Red Army On 6 August 1941, a
Stavka directive ordered the formation of the 49th Army. One day later the army was formed as part of the
Reserve Front, based on the
35th Rifle Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General
Ivan Zakharkin. The army initially comprised
194th Mountain Rifle Division,
220th,
248th,
298th Rifle Divisions, the 4th People's Militia Division, 396th Corps Artillery Regiment, and other units. By 17 August 1941 the army was deployed in the rear of the
Western Front, concentrated in the
Dorogobuzh area with the task of manning the reserve defensive line of the front. On 1 October, the army was transferred to the direct subordination of
Stavka and renamed the "49th Reserve Army," but was moved back to the Reserve Front on 7 October. A day later, the army was transferred to the
Western Front and saw its first combat in the
Mozhaisk-Maloyaroslavets Defensive Operation, which lasted until 30 October. In fierce fighting from 14 to 20 November, the 49th Army was able to weaken the advancing German
XIII Army Corps, finally stopping it in early December on the line west of
Serpukhov and Sukhodol, 20 kilometers southeast of
Aleksin. During the Soviet counteroffensive at Moscow, the army fought in the
Tula Offensive between 6 and 16 December, and the
Kaluga Offensive between 17 December and 5 January 1942. The army became part of the
Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany when it was formed on 9 June, with headquarters at
Wittenburg. Between July and August 1945, the army was relocated to
Gorky Oblast and disbanded there in August. Its headquarters was used to form the headquarters of the
Gorky Military District.
Russian Ground Forces In 1990, there were three army corps in the
North Caucasus Military District. Among them was the
12th Army Corps at
Krasnodar, commanding the
9th Motor Rifle Division. 12th Army Corps had been formed by redesignation of 12th Rifle Corps in 1957. In May 1992, the 12th Army Corps became the 49th Army. 49th Army was then later redesignated
67th Army Corps on 1 October 1994. Its headquarters was established in the former Stavropol Institute of Communications of the
Strategic Rocket Forces. Major General
Sergey Kuralenko was appointed commander by a decree of January 9, 2011, with Major General
Viktor Astapov as first deputy commander. According to warfare.ru, 49CAA (listed at Stavropol/Maikop) had under control in late 2011 the
4th Guards and
7th Military Bases (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) and the
8th (former
Taman Guards Motor Rifle Division),
33rd and 34th separate Mountain Motor Rifle Brigades (Borzoi, Chechnya, Maikop, and Storozhevaya-2), as well as the 66th Communications Brigade. In May 2012, Army deputy commander
Viktor Astapov became the commander of the 49th Army. On 30 December 2013, Army deputy commander Major General Sergey Sevryukov became commander of the 49th Army. , milkavkaz identified the following as part of the army: • Headquarters,
Military Unit Number (MUN) 35181 (
Stavropol) •
205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade, MUN 74814 (
Budyonnovsk) •
34th Separate Motor Rifle (Mountain) Brigade, MUN 01485 (Storozhevaya-2,
Zelenchuksky District,
Karachay-Cherkessia) •
1st Guards Rocket Brigade, MUN 31853 (Molkino, Krasnodar Krai; equipped with
Iskander-M) •
227th Artillery Brigade, MUN 21797 (
Krasnooktyabrsky) • , MUN 41600 (Stavropol) • , MUN 54821 (
Afipsky; equipped with
Buk-M2) • 99th Separate Material and Technical Support Brigade, MUN 72153 (Maykop) • 19th Separate
Spetsnaz Company (Stavropol) (82760) • 32nd Engineer-Sapper Regiment, MUN 23094 (Afipsky) • 17th NBC Protection Regiment (
Krasnodar Krai) • 95th Separate Electronic Warfare Battalion (
Mozdok) •
7th Military Base (Abkhazia, Russian-occupied Georgia) In 2023 49 CAA was identified with: •
205th Separate Cossack Motor Rifle Brigade (в/ч 74814) •
34th Separate Motor Rifle (Mountain) Brigade (в/ч 01485) •
7th Military Base (в/ч 09332) • 227th Artillery Brigade (в/ч 13714) • 1st Missile Brigade (в/ч 31853) • (в/ч 54821)
Involvement in Russian invasion of Ukraine According to
David Axe of
Forbes, as of July 2022, the 49th Combined Arms Army was the main Russian force in the
Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and consisted of as many as 10,000 troops. It was claimed on 25 March 2022 by
Oleksiy Arestovych that the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army,
Yakov Rezantsev, was killed during
a series of Ukrainian strikes on the
Kherson International Airport. However, as of February 2023, Rezantsev was listed as alive in a Ukrainian war criminals database. As of June 2023, Colonel Sergey Vasilyevich Leonov was the acting army commander. == Commanders ==