# 4th Guards Army

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/4th_Guards_Army
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/4th_Guards_Army.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Guards_Army
> Source revision: 1321468455
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = 4th Guards Army
| image = Soviet Guards Order.png
| dates = 1943–1947
| country = [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union)
| branch = [Red Army](/source/Red_Army) / [Soviet Army](/source/Soviet_Army)
| type = [Field army](/source/Field_army)
| battles = 
{{tree list}}
* [World War II](/source/World_War_II)
** [Battle of Kursk](/source/Battle_of_Kursk)
** [Battle of the Dnieper](/source/Battle_of_the_Dnieper)
** [Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive](/source/Dnieper-Carpathian_Offensive)
** [Battle of Korsun–Cherkassy](/source/Battle_of_Korsun%E2%80%93Cherkassy)
** [Uman–Botoșani Offensive](/source/Uman%E2%80%93Boto%C8%99ani_Offensive)
** [Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive](/source/Second_Jassy%E2%80%93Kishinev_Offensive)
** [Budapest Offensive](/source/Budapest_Offensive)
** [Vienna Offensive](/source/Vienna_Offensive)
{{tree list/end}}
| notable_commanders = [Grigory Kulik](/source/Grigory_Kulik)<br>[Georgiy Zakharov](/source/Georgy_Zakharov_(army_general))
}}

The '''4th Guards Army''' was an elite [Guards](/source/Soviet_Guards) [field army](/source/Army_(Soviet_Army)) of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) and the early postwar era.

== History ==
On April 16, 1943, the [Supreme Command](/source/Stavka) ordered the army to be established. On May 5, 1943, the army was formed on the basis of the [24th Army](/source/24th_Army_(Soviet_Union)) in the [Steppe Military District](/source/Steppe_Military_district). It included the [20th](/source/20th_Guards_Rifle_Corps) and [21st Guards Rifle](/source/21st_Guards_Rifle_Corps) and [3rd Guards Tank Corps](/source/3rd_Guards_Tank_Corps). On July 3 the Army was placed in [Stavka reserve](/source/Reserve_of_the_Supreme_High_Command), on July 18 included in the [Steppe Front](/source/Steppe_Front), and on July 23 once again put in Stavka reserve.<ref>bdsa.ru</ref>

The Army fought in decisive actions such as the [Battle of Kursk](/source/Battle_of_Kursk), the [Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive](/source/Second_Jassy%E2%80%93Kishinev_Offensive), the [struggle for central Hungary](/source/Operation_Fr%C3%BChlingserwachen), and the [Vienna Offensive](/source/Vienna_Offensive). At the end of the war, the Fourth Guards Army was part of the [3rd Ukrainian Front](/source/3rd_Ukrainian_Front).

It was disbanded in March 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://victory.mil.ru/rkka/units/03/04.html |title=4th Guard Army on official site of Russia Ministry of Defense. (in Russian) |access-date=2011-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722113115/http://victory.mil.ru/rkka/units/03/04.html |archive-date=2011-07-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Part of fronts ==
*[Steppe Front](/source/Steppe_Front)
*[Voronezh Front](/source/Voronezh_Front)
*[2nd Ukrainian Front](/source/2nd_Ukrainian_Front)
*[3rd Ukrainian Front](/source/3rd_Ukrainian_Front)

== Army commanders ==

=== Commanders ===

* [Lieutenant General](/source/General-Leutnant) [Grigory Kulik](/source/Grigory_Kulik) (7 April – 22 September 1943)
* Lieutenant General [Aleksei Zygin](/source/Aleksei_Zygin) (22–27 September 1943)
* Lieutenant General [Ivan Galanin](/source/Ivan_Galanin) (September 1943 – January 1944, February–November 1944)
* [Major General](/source/General-major)  [Alexander Ryzhov](/source/Aleksandr_Ivanovich_Ryzhov)  (January–February 1944)
* Lieutenant General [Ilya Smirnov](/source/Ilya_Smirnov) (3–22 February 1944)
* [Army General](/source/Army_General) [Georgiy Zakharov](/source/Georgy_Zakharov_(army_general)) (November 1944 – March 1945)
* Lieutenant General [Nikanor Zakhvatayev](/source/Nikanor_Zakhvatayev) (1 March 1945 – July 1945)
* [Colonel General](/source/Colonel_general) [Dmitry Gusev](/source/Dmitry_Gusev_(general)) (July 1945 - March 1946)
*[Colonel General](/source/Colonel_general) {{Interlanguage link|Vladimir Romanovsky (general)|ru|Романовский, Владимир Захарович|lt=Vladimir Romanovsky|WD=}} (May 1946- 1948)

=== Members of the Military Soviet (council) ===
This [Political commissar](/source/Political_commissar) position was intended to maintain control by the [Communist Party](/source/Communist_Party_(Soviet_Union)).

* [Colonel](/source/Colonel), [General-major](/source/General-major) I.A Gavrilov
* Colonel [Dmitry Shepilov](/source/Dmitri_Shepilov)
* Colonel Commissar M.M. Stahursky
* [General-major](/source/General-major) V.N. Semenov
* [General-major](/source/General-major) [Leonid Bocharov](/source/Leonid_Bocharov) ([:fr:Léonid Botcharov](/source/%3Afr%3AL%C3%A9onid_Botcharov))

== Order of battle ==
The [order of battle](/source/order_of_battle) for the Fourth Guards Army on May 1, 1945, was:

'''Fourth Guards Army'''
:[20th Guards Rifle Corps](/source/20th_Guards_Rifle_Corps)
::[5th Guards Airborne Division](/source/5th_Guards_Airborne_Division)
::[7th Guards Airborne Division](/source/7th_Guards_Airborne_Division)
::[80th Guards Rifle Division](/source/80th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
:[21st Guards Rifle Corps](/source/21st_Guards_Rifle_Corps)
::[41st Guards Rifle Division](/source/41st_Guards_Rifle_Division)
::[62nd Guards Rifle Division](/source/62nd_Guards_Rifle_Division)
::[66th Guards Rifle Division](/source/66th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
::[69th Guards Rifle Division](/source/69th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
:[31st Guards Rifle Corps](/source/31st_Guards_Rifle_Corps)
::[4th Guards Rifle Division](/source/4th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
::[34th Guards Rifle Division](/source/34th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
::[40th Guards Rifle Division](/source/40th_Guards_Rifle_Division)
:123rd Gun-Artillery Brigade
:438th Antitank Regiment
:466th Mortar Regiment
:257th Anti-aircraft Regiment
:56th Engineer-Sapper Brigade

After the war for a period the 4th Guards Army joined the [Central Group of Forces](/source/Central_Group_of_Forces) in Austria until its withdrawal.

==References==
<references/>

==Article Sources==
* '''The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War''', Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner, Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. {{ISBN|0-89141-237-9}}.
* '''[Combat composition of the Soviet Army](/source/Combat_composition_of_the_Soviet_Army)''' (official Soviet order of battle from General Staff archives), Moscow: Ministry of Defense, 1990.

{{Armies of the Soviet Army}}

G004
Category:Military units and formations established in 1943
Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1947
Category:Guards Armies

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [4th Guards Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Guards_Army) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Guards_Army?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.