World War II Soviet Armed Forces (2): 1942-43 (Men-at-Arms 468) issue 2

49 Pages·2011·1.64 MB·English

by  Nigel Thomas - Illustrated by Darko Pavlovic

O
SPREY
Men-at-Arms
PUBLISHING
World War II Soviet
Armed Forces (2)
1942–43
Dr Nigel Thomas • Illustrated by Darko Pavlovic
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Men-at-Arms • 468
World War II Soviet
Armed Forces (2)
1942–43
Dr Nigel Thomas • Illustrated by Darko Pavlovic
Series editor MartinWindrow
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
WORLD WAR II SOVIET ARMED
FORCES (2)
1942–43
THE LONG COUNTER-ATTACK
T heNazi-SovietPactofAugust1939hadallowedtheSovietUnion
toregainmostoftheterritoryconcededduringtheRussianCivil
War. By 1941 the Soviet Union consisted of 15 Soviet Socialist
Republics(SSRs),comprisingtheRussianEmpireasithadexistedbefore
1917, and also the western Ukraine, which had never been Russian.
However,theWinterWaragainstFinland(November1939–March1940)
had exposed the numerically huge Red Army as poorly equipped and
incompetently commanded; despite Russia’s reoccupation of much
Finnishterritory,thatcountryremainedunconquered.
Encouraged by the revelation of Soviet military unpreparedness,
ByAugust1941,Stalinheld Germany and its European Axis allies launched an unprovoked attack
allthekeymilitaryandpolitical ontheSovietUnionon22June1941.ByJanuary1942theAxishadforced
postsattheheadoftheSoviet theRedArmyback450miles,andhadoccupiedsixSSRs–Estonia,Latvia,
Union’spowerstructure;
Lithuania,Moldova,Byelorussia(Belarus)andUkraine.Axisforceswere
nevertheless,itwas6March
threateningLeningrad(nowStPetersburg)andMoscow,andwerepoised
1943beforehehadhimself
appointedtotherankofMarshal towheelsouthwardstowardstheeconomicallyvitaloilfieldsoftheCaucasus.
oftheSovietUnion–hisfirst The two years described in this volume (January 1942 to December
militaryrank.Herehewearsthe 1943)sawtheSovietUnionrecovering–slowly,andatgreatcost–from
M43generalofficers’peaked
the catastrophic defeats of 1941.1 Leningrad and Moscow had been
servicecapandkhakigreatcoat,
successfullydefended,andtheAxisadvancehadbeenhaltedinwestern
withacombined-armsredcap
bandandcollarpatches,and Russia. By December 1942 the Axis advance to the Caucasus had been
hisrankinsigniaongoldbraid stopped on the Georgian border; most of the oilfields were saved,
shoulder-boards. and the winter of 1942–43 proved to be the turning-point in the war.
(Author’scollection)
The Germans’ defeat at Stalingrad in February1943,and thefailureof
theirJulycounter-offensiveontheKursksalient,heraldedasteadyAxis
retreat, as the now better-equipped and better-led Red Army began
its own relentless advance westwards. By December 1943 the Caucasus,
eastern Ukraine and most of western Russia were back in Soviet hands,
andeventualGermandefeatseemedincreasinglylikely.
The Western Allies recognized from the outset that the defeat of the
Soviet Union would seriously compromise the Allied cause. Under the
United States Lend-Lease Act of 11 March 1941, large quantities of US,
British and Canadian aircraft, armoured and other vehicles, radio
equipment, weapons, ammunition and clothing were transported to the
SovietUnionbetween1October1941and2September1945,viaBritish
sea convoys to Murmansk and Arkhangel’sk, and US Pacific convoys
toVladivostok.Furthermore,BritishforcesandtheSovietTranscaucasian
1Theseparationofthissubjectintothreevolumesbydatecannotbepedanticallyconsistentinrespectof
organization,operations,anduniformpracticealike,forreasonsofrelativespace.Someexamplesof1940
and1941uniformandinsigniaregulationsdescribedinthistextarealsoillustratedinthefirstvolume,MAA464;
andtheuniformregulationsofJanuary1943,ofwhichsomeexamplesareillustratedinthisbook,willbecovered
inthetextoftheforthcomingthirdvolume. 3
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Front occupied Iran (Persia) on 25 August 1941,
thus creating a ‘Persian Corridor’ that allowed
the British to transport aid overland from British-
occupiedIraqtoSovietAzerbaijan.Stalinaccepted
allavailableaid,butneverpubliclyacknowledgedits
vitalcontributiontotheRedArmy’seventualvictory.
