Odessa Offensive Soviet order of battle

The following Soviet units fought in the Odessa Offensive between 26 March and 30 April 1944.

For the offensive, the 3rd Ukrainian Front included 57 rifle and three cavalry divisions, a tank corps and a mechanized corps. According to a postwar history, these totaled 470,000 men, 12,678 guns and mortars, 435 tanks and self-propelled guns. The front was supported by the 17th Air Army with 436 combat aircraft.^[1] The 3rd Ukrainian Front's report on the operation, drawn up in August 1944, provides figures for the operational strength of the front on 28 March: 243,074 men, 42,512 submachine guns, 4,824 machine guns, and 344 tanks and self-propelled guns (only counting those in the 23rd Tank Corps and Cavalry-Mechanized Group), 2,112 mortars, 1,616 field guns, and 781 anti-aircraft guns.^[2]

Abbreviations used

Military rank

• LTG = Lieutenant general (General-leytenant)
• LTGAv = Lieutenant General of Aviation
• LTGTF = Lieutenant General of Tank Forces
• MG = Major general (General-mayor)
• MGAv = Major General of Aviation
• MGTF = Major General of Tank Forces
• COL = Colonel (Polkovnik)
• LTC = Lieutenant Colonel (Podpolkovnik)
• MAJ = Major (Mayor)

Other

• k = Killed
• w = Wounded

Command

The Soviet forces involved in the offensive were part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, commanded by Army General Rodion Malinovsky. Lieutenant General Fyodor Korzhenevich served as front chief of staff and Lieutenant General Aleksey Zheltov as front commissar.^[3]

Ground forces

57th Army

Lieutenant General Nikolay Gagen^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
9th Rifle Corps: MG Ivan Rosly[4][5] (transferred from 28th Army)	118th Rifle Division: COL Fyodor Dobrovolsky[6]
	230th Rifle Division: COL Iosif Kazakov
	301st Rifle Division: COL Vladimir Antonov
64th Rifle Corps: MG Mikhail Anashkin[4][7]	73rd Guards Rifle Division: MG Semyon Kozak
	19th Rifle Division: MG Pavel Lazarev
	52nd Rifle Division: COL Leonid Milyayev
68th Rifle Corps: MG Nikolay Shkodunovich[4][7]	93rd Rifle Division: MG Apollon Kruze
	113th Rifle Division: COL Pyotr Dmitriyev
	223rd Rifle Division: COL Pyotr Tatarchevsky
Reserves and separate units[4]	96th Separate Tank Brigade: COL Valentin Kulibabenko[8]
	93rd Separate Antitank Rifle Battalion

37th Army

Lieutenant General Mikhail Sharokhin^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
6th Guards Rifle Corps: MG Grigory Kotov[4][9]	20th Guards Rifle Division: MG Nikolay Dreyer
	195th Rifle Division: COL Ivan Kholodov
57th Rifle Corps: MG Fyodor Ostashenko[10]	58th Guards Rifle Division: COL Vladimir Rusakov, succeeded by COL Vasily Katsurin 15 April
	92nd Guards Rifle Division: COL Mitrofan Matveyev[11]
	228th Rifle Division: COL Pavel Kulikov, succeeded by COL Ivan Yesin 28 March
82nd Rifle Corps: MG Pavel Kuznetsov[10]	10th Guards Airborne Division: MG Mikhail Mikeladze, succeeded by COL Andrey Petrushin 9 April
	28th Guards Rifle Division: MG Georgy Chumayev
	188th Rifle Division: COL Vasily Danilenko
Reserves and separate units[4]	15th Guards Rifle Division: MG Pyotr Chirkov[10]
	22nd Separate Armored Train Battalion

46th Army

Lieutenant General Vasily Glagolev^[4]

