Leningrad Narodnoe Opolcheniye Army
Encyclopedia
The Leningrad People's Militia Army (commander General Major A.I. Subbotin) was initially an all-volunteer formation 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....

 raised during the Second World War for defence of Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

.

The Army began its creation on 27 June 1941 mostly from the previously raised 168 destroyer battalions intended to deal with expected enemy saboteurs and parachutists, reporting directly to the commander of Northern Front (Soviet Union). The personnel was drawn from the reserve officer cadres, retired officers, workers and students of Leningrad.

The initial intention was to create an army with seven divisions, but eventually 10 divisions were raised. The Army began formation on 29 June, and by 2 July, 45,183 had been accepted as volunteers, with a proposal for a 200,000-strong Army being made by the city Communist Party Committee with a view of expansion to 15 divisions according to the number of rayon
Rayon
Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic or artificial fiber. Rayon is known by the names viscose rayon and art silk in the textile industry...

s in the city. By 4 July, the number of volunteers had increased to 77,413б, and by 6 July reached 96,776.

Initially it consisted of four People's Militia divisions, but 10 were eventually raised.

Division structure

The structure of eight of these was based on the field rifle divisions with three rifle regiments, one artillery regiment structure, and other units for a total of about 10-11,000 personnel.
    • Division staff
    • 1st regiment (three battalions) the expected strength was 160 officers, 365 NCOs and 2162 enlisted
    • 2nd regiment (three battalions)
    • 3rd regiment (three battalions)
    • Artillery regiment (three battalions) many equipped with tractor-towed pieces, including naval ordnance
    • separate anti-aircraft divizion (replaced with machine-gun company; absent in most divisions)
    • instead of the usual separate reconnaissance motor-rifle company divisions had the separate reconnaissance battalion (replaced with horse-mounted company in most divisions)
    • Communications battalion 
    • Sapper battalion  (many tools were supplied by city factories)
    • flamethrower platoon (existence unknown)
    • separate autotransport company or automobile battalion (in the 4th Light division only)
    • Chemical company
    • Madical and sanitary battalion
    • field bakery
    • livestock detachment 
    • military prosecutor's detachment
    • separate rifle company of Special Department NKVD

Army order of battle

The incomplete list of the Army units includes:
  • 1st (Kirov) People's Militia Division named for the Kirovsky District
    Kirovsky District
    Kirovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal divisions in Russia. The districts are generally named for Sergey Kirov, a Soviet statesman.-Districts of the federal subjects:...

     (Кировский район) (commander Kombrig V.A. Malinnikov) with by 15 August had joined the retreating 70th and 237th Rifle Divisions and engaged in the fighting on approaches to Novgorod. On the 3 September its 3rd regiment was transferred to the command of the 291st Rifle Division, and replaced by the 76th Latvian Separate Rifle regiment on the 14 September.
  • 2nd (Moscow) People's Militia Division named for the Moskovsky District
    Moskovsky District
    Moskovsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal divisions in Russia. The districts are generally named for Moscow, the capital of Russia.-Districts of the federal subjects:...

     (Московский район) (commander (to July, Colonel N.S. Ugrumov)
    • battalion of the Military-Political Border Guard School named for Voroshilov 
    • 519th Corps (Howitzer) Artillery Regiment of Reserve of Highest Command
    • Tank battalion of the Armoured Course for Enhancement of Command Staff
  • 3rd (Frunze) People's Militia Division named for the Frunzensky District
    Frunzensky District, Saint Petersburg
    Frunzensky District, Saint Petersburg is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 18 in Saint Petersburg, Russia....

     (Фрунзенский район) (commander (Colonel А.P. Netreba, from 16 August Z.N. Alekseyev) which from September was receiving volunteers from the Altai
    Altai Republic
    Altai Republic is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the town of Gorno-Altaysk. The area of the republic is . Population: -Geography:...

     and Siberia
    Siberia
    Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

    .
  • 1st Guards Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (18 July 1941) (commander Colonel I.M. Frolov) (deployed next to the 237th Rifle Division) formed in the Kuybishev District
  • 2nd Guards Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (18 July 1941) (commander Colonel Sholev, later Colonel V.A. Trubachev) formed in the Sverdlovsk District
    • tank battalion of the Leningrad garrison
  • 4th (Dzerzhinsky) Light Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (19 July 1941) named for the Dzerzhinsky District
    Dzerzhinsky District
    Dzerzhinsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. The districts are generally named for Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Cheka.-Districts of the federal subjects:...

     (Дзержинский район) (commander Colonel P.I Radigin) (1st regiment detached on 22 July to the 191st Rifle Division in Narva
    Narva
    Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus.-Early history:...

