Central Group of Forces

It was formed on June 10, 1945 in accordance with the directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 11096 of May 29, 1945 from the troops of the First Ukrainian Front ^[1] . Initially, the group included Soviet troops in Austria , Hungary and Czechoslovakia .

At the time of formation, the Central Group of Forces included the 5th Guards Army , the 7th Guards Army , the 9th Guards Army , the 4th Guards Army , the 1st Guards Cavalry Zhytomyr Red Banner Corps named after the SNK of the Ukrainian SSR, the 7th Lviv Artillery Red Banner Breakout Corps, 10th Artillery Breakthrough Corps, 3rd Guards Tank Army , 4th Guards Tank Army , 18th Tank Znamensko-Budapest Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Corps, 7th Guards Mechanized Nezhinsko-Kuzbass Ord Helen Suvorov Corps, 2nd Air Army ^[2] . Subsequently, the size of the group of forces was constantly decreasing due to the disbandment and withdrawal of Soviet troops in the USSR. In particular, troops were almost completely withdrawn from Czechoslovakia.

As of June 1955, the group included ^[3] :

• Management and headquarters (1,507 military personnel and 308 employees);
• 95th Guards Rifle Poltava Order of Lenin, Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan of the Khmelnytsky Division,
• The 13th Guards Mechanized Poltava Order of Lenin, twice the Red Banner, the Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division,
• 23rd Anti-aircraft Artillery Tarnopol Division,
• service units and rear units (29794 military personnel and 1547 workers and employees) - were stationed in Austria;
• two mechanized divisions - in Hungary;
• Office of the 59th Air Army , four aviation divisions (two each in Austria and Hungary), a separate reconnaissance aviation regiment (7502 military personnel and 816 workers and employees only in Austria).

The total strength of the Central Group of Forces in the state was 38,803 military personnel and 2,671 workers and employees. After its disbandment, military units were transferred from Austria to the internal military districts on the territory of the USSR, and from the remaining on the territory of Hungary a Special Corps was formed ^[4] .

Commanders (TGV 1st formation)

• 06/10/1945 - 04/27/1946 - Marshal of the Soviet Union    I. S. Konev ;
• 06/12/1946 - 04/20/1949 - Army General   V.V. Kurasov ;
• 04/20/1949 - 05/12/1953 - Artillery Lieutenant General V.P. Sviridov ;
• 05/14/1953 - 05/31/1954 - Army General   S. S. Biryuzov ;
• 05/31/1954 - 04/14/1955 - Colonel General   A. S. Zhadov .

Soviet troops were brought into Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20-21, 1968 during Operation Danube , and on October 16 of the same year, an agreement was signed between the governments of the USSR and Czechoslovakia on the creation of a Central Group of Forces in the country. The headquarters of the Central Headquarters was located in the Czech town of Milovice near Prague . The first commander was Lieutenant General A.M. Mayorov .

After the velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia , on February 26, 1990, in Moscow, the governments of the USSR and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic signed an agreement on the complete withdrawal of the TFG . The last echelon left Czechoslovakia on June 21, 1991 , and the last commander, Colonel General E. A. Vorobyov, left the Czechoslovakia .

“It is still unknown how the post-war world structure would have developed if there had been no Soviet troops in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland”

- Colonel General M.P. Burlakov , the last Commander in Chief of the GPG ^[5]

At the time of the conclusion of the agreement, there were 73,500 conscripts, 18,500 officers and 44,340 civilian specialists and members of the military families in the territory of Czechoslovakia - a total of 136340 people. The combat arsenal of the Soviet group consisted of 1,412 tanks, 2,563 combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 1246 artillery pieces, 103 aircraft, 173 helicopters and 94,824 tons of uniforms. For the transportation of this huge number of people and useful things, over 16 months 825 special trains were formed, hundreds of individual wagons were sent to Soviet territory along with ordinary goods .

Composition

Compounds of the CHF and their location in the second half of the 1980s: ^{[6] [~ 1]}

• 131st Mixed Aviation Division ( Milovice ( Bozi Dar ));
• 122nd Missile Brigade ( Hranice on Morave );
• 199th Separate Helicopter Squadron ( Hradcane );
• 185th Guards Missile Stalingrad Red Banner, Orders of Kutuzov and Bogdan of the Khmelnitsky Brigade ( Turnov );
• 442nd Missile Brigade (Mimon) - created on August 28, 1988 from the order of divisions;
• 211st Guards Artillery Sandomierz Order of Lenin, Red Banner Brigade ( Jesenik );
• 5th anti-aircraft missile brigade ( Kurzhivody );
• 7th separate communications brigade ( Milovice - Olomouc );
• 490th Separate Helicopter Regiment (Olomouc);
• 130th Separate Communication Regiment (Milovice);
• 322nd communication center (Milovice);
• 1672th communications center of the General Staff (Milovice);
• 1883th Central FPS junction (Milovice);
• 91st engineer-engineer regiment (Mlada Boleslav);
• 233rd separate radio technical regiment of OsNaz ( Lazne-Bogdanech );
• 58th Separate Airborne Battalion (Milovice);
• 901th Separate Air Assault Battalion (Rijeka);
• 1921st Separate EW Battalion (Mimon);
• 129th Separate Chemical Defense Battalion (Cherven Voda);
• 563rd separate pontoon-bridge battalion (Vrh Bela);
• 1257th Separate Pontoon-Bridge Battalion (Olomouc);
• 821st separate radio relay cable battalion (Jirice);
• 57th Separate Radio Engineering Air Defense Battalion (Neratovice);
• 6451st repair and restoration base (Pardubice);
• 670th Separate GRU Special Forces Company (Lazne Bogdanec);
• 15th Guards Tank Mozyr Red Banner, Order of the Suvorov Division , Milovice (Czech Republic)
• 18th Guards Motorized Rifle Insterburg Red Banner, Order of the Suvorov Division , Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic)
• 48th Motorized Ropshin Order of the October Revolution, Red Banner Division named after M.I. Kalinin , Vysoke Mito (Czech Republic)
• 28th Army Corps
  • Office of the commander, headquarters and a separate company of protection and support ( Olomouc );
  • Connections and parts of corps submission;
  • 30th Guards Motorized Rifle Irkutsk-Pinsk Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, three times the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Division of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR , Zvolen (Slovakia)
  • 31st Panzer Vistula Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan of the Khmelnitsky Division ^[7] , Bruntal (Czech Republic)

