1st Red Banner Army

1st Coastal Army 1st Red Banner Army
Active	1938–1953
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army/Soviet Army
Type	Infantry
Size	three to six divisions
Part of	Front or Military District
Engagements	World War II Invasion of Manchuria
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Commanders
Notable commanders	Andrey Yeremenko Afanasy Beloborodov

The1st Red Banner Army(‹See Tfd›Russian:1-я Краснознамённая армия) was aRed Armyfield armyofWorld War IIthat served in theSoviet Far East.

Before 1941

The 1st Army was created in July 1938 under the name of the 1st Coastal Army (or, depending on translation, 1st Maritime Army) in the Far East, part of theFar Eastern Front.Previously, theSpecial Far Eastern Armyhad been the theatre command in the Far East, but due to increased tensions with Japan it was expanded into the Far Eastern Front. The 1st Army was created from thePrimorsky Group of Forces,and was responsible for theUssuriarea with its headquarters at Voroshilov (nowUssuriysk).Elements of the army fought in theBattle of Lake Khasan.On 4 September, the front was dissolved, and the army became the 1st Separate Red Banner Army,controlling troops inUssuriysk Oblastand parts ofKhabarovskandPrimorsky Oblasts.It was directly subordinated to thePeople's Commissariat of Defenseand operationally controlled thePacific Fleet.It included the21st,22nd,26th,32nd,39th,40th,59th,66th,92nd,and105th Rifle Divisions,as well as the8th,22nd,and31st Cavalry Divisionsfrom 4 September.Elements of the army fought in theBattles of Khalkhin Golin mid-1939.

By an order of the People's Commissariat of Defense dated 21 June 1940, the Far Eastern Front was reformed. The army became part of the front and was redesignated the 1st Red Banner Army.

Its initial commander was the laterMarshal of the Soviet Union,Andrei Yeremenko.When Yeremenko arrived in early 1941, the Army was responsible for all the frontier betweenVladivostokandKhabarovsk;on 18 March 1941, the25th Armywas established to cover the southern sector. The 32nd, 40th, and 105th Rifle Divisions transferred to the 25th Army in May.In June, the79th Fighter Aviation Divisionbegan forming as part of the army's Air Force. The 32nd and 34th Mixed Aviation Divisions had joined the army by June as well.In June 1941 the 32nd Fighter Aviation Division was located at Voroshilov (Ussuriysk), and included the 6th, 40th, 47th, and 48th Fighter Aviation Regiments.

Order of battle

22 June 1941

The official Soviet archives list the composition of the Army on 22 June 1941:

• 26th Rifle Corps
  • 21st Rifle Division
  • 22nd Rifle Division
  • 26th Rifle Division
• 59th Rifle Corps
  • 39th Rifle Division
  • 59th Rifle Division
  • 1st Rifle Brigade
  • 4th Rifle Brigade
  • 8th Cavalry Division
  • 105th Fortified Region
• 30th Mechanized Corps

9 Aug 1945

• 26th Rifle Corps
• 59th Rifle Corps

6 rifle divisions, 3 tank brigades (75th, 77th, 257th), 3 SP regiments, 6 SP battalions, 1 heavy tank/SP gun regiment, 5 artillery brigades.

Soviet invasion of Manchuria

1st Far Eastern Front operations, 9–20 August 1945

1st Red Banner Army operations, 9 and 10 August 1945

Until the war's end in 1945, the 1st Red Banner Army covered some of the long far eastern borders of theSoviet Union.In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and theSoviet Far East Frontattacked into Japanese-occupiedManchuria,as part of theSoviet invasion of Manchuria,led by Marshal of the Soviet UnionAleksandr Vasilevsky.The area the Army was to operate through was mountainous, rugged taiga, and it was specifically tailored to the conditions it would face, in common with the other formations earmarked for the operation. The Army's forces at the beginning of the offensive included 26th and 59th Rifle Corps, 6 rifle divisions, 3 tank brigades (75th, 77th, 257th), 3 SP regiments, 6 SP battalions, 1 heavy tank/SP gun regiment, 5 artillery brigades, and 410 tanks/SP guns and 1,413 guns/mortars.The 6th and 112th Fortified Regions also formed part of the Army. The First Army's attack was aimed at northernManchukuo.

Postwar

In September 1945 the army became part of the newly formedTransbaikal–Amur Military Districtafter moving its headquarters toBlagoveshchensk,where it absorbed troops from the disbanded15th Armyand2nd Red Banner Army.On 1 October it included the 26th Rifle Corps with the3rd,12th,and231st Rifle Divisions,the 59th Rifle Corps with the 39th and 59th Rifle Divisions, and the101st Fortified Region.By the end of the year, the35th Rifle Divisionhad joined the 59th Rifle Corps and the4thand102nd Fortified Regionsbecame part of the army. In 1946, the three fortified regions were converted into the 13th and 14th Machine Gun Artillery Brigades. The headquarters of the 26th Rifle Corps was disbanded in July, and the 3rd and 59th Rifle Divisions disbanded on 30 August. The 59th Rifle Corps was disbanded in March 1947.

In May, the army was transferred to theFar Eastern Military Districtafter the Transbaikal–Amur Military District was disbanded. It included the37th Guards Airborne Corpswith three divisions, the 13th and 14th Machine Gun Artillery Brigades, and the 12th and 39th Rifle Divisions, the former atKuybyshevka-Vostochnayaand the latter at Khabarovsk. In 1948, the army included the 11th and 13th Machine Gun Artillery Divisions, formed from the34th Rifle Divisionand the 11th, 13th, and 14th Machine Gun Artillery Brigades, previously reorganized into regiments. The army headquarters was disbanded in April 1953.

Commanders

The following officers commanded the army during its existence:

• Kuzma Podlas1938 – 1939
• Markian Popov07.1939 – 01.1941
• Andrei Yeremenko01.1941 – 06.1941
• Lieutenant GeneralVasily Vasilyev06.1941 – 10.1942
• Lieutenant GeneralMikhail Savushkin10.1942 – 06.1945
• Colonel GeneralAfanasy Beloborodov(28 June 1945 – 12 June 1946)
• Lieutenant GeneralAlexei Danilov(12 June – 30 July 1946)
• Colonel GeneralVladimir Kolpakchi(30 July 1946 – 12 March 1950)
• Colonel GeneralDmitry Lelyushenko(13 March 1950 – 24 April 1953)

Sources

Bibliography

• Dvoinykh, L.V.; Kariaeva, T.F.; Stegantsev, M.V., eds. (1991).Центральный государственный архив Советской армии[Central State Archive of the Soviet Army] (in Russian). Vol. 1. Minneapolis: Eastview Publications.ISBN1-879944-02-2.
• Dvoinykh, L.V.; Kariaeva, T.F.; Stegantsev, M.V., eds. (1993).Центральный государственный архив Советской армии[Central State Archive of the Soviet Army] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Minneapolis: Eastview Publications.ISBN1-879944-03-0.
• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013).Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской[The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing.ISBN9785895035306.
• http://findarticles /p/articles/mi_m0JAP/is_2_13/ai_n15623829