 June, XL Panzer Corps, subordinated to the German Sixth Army, struck 21st Army's left flank 40 kilometres southeast of Belgorod. At the same time German mechanised forces that had broken through the centre of 40th Army began to move towards Stary Oskol. On 1 July, with XL Panzer Corps breaking through 21st Army's lines and rendering the left wing of 40th Army and the bulk of 21st Army at risk of encirclement, Gordov was given permission to withdraw to the east. Making effective use of rearguards, Gordov and his staff managed to slow the German advance sufficiently to enable the bulk of 21st Army to reach the Don in the
384:. Zhlobin fell to Second Army on 14 August and the bridges over the Dnepr to the east of the town, though damaged, were taken in usable condition. Rahachow was taken by Second Army the next day and a sizable Soviet force, predominantly from 63 Rifle Corps, became trapped in the resultant pocket. The advance of Second Army towards Homel was slowed by counterattacks from 21st Army, but Gordov's army was being threatened with encirclement by the southward advance of 2nd Panzer Group from Krychaw. Homel was taken by forces from Second Army on 20 August but not before the bridges over the Sozh had been destroyed. On 25 August Central Front was disbanded; 21st Army and 3rd Army were merged, assigned to the newly created
459:, and the next day Gordov's forces cut the Belgorod – Kursk road and began to close in on Oboyan. However, by 5 January the progress of 21st Army had stalled after a series of counterattacks by Sixth Army. On 10 January Sixth Army attacked 21st Army's right flank north of Oboyan and also attacked the army's positions south of the town. Gordov could not prevent German forces from breaking through his lines and threatening the rear of his forward units. This German counterattack brought South Western Front's offensive north of Kharkov to an end and placed 21st Army on the defensive along the upper Donets for the rest of the winter and spring.
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commander, and the army chief of staff was Major-General
Georgii Bukhovets. (Bukhovets had replaced Major-General Victor Petukhov as chief of staff in June 1944). In December 1944, 1st Ukrainian Front occupied a largely static frontline in southern Poland, a frontline that had changed little since the autumn. The Front's main offensive efforts during that time had been directed towards expanding a bridgehead over the Vistula in the Sandomierz area, and in attempting to advance its left wing through the northern Carpathians into Slovakia. However, Stavka was planning
1148:
420:. During the second week of September a significant portion of 21st Army was able to escape eastwards through gaps in 2nd Panzer Group's lines between Priluki and Piriatin, but the bulk of the army found itself, together with the rest of South Western Front, in a tightening encirclement east of Kiev. Only a few thousand soldiers, mainly from 21st Army and 5th Army, together with 500 men from Kuznetsov's headquarters staff, escaped from the final encirclement of South Western Front in the second half of September.
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40:
674:
the offensive on the
Valkeasaari sector, which was defended by the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Finnish 10th Division. During the day, the Soviet units captured frontline trenches and destroyed fortifications, shattering the first Finnish "Main line" of the breakthrough sector. IV Corps was forced back to its second defence line and the Finns were obliged to send in reinforcements to try to stabilise their defensive position. On 13 June, the Soviet 21st Army reached the partially-completed
609:. At the beginning of May 1944, the headquarters of 21st Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Dmitrii Gusev, was assigned from the reserves to Leningrad Front. His task was to take command of forces facing the Finnish army's IV Corps in the western half of the frontline in the Karelian Isthmus north of Leningrad. The offensive was planned to begin in early June, by which time 21st Army included nine rifle divisions subordinated to three rifle corps headquarters:
686:) as part of the second line defences at the town of Kuuterselkä, running 20 kilometres behind the "Main line". After two days of fighting, on 15 June, the VT-line was breached at Kuuterselkä by the 109th Rifle Division. As a result, the western sector of IV Corps' second line defences had been overrun and Finnish high command ordered its forces to withdraw to the third defence line, the
570:
until the second week in March by which time, instead of being committed to the offensive, they were deployed to the Oboyan area to defend against German mechanised forces that were threatening to advance north from
Belgorod. Over the subsequent weeks the defensive positions of 21st Army south of Oboyan were to become the southern face of the Kursk salient.
745:
Army Group Centre's frontline further east, including 21st Army, were required to participate in placing the whole of Army Group Centre under pressure. The hurriedly prepared offensive by more than twenty Soviet armies was launched on 5 May and made rapid progress. Over the subsequent four days, 21st Army advanced 70 kilometres, taking
562:
kilometres long stretching from west of
Serafimovich to east of Kletskaya. During November, 21st Army relinquished control of the Serafimovich sector of the bridgehead to the newly arrived 5th Tank Army. This tank army and the mobile forces of 21st Army were to spearhead the encirclement drive from the north.
