Soviet order of battle for invasion of Poland in 1939

The Soviet order of battle for the invasion of Poland in 1939 details the major combat units arrayed for Soviet invasion of Poland

Soviet invasion of Poland (1939)

The 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939, during the early stages of World War II. Sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, the Soviet Union did so from the east...

on 17 September, 1939. The Invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

is best remembered for the German-Polish fighting, but the Soviets contributed a large force to occupation of Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

ian and Ukrainian lands. Joining battle after the Germans had already launched their attacks, the Soviets met little resistance, but were prepared for battle.
Several instances of combat between German and Soviet forces did occur, but neither government was prepared for starting a larger conflict, and these were soon referred to as "misunderstandings".

Like the Germans, the Soviets employed two primary offensive axes, each managed by a Front

Front (Soviet Army)

A front was a major military organization in the Soviet Army during many wars. It was roughly equivalent to an army group in the militaries of most other countries except Germany...

(similar to the structure of German Army Groups). Each Front commander had at his disposal a mobile group of forces created from cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

and mechanised troops; a precursor of the cavalry-mechanised group

Cavalry Mechanized Group

A cavalry-mechanized group was a type of military formation used in the Red Army during World War II against Germany and Japan.- Organization :...

s of the Second World War that were outlined in the doctrinal development of Marshal Tukhachevsky

Mikhail Tukhachevsky

Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander in chief of the Red Army , and one of the most prominent victims of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.-Early life:...

shortly before the purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

of the Soviet officer Corps.

The effects of the purge are visible in the ranks of the commanders in the order of battle, with only one Army commander serving in the appropriate rank of the Army General, in this case 2nd Class (Komandarm 2nd rank), the rest serving in being Corps (Komcor) and Divisional (Komdiv) Commander rank )

Belorussian front

The Belorussian Front included four Armies and was the northern of the two fronts invading. Its commander was Komandarm 2nd rank Mikhail Kovalyov

Mikhail Kovalyov

Colonel-General Mikhail Prokofievich Kovalyov was a Soviet military officer.Mikhail Kovalyov was born to family of a peasants in stanitsa Bryukovetskaya, Krasnodar Krai. In 1915 he enlisted in the Russian Army. After graduating from a School for Praporshchiks Kovalyov fought in World War I...

.

As of 17 September 1939 the Front included:

3rd Army

The 3rd Army (Komkor Kuznetsov) included one Corps and one operational group.

4th Rifle Corps
- 27th Rifle Division
  27th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The 27th Rifle Division was a tactical unit of the Bolshevist Russia and then the USSR, active between 1918 and 1941. First formed during the Russian Civil War on November 3, 1918 as part of 5th Red Army. Commanded by Vitovt Putna, it was transferred to the 16th Red Army in May 1920, and took part...
- 50th Rifle Division
Lepelska Group (staging area in and around the city of Lepiel
Lepiel
Lepel is a town located in the center of the Lepiel District in the Vitebsk Province of Belarus near Lepiel Lake. Lepiel is situated at about and its population in the 1998 census was 19,400.The coat of arms of Lepel incorporates the Pahonia symbol....

)
- 5th Rifle Division
  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'...
- 24th Cavalry Division
- 22nd Tank Brigade
- 25th Tank Brigade
according to narod.ru, the 3rd Army also included the 150th Rifle Division
150th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 150th Rifle 'Idritskaya' Division was a formation in the Red Army fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 to 1945. It gained most fame as the formation whose soldiers famously raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag near the end of the war.The nickname ‘Idritskaya’ was given...

(in Odessa Military District
Odessa Military District
The Odessa Military District was a military administrative division of the Imperial Russian military, the Soviet Armed Forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was known under such name from around 1862 to 1998. It was reorganized as part of the Military of Ukraine and the Military of Moldova in...

as third echelon)

11th Army

The 11th Army (Komdiv Medvedev)

16th Corps
- 2nd Rifle Division
- 100th Rifle Division
3rd Cavalry Corps
- 7th Cavalry Division
- 36th Cavalry Division
- 3rd Light Tank Brigade

Cavalry-mechanised Group (Komkor Boldin)

5th Corps
- 4th Cavalry Division
- 13th Cavalry Division
- 33rd Cavalry Division
- 16th Light Tank Brigade
6th Cavalry Corps
- 4th Cavalry Division
- 6th Cavalry Division
- 11th Cavalry Division
15th Tank Corps
- 2nd Tank Brigade
- 21st Tank Brigade
- 27th Tank Brigade
- 20th Motorised Rifle Brigade

10th Army

The 10th Army
10th Army (Soviet Union)
The 10th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a field army active from 1939 to 1944.The Army was formed in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, and then deployed to the Western Special Military District...

