4th Guards Army

The 4th Guards Army was an elite Guards field army of the Soviet Union during World War II and the early postwar era.

History

On April 16, 1943, the Supreme Command ordered the army to be established. On May 5, 1943, the army was formed on the basis of the 24th Army in the Steppe Military District. It included the 20th and 21st Guards Rifle and 3rd Guards Tank Corps. On July 3 the Army was placed in Stavka reserve, on July 18 included in the Steppe Front, and on July 23 once again put in Stavka reserve.
The Army fought in decisive actions such as the Battle of Kursk, the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, the struggle for central Hungary, and the Vienna Offensive. At the end of the war, the Fourth Guards Army was part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.
It was disbanded in March 1947.

Part of fronts

Steppe Front
Voronezh Front
2nd Ukrainian Front
3rd Ukrainian Front
Army commanders

Commanders

Lieutenant General Grigory Kulik
Lieutenant General Aleksei Zygin
Lieutenant General Ivan Galanin
Major General Alexander Ryzhov
Lieutenant General Ilya Smirnov
Army General Georgiy Zakharov
Lieutenant General Nikanor Zakhvatayev
Colonel General Dmitry Gusev
Colonel General
Members of the Military Soviet (council)

This Political commissar position was intended to maintain control by the Communist Party.

Colonel, General-major I.A Gavrilov
Colonel Dmitry Shepilov
Colonel Commissar M.M. Stahursky
General-major V.N. Semenov
General-major Leonid Bocharov
Order of battle

The order of battle for the Fourth Guards Army on May 1, 1945, was:
Fourth Guards Army
After the war for a period the 4th Guards Army joined the Central Group of Forces in Austria until its withdrawal.