1. výsadkový sbor [1941-1942]

1st Airborne Corps (2nd forming)

1-й воздушно-десантный корпус - II. формирование



After the total destruction of the 1st Airborne Corps (1st forming), the corps was formed again in September 1941 in the Volga Military District. It was composed of three airborne brigades with the same numbers as the destroyed brigades of its predecessor (1st, 204th and 211th). It was formed in the town of Markshtadt in the Saratov Oblast and V. G. Zholudev was appointed its commander. The training took place at a training ground near Saratovo. On 24 November 1941, the corps was subordinated to the command of the Western Front. The following day, the corps left Saratov for new bases near Moscow in the area of the Lubertsy airfield. In December 1941, the corps took part in airborne operations to disorganize German forces around Moscow. On 16-17 February 1942, during the Rzhev Operation, the 4th Battalion of the 204th Airborne Brigade was airborne. In late February and early March, the corps fought in the vicinity of Demjansk. During the fighting for Demjansk, the corps was sent behind German lines in an unsuccessful operation to seize the airfields supplying the Demjansk Basin, but suffered heavy losses: of the corps' 8,500 men, only 900 returned.

The enlisted men and junior officers were trained under accelerated three-month training programs. In the first days of their stay in the units, they had to work in collective farms, providing their own food and accommodation. Because of inadequate equipment and poor material provision, parachute jumping did not begin until the end of November, and live firing only in early December. Nevertheless, it was good training in the conditions of late 1941. As of 21 December 1941, the corps was formed and within a week was moved by rail to Lubertsy near Moscow. Here his troops continued parachute and combat training, being on constant alert for combat duties from 11 January 1942. At this stage, as noted in the Corps' Combat Log, special attention was paid to tactical training and company and battalion alignment.

One battalion of the 204th Airborne Brigade was deployed in February 1942 to the area of the 29th Army to help it break free from encirclement. In March-April 1942, the entire 204th Airborne Brigade took part in the Demyan Operation. The paratroopers, moved by motor vehicles to the front after penetrating gaps in the front line, operated in the rear of the enemy's Demjan encirclement ring. Their objective was to seize the airfield from which supplies were being provided to the encircled Germans and to sabotage their rear. The paratroopers' weak armament and inadequate supplies made it impossible for them to accomplish their tasks successfully. The brigade suffered heavy losses. Having almost no supplies and many wounded, the remnants of the brigade fought their way back to their own in mid-April 1942.

Another unit of the corps, the 211th Airborne Brigade, was used to assist the cavalry corps of General-Lieutenant P. A. Belov in breaking through the encirclement. Operating behind enemy lines, Soviet troops managed to liberate a large area along with the town of Dorogobuzh. However, with the arrival of spring, when the roads in the forest area dried up, the German command launched an operation to destroy P-Group. A. Belov. By the end of May 1942, it became apparent that the small units of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and the 4th Airborne Corps were finding it difficult to hold the occupied areas in the enemy's rear. It was impossible to break the circle of encirclement from the outside. To withdraw the remnants of the group P. A. Belov from the encirclement, an airborne operation was prepared, involving the 23rd and 211th Airborne Brigade. For three nights (from 29 May to 3 June 1942), both brigades were dropped in the rear of the Germans. After conducting a 200-kilometer raid into the enemy rear, the paratroopers, along with the remnants of the 4th Airborne Brigade and the cavalrymen of P. A. Belov on 23 June 1942 broke through to their own. Losses during the breakthrough were very high (there are data that of the 2,500 men who were dropped, only 200 fought their way back), but the group of P. A. Belov was led out of the encirclement.

In March 1942, the 1st Brigade was sent to Volkhov, where it was to take part in an airborne landing during the continuation of the Luban operation. However, the airborne raid did not take place and the brigade returned to the Moscow area in the spring.

In August 1942, the 1st Airborne Corps was reformed as the 37th Guards Rifle Division. The 109th Guards Rifle Regiment was formed from the 1st Airborne Brigade, the 114th Guards Rifle Regiment from the 204th Airborne Brigade and from the 211th Airborne Brigade the 118th Guards Rifle Regiment.

resources:

pamyat-naroda.ru

ru.wikipedia.org