The 31st Guards Rifle Corps was in the army's second echelon at the beginning of the offensive, engaging in battle from 6 April to 24 April.^[12]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
31st Guards Rifle Corps: MG Arkhip Ruchkin[4][9]	4th Guards Rifle Division: COL Kuzma Parfyonov[9]	2,921 officers and men, 859 horses (6 April)[12]
	34th Guards Rifle Division: MG Filipp Braylyan[9]	3,949 officers and men, 830 horses (6 April)[12]	12 killed, 37 wounded (with 34th RC)[13]
	40th Guards Rifle Division: MG Grigory Panchenko[9]	3,009 officers and men, 683 horses (6 April)[12]
32nd Rifle Corps: MG Dmitry Zherebin[4][14]	60th Guards Rifle Division: MG Vasily Sokolov
	259th Rifle Division: MG Aleksey Vlasenko[14]
	266th Rifle Division: COL Savva Fomichenko[14]
34th Rifle Corps: MG Ivan Kosobutsky[4][9]	236th Rifle Division: MG Ivan Fesin[9]		202 killed, 1,204 wounded (to 15 April)[13]
	394th Rifle Division: MG Aleksandr Lisitsyn[9]		338 killed, 1,371 wounded (to 15 April)[13]
Reserves and separate units[4]	353rd Rifle Division: MG Fyodor Kolchuk[9]		81 killed, 209 wounded (with 34th RC)[13]

8th Guards Army

Colonel General Vasily Chuikov^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
4th Guards Rifle Corps: LTG Vasily Glazunov[4][9]	35th Guards Rifle Division: MG Ivan Kulagin[15]
	47th Guards Rifle Division: MG Sergey Bobruk, COL Vasily Shugayev from 26 March[15]
	57th Guards Rifle Division: MG Afanasy Shemenkov[15]
28th Guards Rifle Corps: MG Stepan Morozov[4][15]	39th Guards Rifle Division: LTC Viktor Shtrigol[15]
	79th Guards Rifle Division: MG Leonid Vagin[15]
	88th Guards Rifle Division: MG Boris Pankov, COL Yefim Marchenko from 6 April[15]
29th Guards Rifle Corps: MG Ivan Kravtsov, LTG Sergey Bobruk from 28 March, LTG Yakov Fokanov from 13 April[4][9]	27th Guards Rifle Division: MG Gleb Baklanov[9]
	74th Guards Rifle Division: COL Dmitry Bakanov[9]
	82nd Guards Rifle Division: MG Ivan Makarenko, LTC Matvey Karnaukhov from 2 April[9]
Reserves and separate units[4]	152nd Rifle Division: COL Andrian Kuzin[9]
	5th Guards Separate Tank Regiment

6th Army

Lieutenant General Ivan Shlyomin^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
34th Guards Rifle Corps: MG Nikolay Makovchuk[4][14]	59th Guards Rifle Division: MG Georgy Karamyshev[14]
	61st Guards Rifle Division: MG Leonid Lozanovich[14]
	243rd Rifle Division: COL Makariy Togolev[14]
66th Rifle Corps: MG Dmitry Kupryanov[4][9]	203rd Rifle Division: MG Gavriil Zdanovich[9]
	244th Rifle Division: MG Georgy Afanasyev[9]
	333rd Rifle Division: MG Anisim Golosko[9]

