On June 22, 1941, when the German invasion of the Soviet Union,
Operation Barbarossa, began, the corps and its headquarters was stationed in
Varniai (
Lithuania). It comprised the
10th,
48th and
90th Rifle Divisions, under Major General
Ivan Nikolaev. On the right-flank of the corps, the 10th Rifle Division held positions on the border from
Palanga to
Shvekshny to the right of the
67th Rifle Division of the
27th Army. On its left, the 90th Rifle Division defended a line 30 kilometers wide, extending south to a junction with troops of the
125th Rifle Division of the
11th Rifle Corps. The 48th Rifle Division was still moving up and had not yet reached the border. The corps numbered 25,480 men, 453 guns and
mortars and 12 light
tanks. Opposing the corps and larger Soviet forces were the German
I Army Corps,
XXVI Army Corps and
XXXVIII Army Corps, and on the left
wing – the tanks of the
XXXXI Motorized Corps. When the invasion began, German troops struck two major blows to the 10th's flanks: the first by the
291st Infantry Division, advancing from
Memel to
Kretinga and
Palanga, and the second – by the XXXXI Motorized Corps on its junction with the 125th Rifle Division of the 11th Rifle Corps. The Soviet forces holding the attack's point of impact were quickly broken and part of the body in the early hours of the war was cut off from the north of the 67th Rifle Division, and the south of the 125th Rifle Division, and under the pressure of German troops began to retreat in the direction of
Jelgava. On June 23, 1941 the gap between the 10th and 90th Rifle Division reached 20 kilometers. South of the 90th Division the enemy troops rushed to the
Šiauliai. Since the band steps troops shell pressure slightly decreased, part of the body, or rather what was left of them, to June 26, 1941 a relatively orderly moved to
line Mažeikiai –
Kurtuvėnai and then on Riga. By that time, the 90th Rifle Division had virtually ceased to exist and in Riga the
22nd Motor Rifle Division NKVD was added to the corps. Within three days of the case were fighting for Riga, but July 1, 1941 finally left the city. Its next major engagement was the
Tallinn frontline defensive operation (1941). The corps' headquarters was disbanded on September 14. The corps was destroyed in the early fighting of Operation Barbarossa but reformed twice. It was reformed in October 1942, but disbanded in December, then reformed in February 1943, serving until the war ended in May 1945. == Later formations and postwar ==