    . This was a “light” division initially formed in the Krasnogvardeysky District (lit. Red-guards district), with only 4,257 personnel, but almost entirely motorised, and admitting only volunteers with prior combat experience. The division was allowed a period of extended combat training.
    • Separate battalion of Special Purpose  (commander Almazov)
  • 3rd Guards Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (24 July 1941) (commander Colonel V.P. Kotelnikov) which later fought with the 402nd Red Banner rifle regiment (commander Colonel Ya.S. Yermakov) of the 168th Rifle Division (commander Colonel A.L. Bondarev) formed in the Petrograd District
  • 4th Guards Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (27 July 1941) formed in the Kalinin District was never fully formed and on the 13 August transferred to Army reserve, its personnel used to complete units of other divisions. However, its three rifle regiments continued to participate in combat under command of other divisions, and the staff of the division was retained, and used to conduct induction training and formation, as well as command of replacement Opolcheniye battalions.
  • 264th, 265th and 266th separate machinegun-artillery battalions (264th – 277th and 282nd, 283rd and 289th battalions were created)
  • 274th separate machinegun-artillery battalion was allocated to the 177th Rifle Division
  • Four Izhorsk “Admiralty” battalions (later 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th Combat Red Banner separate machinegun-artillery battalion of the 55th Army; the battalions had a movie made about it) was created from naval ordnance manufacturing factory workers, fought in the Kolpino
    Kolpino
    Kolpino is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 81,000 ; 8,076 ....

     area.
  • Several Destroyer regiments of special purpose were also formed that were eventually integrated into the regular units and partisan detachments.
  • Deployed in Gatchina
    Gatchina
    Gatchina is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov...

     was the 60th destroyer battalion 
  • 104th (Terioksky) destroyer battalion (104-й (Териокский) истребительный батальон) deployed in the area of Terioki (now Zelenogorsk
    Zelenogorsk
    Zelenogorsk may refer to one of the following:*Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, a town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia*Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, a municipal town in Russia under jurisdiction of Saint Petersburg...

    )
  • Deployed around Kolpino
    Kolpino
    Kolpino is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 81,000 ; 8,076 ....

     was the 120th destroyer battalion (120-й истребительный батальон) (commander A.I. Osovsky)
  • 2nd Latvian workers regiment (commander)
  • 5th (Kuybishevskaya) Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (1 September 1941) (commander Colonel F.P. Utkin) formed early September 1941 from the former 4th division and on the 10 September dislocated to Pulkovo
    Pulkovo
    Pulkovo may refer to:*Pulkovo Heights marking the southern limit of Saint Petersburg, Russia*Pulkovo Airport serving that city*Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise, a former state airline based in Saint Petersburg, Russia...

    .
    • 291st separate machinegun-artillery battalion (commander Captain Kaverznev)
  • 6th Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (1 September 1941)
  • 7th Division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye  (commander Colonel I.S. Kuznetsov) raised on the 17 September it was formed on the 30 September as the 56th Rifle Division.
  • 277th separate machinegun-artillery battalion around Ropsha
    Ropsha
    Ropsha is a settlement in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated about 20 km south of Peterhof and 49 km south-west of central Saint Petersburg, at an elevation of 80 metres to 130 metres above sea level.-History:...

  • 83rd separate machinegun-artillery battalion (commander Lieutenant E.G. Grigoryev) around Ropsha
    Ropsha
    Ropsha is a settlement in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated about 20 km south of Peterhof and 49 km south-west of central Saint Petersburg, at an elevation of 80 metres to 130 metres above sea level.-History:...

     and Kolpino
    Kolpino
    Kolpino is a municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Izhora River southeast of St. Petersburg proper. Population: 81,000 ; 8,076 ....



227 partisan detachments were also created, but only 67 were sent into combat with a total of 2,886 personnel to operate behind German lines.

Combat history

The Army units, in cooperation with the regular 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...

 formations, participated in fighting on the approaches to Leningrad and the entire Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation in the area of Narva
Narva
Narva is the third largest city in Estonia. It is located at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, by the Russian border, on the Narva River which drains Lake Peipus.-Early history:...

 - Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

 - Novgorod, primarily against the 18th Army of the Army Group North
Army Group North
Army Group North was a German strategic echelon formation commanding a grouping of Field Armies subordinated to the OKH during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached separate army corps, reserve formations, rear services and logistics.- Formation :The Army Group North...

. The fighting was extremely vicious, and most divisions were reduced to 50% of their initial strength by the time they were amalgamated or integrated into the regular Red Army formations at the end of September.

On the 23 September 1941 all the divisions of the Leningrad Narodnoe Opolcheniye Army divisions were used to form Red Army units mostly within the Leningrad Front
Leningrad Front
The Leningrad Front was first formed on August 27, 1941, by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front, during the German approach on Leningrad .-History:...

.

Sources

  • http://centralsector.narod.ru/no_c.htm#1x Narodnoe Opolcheniye in the Battle for Leningrad (A short chronology) compiled by candidate of historical sciences Yu.N. Yablochkin, taken from a reader "Opolchentsy", Lenizdat (Pub.), 1975 (НАРОДНОЕ ОПОЛЧЕНИЕ В БИТВЕ ЗА ЛЕНИНГРАД (Краткая хроника) Составлена канд. ист. наук Ю. Н. Яблочкиным. Из сборника "Ополченцы", (Лениздат, 1975)
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