33rd Army (Soviet Union) - 1944-45

1944-45

From April 1944 the 33rd Army, under General Lieutenant V.D. Kryuchenkin, participated in Operation Bagration to retake Belarus as part of the 2nd Belorussian Front. During the Mogilyov Offensive it successfully crossed the Dniepr and Pronya rivers, and liberated Shklov on June 27, 1944. During the Minsk Offensive the army, in conjunction with the 50th and 49th Armies, participated in the rout of the surrounded Wehrmacht grouping to the east of Minsk. In the end of July-August the Army participated in the Kaunas Offensive during which it cleared the approaches to East Prussia. On September 10, it was released from VGK reserve, and joined the 1st Belorussian Front on October 19 in preparation for the Warsaw-Poznan Offensive.

On 25 December 1944 the Army consisted of the 16th Rifle Corps (89th "Tamanyan" Rifle Division, 339th Rifle Division, 383rd Rifle Division), 38th Rifle Corps (64th Rifle Division, 95th Rifle Division, 323rd Rifle Division), the 62nd Rifle Corps (49th Rifle Division, 222nd Rifle Division, 362nd Rifle Division), the 115th Fortified Region, 5th Artillery Division, and other support formations and units, including the 35 мбр, 1091 daddies, 20 иптабр, 25 гмбр, 305 гмп, 56 гмп, the 64th Anti-Aircraft Division, the 9th Tank Corps, the 244th and 257th Tank Regiments, the 360 & 361 сап (Self-Propelled Artillery Regiments?) and the 33 обхз.

On 1 May 1945 during the Battle of Berlin, the Army, part of the 1st Belorussian Front, consisted of the 16th Rifle Corps (323, 339, 383 RDs), 62nd Rifle Corps (95, 222, 362 RDs), 49th Rifle Division, 115th, 119th Fortified Region, and other support formations and units. After the initial Berlin breakthrough, 33rd Army, alongside other armies of the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts helped to rout the surrounded German forces to the east of Berlin. Military operation for 33rd Army concluded on 6 May. The Army HQ was redesignated HQ Smolensk Military District in August 1945.

Read more about this topic:  33rd Army (Soviet Union)