3. výsadkový sbor [1941-1941]

3rd Airborne Corps (1st forming)

3-й воздушно-десантный корпус - I. формирование



3rd Airborne Corps (1st forming) was formed in Odessa Military District on may 1941. The corps was formed with a total strength of 8,020 men; the corps included the existing 212th, as well as the newly formed 5th and 6th Airborne Brigade. The armored vehicle company of the 307th Independent Reconnaissance Battalion of the 234th Rifle Division was renamed the 4th Independent Tank Battalion. The corps headquarters and the newly formed units were stationed in Pervomaisky, 212th Airborne Brigade in Voznesensk.




On June 18, 1941, that is, four days before the invasion of the USSR by the troops of the Nazi coalition, the commander of the corps, Major General Vasily Afanasievich Glazunov, conducted a tactical exercise with the commanders and staffs of the 6th Airborne Brigade and the 212th Airborne Brigade on the topic: "Capture of an important object in the rear of the enemy and its maintenance until the arrival of the main forces", the commanders and staffs of these brigades were dropped with parachutes near the town of Džankoj.

At the beginning of the fighting on the Soviet-German front, the elite paratroop formation was first in the rear, but was soon sent to the front line as an infantry unit due to the sharp deterioration of the situation and the great shortage of reserves. To reinforce the Kiev direction, STAVKA on 9 July 1941 moved the corps to the Southwestern Front (to the Brovary area, 20 km east of Kiev), where the corps was to arrive by rail by 15-16 July.

On 14 July, the command of the 3rd Airborne Corps was ordered to concentrate in the area of Borispol and Brovary with the task of preventing the landing of enemy airborne troops. At the same time, the corps was told to be on standby to act if necessary in the defence of Kiev. The 5th Airborne Brigade was concentrated in Bortnich; the 6th Airborne Brigade in the forest northwest of Brovary; and the 212th Airborne Brigade in the area of Dudarkov. By August, the corps occupied a defensive line in the Svyatoshinsko-Holoseyevsky forest. Later, the corps, as part of the 37th Army, moved to the Jurovka-Gatnoye-Gatnoye-Hotiv-Lesniki line, from where on 8 August 1941 it launched a series of counterattacks to drive the enemy away from Kiev.

In early September 1941, the 3rd Airborne Corps was tasked to concentrate in the area of the Ukrainian town of Konotop and be on standby to take up defenses along the Seim River. In this connection, the corps was moved to the area of Sakhnyy, Popovka, Konotop by an accelerated march on vehicles. On the basis of the order of the commander of the front, the corps headquarters drew up a combat order, according to which the units of the corps took the defense as follows: 6th Airborne Brigade - in the area of Chyzhki, Novoselye-Mutino, Volchik; 212th Airborne Brigade - in the area of Chyzhki, Novoselye-Mutino, Volchik; 212th Airborne Brigade. - in the area of Novoselye-Mutino, Hnilitsa; 5. It prepared defenses in the area of the railway bridge north of Konotop, concentrating its main efforts in the settlement of Lizogubovskoye. By seizing the defenses along the Seim River, the 3rd Airborne Corps became part of the 40th Army. On September 4, 1941, the corps took up defenses along the south bank of the Seim River in the Melnya-Chizhki zone, repelling numerous enemy attacks.

On Thursday, September 4, the Germans, after concentrating the forces of the 3rd Panzer Division and 4th Panzer Division took up the defenses of the Seim River in the Melnya-Chizhki zone. on a narrow front broke through the defenses of the 40th Armies by striking at Krolevec. Soviet troops retreated to Glukhov to the east and the main force to the Seim River. The 3rd Airborne Corps did not hold its position and the Germans, after capturing the bridge on 7 September 1941, began to transport tanks of the 3rd and 4th Panzer Division to strike at Bachmach and Konotop. Under pressure from the enemy, the army withdrew to the Seim River and defended along its southern bank. From September 8, the corps fought heavy defensive battles with the enemy, who penetrated from Mosty, Baturin, Mitchenki, Melny and came to the Konotop-Bakhmac railway. As of 13 September, the corps units had only about 1,600 soldiers. On 17 September, while retreating from the Seim River, the corps was surrounded in the area near Nechajevo (south of Putivl), but the next day it successfully withdrew from the enemy encirclement with minor losses in the direction of Vorozhba station. Subsequently, the corps units retreated with fighting towards Kursk, but got encircled again. After breaking the encirclement, they fought in the area of the town of Tim (80 km southeast of Kursk).

In October 1941, according to the order of the Main Headquarters No. 66 of September 4, 1941 "On the deployment of airborne troops", the 3rd Airborne Corps was supposed to be deployed in the area of the town of Tim (80 km southeast of Kursk). Airborne Corps, which at that time had a low numerical strength, was withdrawn to replenish the North Caucasus Military District with a combat readiness date of 10 January 1942. However, due to the corps being bogged down in the fighting near the town of Tim in the Kursk Oblast at the time, the 87th Rifle Division was formed from the 5th Airborne Brigade (1st Formation) on 20 November 1941. The commander of the division became Colonel A. I. Rodimtsev. The remaining two airborne brigades served as the basis for the newly formed 3rd Airborne Corps (2nd Formation).

Sources:

https://rkkawwii.ru/division/3vdkf2

ru.wikipedia.org