8th Guards Army (Soviet Union)

The Soviet 8th Guards Army was an army of the Soviet Union's Red Army/Soviet Army, disbanded in the early 1990s.

Activated in October 1941 as the 7th Reserve Army, the Army was redesignated the 62nd Army at Stalingrad in July 1942. It was among the victors of Stalingrad and thus redesignated the 8th Guards Army.

In 1945 the Soviet 8th Guards Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Vasily Chuikov. It was part of Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front. One of the cities which the Army took in its westward drive was Poznan, which the Army seized in January-February 1945. Afterwards, the 8th Guards Army spearheaded the Red Army drive to Berlin in the spring of 1945, where on 2 May 1945, Chuikov took the surrender of the German General Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defensive Area, and the rest of the Berlin garrison. Later the Eighth Guards Army became part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. On the creation of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany in 1945, the Army consisted of:

  • Headquarters at Weimar
  • 4th Guards Rifle Corps (35th, 47th, and 57th Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 28th Guards Rifle Corps (39th, 79th, 88th, Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 29th Guards Rifle Corps (27th, 74th, 82nd Guards Rifle Divisions)
  • 11th Tank Corps

During the Cold War, 8th Guards Army stood opposed to NATO forces (specifically the US V Corps) along the strategically vital Fulda Gap in West Germany.

In the last years of its existence, in the late 1980s, 8th Guards Army consisted of:

  • Headquarters at Weimar-Nohra
  • 79th Guards Tank Division - Jena, GDR: - disbanded, 1992
    • 17. Guards Tank Regiment (Saalfeld)
    • 65. Guards Tank Regiment (Nohra)
    • 211. Guards Tank Regiment( Jena)
    • 66. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Nohra)
    • 172. Artillery Regiment (Rudolstadt)
    • 79th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Jena)
  • 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division - General-Maerker-Kaserne, Halle, GDR: - to Totskoye, Volga Military District
    • 68. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Halle)
    • 243. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Halle)
    • 244. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Schlotheim)
    • 28th Tank Regiment (Halle)
    • 54th Guards SP Artillery Regiment (Halle)
  • 39th Guards Motor Rifle Division - Ohrdruf, GDR: - disbanded, 1992
    • 117. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Meiningen)
    • 120. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Ohrdruf)
    • 172. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Gotha)
    • 15. Guards Tank Regiment(Ohrdruf)
    • 87th Artillery Regiment (Gotha)
  • 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division - Naumburg, GDR – disbanded, 1992
    • 170. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Naumburg)
    • 174. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Weißenfels)
    • 241. Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Leipzig)
    • 57. Guards Tank Regiment (Zeitz)
    • 128th Artillery Regiment (Zeitz)
  • 47th Tank Brigade - Plauen, GDR: 156 T-80, 18 2S1, 4 2S6, 4 SA-13

Famous quotes containing the words guards and/or army:

    “The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they choose and authorize a legislative, is, that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society: to limit the power, and moderate the dominion, of every part and member of the society.”
    —John Locke (1632–1704)

    “The contention that a standing army and navy is the best security of peace is about as logical as the claim that the most peaceful citizen is he who goes about heavily armed. The experience of every-day life fully proves that the armed individual is invariably anxious to try his strength. The same is historically true of governments. Really peaceful countries do not waste life and energy in war preparations, with the result that peace is maintained.”
    —Emma Goldman (1869–1940)