The 1st Shock Army was formed as part of the
Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK, the
Stavka reserve) at Zagorsk (now
Sergiyev Posad) in the
Moscow Military District in November 1941. Taking part in the
Battle of Moscow in December 1941, on 1 December the Army consisted of the
133rd Rifle Division, 29th, 44th, 47th, 50th, 55th, 56th, 71st, and
84th Rifle Brigades,
17th Cavalry Division, two tank battalions, an artillery regiment of the Stavka reserve, and other support units. All the rifle brigades were formed from the naval personnel of the
Pacific Fleet. 1st Shock Army was then airlifted to
Staraya Russa and fought at
Demyansk in 1942. Fighting in the north-central areas of the front, the 1st Shock Army again fought near Staraya Russa in 1944. From 1942 through 1944, the army took part in many attacks such as the
Leningrad–Novgorod, Pskov-Ostrov,
Tartu, and
Riga offensives. Fighting through the Baltic States, the 1st Shock Army finished the war as part of the
Courland Group of Forces that had trapped the German Army Group Kurland in the northern reaches of
Latvia. In January 1945, the 1st Shock Army comprised the 112th Rifle Corps (
44th, 98th Rifle Divisions), 119th Rifle Corps (
53rd Guards, 374th,
376th Rifle Divisions), the
377th Rifle Division, and the 118th and 155th Fortified Regions. 108th, 7th, 119th, and 123rd Rifle Corps all fought the Germans around Staroselye in April. This offensive was part of maintaining pressure on the
Courland Pocket. In May 1945, the 1st Shock Army commanded four
Rifle Corps: the
1st (
306th,
344th, and
357th Rifle Divisions),
8th Estonian (
7th and
249th Estonian Rifle Divisions),
119th (
201st,
360th and
374th Rifle Divisions), and
123rd (
21st Guards and
376th Rifle Divisions), totaling ten rifle divisions. The 1st Shock Army had by that point been strongly reinforced with three artillery divisions, a corps artillery brigade, a tank brigade, and seven regiments of tanks and assault guns. 1st Shock Army was disbanded by being redesignated Headquarters
Turkestan Military District on 9 July 1945. ==Second World War commanders==