701:
Gusev, who was promoted to the rank of colonel-general on 18 June, was ordered to continue the offensive further north to break the
Finnish defences at the villages of Tali, northeast of Vyborg, and at Ihantala, north of Vyborg. The renewed Soviet offensive began on 25 June against IV Corps' defences
565:
Operation Uranus began in freezing fog on the morning of 19 November. By midday, though 6th
Rumanian Infantry Division on 21st Army's right flank held its ground, the resistance of the other Rumanian forces facing 21st Army began to crumble and the army's mobile corps were committed to the offensive.
561:
replaced Danilov as commander of 21st Army. (Penskovskii, promoted in October to the rank of Major-General, remained as the army's chief of staff). Subsequently, 21st Army was reinforced with a tank corps and an elite cavalry corps. By then the army's bridgehead on the right bank of the Don was 50
454:
against part of the German Sixth Army. This was part of a wider offensive by South Western Front and Southern Front to retake Kursk, Kharkov and the Donbas; the offensive in Ukraine being part of a general winter offensive by the Red Army that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. By 3 January,
740:
Thereafter the priority for 1st Ukrainian Front was to cross the Oder and to advance to the river Neisse, from where it was planned it would launch its final offensive towards Dresden and central Germany. By early February, 1st Ukrainian Front had established two bridgeheads over the Oder at Scinawa
569:
Within days of Sixth Army's surrender, preparations were underway for the deployment of several of the Soviet armies from the Stalingrad battle, including 21st Army, north to the Livny area to assist in a major offensive towards Kursk. Chistiakov's divisions did not begin to arrive in the Livny area
432:
was appointed to the command of the residual forces of 21st Army that had escaped encirclement at Kiev. The army grew rapidly in strength as reserves were fed into Ukraine from the Soviet strategic reserve, so that by the beginning of October the army included three rifle divisions and five cavalry
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near Opole, and its left flank having reached Tarnowskie Gory. From Opole 21st Army's cavalry corps, in conjunction with mechanised forces from a Soviet tank army, was turned to the southeast into the German rear and down the right bank of the Oder towards Raciborz. Meanwhile, the rest of 21st Army
673:
On 9 June, 21st Army, supported by the guns of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, opened a massive artillery barrage against IV Corps' positions. The next day, on 10 June, after a further artillery barrage, the Soviet 21st Army, spearheaded by 30th Guards Corps and with ample air and armoured support, opened
540:
sector, Gordov was assigned to the command of one of three reserve armies that had been activated and were in the process of being deployed to the Don. Danilov was then assigned to the command of 21st Army and Colonel Valentin Penskovskii became the army's chief of staff. On 26 July, the 21st Army
437:
briefly resumed command of 21st Army. By then it had become clear to Soviet high command that the main thrust of the German autumn offensive would not be directed at the Kharkov – Belgorod axis, the defence of which was assigned to South Western Front. On 15 October command of 21st Army reverted
744:
In early May, as representatives of the German government were beginning to discuss with the Allies a general surrender of German forces, Soviet high command decided to launch a final offensive against Army Group Centre. The main objective was the capture of Prague, but other Soviet armies facing
373:, was assigned to the frontline off the left flank of 21st Army in the Pripyat Marshes. By early August, 21st Army's defences were beginning to crumble against increasing pressure from Second Army. On 7 August Eframov moved to the command of Central Front and Gordov assumed command of 21st Army.
361:
river. The advance of 21st Army was brought to a halt after a few days by fresh German forces from the German Second Army moving east from Minsk after the final surrender of the Soviet frontier armies in western Belorussia. During the second half of July the frontline stabilised from southeast of
585:
On 12 July 1943 the 3rd Reserve Army, part of the Red Army's strategic reserve, was designated as the new formation of 21st Army. On 23 July it was transferred from the reserve to the operational army and at the beginning of August was assigned to Western Front to participate in an offensive to
516:
that would encircle 21st Army and 40th Army. Subsequently, German mechanised forces would advance down the right bank of the Don in order to encircle South Western Front, and would develop the offensive into the great bend of the Don and across the lower Don in order to encircle Southern Front,
446:
was appointed as the army's chief of staff. During October, under constant pressure from the German Sixth Army, 21st Army withdrew steadily to the east on the Belgorod axis north of Kharkov towards the upper Donets. Since the German mechanised forces had been directed towards Moscow and Rostov,
718:
from the high command reserve. From this date, 21st Army remained operationally active throughout the remainder of the war. (In November, 21st Army had been briefly assigned to the operational army before being returned once again to the high command reserve). Dmitrii Gusev was still the army
726:
The offensive opened in the early morning of 12 January 1945 in a breakout from the Sandomierz bridgehead. Gusev's forces were not part of the breakout effort; 21st Army was one of 1st Ukrainian Front's reserve armies and it was not committed to the action until 17 January. By that time, 1st
737:
ceased its outflanking move to the west and attacked east towards Katowice. This manoeuvre, made in conjunction with a westerly advance further south by 4th Ukrainian Front, threatened German forces in the Katowice industrial area with encirclement and forced their withdrawal by 29 January.