5th Shock Army

Colonel General Vyacheslav Tsvetayev^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
10th Guards Rifle Corps: MG Ivan Rubanyuk[4][5]	86th Guards Rifle Division: COL Vasily Pavlovich Sokolovsky[14]	3,998 personnel (1 April),[16] 3,735 personnel (10 April)[16]
	109th Guards Rifle Division: COL Ilya Baldynov[5]	3,076 personnel (1 April),[16] 2,899 personnel (10 April)[16]
	320th Rifle Division: MG Ilya Shvygin[5]	3,537 personnel (1 April),[16] 3,382 personnel (10 April)[16]
37th Rifle Corps: MG Sergey Gorokhov[4][14]	49th Guards Rifle Division: COL Vasily Margelov[14]	3,961 personnel (1 April),[16] 3,779 personnel (10 April)[16]
	108th Guards Rifle Division: COL Sergey Dunayev[14]	3,047 personnel (27 March),[17] 2,994 personnel (1 April),[16] 2,932 personnel (10 April)[16]
	248th Rifle Division: COL Nikolay Galay[14]	3,382 personnel (27 March),[17] 3,304 personnel (1 April),[16] 3,185 personnel (10 April)[16]
	416th Rifle Division: MG Dmitry Syzranov[14]	3,604 personnel (27 March),[17] 3,462 personnel (1 April),[16] 3,828 personnel (10 April)[16]
Reserves and separate units[4]	295th Rifle Division: COL Aleksandr Dorofeyev[14]	4,474 personnel (1 April),[16] 4,202 personnel (10 April)[16]
	1st Guards Fortified Region: COL Sergey Nikitin[18]	2,396 personnel (1 April),[16] 2,408 personnel (10 April)[16]

Cavalry-Mechanized Group

Lieutenant General Issa Pliyev^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
4th Guards Mechanized Corps: LTGTF Trofim Tanaschishin (killed 31 March 1944), MGTF Vladimir Zhdanov[4][19][20]	13th Guards Mechanized Brigade: LTC Pyotr Arshinov,[21] COL Yakov Trotsenko from 17 April[22]
	14th Guards Mechanized Brigade: COL Nikodim Nikitin[23]
	15th Guards Mechanized Brigade: LTC Mikhail Andrianov[24]
	36th Guards Tank Brigade: COL Pyotr Zhukov[25]
	37th Guards Tank Regiment (organic to 15th Guards Mechanized Brigade)
	38th Guards Tank Regiment (organic to 13th Guards Mechanized Brigade)
	39th Guards Tank Regiment (organic to 15th Guards Mechanized Brigade)
4th Guards Cavalry Corps: LTG Issa Pliyev[4]	9th Guards Cavalry Division: MG Ivan Tutarinov[5]		Personnel: 135 killed, 367 wounded[26] Horses: 980 killed, 6 wounded[26]
	10th Guards Cavalry Division: COL Nikolay Gadalin, COL Sergey Shevchuk from 6 April (captured 11 April), COL Mikhail Poprikaylo from 12 April[5]		Personnel: 203 killed, 562 wounded[26] Horses: 1,856 killed, 60 wounded[26]
	30th Cavalry Division: MG Vasily Golovskoy[5]		Personnel: 227 killed, 499 wounded[26] Horses: 1,512 killed, 174 wounded[26]
	128th Separate Tank Regiment (attached to the 10th Guards Cavalry Division): LTC Mikhail Sazonov[27]	11 х М4А2 Sherman, 10 x Valentine Mk III (30 March)[28]
	134th Separate Tank Regiment (attached to the 30th Cavalry Division): COL Nikolay Ognev[29]	9 x M4A2 Sherman, 9 x Valentine Mk III (30 March)[28]
	151st Separate Tank Regiment (attached to 9th Guards Cavalry Division): MAJ Nikolay Savin (killed 10 April),[30] MAJ Pavel Bakin[31]	9 x M4A2 Sherman, 10 x Valentine Mk III, (30 March)[28]	Equipment: 3 x M4A2, 2 x Mk III knocked out[31] Personnel: 5 killed, 4 wounded[31]

Front reserves

Corps

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
2nd Guards Mechanized Corps: LTGTF Karp Sviridov[4]	4th Guards Mechanized Brigade: COL Mikhail Lyashchenko[32]
	5th Guards Mechanized Brigade: COL Fyodor Safronov[33]
	6th Guards Mechanized Brigade: COL Aleksandr Roslov[34]
	37th Guards Tank Brigade: LTC Ivan Kharin[35]
	23rd Guards Tank Regiment
	24th Guards Tank Regiment
	25th Guards Tank Regiment
23rd Tank Corps: MGTF Aleksey Akhmanov[4]	3rd Tank Brigade: COL Ivan Devyatko[36]
	39th Tank Brigade: COL Aleksey Lyskin[37]
	135th Tank Brigade: COL Mikhail Beznoshchenko[38]	30 T-34 tanks (29 March)[39]
	56th Motor Rifle Brigade: LTC Filipp Shtanko[40]	1,349 men, including 700 active bayonets (29 March)[41]	139 killed, 576 wounded, 36 sick, 6 missing[42]