THE SOVIET HIGH
COMMAND
StalinconsolidatedhispositionasChairmanofthe
CommunistPartyandchiefexecutiveoftheSoviet
Union by controlling the four key organizations
ARedArmyinfantrysection thatgovernedtheUSSR.HechairedtheCouncilofPeople’sCommissars
fightingintheruinsof (Sovnarkom)from6May1941,andthePeople’sCommissariatforDefence
Sevastopol,June1942.They from 19 July 1941. He established the State Committee for Defence
wearthesummerfielduniform
(Gosudarstvenniy Komitet Oborony – GKO) on 30 June 1941 to ensure
comprisingtheM40helmet,
military-civilian liaison; and he commanded Red Army General
M41fieldshirtandtrousers,
withputteesandankleboots. Headquarters, established 23 June 1941 and redesignated on 8 August
Theycarryblanket-rollsacross the GHQ of the Supreme High Command (Stavka Verkhovnogo
theirrightshouldersinplaceof Glavnokomandovaniya). Comprising the state’s top military, internal
backpacks,andarearmedwith
security and political leaders, this ‘Stavka’ effectively ran the Soviet war
MosinNagantM1891/30rifles
effort.OnthedateofitscreationStalinhadhimselfappointedSupreme
andPPSh-41sub-machineguns.
(CourtesyCentralMuseumof HighCommander(VerkhovnnyyGlavnokomandushchiy).
theArmedForces,Moscow, Stalin appointed General Armii (Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza, 18 January
viaNikCornish) 1943) Georgiy K. Zhukov, the Red Army’s most able general, as Deputy
SupremeHighCommander(Zamestitel’VerkhovnogoGlavnokomandushchego)
on 26 August 1942. This made Zhukov the highest-ranking Red Army
officer,andStalin’sright-handman.Underhim,StavkacontrolledtheRed
Army General Staff; the chief of the general staff from 29 July 1941,
Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza Boris Shaposhnikov, was replaced 9 May 1942
Anincreasinglycommonsight
aftertheSovietvictoryat
StalingradinFebruary1943:
adeterminedRedArmysoldier,
wearingakhakiM43winterfield
shirtandbrandishingaPPSh-41,
leadsacrowdofexhausted
Germanprisonerstotherear.
GermanPOWscouldexpect
brutaltreatmentinNKVD-run
prisoncamps,andthelast
survivorswerenotrepatriated
untilOctober1955.However,
Sovietprisoners–especially
Russians–couldexpecteven
worsetreatmentinGerman
camps,wheretheywerenot
onlydeniedtheprotectionof
theGenevaConventions,
butwereallowedtostarve
todeathinhugenumbers.
4 (TschakovCollection)
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
byhisdeputy,General-Polkovnik(16February1943,
Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza) Aleksandr Vasilevskiy.
Zhukov and Vasilevskiy forged a successful
partnershipthatbroughtimportantvictories.
RED ARMY LAND FORCES
1January1942–31December1943
Lenin’s ‘Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army’
(RKKA)hadbeenredesignatedinSeptember1939
assimplytheRedArmy(KrasnayaArmiya–KA),still
dividedintotheLandForces(SukhoputnyeVoyska)
andtheAirForce.
Allmalesaged18–50wereliableformilitaryserviceuntiltheendofthe AgroupofNKL-16Aerosani
war. Non-commissioned officers were trained at their unit’s Regimental snowmobilespatrollingthe
School, with re-enlisted NCOs filling the higher ranks. An 18-year-old supplylinesacrossLakeLadoga
tobesiegedLeningradearlyin
appointedanofficercadet(kursant)wassenttoabranch-specificMilitary
1942.Thesepropeller-driven
College for training, abbreviated in wartime to just 4–10 months, before
vehiclesonskiswereused
beingcommissionedasamladshiyleytenant.Promisingcaptainsandmajors forreconnaissance,raiding,
couldattendabranch-specificMilitaryAcademybeforefurtherpromotion. communications,maildelivery,
WomenhadservedintheRedArmyandAirForceasvolunteersbefore medicalevacuationandborder
patrols.Thesmallsnowmobile
theoutbreakofwar,butinJune1941femaleconscriptionwasintroduced.
