6th Army (Soviet Union)
| 6th Army | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1939–1945 1960–1998 2010–present |
| Country |
Soviet Union Russia |
| Branch | Red Army, Soviet Army, Russian Ground Forces |
| Size | several corps or divisions |
| Part of | Leningrad Military District (1960-1998) Western Military District (2010 - ) |
| Garrison/HQ | Petrozavodsk (c.1960-1998) |
| Engagements | Soviet invasion of Poland (1939), Operation Barbarossa, Second Battle of Kharkov, others |
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 until 1998. It appears to have been reformed in 2010.
It was first formed in August, 1939 in the Kiev Special Military District from the Volochiskaya Army Group (a corps-sized formation).
In September 1939 it participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland. At the beginning of war the Army (6th Rifle Corps, 37th Rifle Corps (which included the 80th, 139th, and 141st Rifle Divisions), 4th and 15th Mechanized Corps, 5th Cavalry Corps, 4th Fortified Region, and 6th Fortified Region (Rava-Ruska), and a number of artillery and other units) was deployed on the Lviv direction. It started the Second World War as part of the Soviet Southwestern Front. The army's headquarters was disbanded 10 August 1941 after the Battle of Uman. In this battle, the 6th Army was caught in a huge encirclement south of Kiev along with the 12th Army.
It was immediately reformed within the Southern Front on the basis of 48th Rifle Corps and other units, and defended the west bank of the Dnepr River northwest of Dnipropetrovsk. On 1 September 1941 it consisted of 169th, 226th, 230th, 255th, 273rd, and 275th Rifle Divisions, 26th and 28th Cavalry Divisions, 47 сп (15th NKVD Rifle Division), 269th, 274th, and 394th Corps Artillery Regiments, 522 гап б/м, 671st Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (ап РВГК), 14, 27 озад, and 8th Tank Division. It was then transferred to the Soviet Southwestern Front and took part in defensive actions in the Donbas, the Barvenkovo-Lozovaia operation, and the Second Battle of Kharkov, but along with the 57th Army, was surrounded in the Izium pocket with the loss of 200,000 plus men in casualties alone, and afterwards formally disbanded.
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