22nd Rifle Corps

The 22nd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army, formed twice. It was initially formed from the Estonian Army after the Soviet occupation of that country in June 1940. The corps was destroyed during the Baltic Operation. After large-scale desertions of its troops, the corps disbanded in September 1941. Its soldiers were used in construction battalions in the Urals, where many of them died. The corps was reformed in November 1942 with the Transcaucasian Front. It fought in the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive and the Prague Offensive during the war. The corps was disbanded in the summer of 1945.

History

It was originally formed after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States. Originally based upon the Estonian Army, reorganised as the 180th and 182nd Rifle Divisions, part of 27th Army, Baltic Special Military District[1] Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps.[2] The Cavalry regiments of the Estonian Ground Force were dissolved and incorporated into the corps. The 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps of about 7,000 Estonians was destroyed while fighting for the Soviets in 1941: 2,000 were killed, and 4.500 taken prisoner by the Germans. The rest, the recruits, were initially used in Construction Battalions, effectively mobile forced labour.[3]

Second formation formed 20 February 1943 and served with 40th, 18th, 38th Аrmies, 3rd Guards Army, and the 6th Army. It included the 112th, 135th, 181st, and 273rd Rifle Divisions.[4] The corps was disbanded in the summer of 1945.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 27th Army, Baltic Special Military District, Red Army, 22.06.41
  2. ↑ Nigel Thomas, Germany's Eastern Front Allies (2): Baltic Forces, Osprey, 5.
  3. ↑ 'Tartu in the 1941 Summer War,' Baltic Defence College.
  4. ↑ Стрелковые и воздушно-десантные корпуса РККА 1941-1945 гг.
  5. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, 132.
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