62 Army
The 8th Guards Army was formed on the basis of 62 Army, an operational association of the Red Army, which took part in the Great Patriotic War. Particularly distinguished during the heroic defense of Stalingrad. The 62nd army was formed in Tula on July 10, 1942 on the basis of the 7th reserve army with direct subordination to the Supreme Command. Initially, it included 33 guards, 147, 181, 184, 192 and 196 rifle divisions, 121 tank brigade, artillery and other units. The location is Stalingrad. Since July 12, 1942 it is included in the newly created Stalingrad Front.
The structure of 62 armies was given a distinctive character by strong separate tank battalions (42 tanks each - 21 medium and 21 light tanks). They were assigned one for each formation of the 62 army with the exception of the 196 rifle division. No other army had separate tank battalions in such a proportion - one for each division. Also, each rifle division of the 62nd army was reinforced with an anti-tank regiment (20 guns each).
The 62nd army took up defense at the turn of Malokletsky, Evstratovsky, Kalmykov, Slepikhin, Surovikino with a length of more than 100 km. 33, 192, 181, 147 and 196 rifle divisions occupied defenses along the front, 184 rifle divisions were in the second echelon. In each rifle division of the first line, two regiments were in the first echelon and one in the second.
Commander of the 62nd Army General Chuikov V.I. concentrated the main efforts in defense on the left flank of the army, closing the direction in which Stalingrad was reached by the opponents at the shortest distance. Accordingly, a seal on the left flank was achieved by stretching the front of the 192 rifle division on the right flank of the 62 army. The infantry division withdrawn to the second echelon of 184 was also located behind the left wing of the 62nd army.
The battle of Stalingrad for the 62nd army began in the second half of July 1942 at the turn of the Chir River in battles with the 6th Wehrmacht army under the command of Colonel General Paulus. Since July 23, the main forces of the army repelled enemy attacks on the defensive line of Kletskaya, Surovikino and with fights retreated to the left bank of the Don. By mid-August, army formations had consolidated their positions on the external defensive contour of Stalingrad from Vertyachy to Lyapichev and continued to engage in stubborn battles.
On August 30, after breaking through the outer contour and leaving the Wehrmacht north of Stalingrad, the 62nd army was transferred to the Southeast Front. On September 2, the 62nd army retreated to the internal defensive contour of Stalingrad's army and secured themselves at the turn of Rynok, Orlovka, Gumrak, Peschanka.
Since September 13, the army has been conducting extremely fierce defensive battles in Stalingrad itself for more than two months. By the end of the defensive operation, they held only the area north of the tractor factory, Lyudnikov’s island in the lower village of the Barricades, separate workshops of the Krasny Oktyabr factory and several blocks in the city center.
With the beginning of the Stalingrad strategic offensive operation, the 62nd army continued to conduct battles in Stalingrad, constraining the enemy’s forces, and at the same time preparing for the transition to the offensive. On January 1, 1943, the army was transferred to the Don Front and, as part of it, participated in the operation to liquidate the German forces grouped near Stalingrad.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, on February 6, 1943, the army was part of a group of troops under the command of Lieutenant General K.P. Trubnikov (from February 27 - the Stalingrad Group of Forces), which was in the reserve of the Supreme Command. In March-April, as part of the South-Western Front (from March 20), the 62 army participated in the construction of a frontline defensive line on the left bank of Oskol until it was reorganized into the 8th Guards Army.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
