The 10th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards

Russian Guards

Guards or Guards units were and are elite military units in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The tradition goes back to the retinue of a knyaz of medieval Kievan Rus' and the streltsy, the Muscovite harquebusiers formed by Ivan the Terrible by 1550...

 formation which fought against Germany during World War II

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 under the command of several generals. Formed in 1943, the army fought under various headquarters and ended the war besieging cut-off German forces in Latvia. The 10th Guards Army was disbanded in 1948.

The 10th Guards Army was formed on 16 April 1943 from the 30th Army

30th Army (Soviet Union)

-History:It was formed on 13 July 1941 based on 52nd Rifle Corps as a Stavka Reserve. In the beginning army included 119th Rifle Division, 242nd Rifle Division, 243rd NKVD Rifle Division, 251st NKVD Rifle Division, 51st Tank Division, artillery and other units...

 and fought under command of the Western, Kalinin, 2nd Baltic, and Leningrad Fronts from 1943 until the end of the war. Upon formation in 1943, the army was located southwest of Vyazma

Vyazma

Vyazma is a town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk and Mozhaysk. Throughout its turbulent history, the city defended western approaches to the city of Moscow...

.

The 10th Guards Army had four commanders during the war against Germany:

• Apr 1943 - May 1943 Vladimir Ikovlevich Kolpakchi
• May 1943 - Sep 1943 Kuzma Petrovich Trubnikov
• Sep 1943 - Jan 1944 Aleksandr Vasilevich Sukhomlin
• Jan 1944 - May 1945 Mikhail Ilich Kazakov

Notable battles and operations in which the 10th Guards Army participated include:

• Smolensk Offensive Operation
  Battle of Smolensk (1943)
  The second Battle of Smolensk was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943...
  
  
• Leningrad–Novgorod Strategic Offensive
  Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive
  The Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive, also known as the Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive during World War II was launched by the Red Army on with an attack on the German Army Group North by the Soviet 2nd Pribaltiysky, Volkhov and Leningrad army fronts...
  
  
• Riga Offensive
  Riga Offensive (1944)
  The Riga Offensive The Riga Offensive The Riga Offensive (known in was part of the larger Baltic Offensive on the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place late in 1944, and drove German forces from the city of Riga.-Prelude:...
  
  

From October 1944, the 10th Guards Army was one of the Soviet formations committed to besieging German Army Group Kurland

Courland Pocket

The Courland Pocket referred to the Red Army's blockade or encirclement of Axis forces on the Courland peninsula during the closing months of World War II...

in the Courland Peninsula. This was a lengthy operation that continued until the Germans in Courland surrendered on May 12, 1945.

At the end of the war in Europe, the 10th Guards Army consisted of the 7th, 15th, and 19th Guards Rifle Corps. The army was disbanded in March 1948.

External links

army history