(Komkor Zakharkin) comprised one corps.

11th Corps
- 6th Rifle Division
  6th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The 6th Rifle Division was a Soviet military unit. They participated in several battles, most notably the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 and Estonian War of Independence. From their inception the unit saw combat and had three periods of active service...
- 33rd Rifle Division
- 121st Rifle Division

4th Army

The 4th Army (Komdiv Vasily Chuikov

Vasily Chuikov

Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov was a Russian lieutenant general in the Red Army during World War II, twice Hero of the Soviet Union , who after the war became a Marshal of the Soviet Union.-Early life and career:Born into a peasant family in the village of Serebryanye Prudy, he joined the Red Army during...

)

- 8th Rifle Corps
- 29th Tank Brigade
- 32nd Tank Brigade

24th Corps

24th Corps
- 52nd Rifle Division
- Dnieper military flotilla

Ukrainian front

The Ukrainian Front

Ukrainian Front

Ukrainian Front may refer to several Soviet fronts of the Second World War:* Ukrainian Front formed during the Polish September Campaign*1st Ukrainian Front, renamed from Voronezh Front on October 20, 1943....

covered the southern sector of the Polish front in 1939, and included three Armies, commanded by Komandarm 1st rank Semyon Timoshenko

Semyon Timoshenko

Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:...

.

As of 17 September 1939 the Front included:

5th Army

The 5th Army (Komdiv Ivan Sovetnikov

Ivan Sovetnikov

Ivan Gerasimovich Sovetnikov was a Soviet military leader.Commanded the 5th Army in the 1939 Polish campaign.Ivan Sovetnikov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, and numerous medals....

) comprised two corps.

15th Corps
- 45th Rifle Division
  45th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The 45th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry division formed originally during the Russian Civil War that fought in World War II and then served through the Cold War in the Leningrad Military District....
- 60th Rifle Division
8th Corps
- 44th Rifle Division
  44th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The 44th Kievskaya of the Red Banner Rifle Division of Nikolay Shchors, or 44th Kievskaya for short, was an elite military formation of the Soviet Union....
- 81st Rifle Division
- 36th Tank Brigade

6th Army

The 6th Army
6th Army (Soviet Union)
The 6th Army was a field army of the Soviet Red Army formed four times during World War II and active with the Russian Ground Forces up until 1998...

(Komcor Filipp Golikov

Filipp Golikov

Filipp Ivanovich Golikov, was a Soviet military commander, promoted Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1961.Golikov saw service during the Russian Civil War...

) comprised two corps.

2nd Cavalry Corps
- 3rd Cavalry Division
- 5th Cavalry Division
- 14th Cavalry Division
- 24th Light Tank Brigade
17th Corps
- 96th Rifle Division
- 97th Rifle Division
- 10th Tank Brigade
- 38th Tank Brigade

12th Army

The 12th Army
12th Army (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Union's 12th Army was a field army formed multiple times during the Russian Civil War and World War II.-Civil War & Polish-Soviet War:...

(Komandarm Tulenev

Ivan Tyulenev

Ivan Vladimirovich Tyulenev was a Soviet military commander, one of the first to be promoted Soviet General of the Army in 1940.- Biography :...

) comprised four corps.

13th Corps
- 72nd Rifle Division
- 99th Rifle Division
  99th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
  The 99th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army which fought in World War II...

Front Cavalry Group (from 28 September)

4th Cavalry Corps
- 32nd Cavalry Division
- 34th Cavalry Division
- 26th Independent Tank Brigade
5th Cavalry Corps
- 9th Cavalry Division
- 16th Cavalry Division
- 23rd Independent Tank Brigade

25th Tank Corps (subordinated to 12th Army)
- 4th Light Tank Brigade
- 5th Tank Brigade
- 1st Motor Rifle Brigade

Sources

Meltyukhov M.I., Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939, Moscow, Veche, 2001. http://militera.lib.ru/research/meltyukhov2/03.html