The Soviet order of battle for the invasion of Poland in 1939 details the major combat units arrayed for the Soviet surprise attack on Poland on September 17, 1939. As a result of joining battle after the Germans had already launched their invasion, the Soviets, prepared for battle in secrecy, met comparatively limited resistance. Several skirmishes between the German and Soviet forces did occur, but neither government was prepared for starting a larger conflict, and these were soon referred to as "misunderstandings".[1]
Before the invasion there were created two "fronts" as a form of the Army Group based on Byelorussian Special Military District (BOVO) into the Byelorussian Front and Kiev Special Military District (KOVO) into the Ukrainian Front.
Like the Germans, the Soviets employed two primary offensive axes, each managed by a Front. Each Front commander had at his disposal a mobile group of forces created from cavalry and mechanised troops; a precursor of the cavalry-mechanised groups of the Second World War.
The effects of the purge are visible in the ranks of the commanders in the order of battle, with only one Army commander serving in the appropriate rank of Komandarm, in this case 2nd Class (Komandarm 2nd rank, Russian: командарм 2 ранга), the rest serving in being Corps (Komcor) and Divisional (Komdiv) Commander rank (Russian: комкор, комдив)
Belorussian Front
Covered north-eastern sector of Polish front from Byelorussian Special Military District
Komandarm 2nd rank Mikhail Kovalyov
Chief of Staff Komkor Maksim Purkayev
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Polotsk Army Group[a]
Minsk Army Group
BSSR Border Troops |
Dzerzhinsk Cavalry-mechanised Group
|
|
Ukrainian Front
Covered southern sector of Polish front from Kiev Special Military District
Komandarm 1st rank Semyon Timoshenko
Chief of Staff Kombrig Nikolai Vatutin
|
Shepetovka Army Group
UkrSSR Border Troops |
Volochysk Army Group
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Kamienets-Podolsky Army Group
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See also
- War and campaign articles
- Other forces in the Polish Campaign
Notes
- According to narod.ru, the 3rd Army also included the 150th Rifle Division (in Odessa Military District as third echelon)
- Staging area in and around the city of Lepiel
- Transferred from the Kalinin Military District
- BT tanks
- 237 BT tanks
- 58 T-28 and 20 BT-7 tanks
- 142 T-26 tanks
- From 28 September; initially part of Twelfth Army
- T-26 tanks
- BT tanks
- Subordinated to Twelfth Army
- BT and T-38 tanks
References
- Table 27 in Сентябрь 1939 года. Война с запада (in Russian)
- Bochka i obruchi ili Kogda nachalas' Velikaya Otechestvennaya voyna? (Chasti 1,2) Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine Электронная библиотека echitalka.ru
Sources
- Meltyukhov M.I., Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939, Moscow, Veche, 2001. (Russian: Мельтюхов М.И. Советско-польские войны. Военно-политическое противостояние 1918-1939 гг. — М.: Вече, 2001.)