6 Army (II)

[leachjeff]

So far I have this

6th Army (II)
Formed 25 August 1941 after a Stavka directive of the same day [Russkij Arhiv 5(1):#477] from the headquarters of the 18th Rifle Corps, other sources say 48th Rifle Corps which General Malinovskij commanded, and the Pension Lists state the the army headquarters was just the renamed headquarters of the Reserve Army Southwestern Front (I) [Perechen 1.2].* Disbanded 10 June 1942.

Major General (Lieutenant General 09.11.1941) R. Â. Malinovskij (25.08.1941 – 24.12.1941)
Commander (?) (25.12.41 - 01.01.42)**
Major General (Lieutenant General 27.03.1942)*** A. M. Gorodnânskij (02.01.1942 – 27.05.1942)**** (x)
Commander (?) (28.05.42 - 10.06.42)

GM Malinovskij was appointed commander of the army in the same directive that order its formation.

* Needs to be sorted out. Probably so simple as 18th and 48th Rifle Corps headquarters were converted to an army headquarters, Reserve Army South Front (I), which in turn was renamed 6 Army (II).
** Maybe the army's chief-of-staff Major General (09.11.41) A. G. Batûnâ
*** Other sources say May 1942.
**** Other sources say he assumed command on 25 January 1942 and/or removed from command on 20 May 1942.

There are a number of points of uncertainty (more than most) concerning this Army.

What caused me to write was I stumbled across this forum post Circumstances concerning the death of Lieutenant General A. M. Gorodnânskij. What the post claims is that the Soviet detailed certain officers to kill other officers to prevent there capture. Among others Kirponos, Kostenko and Gorodnânskij are listed. This must certainly be a Soviet myth, I have never seen anything in the English literature, where it is usually commented that the Soviet went to some lenght to try and save generals trapped in encirclements (that they might be tried and shot later is another story). Do anyone have more information?

[Art]

According to the Stavka directive the Reserve Army was to be split by 6 (II) and 12 (II) Armies, HQ of the 6 Army was to be formed from the HQ of the 48 Rifle Corps.
http://tashv.nm.ru/SbornikBoevyhDokumen ... 0_006.html
"18 Rifle Corps" in the online text of "Russkiy Arkhiv" must be a typo.
Pay Attention that Malinovsky commanded 48 Rifle Corps before late August 1941.

What caused me to write was I stumbled across this forum post Circumstances concerning the death of Lieutenant General A. M. Gorodnânskij. What the post claims is that the Soviet detailed certain officers to kill other officers to prevent there capture. Among others Kirponos, Kostenko and Gorodnânskij are listed.

А власти скрывают
See a discussion of the similar version here:
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=122476

[leachjeff]

Thx Art,

I have Malinovskij commanding the 48th Corps from 14.03.41 - 28.07.41

[Art]

I believe Malinovsky commanded 48 Rifle Corps until it was reorganized as 6 Army (II). According to the directive of the South Front (21.08.1941) commander of the 48 Rifle Corps major general Malinovsky and his staff were to assume command of the Zaporozhye Group of the South Front.
http://tashv.nm.ru/SbornikBoevyhDokumen ... 0_204.html

[leachjeff]

Just copied all the dates from Поиск по типу и номеру корпуса (its a search function for corps commanders), which I think come from this book "Военные кадры Советского государства в Великой Отечественной войне 1941-1945 годов." (originally a secret listing of Soviet General officers in the Great Patriotic War prepared by the Russian General Staff). This source seems to have its share of problems and A. A. Maslov discusses some of them in his introduction to 'Fallen Soviet Generals'. What I am trying to get at is that I am aware that my information on corps commanders is very suspect and needs a lot of work.

Thx for the info, your detailed knowledge still amazes me.