3rd Guards Army

1942

The 3rd Guards Army was created in December 1942 on the basis of the directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters Directive of December 5, 1942 as part of the South-Western Front during the renaming of the 1st Guards Army . The army as of mid-December included the 14th Rifle Corps , the 50th Guards , 197th , 203rd and 278th rifle divisions , the 90th and 94th separate rifle brigades , the 1st Guards mechanized corps , the 22nd motorized rifle brigade , as well as three separate tank regiments.

The army was put into operation “Operation Uranus” , during which it took part in the destruction of enemy troops on the Middle Don and disrupting an attempt to unblock an encircled enemy force in the area of Stalingrad .

1943

From January to February, the army participated in the Voroshilovgrad offensive operation , then the army was transferred to the Seversky Donets area , where it took part in defensive battles.

From August to September, the army participated in the Donbass operation , in October - in the Zaporozhye operation , during which the army broke through the fortified enemy defenses and, along with the 8th Guards Army , liberated the city of Zaporozhye on October 14 and also liquidated the enemy's bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper .

On October 18, the army was incorporated into the Southern Front , which was renamed the 4th Ukrainian Front on October 20 . As part of the front, the army led heavy battles to destroy the enemy's Nikopol bridgehead.

1944

From January to February, the 3rd Guards Army took part in the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog operation . The Dnieper forced the march along with the 6th Army and the 3rd Guards Army on February 8 the army liberated Nikopol .

On February 13, the army was withdrawn to the Supreme Command Headquarters reserve, and on April 18 it was incorporated into the 1st Ukrainian Front , which, during the Lvov-Sandomir operation , broke through the enemy’s defenses, having fought about 250 km, while forcing five rivers, including San and Vistula . With other armies of the front, the 3rd Guards Army captured the Sandomierz bridgehead on the left bank of the Vistula and then liberated Poland .

1945

In January and February, the army acted as part of the shock group of the 1st Ukrainian Front and, along with the formations of the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front, defeated the enemy's Orovetsko-Opatuvo grouping, having fought up to 450-470 kilometers and reached the Neisse River.

In April and May, the army took part in the Berlin offensive operation . Starting on the right flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front, the army swept from the south and southwest the Frankfurt-Gubensky group of enemy troops, after liquidating which the army was redeployed from Berlin to the Dresden sector, where it took part in the Prague operation . By the morning of May 9 , following the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies , advanced units of the army entered Prague .

The 3rd Guards Army was disbanded in July 1945.

Commanders

• Lieutenant-General Lelyushenko, Dmitry Danilovich (December 1942 - March 1943);
• Major General of Artillery Khetagurov, Georgy Ivanovich (March - August 1943);
• Lieutenant-General Lelyushenko, Dmitry Danilovich (August 1943 - February 1944);
• Lieutenant-General Ryabyshev, Dmitry Ivanovich (February - March 1944);
• Colonel-General Gordov, Vasily Nikolayevich (April 1944 - until the end of the war).

Members of the Military Council

• Colonel, Major General Kolesnichenko, Ivan Sazonovich (December 1942 - until the end of the war).

Army Chiefs

• Major General Krupennikov, Ivan Pavlovich (August - December 1942., was captured by Millerovo );
• Major General of Artillery Khetagurov, Georgy Ivanovich (December 1942 - December 1943);
• Major General Rebrikov, Korney Grigorievich (December 1943 - May 1944);
• Major General Rybal'chenko, Philip Trofimovich (May – December 1944);
• Lieutenant-General Lyubarsky, Stepan Ivanovich (December 1944 - April 1945);
• Major General Zelinsky, Nikolai Nikolayevich (April 1945 - until the end of the war).

Chiefs of Engineers

• Major General Gusev, Alexander Nikiforovich (December 1942 - until the end of the war).

• 3rd GUARDS ARMY
• 3rd Guards Army
• Reference book "Liberation of cities: Reference book on the liberation of cities in the period of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" / M.L. Dudarenko, Yu.G. Perechnev, V.T. Eliseev, etc. M .: Voenizdat, 1985. 598 p.
• The site of the Red Army.