Smaller units

Unit	Strength	Losses
10th Separate Automatic Weapons Battalion[4]
5th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade:[4] LTC Nikolay Zavyalov[43]
28th Guards Separate Tank Regiment[4]
35th Separate Tank Regiment[4]
43rd Separate Tank Regiment[4]
52nd Separate Tank Regiment[4]
398th Guards Heavy Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
864th Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
1200th Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
1201st Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
1202nd Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
1891st Self-propelled Artillery Regiment[4]
3rd Guards Motorcycle Regiment[4]
53rd Motorcycle Regiment[4]
67th Motorcycle Battalion[4]
26th Separate Armored Train Battalion[4]
28th Separate Armored Train Battalion[4]

Air forces

17th Air Army

Colonel General of Aviation Vladimir Sudets^[4]

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
1st Mixed Aviation Corps: MGAv Vladimir Shevchenko[9][4]	5th Guards Assault Aviation Division: COL Leonid Kolomeytsev[9]
	288th Fighter Aviation Division: COL Boris Smirnov[9]
9th Mixed Aviation Corps: LTGAv Oleg Tolstikov[9][4]	305th Assault Aviation Division: COL Nikolay Mikhevichev[9]
	306th Assault Aviation Division: COL Aleksandr Ivanov[9]
	295th Fighter Aviation Division: COL Anatoly Silverstov[9]
Separate units[4]	244th Bomber Aviation Division: LTC Pavel Nedosekin[9]
	262nd Night Bomber Aviation Division: COL Gennady Belitsky[9]
	371st Night Bomber Aviation Regiment
	39th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
	96th Corrective-Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
	282nd Separate Signal Aviation Regiment
	3rd Medical Aviation Regiment
	14th Aviation Regiment, Civil Air Fleet

References

Citations

1. Grylev 1970, p. 190.
2. Tarasov & Bukharov 1944, p. 7.
3. Glantz 2007, p. 123.
4. Glantz 2007, pp. 49–51.
5. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 280.
6. Tsapayev & Goremykin 2014a, pp. 833–834.
7. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 276.
8. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 356–357.
9. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 278.
10. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 275.
11. Tsapayev & Goremykin 2015, pp. 760–762.
12. Markov 1944, p. 2.
13. "Доношу о потерях и трофеях по 34 ск". Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). 15 April 1944.
14. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 279.
15. Morozov et al. 2010, p. 277.
16. "Журнал боевых действий 5 Уд. А за апрель 1944 г." Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). pp. 10, 69.
17. "Журнал боевых действий 5 Уд. А за март месяц 1944 г." Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). p. 161.
18. Tsapayev & Goremykin 2015, pp. 977–979.
19. Grylev 1970, pp. 194.
20. Pichugin & Valyushkin 1944, p. 51.
21. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 377–378.
22. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 613–614.
23. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 538–539.
24. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 369–370.
25. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 219–220.
26. Pichugin & Valyushkin 1944, p. 54.
27. "Сазонов Михаил Васильевич: Орден Красного Знамени". Pamyat Naroda (in Russian).
28. Dolgy & Yazyev 1944a, pp. 30–31.
29. Tsapayev 2019, p. 479.
30. "Савин Николай Ефимович: Донесение о безвозвратных потерях". Pamyat Naroda (in Russian).
31. Bakin & Shcherbakov 1944, pp. 2, 8–9.
32. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 509–510.
33. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 580–582.
34. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2017, pp. 560–561.
35. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 681–682.
36. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 172–173.
37. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 406–407.
38. Tsapayev 2019, pp. 54–55.
39. "Боевое донесение штаба 135 тбр". Pamyat Naroda (in Russian).
40. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 648–649.
41. Shtanko & Gribov 1944, p. 1.
42. Shtanko & Gribov 1944, p. 14.
43. Tsapayev & Hayrapetyan 2018, pp. 452–453.

