76th Air Army

The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949–1980, and again from 1988–98. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front.[1][2][3]

13th Air Army
VVS LVO
76th Air Army
76-й Краснознамённой Воздушной армии
Active13th Air Army: 25 November 1942 – 10 January 1949
76th Air Army: 1949–1980
VVS LVO: 1980–1988
76th Air Army: 1988–1998
BranchSoviet Air Force
Part ofLeningrad Front
Leningrad Military District
Commanders
Notable
commanders		General-Colonel S. D. Rybal'chenko (13th Air Army) former commander of the Far Eastern VVS and the Far East Military District during 1950–1956

13th Air Army's initial components were the 275th Fighter Aviation Division, 276th Bomber Aviation Division, and 277th Assault Aviation Divisions.[4]

As the 13th Air Army, the formation participated in a number of offensives in 1943–45:

During the war, the 13th Air Army made 120,000 sorties. Ten units of the army were transformed into Guards units for their services. Twenty units were awarded decorations. 151 pilots were awarded the Heroes of the Soviet Union, and one, Pyotr Pokryshev won the award twice. The 13th Air Army had but one commander throughout World War II. Stepan Dmitrievich Rybalchenko appears initially to have been a General-Major upon his appointment as commander. He was promoted to General-Lieutenant с 07.08.43, and General-Colonel с 02.11.44.[9]

13th Air Army components during World War II

Allaces.ru gives the following composition of the Air Army:[10]

  • 273rd Fighter Gomel Order of Suvorov Air Division (25 Dec 1942 – May 1943)
  • 275th Fighter Air Division Pushkinskaya Krasnoznamennaya
  • 276th Bomber Gatchinskaya twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Air Division
  • 277th Assault Krasnoselskaya Krasnoznamennaya Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Air Division
  • 281st Assault Novgorod Red Banner Air Division - activated August 1942 from the VVS/4th Army, assigned to 13th Air Army April 1944. In May 1945, in the Lithuanian SSR, the division comprised three assault aviation regiments of Il-2s: the 448, 703rd, and 872nd. Redesignated the 281st Military Transport Aviation Division on 27 April 1946, and resubordinated to Headquarters Airborne Forces (which appears to have controlled all military transport aircraft at the time.)[11]
  • 269th Fighter Air Division Novgorod Krasnoznamennaya (269 иад) (26 Feb – Apr, 1944)
  • 13th Separate Reconnaissance Leningrad Red Aviation Regiment (13 орап)
  • 407th Mixed Aviation Regiment (Nov 1942 – Mar 1943)
  • 914-D Mixed Aviation Regiment (Nov 1942 – Mar 1943)
  • 915th Mixed Aviation Regiment (Nov 1942 – Mar 1943)
  • 987th Mixed Aviation Regiment (Nov 1942 – Mar 1943)
  • 5th separate Distant Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron (5 одраэ) (Jan 1943)
  • 10th Separate Fighter Aviation Squadron (Jan 1943)
  • 12th Separate Fighter Squadron (12 окраэ) (25 Mar 1942 – 14 Jun 1944)
  • 240th Fighter Nevel Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division (240 иад) (19 Apr – 11 Jul, 1943)
  • 742nd Separate Reconnaissance Ostrovsky Red Aviation Regiment (742 орап) (Feb–Apr 1944)
  • 87th Separate Night Bomber Squadron «Tasuja» («The Avenger") (87 онбаэ) (Jul 1944 – May 1945)
  • 553rd Army Communications Aviation Squadron (553 оааэс) (Jul 1944 – May 1945)

The 119th Fighter Aviation Division was subordinated to 13th Air Army from May 1942 – Aug 1943.[12]

On 1 May 1945, according to BSSA, the army consisted of:

  • 5th Guards Bomber Aviation Corps (5 гв. бак)
    • 4th Guards Bomber Aviation Division
    • 5th Guards Bomber Aviation Division
  • 14th Fighter Aviation Corps (14 иак)
    • 185th Fighter Aviation Division
    • 315th Fighter Aviation Division
  • 284th Night Bomber Aviation Division
  • 313th Night Bomber Aviation Division
  • 214th Assault Aviation Division
  • 225th Assault Aviation Division
  • 305th Assault Aviation Division
  • 336th Fighter Aviation Division
  • 99th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
  • 187th Fire Correction and Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
  • 699th Transport Aviation Regiment
  • 97th Aviation Regiment of the Civil Air Fleet (97 ап ГВФ)
  • 87th Night Bomber Aviation Squadron

Postwar and redesignation as 76th Air Army

In July 1945, three Aviation Divisions joined 13th Air Army in the Leningrad Military District from 1st Air Army:

  • 276th Bomber Aviation Division
  • 277th Assault Aviation Division
  • 330th Fighter Aviation Division.[13] 330th 'Ostravskaya' IAD was part of 13th and 76th Air Armies in 7.1945 – 1.1949 (13th Air Army), and January 1949 – 3.1952 (76th Air Army).[14]

In January 1949, 13th Air Army was redesignated as the 76th Air Army.

In 1988, according to Feskov et al., the 76th Air Army comprised the 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment, the 66th (Veshchevo) and 722nd (Smuravyevo) Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiments, 98th Guards Independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Monchegorsk), and the 138th Composite Aviation Regiment (Levashovo).[15] The 66th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment transferred to the Baltic Fleet as the 66th independent Maritime Assault Aviation Regiment in December 1989. 149th Bomber Aviation Division arrived back from Szprotawa, Poland in July 1992 to supervise the 67th, 98th Guards, and 722nd Regiments, but was disbanded in 1998.

The Air Army was disbanded on June 1, 1998, when it was merged with the 6th Independent Air Defence Army of the now-Russian Air Defence Forces, also headquartered in Sankt Petersburg, to form the 6th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence.

References
  1. Inozemtsev IG under the wing - Leningrad. - Moscow: Military Publishing, 1978.
  2. GV Zimin Fighters. - Moscow: Military Publishing, 1988.
  3. Prachik IA Frontline sky. - Moscow: Military Publishing, 1984.
  4. Victory.mil.ru, 13th Air Army Archived 2012-08-05 at Archive.today, (Russian), accessed August 2011
  5. Morozov M. spark the victory. Soviet Air Force in an operation to break the siege of Leningrad. - Aviamaster, 2004, No. 4
  6. Book | author = ML Dudarenko, G. List, VT Eliseev et al | title = "Release of cities: Guide to liberate the city during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 "- Moscow: Military Publishing, 1985.
  7. (in Russian) Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Наступление советских войск на Карельском перешейке и в Южной Карелии Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine По замыслу Ставки войска Ленинградского и Карельского фронтов при содействии Краснознаменного Балтийского флота, Ладожской и Онежской военных флотилий мощными ударами должны были разгромить противостоящего противника, овладеть Выборгом, Петрозаводском и выйти на рубеж Тикшеозеро, Сортавала, Котка. Операцию начинали войска Ленинградского фронта, затем в наступление переходил Карельский фронт.
  8. David Glantz, 'Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War,' p.359
  9. Soldat.ru, air army commanders of the Red Army Air Force during the period 1942-1945., accessed August 2011
  10. Allaces.ru, 13 VA, accessed August 2011
  11. Michael Holm, 281st Military Transport Aviation Division, accessed August 2011
  12. Michael Holm, 119th Nevelskaya Red Banner order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Division, accessed August 2011
  13. Michael Holm, 26th Red Banner Air Army, accessed August 2011
  14. Michael Holm, 330th Ostrovskaya Fighter Aviation Division, accessed August 2011
  15. V. I. Feskov et al. 2013, 432.

Further reading
  • 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. ISBN 9785895035306.
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