16th Army (Soviet Union) - First Formation, 16th Army

First Formation, 16th Army

The 16th Army Headquarters was formed in July 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District to command Soviet forces deployed in the Dauriya area. On 25 May 1941, four weeks prior to the commencement of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, the army received orders to deploy (with six Trans-Baikalian divisions) to the Ukraine to be subordinated to the Kiev Special Military District. The first 16th Army units to arrive (109th Motorized Division of the 5th Mechanized Corps) detrained in Berdichev on 18 June 1941. The Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General М. F. Lukin, and on 22 June the Army Headquarters was located in Orel.

Soon after the commencement of Operation Barbarossa a crisis situation developed on the Western Front sector of the frontline, and on 26 June 1941 16th Army was ordered to redeploy to the area of Orsha - Smolensk. However, the breakthrough of the German 11 Panzer Division in the direction of Ostrov during the afternoon of 26 June required an emergency response. Lukin took part of the 109th Motorised Division directly from disembarkation from the trains and directed them towards the enemy. The units involved were designated "Group Lukin."

On 1 July 1941 16th Army consisted of the 32nd Rifle Corps (with the 46th and 152nd Rifle Divisions), two artillery regiments, and the 5th Mechanised Corps (13th and 17th Tank Divisions and the 109th Mechanised Division). 126th Corps Artillery Regiment and the 112th Separate Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion.

Most of the 16th Army began concentrating in the region of Smolensk, but the 5th Mechanised Corps was transferred to the 20th Army and participated in the counterattack at Lepel 6–9 July.

After the breakthrough of German mechanized troops to Smolensk, on 14 July Marshal S. К. Timoshenko ordered Lukin to take command of all units in the garrison city of Smolensk, as well as units arriving in the city by rail and units in the defensive sector directly adjacent to the city.

Communication with the rear could be maintained only through Solovyovsk across a wooded and swampy area south of Yartsevo. Street fighting began.

The Army HQ was disbanded on 8 August 1941 after encirclement (the Battle of Smolensk (1941)) just west of Smolensk as part of the Western Front.