The 1st Airborne Corps was formed in April 1941 from the 1st, 204th and 211th Airborne Brigades in the
Kiev Special Military District, commanded by Major General
Matvei Usenko. It was temporarily moved to Odessa Military District in preparation for a possible invasion of Romania but moved back to Kiev within a short period. After
Operation Barbarossa, the corps fought to defend
Kiev from the advancing
Army Group South, along with the
5th Army and the
6th Army. After being reinforced by the
2nd and
3rd Airborne Corps, the corps fought in the
Battle of Kiev. It was almost surrounded during the German encirclement of Kiev and was disbanded afterwards on 6 August. The corps was reformed in early September and conducted training around
Saratov. On 24 November, it was subordinated to
Western Front High Command. On the next day, the corps left Saratov for new bases near Moscow in the vicinity of the
Lyubertsy airfield. In December, it participated in airborne operations to disrupt German troops around Moscow. Between 16 and 17 February 1942, the 204th Airborne Brigade's 4th Battalion was airdropped in the
Rzhev operation. During late February and early March, the corps fought around Demyansk. During the Demyansk fighting, the corps was sent behind German lines in an unsuccessful operation to capture airfields supplying the Demyansk Pocket, but suffered heavy losses with only 900 out of 8,500 men in the corps returning to Soviet lines. In August, the corps was converted into the
37th Guards Rifle Division and fought at
Stalingrad. The corps was reformed in fall 1942. On 8 December, its units were used to form two new guards airborne divisions. Its 1st, 204th, and 211th Airborne Brigades were used to form the
9th Guards Airborne Division. Its headquarters became a part of the
4th Guards Airborne Division. == References ==