battalionswereassignedtothe
ByMay1945some800,000womenhadserved,constituting25–30percent
HQtroopsofafieldarmy.Each
oftotalpersonnel(althoughrelativelyfewreachedcommissionedrank). battalionhadonly100men,with
Initially they served in the Supply and Administration and Medical 30combatandtentransport
services,butsignificantnumberslaterfoughtassnipers,machinegunners, snowmobiles,inthreecompanies
eachofthreeplatoons.(Courtesy
tank crew members, aircrew and paratroopers in the Air Force, and
CentralMuseumoftheArmed
partisansintheoccupiedterritories.
Forces,Moscow,viaNikCornish)
Land Forces branches
The Red Army (excluding the Air Force) was reorganized from 7 May
1940intosixcombatarms.TheInfantryandCavalryweregroupedintoa
single‘CombinedArms’branch;theTechnicalTroopswerereorganized,
retainingtheServicesbutseparatingTechnicalOfficersintoaTechnical
ServicewithArtillery,TankandAirForceEngineeringbranches.
Combined Arms Infantry: Rifle Regts, Mechanized Bns, Motorized Rifle
(‘MotorRifle’)Regts/Bns,MountainRifleRegts,SkiBns,Machine-Gun
Bns, Sub-machine Gun Bns/Coys, Anti-Aircraft (AA) Machine-Gun
Bns/Btys/Coys,AARifleCoys,Anti-Tank(AT)RifleCoys.
Combined Arms Cavalry: Cavalry Regts, Cossack Regts, Mountain Cavalry
Regts,ReconnaissanceBns/Coys(Sqns).
Armoured Troops: Tank Regts/Bns/Coys, Armoured Car Reconnaissance
Bns/Coys,SnowmobileBns,ArmouredTrainBns,MotorcycleRegts/Bns.
ArmourEngineeringService(formed8March1942).
Artillery: Super-Heavy Artillery Regts, Heavy Artillery Regts/Bns, Field
Artillery Regts, Howitzer Regts, Self-propelled Regts, Rocket-Launcher
Regts/Bns, AA Regts/Bns/Btys, AT Regts/Bns/Btys, Artillery-Mortar
Regts, Horse/Motorized Heavy Mortar Bns, Mortar Regts/Bns, Horse
Artillery Bns, Cossack Artillery Bns, Searchlight Regts. Artillery
EngineeringService(formed4March1942). 5
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Table 1: Red Army Fronts and Armies, 1 January 1942 to 31 December 1943
Front StrategicOperations ConstituentArmies
GHQStrategicReserve(RVGK) Various 21,24,27,39,43,46,57,60,1G,2G,4G–6G,8G,1S,
3T–5T
NorthernTheatre
Karelian Karelia 7,14,19,26,32,2CE,7A
Leningrad Leningrad 4,23,42,55,67,13A
North-Western(20.11.1943disbanded) Demyansk,VelikiyeLuki 11,22,27,33,53,67,3S,4S,1T,6A
Volkhov(23.4.1942disbanded;6.1942 Leningrad 4,8,54,2S,14A
re-formed)
Kalinin(10.19421stBaltic) Rzhev-Vyazma,Smolensk 5,10,22,29–31,39,59,68,10G,4R,3S,3A
Baltic(formed10.1943;10.19432ndBaltic) – 22
CentralTheatre
Western Rzhev-Vyazma,Orel,Smolensk 3,5,11,16,20,21,30,33,41,49,1CE,11G,1A
Central(2.1943re-formed;10.1943Byelorussian) Kursk,Orel,Chernigov-Poltava 3,10,13,50,61,70,3CE,4GT,3T,16A
Bryansk(10.10.1943disbanded) Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad,Voronezh- 3,11,38,48,63,4CE,6CE,3R,3T,2A,15A
Kharkov,Orel
SouthernTheatre
Voronezh(20.10.19431stUkrainian) Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad,Voronezh- 6,18,27,40,47,52,53,69,7G,3GT,R,
Kharkov,Kharkov,Kursk,Belgorod-
Kharkov,Chernigov-Poltava,Kiev
Reserve(6.4.1943formed;9.7.1943Steppe; Kursk,Belgorod-Kharkov,Chernigov- 13,27,47,61,7G,5GT
20.10.19432ndUkrainian) Poltava,LowerDnieper
