70th Army (Soviet Union)

70th Army
Active	October 1942 – August 1945
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry
Part of	Central Front 1st Belorussian Front 2nd Belorussian Front
Engagements	Battle of Kursk Lower Dnieper Offensive Operation Bagration Lublin-Brest Offensive East Pomeranian Offensive Berlin Strategic Offensive

The 70th Army was a Soviet field army during World War II. It was the last combined-arms army, and the highest-numbered, to be formed by the Stavka during the war. It was active at the Battle of Kursk, the Lublin–Brest Offensive, and the Berlin Strategic Offensive, among other actions.

The army began forming in October 1942 near Sverdlovsk in Siberia as a separate NKVD Army of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Stavka Reserve). It was recruited primarily from NKVD border guards, with other redundant manpower from lines of communications troops and GULAG personnel.

In a decree signed by Gen. G.K. Zhukov the army became part of the Red Army:

"The Stavka of the Supreme High Command orders:

1. Name the Separate Army formed by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, consisting of six rifle divisions, with separate reinforcing and support units, the 70th Army and include it in the Red Army on 1 February.
2. Give the formations of the 70th Army the following designations:

3. Determine the numbering and table of organization and composition of the units of 70th Army in accordance with the instructions of the Chief of the Red Army Glavupraform."

The reinforcing and support units included the 27th Separate Tank Regiment and 378th Anti-Tank Regiment.

70th Army was assigned to the re-deploying Don Front (soon re-designated Central Front) under command of Gen. K.K. Rokossovsky. It was some time before Rokossovsky could knock it into shape as a front-line formation, forcing him to remove many senior, ex-NKVD officers. From 28 February the 70th Army took part in both offensive and defensive operations to the northwest of Kursk. Central Front exploited a gap between the weak Second German Army and the Second Panzer Army, but was brought to a halt by the spring rasputitsa, German reserves released by their evacuation of the Rzhev Salient, and the German counter-offensive to the south. The Front's armies created defenses in depth during the lull in operations during the spring.

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