467:
of the German Sixth Army. For several days it seemed that a breakthrough against XVII Army Corps might be possible, but a reserve Soviet cavalry corps was not available in time to support the offensive and the Soviet advance stalled short of Kharkov in the face of effective German defences.
552:
replaced German divisions defending the northern sector of the Don bend, but the Rumanians were unable to prevent 21st Army from further enlarging the Serafimovich bridgehead. Soviet high command had decided to use the Serafimovich bridgehead to launch a major offensive (codenamed
235:. In early June the army was moved to the eastern fringes of the Pripyat Marshes south of Homel. At the outbreak of hostilities on 22 June the army was redeployed north to defend the right bank of the Dnepr between Rybchev and Stary-Bykhov. At the same time
462:
On 12 May 1942 South Western Front launched a renewed offensive to take Kharkov. 21st Army was to be part of the northern arm of an attempt to encircle the city from north and south. In conjunction with 28th Army on its left, Gordov's forces attacked
847:
601:
began preparations for an offensive in eastern Karelia and in the Karelian Isthmus to retake territory lost to the Finns in 1941. In order to destroy the Finnish Army and force Finland out of the war, the Stavka decided to conduct the
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industrial area from the north. For this task, 21st Army was reinforced with a tank corps and with an elite cavalry corps, and by 23 January, it had bypassed German forces in Silesia from the north, its right wing having reached the
727:
Ukrainian Front had advanced deep into southern Poland, and 21st Army was deployed against the German Seventeenth Army in the Miechow area for an attack towards Zawiercie and subsequently Tarnowskie Gory in order to outflank the
353:, went on the offensive again. Its 63rd Rifle Corps crossed Dnepr on pontoon bridges and recaptured Rahachow and Zhlobin, the first large towns to be retaken from German forces since the start of the invasion. Further south
557:) to the southeast which, in conjunction with an offensive from Soviet positions south of Stalingrad, would strike into the flanks of Sixth Army to end the siege of the city. At the beginning of November Major-General
369:. Fedor Kuznetsov was assigned to the command of this new Front, and Lieutenant-General Mikhail Eframov was assigned as the new commander of 21st Army. Subsequently, 3rd Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General
412:. Kuznetsov can't be blamed for that decision because his army was at that point already beaten by German forces and in full retreat. In this situation on 6 September Kuznetsov's army was placed under the command of
298:. On 2 July, 21st Army was subordinated to the command of Western Front. On 4 July, the 3rd Panzer Division crossed the Dnepr and established a bridgehead on the east bank near Rahachow. Relentless assaults made by
416:. By then the advance by 2nd Panzer Group had forced a gap between South Western Front and Bryansk Front, and 21st Army, continuing to retreat to the south, became caught up in a vast encirclement that became the
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852:
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which threatened the eastern flank of 21st Army. Kuznetsov ordered a withdrawal over the river Desna. Unfortunately Kuznetsov did not inform the neighbouring Soviet units about his decision. Because of that
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813:
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At the end of October, 21st Army Headquarters was returned to the high command reserve, the army's rifle divisions having been assigned to Western Front's 33rd Army and 68th Army.
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Gordov's forces easily avoided encirclement by the slow-moving infantry divisions of Sixth Army, and by early November the frontline had begun to stabilise along the upper Donets.
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was taken by the Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group, the 21st Army with its right flank severed began to withdraw to the east. Its new defensive position was to be on the line of river
334:
as German forces closed to the Dnepr, taking Rahachow and Zhlobin by 7 July and isolating 66th Rifle Corps' 117th Rifle Division in the eastern fringes of the Pripyat Marshes.