South-Western(12.7.1942disbanded; Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad,Stalingrad, 6,12,21,38,40,63,64,1G,3G,2R,1T,8A,17A
22.10.1942re-formed;20.10.19433rd Voronezh-Kharkov,Kharkov,Donbass,
Ukrainian) LowerDnieper
Southern(28.7.42disbanded;1.1.1943 Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad,North 9,12,18,24,28,37,44,51,65,8CE,9R,4A
re-formed;20.10.19434thUkrainian) Caucasus,Donbass,LowerDnieper
South-Eastern(formed7.8.1942;28.9.1942 Stalingrad 28,51,5CE,7CE
Stalingrad;1.1.1943Southern)
Stalingrad(12.7.1942;9.1942Don;2.1943 Stalingrad 21,24,62–66,1R,5R,7R,8R,4T,16A
Central)
CaucasusTheatre
Caucasus(28.1.1942Crimean;20.5.1942 NorthCaucasus 9,18,44,47,51,56,Coastal, 8–10CE,5A
NorthCaucasus;1.9.1942absorbedinto
Transcaucasus)
Transcaucasus(formed15.5.1942) NorthCaucasus 9,45,46
NorthCaucasus(formed24.1.1943; NorthCaucasus,Novorossiysk-Taman. 58,Coastal,10R,5S
disbanded20.11.1943)
FarEasternTheatre
Transbaikal – 17,36,12A
FarEastern – 1RB,2RB,15,25,35,1C,9–11A
Abbreviations:
A=AirArmy;C=CavalryArmy;CE=ConstructionEngineerArmy;G=GuardsArmy;GT=GuardsTankArmy;
R=ReserveArmy;RB=RedBannerArmy;S=ShockArmy;T=TankArmy.
6
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Engineers:EngineerBns/Coys,MountedEngineerBns,
Electrical Engineer Maintenance Bns, Ordnance Bns,
Pontoon Engineer Bns, Construction Engineer Regts,
RoadMaintenanceEngineerBns/Coys.
Signals:SignalRegts/Bns/Coys.
Technical Troops: Motor Transport Bns/Coys; Military
Transport and Railway Troops; Chemical Troops –
FlamethrowerBnsandChemicalCoys.
Services:SupplyandAdministrationServiceAmmunition
andSupplyColumns;GeneralTechnicalService(formed
28January1942),fromwhichtheArtilleryEngineering
Servicewasformed4March1942;MedicalServiceBns
andFieldHospitals;VeterinaryServiceHospitals.
SpecialistOfficers:LegalOfficers,Bandmasters,Political
Officers. The latter were reassigned from 9 October
1942 as unit commanders’ administrative deputies;
this underlined their loss of their former status as
co-commanders, which had had many disastrous
consequencesin1941.
Penal units
These were formed from July 1942, for Red Army personnel sentenced Anassaultengineerfrom
for desertion or cowardice, former prisoners-of-war (who were held to aflamethrowercompany,
have‘disobeyedorders’bysurrendering),andformermilitaryorcivilian carryinganLPO-50flamethrower
withtriplefuelandpropellant
prisonersfromGulaglabourcamps.APenalBattalion(ShtrafnyBataljon,
tanksonhisbackashe
abbreviated Shtrafbat) had 800 men, reduced to 360 from 26 November
advancesundercoverduring
1942,alldemotedtoprivate,andcommandedbyapickedRedArmyfield streetfightinginlate1943.
officer;aPenalCompany(ShtrafnayaRota)had150–200mencommanded Aflamethrowerbattalionwas
by the toughest NCOs. By December 1943 there were about 80 penal anarmy-levelasset,anda
flamethrowercompanyalso
battalions, numbered in the 1–76 series with gaps and repetitions or no
formedpartofanassault
number, mostly assigned to a Front or Army HQ; plus about 850 penal
engineer-sapperbrigade
companiesnumberedinthe1–612series,assignedtoarmiesordivisions. amonganarmy’sHQtroops.
