44th Army (USSR)

The army command was formed in July 1941 in the Transcaucasian Military District on the basis of the command of the 40th Rifle Corps , which covered the state border with Iran . Initially, the army included the 20th and 77th mountain rifle and 17th cavalry divisions.

In August-September 1941, the 44th Army participated in the Iranian operation (Iranian campaign).

After the Iranian operation, the command of the army without troops was redeployed to the Makhachkala region, where the army included new formations and units.

• 157th , 236th , 345th , 404th and 416th Infantry Divisions
• 9th and 63rd mountain rifle divisions,
• 74th Marine Brigade

Of these, 345th, 404th, 416th divisions and 74th brigade were formed in the autumn of 1941.

• December 26, 1941 - May 15, 1942: Kerch-Feodosia landing operation . The purpose of the operation is the release of besieged Sevastopol and the liberation of Crimea . The operation ended in the defeat of the Soviet troops (See Operation Trappenjagd ); The 44th Army suffered heavy losses.

• On January 24, 1943, the army was included in the North Caucasus Front of the 2nd formation,
• From February 6, 1943, as part of the Southern Front of the 2nd formation (from October 20, 1943 - the 4th Ukrainian Front ).
• Rostov offensive operation
• Miuss offensive operation
• Donbass offensive operation
• On September 10, 1943, Mariupol was liberated from invaders by the troops of the 44th Army of the Southern Front and the naval assault forces of the Azov military flotilla.
• Melitopol offensive operation

• Major General Khadeev, Alexander Alexandrovich : former commander of the 40th Rifle Corps, from the beginning of the formation until December 1941 goals;
• Major General A.N. Pervushin , from December 1941 to January 15, 1942 ( on January 16, 1942 A.N. Pervushin was seriously wounded and after treatment was found to be of limited fit for military service). ^[one]
• Major General I.F. Dashichev , January 16-21, 1942 (due to heavy losses during the withdrawal of the 44th Army, its commander I.F. Dashichev was accused of losing command and control on January 21, 1942. arrested). ^[2]
• Colonel S.E. Rozhdestvensky : from January 21 to February 11, 1942;
• Lieutenant General S.I. Chernyak , from February 8 to May 29, 1942 (for the defeat in the Crimea, S.I. Chernyak was relieved of his rank by rank of Colonel on May 29, 1942). ^[3]
• Major General Petrov, Ivan Efimovich : from August to October 1942
• Major General Melnik, Kondrat Semenovich : October 1942
• Major General Kotov, Grigory Petrovich : in October-December 1942 he served as army commander;
• Lieutenant General V.A. Khomenko , from November 21, 1942 to November 9, 1943 ( on November 9, V. A. Khomenko died - his car, which approached the front line of the enemy’s defense , was shelled). ^[four]

The death of the commander of the 44th Army V. A. Khomenko

On November 6, 1943, the commander of the 44th Army, V. A. Khomenko, was either killed or captured by the Germans. There are several conflicting evidence about the circumstances of his death.

• The official version of events at the moment sounds like this:

“At the end of October, the army was withdrawn to the front reserve, then regrouped in the area northeast of Kakhovka, where Zavadovka, Kakhovka, and the British defended the line. On November 9, the car in which V. A. Khomenko was in was attacked upon approaching the front line of the enemy’s defense, as a result of which he was killed ” ^[4]

• Marshal S. S. Biryuzov recalls this episode as follows:

But at the very moment when fireworks were ringing in Moscow in honor of the liberation of Kiev, and festive rallies were taking place everywhere, our joy was overshadowed by unexpected news from near Nikopol. Two military generals were tragically killed there - the commander of the 44th army, Vasily Afanasevich Khomenko, and the commander of artillery of the same army, S. A. Bobkov .

And it happened like that. The commander had a desire to consult about the upcoming battles for Nikopol with his corps commanders I. A. Rubanyuk and P. K. Koshev. Having taken S. A. Bobkov with him, Vasily Afanasevich went first to General Rubanyuk's command post . They got there quite safely, fairly quickly discussed all the issues and left for the 63rd Rifle Corps.

Khomenko himself drove a car. Bobkov was sitting next to him. Two more cars followed: one with security, the other with the North radio station. In the back of the latter were an officer and a radio operator.

At that time, the troops of the 44th Army were still occupying their new positions near Nikopol. There was no solid front there. Three roads led to the command post of the 63rd Rifle Corps. But one of them went through the location of the enemy troops. General Khomenko was mistaken in the orientation and hit just this way. The Nazis allowed unexpected "guests" at close range and opened fire on them at close range. Miraculously managed to escape only one car, moving last. The seriously wounded officer and radio operator, having saved the documents, returned to the headquarters of the corps.

As soon as this became known, F.I. Tolbukhin ordered the 44th Army to immediately attack the enemy and try to rescue our generals from trouble. However, the attack was not successful. Save tt. Khomenko, Bobkov and all who accompanied them failed.

The Nazis then composed fables, wrote in their leaflets that the Soviet generals voluntarily sided with the enemy. None of us believed this. We knew very well that people like Khomenko and Bobkov would not surrender alive to the enemy.

However, the case itself was extremely unpleasant. The army commander got lost in the arrangement of his units and mistakenly drove in - to the enemy!

The Supreme Commander ordered the disbandment of the 44th Army and the immediate transfer of its troops to other front associations. And at the same time, other disgraces fell upon us from I. V Stalin . ^[five]

• D.A. Volkogonov cites extracts from the Stalin directive on this episode:

On November 6, the commander of the 44th Army, Lieutenant General Khomenko and the commander of the artillery of the same army, Major General Bobkov, lost their orientation when leaving the corps headquarters, were in the area of ​​the enemy’s location, and when they collided with a car driven by Khomenko personally, the engine died and these the persons were also captured by the Germans with all the documents that were with them. This shameful incident occurred despite the warning of the commander of the 10th Guards. c. Major General Rubanyuk that Khomenko and the persons accompanying him, went the wrong way. To the warning made to him, Khomenko confidently answered: “You do not teach me, I can read the map” and continued to move towards the enemy.

Commander of the fronts and individual armies:

1. Prohibit the departure of commanders of armies and corps without reconnaissance and protection.

2. When leaving the army, from the headquarters of the corps and below, do not take any operational documents with you, with the exception of a clean map of the travel area ...

4. To prohibit the highest commanding personnel to personally drive cars.

November 7, 1943 I. Stalin ^[6]

• Rozhdestvensky, Serafim Evgenievich
• Selyukov, Sergey Nikolaevich
• Khryashchev, Andrey Alekseevich
• Sokolov, Yuri Ivanovich
• Kashkin, Anatoly Mikhailovich
• Razuvaev, Vladimir Nikolaevich
• Kuznetsov, Alexey Mikhailovich
• Borovik, Mikhail Ivanovich
• Razuvaev, Vladimir Nikolaevich

• Komissarov, Anton Grigorievich
• Seryukov, Alexander Dmitrievich
• Uranov, Vladimir Ivanovich

• Isaev A. “A short course in the history of the Second World War. The Offensive of Marshal Shaposhnikov ”- M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2005.
• The Great Patriotic War. The commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary. - M .; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Field, 2005.