Odessa Offensive Soviet order of battle explained

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. 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.

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.

Ground forces

57th Army

Lieutenant General Nikolay Gagen

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
9th Rifle Corps MG Ivan Rosly (transferred from 28th Army)	118th Rifle Division COL Fyodor Dobrovolsky
	230th Rifle Division COL Iosif Kazakov
	301st Rifle Division COL Vladimir Antonov
64th Rifle Corps MG Mikhail Anashkin	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	93rd Rifle Division MG Apollon Kruze
	113th Rifle Division COL Pyotr Dmitriyev
	223rd Rifle Division COL Pyotr Tatarchevsky
Reserves and separate units	96th Separate Tank Brigade: COL Valentin Kulibabenko
	93rd Separate Antitank Rifle Battalion

37th Army

Lieutenant General Mikhail Sharokhin

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
6th Guards Rifle Corps MG Grigory Kotov	20th Guards Rifle Division MG Nikolay Dreyer
	195th Rifle Division COL Ivan Kholodov
57th Rifle Corps MG Fyodor Ostashenko	58th Guards Rifle Division COL Vladimir Rusakov, succeeded by COL Vasily Katsurin 15 April
	92nd Guards Rifle Division COL Mitrofan Matveyev
	228th Rifle Division COL Pavel Kulikov, succeeded by COL Ivan Yesin 28 March
82nd Rifle Corps MG Pavel Kuznetsov	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	15th Guards Rifle Division MG Pyotr Chirkov
	22nd Separate Armored Train Battalion

46th Army

Lieutenant General Vasily Glagolev

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.

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

8th Guards Army

Colonel General Vasily Chuikov

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

6th Army

Lieutenant General Ivan Shlyomin

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

5th Shock Army

Colonel General Vyacheslav Tsvetayev

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

Cavalry-Mechanized Group

Lieutenant General Issa Pliyev

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

Front reserves

Corps

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

Smaller units

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

Air forces

17th Air Army

Colonel General of Aviation Vladimir Sudets

Units	Component units	Strength	Losses
1st Mixed Aviation Corps MGAv Vladimir Shevchenko	5th Guards Assault Aviation Division COL Leonid Kolomeytsev
	288th Fighter Aviation Division COL Boris Smirnov
9th Mixed Aviation Corps	305th Assault Aviation Division COL Nikolay Mikhevichev
	306th Assault Aviation Division COL Aleksandr Ivanov
	295th Fighter Aviation Division COL Anatoly Silverstov
Separate units	244th Bomber Aviation Division LTC Pavel Nedosekin
	262nd Night Bomber Aviation Division COL Gennady Belitsky
	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

Bibliography

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

Military documents

• Web site: 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 . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 3544, opus 0000001, file 0006)
• Web site: 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 . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (TsAMO, fond 243, opus 0002928, file 0061)
• Web site: 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 . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (TsAMO, fond 401, opus 9511, file 453)
• Web site: 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 . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (TsAMO, fond 3470, opus 1, file 323)
• Web site: 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 . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 3387, opus 0000001, file 0025)
• Web site: Tarasov . Aleksandr . Bukharov . Major . 1944 . Одесско-Днестровская операция . Odessa-Dniester operation . Pamyat Naroda . Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . ru. (Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, fond 243, opus 2900, file 729)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 15 April 1944 . Доношу о потерях и трофеях по 34 ск . Pamyat Naroda . ru.
2. Web site: Журнал боевых действий 5 Уд. А за апрель 1944 г. . Pamyat Naroda . 10, 69 . ru.
3. Web site: Журнал боевых действий 5 Уд. А за март месяц 1944 г. . Pamyat Naroda . 161 . ru.
4. Web site: Сазонов Михаил Васильевич: Орден Красного Знамени . Pamyat Naroda . ru.
5. Web site: Савин Николай Ефимович: Донесение о безвозвратных потерях . Pamyat Naroda . ru.
6. Web site: Боевое донесение штаба 135 тбр . Pamyat Naroda . ru.