By May 1945 some 427,910 men had served in penal units. A ‘penal (Author’scollection)
soldier’ (shtrafnik) served for one to three months, reduced if he were
woundedordecoratedforbravery,butmanysoldiersdidnotsurvive.
Theeight-mancrewofa122mm
M38howitzerpreparestofire
inNovember1942;themenare
wearingM42fleececapsand
M35greatcoatswithminimal
equipment.The122mmwas
thestandardheavyhowitzer
equippingdivisionaland
army-levelartilleryunits
throughoutthewar.(Courtesy
CentralMuseumoftheArmed
Forces,Moscow,viaNikCornish) 7
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
ORGANIZATION OF LAND FORCES
MilitaryDistrictsandStrategicDirections
Therewere18MilitaryDistrictsbeforeJune1941,butfour–BalticSpecial,
Orel, Kharkov and Odessa, all under enemy occupation – had been
disbandedbySeptember1941.FivedistrictsweretransformedintoFronts:
Byelorussian Special (became Western Front), Kalinin (Kalinin),
KievSpecial(South-Western),Leningrad(Northern)andTranscaucasian
(Transcaucasian). This left nine districts: Arkhangel’sk, Moscow, North
Caucasus,CentralAsia,Ural,Volga,Siberian,TransbaikalandFarEastern.
AstheAxisforcesretreated,SteppeMilitaryDistrictwasformedon9July
1943 from Central Asia District. Kharkov District was re-formed in
September1943,KievandByelorussianinOctober1943.
OfthefourStrategicDirectionsabolishedinAugust–September1941,
South-Western was re-formed in November 1941 under Marshal
Timoshenko, to confront the Axis advance to the Caucasus, but was
abolishedagaininMay1942.
Fronts
TheFrontorarmygroup,underageneralofficerrankingfromgeneralarmii
General-LeytenantAndrey downtogeneralmayor,wasthelargeststrategicformation.Thenumberof
Vlasov,hisdejectedexpression fronts increased from 13 in December 1941 to 20 in late 1943, although
suggestingthatthephotowas
mosthadundergoneasecond‘formation’orseveralredesignations.Stavka
takenimmediatelyafterhis
alsoretainedaGHQStrategicReserve(RVGK)foremergencydeployment.
capturebyGermanforces
on12July1942duringthe In October 1943, several fronts were reorganized as numbered ‘Baltic’,
destructionofhis2ndShock ‘Byelorussian’and‘Ukrainian’Fronts,togivethepropagandaimpression
Army.Hemighthavebeen that these nations were liberating their own territories without Russian
wearingthisplainkhakiM35
assistance.Thefrontscanbedividedintofiveoperationaltheatres:
gymnastiorkafieldshirtand
(1)NorthernSixfronts:one(Karelian)fightingintheArcticandKarelia,
M32officers’belttodisguise
hisidentity,butevenwhen five (Leningrad, North-Western, Volkhov, Kalinin/1st Baltic, later
hebecametheleaderofthe Baltic/2ndBaltic)defendingLeningradandthreateningtheBalticstates.
German-sponsoredRussian (2) Central Three fronts defending Moscow and its flanks: Western,
LiberationArmyinspring1943
Central/Byelorussian(formerlySoutherntheatre),andBryansk.
hepreferredtowearmilitary
(3) Southern The critical theatre, with six fronts defending Stalingrad
uniformwithoutrankinsignia.
(NikCornish/StavkaCollection) and its flanks: Voronezh/1st Ukrainian, Reserve/Steppe/2nd
Ukrainian, South-Western/3rd Ukrainian, Southern/4th Ukrainian,
South-Eastern/Stalingrad/Southern (reassigned to Central theatre in
February1943),andStalingrad/Don/Central.
(4) Caucasus Three fronts, defending the Caucasus: Caucasus/
Crimean/NorthCaucasus,NorthCaucasus,andTranscaucasus.
(5)FarEastern Twofronts,defendingtheSovietFarEastfromapossible
Japaneseattack,andprovidingreinforcementsfortheWest:Transbaikal,
andFarEastern.
Armies
Thefieldarmy(armiya),underageneralleytenantorgeneralmayor,wasthe
basic strategic formation. There were 71 armies (numbered 1 & 2 Red
Banner,3–70,andCoastal),with64intheWestandsevenintheFarEast.