573:
At the beginning of May 1943 the designation of Chistiakov's army, in recognition of the part it had played in the battle of Stalingrad, was changed from 21st Army to
357:
from 66th Rifle Corps under cover of woods, and with Gorodovikov's cavalry forces advancing off its left flank, gained 80 kilometres due west and took a bridgehead on
1013:
667:
208:
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649:
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683:
232:
408:, ordered a retreat to the southeast. Thus 21st Army, between South Western Front's 40th and 5th Armies was cut off from the forces of
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698:. Following IV Corps' withdrawal, 21st Army advanced north and on 20 June, took Vyborg against negligible Finnish resistance.
694:-Taipale), based on the Vuoski river. This defence line ran to the north and northeast of the important city and seaport of
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236:
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822:
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progressed, 21st Army maintained the pressure on Sixth Army's positions on the right bank of the Don. During October the
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1123:
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was forced to abort its attack on the German bridgehead near Novhorod-Siverskyi and the army commander, Major-General
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forced the Germans to evacuate the bridgehead two days later. On 6 July a battle-group from the 21st Army (led by the
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116:
621:
1780:
1596:
806:
771:
508:, began. The initial German objectives were to break through the left wing of Bryansk Front in an advance to the
388:, and, though the combined force was still designated 21st Army, Vasilii Kuznetsov was appointed to its command.
331:
299:
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the 21st Army, in conjunction with 40th Army further north, was involved in heavy fighting on the line of the
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195:
21st Army was a part of the Second Operational Echelon of the Red Army. It was formed from the forces of the
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After the failure of armistice negotiations between the Soviets and the Finns in the spring of 1944, the
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On 12 July, as 21st Army was being deployed further south to defend the left bank of the Don bend in the
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By late June 1942, 21st Army, with nine rifle divisions and a tank corps, occupied the northern flank of
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at Voronezh, and, further south, to then break through the left wing of 21st Army in an advance towards
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On 1 January 1942 21st Army, which by then included six rifle divisions, launched an offensive towards
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area, and to withdraw to the relative safety of the left bank of the river.
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and crossing the Czech border to reach Jaromerz by the war's end on 9 May.
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45:
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Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev Blitzkrieg and Dnieperm Warszawa 2001 page 130
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On 13 July, 21st Army, by this time under the command of Colonel-General
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axis. On 28 June the main German strategic offensive of 1942,
496:, but 40th Army at this time constituted the southern wing of
1099:, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2002, pp 420, 426