Command staff of the Central Command (2nd formation)

The command staff of the Central Group of Forces (2nd formation) ^[8] :

Commanders

• October 16, 1968 - July 16, 1972 - lieutenant general, from February 1969 - Colonel General Mayorov, Alexander Mikhailovich
• July 17, 1972 - November 4, 1976 - Colonel General   Tenischev, Ivan Ivanovich
• November 5, 1976 - January 3, 1979 - lieutenant general, from April 1977 - Colonel General Sukhorukov, Dmitry Semenovich
• January 4, 1979 - December 30, 1980 - Colonel General Yazov, Dmitry Timofeevich
• December 31, 1980 - September 30, 1984 - Colonel General Borisov, Grigory Grigoryevich
• October 1, 1984 - December 1987 - Colonel General Yermakov, Victor Fedorovich
• December 1987 - June 19, 1991 - lieutenant general, from October 1988 - Colonel General Vorobyov, Eduard Arkadevich

1st deputy commander

• October 16, 1968 - October 2, 1970 - Major General of the Tank Forces, from February 1969, Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces Litovtsev, Dmitry Ivanovich
• October 2, 1970 - February 28, 1973 - major general, from November 1971 lieutenant general Bashtanikov, Nikolai Grigorievich
• February 28, 1973-1980 - major general, from November 1973 lieutenant general Ermakov, Viktor Fedorovich
• 1980 — June 1983 - Lieutenant General Bokov, Sergey Petrovich
• June 1983—1987 - Lieutenant General Surodeev, Sergey Alekseevich
• 1987 — June 1991 - Major General, from February 1989 Lieutenant General Malashkevich, Vladimir Sergeyevich

Chiefs of Staff

• October 16, 1968 - February 26, 1971 - Major General of the tank forces, from April 1970 Lieutenant General of the tank troops Radzievsky, Sergey Ivanovich
• February 26, 1971-1976 - major general, from November 1971 - lieutenant general Maltsev, Pavel Vasilyevich
• 1976-1981 - Lieutenant General Kozhbakhteev, Viktor Mikhailovich
• 1981-1984 - Lieutenant General Pankratov, Valentin Matvevich
• 1984-1987 - Lieutenant General Tyurin, Alexei Nikolaevich
• 07/16/1987 - 06/25/1989 - Lieutenant General Shchepin, Yuri Fedorovich ^[9]
• 1990 - Lieutenant General Ovchinnikov, Alexander Ivanovich
• 1990-1991 - Major General G. Propashchev

Members of the Military Council - Heads of Political Administration

• 1968-1973 - Lieutenant General Zolotov, Semyon Mitrofanovich
• 1973-1979 - Lieutenant General Maksimov, Konstantin Alexandrovich
• 1979-1982 - Lieutenant General Goglev, Mikhail Ivanovich
• 1982-1985 - Lieutenant General Kovalenko, Nikolai Stepanovich
• 1985—1987 - Lieutenant General Shlyaga, Nikolai Ivanovich
• 1987-1989 - Lieutenant General Grebenyuk, Vladimir Ivanovich
• 1987-1991 - Lieutenant General Sharikov, Boris Ivanovich

• Operation Whirlwind
• Warsaw Pact
• Operation Danube (Invasion of Czechoslovakia)

Comments

Sources

"In flame and glory." The combat route of the 30th Guards Motorized Rifle Irkutsk-Pinsk, Orders of Lenin and the October Revolution, three times the Red Banner, Order of the Suvorov Division named after the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (Podolsk, publishing house "Information, 2015, 432 pp. - 500 copies.),

• Kalashnikov K.A., Dodonov I.Yu. High command staff of the USSR Armed Forces in the post-war period. References (1945-1975). Volume 1. Ust-Kamenogorsk: Media-Alliance, 2013. - ISBN 978-601-7378-16-5 . - S.286-289.
• Lensky A.G., Tsybin M.M. Soviet Ground Forces in the Last Year of the USSR. Directory. - SPb. : B&K, 2001 .-- 294 p. - 500 copies. - ISBN 5-93414-063-9 .
• Team of authors. Ground Forces // Armed Forces of the USSR after the Second World War from the Red Army to the Soviet. - 1st. - Tomsk: NTL, 2013 .-- 640 p. - ISBN 978-5-89503-530-6 .
• Savenok Grigory Mikhailovich. Vienna meetings.- M.: Military Publishing, 1961.- 368 p.

• Website and forum of fellow soldiers
• Joint site of the Central Group of Forces
• 30gvardiya - site of the Moscow Council of Veterans of the 30th Guards Motorized Rifle Irkutsk-Pinsk Division