Manyarmieswerereorganizedassecondorthirdformations,orpromoted
toéliteGuardsorShockArmystatus.
The M41 Army usually comprised Army HQ Troops including
three regiments (replacement, construction engineer, and signals),
8 and 12–14 battalions (two reconnaissance, security, two engineer,
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
road maintenance engineer, ordnance,
two–four motor transport, chemical,
flamethrower,andpenal);plusone–three
corps.AfterJuly1943,army-levelartillery
included mixed artillery brigades, and
AA, AT, mortar, rocket-launcher, and
self-propelled (SP) artillery regiments,
and armies also had independent tank
regiments. From 1943, engineers were
formed into assault engineer-sapper
brigadesfromFrontHQorGHQReserve,
forspecialdemolition,bridgingorassault
missions. An Assault Engineer-Sapper
Brigade(ShturmovayaInzhenerno-Sapernaya
Brigada)comprisedfourtofiveengineer-
sapper battalions, plus flamethrower,
motorized engineer, reconnaissance, and light transport companies. TwelveGuardstankcorps
Also at army level, 62 armoured snowmobile (aerosani) battalions were wereformedfromDecember
formed in January 1942 for action on frozen ground and lakes, but by 1942onwards.Here,General
ArmiiNikolaiFedorovichVatutin,
December1943thesehadbeenreducedto57.
commandingVoronezhFront
Twentyélitearmieswereformedas‘Guards’,‘Shock’or‘Tank’Armies,
(centre),decoratesGeneral-
usually in GHQ Reserve to spearhead assaults. The Guards Army MayorTankovykhVoyskAndrei
(GvardeyskayaArmiya)wasestablishedinAugust1942,withupto12infantry GrigorovichKravchenko(left),
divisions and tank corps, many of them already Guards formations. Ten thecommanderof5thGuards
TankCorps,duringthebattleof
armies(numberedrespectively2Reserve,1Reserve,1Guards,24,66,21,
Kursk.Vatutin–whowaskilled
64,62,30and16)hadbeenredesignatedas1–8,10and11GuardsArmies
byUkrainianUPAnationalist
by April 1943. The Shock Army (Udarnaya Armiya), introduced guerrillasinFebruary1944–is
in November 1941, had extra tank units; by December 1942, five armies wearingM43generalofficers’
(19, 26, 60, 27 and 10 Reserve) had re-formed as 1–5 Shock Armies. serviceuniform,while
Kravchenkowearsthefield
The Tank Army (Tankovaya Armiya) was established on 25 May 1942,
uniformwithanM42Guards
and1–5TankArmieshadformedbyJuly1942.Eachhadtwotankcorps
breastbadge.BehindVatutin
andtworifledivisions(thelatterreplacedSeptember1942byamechanized (right)standsthepolitical
or cavalry corps), and by April 1943 had nine supporting artillery commissarGeneral-Leytenant
regiments:twoAT,twoAA,twomortar,twoSP,andonerocket-launcher. NikitaSergeyevichKrushchev–
Stalin’ssuccessorasSoviet
The veteran 1st Cavalry Army remained on the Far Eastern Front.
leader(1953–1964)wasanative
The1–10ConstructionEngineerArmieswereallocated(uptothreetoa
ofKursk.(CourtesyCentral
front)tobuilddefensiveworks,butbyOctober1942allhaddisbanded. MuseumoftheArmedForces,
The Reserve Army (Reservnaya Armiya) was formed by Stavka as an Moscow,viaNikCornish)
extrastrategicreserve;its1–10ArmieswereformedApril–July1942,but
soonre-formedasfieldarmies.
Corps: Rifles
Allcorps-levelcommandsexceptcavalryhadbeenabolishedbyJuly1941,
buttheunwieldyabsenceofanyintermediateechelonbetweenafieldarmy
HQ and its divisions led to their reintroduction in 1942; 200 corps were
formed–almostdoublethe1941number–usuallyunderageneral-mayor.
