The Army was formed from the 27th Army on 25 December 1941 (1st formation) within the Northwestern Front. On 1 October 1942 it included the 249th, 332nd, 334th, 358th and 360th Rifle Divisions, 21st Rifle Brigade, a number of separate tank battalions, the 66th, 67th, 68th, and 69th separate ski battalions, artillery and other subunits.
History
The army defended the line along the eastern shore of lakes Velye and Seliger. It participated in the Toropets–Kholm Offensive between January and February 1942. For the offensive, it included the 249th, 332nd, 334th, 358th and 360th Rifle Divisions, 21st, 39th, 48th and 51st rifle brigades, two tank battalions, two rocket launcher battalions (batteries), and two RGK artillery regiments. The army was reassigned to the reassigned to the Kalinin Front on 22 January 1942. The front was redesignated as the 1st Baltic Front on 20 October 1943. During the Byelorussian Strategic Offensive (1943), the army participated in the Nevel Offensive, Gorodok Offensive, and the Polotsk–Vitebsk Offensive. During the second half of 1944 the army was reassigned to the 2nd Baltic (4 July), and 1st Baltic (from 8 August) fronts, participating in the Rezhitsa–Dvinsk Offensive, the Riga Offensive, and the Memel Offensive. The blockade of the Courland Pocket was its final combat operation. During the latter, the army was reassigned to the 2nd Baltic Front on 9 February 1945 and then to the Leningrad Front on 1 April 1945. From the Baltic in the summer of 1945, the army was dispatched to northern Kazakhstan, where its headquarters formed the basis of the new Steppe Military District (on 9 May 1945? – source Ruwiki). Two rifle corps and six rifle divisions arrived alongside the army.[1]
Battle composition
4th Shock Army Separate reserve battalion airfield services (4 March 1942 to 28 April 1942). Reformed as the 832nd Separate Battalion of Airfield Services 28 April 1942.[2]
320 separate ski-destroyer battalion
262 - 266 separate ski battalions (February to May 1942)[3]