The 63rd Army of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

's Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 was formed in July 1942, by the order of Headquarters Red Army Supreme Command № 994110, by renaming Stavka's 5th Reserve Army.

Initially part of the Stalingrad Front

Stalingrad Front

The Stalingrad Front was a front of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of Stalingrad on the Volga River....

 for defensive battles on approaches to Stalingrad, later the Don Front

Don Front

The Don Front was a front of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name refers to Don River, Russia....

 for the battle within the city

Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

, and Soviet Southwestern Front

Soviet Southwestern Front

The Southwestern Front was a name given to a Front by the Imperial Russian Army during the First World War, by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic during the Russian Civil War, and by the Red Army during the Second World War.The Southwestern Front in this article describes several...

 for the Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad, and was...

 counter-offensive. In November 1942 the 63rd Army was reflagged as the 1st Guards Army.

In March 1943 the Army was formed for the second time from 2nd Reserve Army. Initially it conducted defensive operations along the Zusha

Zusha River

The Zusha River is a river in Oryol Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Oka River. The length of the river is 234 km. The area of its basin is 6,950 km². The Zusha freezes up in early December and stays icebound until late March. The Neruch River is its biggest tributary. The Zusha is...

 and Neruch River

Neruch River

The Neruch River is a river in Oryol Oblast in Russia, a tributary of Zusha....

s and the region south of Mtsensk

Mtsensk

Mtsensk is a town in Oryol Oblast, Russia, located on the Zusha River northeast of Oryol. It stands on the Moscow–Simferopol highway. Population: 28,000 ....

. It participated in Operation Kutuzov

Operation Kutuzov

Operation Kutuzov was a military operation by the Red Army in its fight against the German Wehrmacht during World War II. It was named after Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, the Tsarist General credited with saving Russia from defeat during the invasion by Napoleon in 1812.The Operation began on 12...

 at Orel, and the Briansk and Gomel-Rechitsa operations. With Markian Popov

Markian Popov

Markian Mikhaylovich Popov was a Soviet military commander, Army General , and Hero of the Soviet Union .- Life :During the German-Soviet War at various times he commanded a number of Armies and a number of Fronts. His career was uneven....

's Bryansk Front

Bryansk Front

The Bryansk Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War.General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first formed in mid-late August 1941, comprising, in Erickson's words, 'on paper two armies, 50th and 13th, with eight rifle divisions each, three...

 at the Battle of Kursk

Battle of Kursk

The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...

 it comprised the 5th

5th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 5th Rifle Division of the Soviet Red Army was initially formed in September 1918 as the 2nd Penza Infantry Division. It was later renamed as the 5th Rifle Division , Saratov , Vitebsk , and 'in the name of the Czechoslovak Proletariat'...

, 41st, 129th, 250th, 287th, 348th and 397th Rifle Divisions. It was disbanded in February 1944.

Officers

• Lieutenant General Vasily Kuznetzov
  Vasily Kuznetsov (general)
  Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov was a Soviet General and a Hero of the Soviet Union.-Early life:...
  
   (Army commander)
• Member of the military council - Corps commissar Zheltov
• Chief of Army headquarters - General-major Krypenikov

Structure on 1 August 1942

• Army headquarters
• 14th Guards Rifle Division - General-major Grayznov (17 July to 31 December 1942)
• 1st Rifle Division
  1st Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The Soviet 1st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first established in 1918, and finally disbanded in the mid 1950s...
  
  - General-major Semenov (17 July to 31 December 1942)
• 127th Rifle Division - Colonel Zaitzev (17 July to 22 September 1942)
• 153rd Rifle Division
  153rd Rifle Division
  The 153rd Rifle Division was a Soviet infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. It was formed in the Ural Military District. On 22 June 1941 when the German Operation Barbarossa began, it was serving with the 51st Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army....
  
   - Colonel Nikitin (17 July December to 31 1942); Colonel Karnov (from 11 October 1942)
• 197th Rifle Division - General-major Zaporozhchenko (17 July to 31 December 1942)
• 203rd Rifle Division - Colonel Kashlayev (17 July to 31 December 1942) ; Colonel Zdanovich (from 3 September 1942)
• 36th Tank Brigade
• 134th Tank Brigade
• 193rd Tank Brigade
• 646th Tank Battalion
• 647th Tank Battalion
• 1110th Artillery Regiment
• 1180th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 1249th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 1250th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 51st Guards Mortar Regiment
• 58th Guards Mortar Regiment
• 79th Guards Mortar Regiment
• 1413rd Sapper Battalion
• 1486th Sapper Battalion

Structure on 1 October 1942

• Army headquarters
• 14th Guards Rifle Division
• 1st Rifle Division
• 153rd Rifle Division
• 197th Rifle Division
• 203rd Rifle Division
• 6th Guards Cavalry Division- Colonel Belogorodskyi (26 July - 31 December 1942)
• 1110th Artillery Regiment
• 1180th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 1249th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 1250th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment
• 1257th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment
• 26th Machine-gun Battalion
• 28th Machine-gun Battalion
• 350th Independent Engineer Brigade
• 1486th Sapper Battalion

Sources and further reading

• Filippov H.C., Don Shield of Stalingrad, Volgograd, 1969
• http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/a63/arm.html - Further Reading