The Soviet 8th Guards Army was formed from the
62nd Army in May 1943 and received
Guards status in recognition of its actions in the
Battle of Stalingrad. It went on to defend the right bank of the
Donets and fight in the
Donbass Strategic Offensive in August and September. It then fought in the
Lower Dnepr Offensive, where it captured
Zaporizhia. During winter and spring 1944 the army fought in the
Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive. After the capture of
Odessa, the army was transferred to the
Kovel area and fought in the
Lublin–Brest Offensive during the summer, capturing
Lublin, crossing the
Vistula and seizing the
Magnuszew bridgehead. The army defended the bridgehead until January 1945, when it helped launch the
Vistula–Oder Offensive. The army helped capture
Łódź,
Poznań and
Kostrzyn nad Odrą. The army then fought in the
Battle of Berlin. During the war it was led by its commander during the Battle of Stalingrad,
Vasily Chuikov. After the war the army was stationed at
Nohra, covering the strategic
Fulda Gap during the
Cold War. In 1993 the army was withdrawn from Germany to
Volgograd (the former Stalingrad) and there downsized to a corps, before being disbanded in 1998.
World War II
Activated in October 1941 as the 7th Reserve Army, the Army was re-designated the
62nd Army at
Stalingrad in July 1942. It was among the victors of
Stalingrad and thus re-designated the 8th Guards Army on 5 May 1943, in accordance with a Stavka directive dated 16 April 1943.
In July 1943, it took part in the
Izyum-Barvenkovo Offensive (July 17–27), and in August–September - in the
Donbass strategic offensive operation (August 13 - September 22) . Developing the offensive in the direction of the Dnieper, the Army with other troops of the
Southwestern Front liberated
Zaporozhye (October 14), crossed the
Dnieper south of
Dnipropetrovsk south and captured a bridgehead on its right bank. By this time 28th, 29th and 4th Guards Rifle Corps were part of the army.
In a deliberate symbolic move the 8th Guards Army was then sent northwards to the center of the front, coming under command of
1st Belorussian Front; Stalin was determined that the army that had defended Stalingrad would take part in the capture of Berlin (
Battle of Berlin). On 2 May 1945, Chuikov took the surrender of the German General
Weidling, the commander of the Berlin Defensive Area, and the rest of the Berlin garrison. Later the Eighth Guards Army became part of the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. On the creation of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany in 1945, the Army consisted of:
In the summer of 1946, the 4th Guards Rifle Corps was disbanded along with the 35th, 74th, 82nd and 88th Guards Rifle Divisions. In July 1956, the 28th and 29th Guards Rifle Corps were disbanded.[3]
In February 1989, the 486th Separate Helicopter Regiment was activated at
Jüterbog from the 241st, 311th, 327th and 345th Separate Helicopter Squadrons.[20]
After the Soviet withdrawal from Germany the army was reduced in size to become 8th Guards Army Corps on 1 June 1993, and withdrawn to
Volgograd, the former Stalingrad. There it appears to have taken the place of the 34th Army Corps. From June 1993 to February 1995, it was commanded by
Lev Rokhlin. 8th Guards Army Corps was disbanded in May 1998.[5]
Since 2017
The formation of the new 8th Combined Arms Army began in 2017; the first stage was intended to be completed in June 2017.[21] The 8th Combined Arms Army as of 2021 includes:
According to experts, the 8th Combined Arms Army was intended to be a centrepiece of the
Southern Military District in the southern European part of the Russian Federation, protecting from threats in that region.
Ukraine, the United States, and some analysts also describe the 1st (Donetsk) and 2nd (Luhansk) Army Corps of the
Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Ukraine, as under the command of the 8th CAA HQ.[32][33][34][35] As of 2021, subordinate units within these corps are said to include: 4 Motorized Rifle Brigades, 2 Motorized Rifle Regiments, 2 special forces battalions, 1 tank battalion, 1 reconnaissance battalion and 1 artillery brigade (1st Corps) and 3 Motorized Rifle Brigades, 1 Motorized Rifle Regiment, 1 tank battalion, 1 reconnaissance battalion and 1 artillery brigade (2nd Corps).[24]
Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing.
ISBN978-5-89503-530-6.
Powell, Colin L.; Persico, Joseph (1996). My American Journey (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine Books.
Chuikov, Vasily (1959). Начало пути [Beginning of the Path] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
Chuikov, Vasily (1972). Гвардейцы Сталинграда идут на Запад [Stalingrad Guardsmen go West] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya.
Chuikov, Vasily (1973).
Конец третьего рейха [The End of the Third Reich] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya.
Chuikov, Vasily (1975).
Сражение века [Battle of the Century] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya.
Chuikov, Vasily (1985).
От Сталинграда до Берлина [From Stalingrad to Berlin] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya.
Dmitriev, S.N. (1994). Советские войска в Германии 1945—1994 [Soviet Troops in Germany 1945-1994] (in Russian). Moscow: Molodaya Gvardiya.
ISBN978-5-235-02221-8.
Lenskii, A.G.; Tsybin, M.M. (2001). Советские сухопутные войска в последний год Союза ССР. Справочник [The Soviet Army in the Last Year of the USSR: A Guide] (in Russian). St. Petersburg: B&K.