27th Army

27th Army
Active	May 1941 – 1946
Country	USSR
Branch	Red Army
Type	Field Army
Size	Possibly Corps-sized
Engagements	World War II Baltic Operation Operation Barbarossa Demyansk Pocket Battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944) Battle of Debrecen Vienna Offensive
Disbanded	1946
Commanders
Notable commanders	H. E. Berzarin

The 27th Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, which fought in World War II. First formed in May 1941. Initial commander was H. E. Berzarin. Took part in Battles in the Baltic. On 22 June 1941 it consisted of the 22nd and 24th Rifle Corps, 16th and 67th Rifle Divisions, 3rd Separate Rifle Brigade, two artillery regiments, and two anti-tank regiments.^[1] It became part of Northwestern Front on the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa.

From June to October 1941 it fought on the Dvina River, during the Staraya Russa offensive, and at Kholm and Demyansk. By 1 November 1941 the army's forces had been reduced to the 23rd and 33rd Rifle Divisions, the 613th Artillery Regiment of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK), the 28th Tank Division, and three Battalions of engineers.^[2]

In December 1941 the first formation of the army was renamed the 4th Shock Army.

The army was formed for a second time in May 1942, within the Northwestern Front, consisting of five rifle divisions. In April 1943 it was moved into Stavka reserve. From July 1943, it participated in many famous battles, assigned to the Steppe Front, then the Voronezh Front, in the Belgorod-Kharkov operation and the Bukrina bridgehead. From October 1943, it fought in the Kiev offensive (with 1st Ukrainian Front). Thereafter, assigned to the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Front, it was part of the Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, Uman-Botoshany, Iassy-Kishinev Offensive, the Battle of Debrecen, and the Vienna Offensive.^[3]

Indications suggest the army was disbanded in 1946.^[4]

Notes

References

• Bonn, Keith E.; David Glantz and others (2005). Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front. Bedford, Pennsylvania: Aberjona Press. ISBN 0-9717650-9-X. 

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