577:. This change of designation was not made public until July.
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On 24 July, 21st Army came under command of the newly formed
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287:
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387th Howitzer Regiment of the Highest Command Reserve (RGK)
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Babruysk to the Dnepr north of Rahachow and along the Sozh.
227:. The commander of 63rd Rifle Corps was Lieutenant-General
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349:) and a cavalry group under the command of Colonel-General
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and the commander of 66th Rifle Corps was Major-General
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On 11 December 1944, the 21st Army was assigned to the
219:. The army was under the command of Lieutenant-General
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secured a bridgehead on the Desna's eastern bank near
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Glantz&House When Titans clashed Page 118 – Map 8
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326:. The Soviet attack was repelled by the German
723:, and by December, planning was well-advanced
484:. Gordov's army, facing the left flank of the
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500:which was responsible for the defence of the
488:and the right flank of the newly introduced
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223:, and its chief of staff was Major-General
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480:along 100 kilometres of frontline east of
423:
274:) would defend the line going through the
753:21st Army Order of Battle on 22 June 1941
471:
774:– Lieutenant-General Leonid Petrovskii
702:in the Tali area, culminating into the
199:in May 1941 and was initially based on
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190:
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517:interdict the Volga river traffic at
243:, was assigned to 21st Army from the
239:, under the command of Major-General
1097:The Battle for Leningrad 1941 – 1944
1077:Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev page 226
1068:Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev page 213
1059:Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev page 176
1050:Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev page 131
1041:Fugate Bryan, Dvoriecki Lev page 133
1002:(24 October 1943 – 25 February 1944)
580:
544:During August and September, as the
492:, was still flanked on its right by
250:On 27 June 1941 it was proposed to
13:
14:
1910:
871:– Major-General Semen Krivoshein
546:battle for the city of Stalingrad
1899:Field armies of the Soviet Union
1155:
1146:
428:On 26 September Colonel-General
38:
960:(26 September – 5 October 1941)
953:(25 August – 26 September 1941)
1529:Special Red Banner Far Eastern
1102:
1089:
1080:
1071:
1062:
1053:
1044:
1035:
1026:
858:546th Corps Artillery Regiment
853:420th Corps Artillery Regiment
809:– Major-General Fedor Sudakov
760:Commander: Lieutenant-General
1:
1020:
974:(15 October 1941 – June 1942)
937:Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov
905:
607:Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
322:and attacked in direction of
152:Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov
117:Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
988:(November 1942 – April 1943)
521:and secure the oilfields at
7:
995:(12 July – 24 October 1943)
721:a major offensive in Poland
626:64th Guards Rifle Divisions
10:
1915:
1837:
1794:
1773:
1737:
1696:
1630:
1542:
1164:
1109:World War II Armed Forces
939:(24 July – 7 August 1941)
894:219th Mechanized Division
245:Kharkov Military District
137:
132:
79:
69:
61:
51:
33:
25:
20:
981:(July – 1 November 1942)
