52nd Army (Soviet Union)

The 52nd Army was a field army of the Red Army of the Soviet Union in World War II.

It was created on 25 August 1941 from the headquarters of the 25th Rifle Corps and defended north of Novgorod. On 26 September 1941, the 52nd Army headquarters was used to form the 4th Army (II Formation) and the 52nd Army headquarters itself was reestablished on 28 September 1941. In May 1943, the army was moved to control of the Stavka Reserve. Stavka released the 52nd Army to subordination of the Steppe Front in July 1943, and the 52nd Army thereafter fought in the Ukraine, southern Poland, southeastern Germany, and finally in northern Czechoslovakia.

The army took part in the following operations:
 * 1941
 * Tikhvin Defensive Operation
 * 1942
 * Tikhvin Offensive
 * Lyuban Offensive Operation
 * 1943
 * Chernigov-Poltava Offensive
 * Cherkassy Offensive
 * 1944
 * Kirovograd Offensive
 * Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive
 * Uman-Botoshany Offensive
 * Iassy-Kishinev Operation
 * 1945
 * Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive
 * Lower Silesian Offensive
 * Berlin Offensive, (including the Battle of Bautzen)
 * Prague Offensive

On 3 April 1945 the 52nd Army comprised the 7th Guards Mechanised Corps, the 48th Rifle Corps (116th and 294th Rifle Divisions), the 73rd Rifle Corps (50, 111, 254) and the 78th Rifle Corps (31, 214, 373rd Rifle Divisions), the 213th Rifle Division, the 214th Tank Regiment, two artillery units, and service units.

At the beginning of the Battle of Bautzen, on April 21, 1945, the Germans drove in between the Polish 2nd Army and the 52nd Army around Bautzen, some 40 km north-east of Dresden and 25 km west of Görlitz, sweeping the Soviet units of the 48th Rifle Corps, and driving towards Spremberg. Major General M. K. Puteiko, commander of the 52nd Army's 254th Rifle Division of the 73rd Rifle Corps was mortally wounded around Bautzen. Subsequently, the 52nd Army took part in the advance on Prague with the 1st Ukrainian Front.

In 1946, the headquarters of the 52nd Army was inactivated, and, together with the headquarters of the 18th Army, was used to form the headquarters of the 8th Tank Army in the Ukraine (Carpathian Military District).

Commanders

 * Aug 1941 to Jan 1942 - N. K. Klykov
 * Jan 1942 to Jul 1943 - V. F. Iakolev
 * Jul 1943 to May 1945 - K. A. Koroteev