Bibliography

• Glantz, David M. (2007). Red Storm Over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700614653.
• Grylev, A. N. (1970). Днепр-Карпаты-Крым. Освобождение Правобережной Украины и Крыма в 1944 году [Dnieper, Carpathians, Crimea: The Liberation of Right-bank Ukraine and Crimea in 1944] (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka. OCLC 2791694.
• Morozov, M. E.; Yeliseyev, V. T.; Kulagin, K. L.; Lipatov, S. A.; Petrov, B. N.; Chernyayev, A. A.; Shabayev, A. A. (2010). Великая Отечественная война 1941-1945 гг. Кампании и стратегические операции в цифрах [The Great Patriotic War 1941–1945: Campaigns and strategic operations in figures] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Main Archival Directorate of the City of Moscow. ISBN 978-5-8129-0099-1.
• Tsapayev, D.A.; et al. (2014a). Великая Отечественная: Комдивы. Военный биографический словарь [The Great Patriotic War: Division Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 978-5-9950-0382-3.
• Tsapayev, D.A.; et al. (2015). Великая Отечественная: Комдивы. Военный биографический словарь [The Great Patriotic War: Division Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 4. Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 978-5-9950-0602-2.
• Tsapayev, D. A.; et al. (2017). Великая Отечественная: Комбриги. Военный биографический словарь [Brigade Commanders of the Great Patriotic War: Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 1. Nizhny Novgorod: Kirillitsa. ISBN 978-5-905603-67-9.
• Tsapayev, D. A.; et al. (2018). Великая Отечественная: Комбриги. Военный биографический словарь [Brigade commanders of the Great Patriotic: Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Mnogo knig. ISBN 978-5-521-15100-4.
• Tsapayev, D.A., ed. (2019). Великая Отечественная: Комбриги. Военный биографический словарь [Brigade commanders of the Great Patriotic: Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 3. Moscow: Ripol Klassik. ISBN 978-5-386-13527-0.

Military documents

• Bakin, Pavel; Shcherbakov, Fyodor (1944). "Отчет о боевых действиях 151 отп 9 гв. кд" [Report on the combat operations of the 151st Separate Tank Regiment, 9th Guards Cavalry Division]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 3544, opus 0000001, file 0006)
• Dolgy, Lieutenant Colonel; Yazyev, Major (1944a). "Журнал боевых действий УК БТ и МВ 3 УкрФ" [Combat Journal of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (TsAMO, fond 243, opus 0002928, file 0061)
• Markov, Colonel (1944). "Описание боевых действий 31 гв. ск за апрель 1944 г." [Account of the combat operations of the 31st Guards Rifle Corps for April 1944]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (TsAMO, fond 401, opus 9511, file 453)
• Pichugin, Major General; Valyushkin, Colonel (1944). "Журнал боевых действий 4 гв. каз. кк за период с 20 марта по 20 апреля 1944 года" [Combat journal of the 4th Guards Cossack Cavalry Corps from 20 March to 20 April 1944]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (TsAMO, fond 3470, opus 1, file 323)
• Shtanko, Filipp; Gribov, Colonel (1944). "Доклад о боевых действиях 56 мсбр 23 тк" [Report on the combat operations of the 56th Motor Rifle Brigade, 23rd Tank Corps]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 3387, opus 0000001, file 0025)
• Tarasov, Aleksandr; Bukharov, Major (1944). "Одесско-Днестровская операция" [Odessa-Dniester operation]. Pamyat Naroda (in Russian). Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 243, opus 2900, file 729)