900:12th Motorcycle Regiment
710:November 1944 – May 1945
433:divisions. On 5 October
254:that the Soviet armies (
102:Second Battle of Kharkov
92:First Battle of Smolensk
1016:(April 1944 – May 1945)
1009:(February – April 1944)
757:Source: Leo Niehorster
704:Battle of Tali–Ihantala
614:30th Guards Rifle Corps
424:October 1941 – May 1942
328:10th Motorized Division
197:Volga Military District
1697:Guards Tank/Mechanized
896:– Major-General Korzun
472:June 1942 – April 1943
345:(commanded by Colonel
341:, and reinforced with
869:25th Mechanized Corps
668:22nd Fortified Region
662:286th Rifle Divisions
644:381st Rifle Divisions
490:Hungarian Second Army
418:Battle of Kiev (1941)
237:25th Mechanized Corps
213:167th Rifle Divisions
182:during World War II.
918:(June – 6 July 1941)
832:154th Rifle Division
823:117th Rifle Division
797:167th Rifle Division
788:148th Rifle Division
442:, and Major-General
391:On 26 August German
355:232nd Rifle Division
308:117th Rifle Division
107:Battle of Stalingrad
97:First Battle of Kiev
1534:Red Banner Caucasus
1005:Lieutenant General
998:Lieutenant General
991:Lieutenant General
984:Lieutenant General
967:(5–10 October 1941)
958:Yakov Cherevichenko
949:Lieutenant General
935:Lieutenant General
914:Lieutenant General
827:Spiridon Chernyugov
814:61st Rifle Division
779:53rd Rifle Division
762:Vasilii Gerasimenko
716:1st Ukrainian Front
550:Rumanian Third Army
430:Yakov Cherevichenko
332:3rd Panzer Division
191:June–September 1941
186:Operational history
946:(7–24 August 1941)
885:55th Tank Division
876:50th Tank Division
864:Mechanised Forces:
818:Nikolay Prishchepa
792:Filipp Cherokmanov
593:May–September 1944
478:Southwestern Front
414:Southwestern Front
397:Novhorod-Siverskyi
376:When on 12 August
221:Vasily Gerasimenko
112:Smolensk Operation
1886:
1885:
1095:David M. Glantz,
1000:Yevgeny Zhuravlev
932:(10–24 July 1941)
916:Vasyl Herasymenko
650:109th Rifle Corps
581:July–October 1943
486:German Sixth Army
371:Vasilii Kuznetsov
347:Filipp Zhmachenko
241:Semyon Krivoshein
165:
164:
1906:
1524:Separate Coastal
1159:
1150:
1140:
1133:
1126:
1117:
1116:
1111:
1106:
1100:
1093:
1087:
1084:
1078:
1075:
1069:
1066:
1060:
1057:
1051:
1048:
1042:
1039:
1033:
1030:
1012:Colonel-General
965:Fyodor Kuznetsov
963:Colonel-General
956:Colonel-General
951:Vasily Kuznetsov
930:Fyodor Kuznetsov
928:Colonel-General
925:(6–10 July 1941)
807:66th Rifle Corps
783:Filipp Konovalov
772:63rd Rifle Corps
767:Infantry Forces:
632:97th Rifle Corps
435:Fyodor Kuznetsov
393:2nd Panzer Group
343:67th Rifle Corps
339:Fyodor Kuznetsov
300:63rd Rifle Corps
229:Leonid Petrovsky
217:66th Rifle Corps
201:63rd Rifle Corps
156:Vasily Kuznetsov
144:Fyodor Kuznetsov
122:Prague Offensive
44:
42:
41:
18:
17:
1914:
1913:
1909:
1908:
1907:
1905:
1904:
1903:
1889:
1888:
1887:
1882:
1879:Black Sea Group
1833:
1790:
1769:
1733:
1692:
1631:Tank/Mechanized
1626:
1538:
1160:
1144:
1114:
1107:
1103:
1094:
1090:
1085:
1081:
1076:
1072:
1067:
1063:
1058:
1054:
1049:
1045:
1040:
1036:
1031:
1027:
1023:
1007:Vasily Shvetsov
986:Ivan Chistyakov
923:Semyon Budyonny
908:
801:Vasily Rakovsky
755:
712:
595:
583:
575:6th Guards Army
559:Ivan Chistyakov
474:
465:XVII Army Corps
444:Aleksei Danilov
426:
351:Oka Gorodovikov
330:with help from
193:
188:
168:
158:
154:
150:
146:
139:
128:
39:
37:
12:
11:
5:
1912:
1902:
1901:
1884:
1883:
1881:
1880:
1877:
1876:Southern Front
1874:
1871:
1868:
1865:
1862:
1859:
1856:
1853:
1850:
1847:
1843:
1841:
1835:
1834:
1832:
1831:
1828:
1825:
1822:
1819:
1816:
1813:
1810:
1807:
1804:
1800:
1798:
1792:
1791:
1789:
1788:
1783:
1777:
1775:
1771:
1770:
1768:
1767:
1762:
1757:
1752:
1747:
1741:
1739:
1735:
1734:
1732:
1731:
1726:
1721:
1716:
1711:
1706:
1700:
1698:
1694:
1693:
1691:
1690:
1685:
1680:
1675:
1670:
1665:
1660:
1655:
1650:
1645:
1640:
1634:
1632:
1628:
1627:
1625:
1624:
1619:
1614:
1609:
1604:
1599:
1594:
