3rd Shock Army - Service in Germany

Service in Germany

3rd Shock Army stayed in Germany after the end of the war, becoming part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. During the 1960s and early 1970s the Army's divisions were equipped with the T-62 and T-55 tanks. During the late 1970s the divisions received T-64A, T-64B (one third of each battalion), and eventually T-64BV with dynamic armour. In 1984 a decision was made to re-equip the formations with T-80BV variants (10th Guards Tank Division), replacing the T-64s BMP-1/2 and variants, and various BTR variants.

The army kept the descriptive title "shock" into the 1950s, when it was re-titled the 3rd Assault Army, before assuming its final name: the 3rd "Red Banner" Combined Arms Army (Russian: 3-я краснознаменная общевойсковая армия).

During 1989–91 a past commanding officer of the Army (1969) V.I. Varennikov was the Commander in Chief of the Ground Forces of the Soviet Union. The Army was relocated from Germany during 1990–1991 and dispersed throughout the former Soviet Union, with many units and sub-units disbanded or converted to training units and storage depots. Army headquarters was briefly sent to the Far East Military District but then disbanded.