The Rifle Corps (Strelkoviy Korpus) was ordered in early 1942 but was
notcommonuntil1943;67RifleCorpsHQswereidentifiedbyDecember
1943.Ofthese,58wereinfieldarmies(numbered3,6–8,10,11,13–17,
19–22, 24, 26–32, 35–42, 44–46, 49–54, 57–59, 61–70, 73, 75, 77, 82,
83and89);eightpre-1942riflecorpswerealsooperatingindependently
(1,4,5,9,18,23,47and48).The26,500-strongM42RifleCorpstypically 9
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
hadfourunitsofCorpsHQTroops(engineer,MGandmedicalbattalions;
reconnaissancecompany),afieldartilleryregiment,andtwotothreerifle
divisions. 36 Guards Rifle Corps were formed (numbered 1–36), as new
or converted rifle or airborne formations, often assigned to Guards
and Shock armies. A Guards Rifle Corps (Gvardeyskiy Strelkoviy Korpus)
containedatleastoneGuardsRifleDivision.
Corps: Tank and Mechanized
Tankcorpswerereintroducedfrom31March1942.The5,603-manM42
TankCorps(TankoviyKorpus)hadnoHQtroops,justtwotankbrigades
(40tankseach)andathree-battalionmotor-riflebrigade.AnM41Tank
Brigade (Tankovaya Brigada) had Brigade HQ troops including an AA
batteryandsupplycompany,twothree-companytankbattalions(23tanks
each),andamotor-riflebattalionwithmortar,sub-machinegun(SMG),
and two rifle companies. The M42 Tank Brigade, introduced July 1942,
had a medium and a light tank battalion. An M42 Motor-Rifle Brigade
(MotostrelkoyaBrigada)hadBrigadeHQTroopsincludingthreebattalions
(mortar, field artillery, AA) and four companies (reconnaissance, SMG,
ATrifle,andsupply),plusthreemotor-riflebattalions.
This organization proved weak, and by December 1942 a tank corps
Artillerymenofarocket-launcher hadsixmainCorpsHQunits–areconnaissancebattalionwithmotorcycle
regimentofaGuardsmortar and armoured-car companies, a rocket-launcher battalion, and four
divisionloading132mmKatyusha companies (mining engineer, fuel transport, two maintenance) – plus
(‘LittleKaty’)rocketsontoaBM-
three 1,038-man M42 tank brigades (53 tanks each), and a 4,653-man
13eight-raillauncher,mounted
motor-riflebrigade.TheM43TankBrigade,introducedNovember1943,
onwhatappearstobeaLend-
LeaseStudebaker6x6truck.The had Brigade HQ Troops including a motorized SMG battalion and
Katyushas–nicknamed‘Stalin’s AA-MGandsupplycompanies,plusthreetankbattalions(21tankseach).
Organs’bytheGermans,from In all, 31 tank corps were formed, numbered 1–31. A Guards Tank
theirdistinctivenoise–delivered
Corps (Gvardeyskiy Tankoviy Korpus) comprised Guards tank and motor-
adevastatingifinaccurate
rifle brigades, and 12 had been formed from December 1942 (original
barrageoffireagainstarea
targets.Themenarewearing tankcorpsinbrackets):1(26),2(24),3(7),4(17),5(4),6(12),7(15),
summerfielduniforms,withthe 8(2),9(3),10(30),11(6)and12(16).
M41pilotkasidecap,M43field However, the tank corps was too small to challenge the German
shirtandbreeches,putteesand
Panzerdivision,andfromSeptember1942themorepowerful15,581-strong
ankleboots,andcarryslungM44
M42MechanizedCorpswereformed.TheM42MekhanizyrovanniyKorpus
carbinesandgasmaskbags.
(TschakovCollection) had175tankswithsubstantialinfantrysupport.CorpsHQTroopsincluded
three regiments (SP artillery, AA and AT),
fivebattalions(rocket-launcher,motorcycle,
engineer, and maintenance), and two
companies (mining engineer, fuel
transport), and the corps comprised one
motor-rifleandthreemechanizedbrigades.
An M42 Mekhanizyrovannaya Brigada was
organizedlikeamotor-riflebrigadebutplus
atankregimentwith39tanks.
TheM43MechanizedCorps,introduced
1 January 1943, had 15,018 personnel but
204tanks.CorpsHQTroopsnowincluded
a mortar regiment, a mixed 25-gun SP
artillery regiment (expanded August 1943
to three regiments), an AT battalion
10 (abolished August 1943), and a reserve
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com