1589:
1584:
1579:
1574:
1569:
1564:
1559:
1554:
1548:
1546:
1540:
1539:
1537:
1536:
1531:
1526:
1521:
1516:
1511:
1506:
1501:
1496:
1491:
1486:
1481:
1476:
1471:
1466:
1461:
1456:
1451:
1446:
1441:
1436:
1431:
1426:
1421:
1416:
1411:
1406:
1401:
1396:
1391:
1386:
1381:
1376:
1371:
1366:
1361:
1356:
1351:
1346:
1341:
1336:
1331:
1326:
1321:
1316:
1311:
1306:
1301:
1296:
1291:
1286:
1281:
1276:
1271:
1266:
1261:
1256:
1251:
1246:
1241:
1236:
1231:
1226:
1221:
1216:
1211:
1206:
1201:
1196:
1191:
1186:
1181:
1176:
1170:
1168:
1162:
1161:
1151:Armies of the
1143:
1142:
1135:
1128:
1120:
1113:
1112:
1101:
1088:
1079:
1070:
1061:
1052:
1043:
1034:
1024:
1022:
1019:
1018:
1017:
1010:
1003:
996:
993:Nikolay Krylov
989:
982:
979:Alexei Danilov
977:Major General
975:
972:Vasiliy Gordov
970:Major General
968:
961:
954:
947:
944:Vasiliy Gordov
942:Major General
940:
933:
926:
919:
907:
904:
903:
902:
897:
891:
889:Vasily Badanov
882:
880:Boris Bakharov
861:
860:
855:
850:
839:
838:
829:
820:
804:
803:
794:
785:
754:
751:
711:
708:
671:
670:
665:
647:
629:
594:
591:
582:
579:
473:
470:
440:Vasiliy Gordov
438:once again to
425:
422:
310:) crossed the
233:Fyodor Sudakov
192:
189:
187:
184:
166:
163:
162:
160:Nikolay Krylov
148:Vasiliy Gordov
141:
135:
134:
130:
129:
127:
126:
125:
124:
119:
114:
109:
104:
99:
94:
83:
81:
77:
76:
71:
67:
66:
63:
59:
58:
53:
49:
48:
35:
31:
30:
27:
23:
22:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1911:
1900:
1897:
1896:
1894:
1878:
1875:
1872:
1869:
1866:
1863:
1860:
1857:
1854:
1851:
1848:
1845:
1844:
1842:
1840:
1836:
1829:
1826:
1823:
1820:
1817:
1814:
1811:
1808:
1805:
1802:
1801:
1799:
1797:
1793:
1787:
1784:
1782:
1779:
1778:
1776:
1772:
1766:
1763:
1761:
1758:
1756:
1753:
1751:
1748:
1746:
1743:
1742:
1740:
1736:
1730:
1727:
1725:
1722:
1720:
1717:
1715:
1712:
1710:
1707:
1705:
1702:
1701:
1699:
1695:
1689:
1686:
1684:
1681:
1679:
1676:
1674:
1671:
1669:
1666:
1664:
1661:
1659:
1656:
1654:
1651:
1649:
1646:
1644:
1641:
1639:
1636:
1635:
1633:
1629:
1623:
1620:
1618:
1615:
1613:
1610:
1608:
1605:
1603:
1600:
1598:
1595:
1593:
1590:
1588:
1585:
1583:
1580:
1578:
1575:
1573:
1570:
1568:
1565:
1563:
1560:
1558:
1555:
1553:
1550:
1549:
1547:
1545:
1541:
1535:
1532:
1530:
1527:
1525:
1522:
1520:
1517:
1515:
1512:
1510:
1507:
1505:
1502:
1500:
1497:
1495:
1492:
1490:
1487:
1485:
1482:
1480:
1477:
1475:
1472:
1470:
1467:
1465:
1462:
1460:
1457:
1455:
1452:
1450:
1447:
1445:
1442:
1440:
1437:
1435:
1432:
1430:
1427:
1425:
1422:
1420:
1417:
1415:
1412:
1410:
1407:
1405:
1402:
1400:
1397:
1395:
1392:
1390:
1387:
1385:
1382:
1380:
1377:
1375:
1372:
1370:
1367:
1365:
1362:
1360:
1357:
1355:
1352:
1350:
1347:
1345:
1342:
1340:
1337:
1335:
1332:
1330:
1327:
1325:
1322:
1320:
1317:
1315:
1312:
1310:
1307:
1305:
1302:
1300:
1297:
1295:
1292:
1290:
1287:
1285:
1282:
1280:
1277:
1275:
1272:
1270:
1267:
1265:
1262:
1260:
1257:
1255:
1252:
1250:
1247:
1245:
1242:
1240:
1237:
1235:
1232:
1230:
1227:
1225:
1222:
1220:
1217:
1215:
1212:
1210:
1207:
1205:
1202:
1200:
1197:
1195:
1192:
1190:
1187:
1185:
1182:
1180:
1177:
1175:
1172:
1171:
1169:
1167:
1163:
1158:
1154:
1149:
1141:
1136:
1134:
1129:
1127:
1122:
1121:
1118:
1110:
1105:
1098:
1092:
1083:
1074:
1065:
1056:
1047:
1038:
1029:
1025:
1015:
1011:
1008:
1004:
1001:
997:
994:
990:
987:
983:
980:
976:
973:
969:
966:
962:
959:
955:
952:
948:
945:
941:
938:
934:
931:
927:
924:
920:
917:
913:
912:
911:
901:
898:
895:
892:
890:
886:
883:
881:
877:
874:
873:
872:
870:
866:
865:
859:
856:
854:
851:
849:
846:
845:
844:
843:
837:
836:Yakov Fokanov
833:
830:
828:
824:
821:
819:
815:
812:
811:
810:
808:
802:
798:
795:
793:
789:
786:
784:
780:
777:
776:
775:
773:
769:
768:
764:
763:
758:
750:
748:
742:
738:
735:
730:
724:
722:
717:
707:
705:
699:
697:
693:
689:
685:
681:
677:
669:
666:
663:
659:
655:
651:
648:
645:
641:
637:
633:
630:
627:
623:
619:
615:
612:
611:
610:
608:
605:
600:
590:
587:
578:
576:
571:
567:
563:
560:
556:
551:
547:
542:
539:
535:
530:
528:
524:
520:
515:
511:
507:
503:
499:
498:Bryansk Front
495:
491:
487:
483:
479:
469:
466:
460:
458:
453:
448:
445:
441:
436:
431:
421:
419:
415:
411:
410:Bryansk Front
407:
403:
398:
394:
389:
387:
386:Bryansk Front
383:
379:
374:
372:
368:
367:Central Front
363:
360:
356:
352:
348:
344:
340:
335:
333:
329:
325:
321:
317:
313:
309:
305:
301:
297:
293:
289:
285:
281:
277:
273:
269:
265:
261:
257:
253:
252:Joseph Stalin
248:
246:
242:
238:
234:
230:
226:
225:Vasily Gordov
222:
218:
214:
210:
206:
202:
198:
183:
181:
177:
173:
167:Military unit
161:
157:
153:
149:
145:
142:
136:
131:
123:
120:
118:
115:
113:
110:
108:
105:
103:
100:
98:
95:
93:
90:
89:
88:
85:
84:
82:
78:
75:
72:
68:
65:Combined arms
64:
60:
57:
54:
50:
47:
36:
32:
28:
24:
19:
16:
1839:Reserve Army
1273:
1104:
1096:
1091:
1082:
1073:
1064:
1055:
1046:
1037:
1028:
1014:Dmitry Gusev
909:
867:
863:
862:
841:
840:
805:
770:
766:
765:
759:
756:
743:
739:
725:
713:
700:
672:
596:
588:
584:
572:
568:
564:
543:
534:Serafimovich
531:
475:
461:
449:
427:
406:Kuzma Podlas
390:
375:
364:
336:
303:
267:
249:
194:
171:
169:
87:World War II
46:Soviet Union
15:
1153:Soviet Army
910:Commanders
604:two-pronged
514:Stary Oskol
170:The Soviet
80:Engagements
1021:References
906:Commanders
887:– Colonel
878:– Colonel
842:Artillery:
834:– Colonel
825:– Colonel
816:– Colonel
799:– Colonel
790:– Colonel
781:– Colonel
692:Kuparsaari
519:Stalingrad
457:Seym River
176:field army
140:commanders
133:Commanders
74:Field army
747:Wałbrzych
690:(Viipuri-
680:Vammelsuu
538:Kletskaya
506:Case Blue
494:40th Army
402:40th Army
318:south of
304:21st Army
272:22nd Army
264:20th Army
260:19th Army
256:13th Army
172:21st Army
29:1941–1945
21:21st Army
1893:Category
921:Marshal
729:Katowice
688:VKT-line
502:Voronezh
482:Belgorod
359:Berezina
324:Babruysk
320:Rahachow
180:Red Army
56:Red Army
1774:Cavalry
1688:Special
684:Taipale
676:VT-line
378:Krychaw
316:Zhlobin
292:Mogilev
284:Vitebsk
280:Polotsk
276:Daugava
178:of the
138:Notable
34:Country
1796:Sapper
1544:Guards
1166:Armies
696:Vyborg
599:Stavka
555:Uranus
523:Maykop
452:Oboyan
215:) and
211:, and
174:was a
52:Branch
43:
26:Active
1738:Shock
658:109th
640:358th
636:178th
527:Liski
382:Desna
312:Dnepr
302:from
296:Mazyr
288:Orsha
209:148th
1873:10th
1830:10th
1683:10th
1622:22nd
1617:20th
1612:18th
1607:14th
1602:11th
1597:10th
1519:70th
1514:69th
1509:68th
1504:67th
1499:66th
1494:65th
1489:64th
1484:63rd
1479:62nd
1474:61st
1469:60th
1464:59th
1459:58th
1454:57th
1449:56th
1444:55th
1439:54th
1434:53rd
1429:52nd
1424:51st
1419:50th
1414:49th
1409:48th
1404:47th
1399:46th
1394:45th
1389:44th
1384:43rd
1379:42nd
1374:41st
1369:40th
1364:39th
1359:38th
1354:37th
1349:36th
1344:35th
1339:34th
1334:33rd
1329:32nd
1324:31st
1319:30th
1314:29th
1309:28th
1304:27th
1299:26th
1294:25th
1289:24th
1284:23rd
1279:22nd
1274:21st
1269:20th
1264:19th
1259:18th
1254:17th
1249:16th
1244:15th
1239:14th
1234:13th
1229:12th
1224:11th
1219:10th
734:Oder
660:and
654:72nd
642:and
624:and
622:63rd
618:45th
268:21st
205:53rd
70:Size
62:Type
1870:9th
1867:8th
1864:7th
1861:6th
1858:5th
1855:4th
1852:3rd
1849:2nd
1846:1st
1827:9th
1824:8th
1821:7th
1818:6th
1815:5th
1812:4th
1809:3rd
1806:2nd
1803:1st
1786:2nd
1781:1st
1765:5th
1760:4th
1755:3rd
1750:2nd
1745:1st
1729:6th
1724:5th
1719:4th
1714:3rd
1709:2nd
1704:1st
1678:9th
1673:8th
1668:7th
1663:6th
1658:5th
1653:4th
1648:3rd
1643:2nd
1638:1st
1592:9th
1587:8th
1582:7th
1577:6th
1572:5th
1567:4th
1562:3rd
1557:2nd
1552:1st
1214:9th
1209:8th
1204:7th
1199:6th
1194:5th
1189:4th
1184:3rd
1179:2nd
1174:1st
510:Don
314:at
1895::
656:,
638:,
620:,
536:–
270:,
266:,
262:,
258:,
247:.
207:,
1139:e
1132:t
1125:v
682:-
678:(
664:)
652:(
646:)
634:(
628:)
616:(
294:-
290:-
286:-
282:-
278:-
203:(
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