28th Guards Rifle Corps


The 28th Guards Rifle Corps was an elite Guards rifle corps of the Red Army during World War II. It existed from 1943 to 1956.

History

The corps headquarters was renamed from that of the 15th Rifle Corps on 16 April 1943 and became part of the 8th Guards Army, which served with for the rest of its existence. Its previous divisions were replaced with the 39th, 79th, and 88th Guards Rifle Divisions. The division entered combat on the Southwestern Front on 19 July 1943 on the right bank of the Seversky Donets in the Izyum bridgehead. It fought in the Donbass Strategic Offensives in August and September, and in October fought in the elimination of the German bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper at the city of Zaporozhye, the Zaporozhye Offensive. For its actions in the latter, the corps' 88th Guards Rifle Division received the name of the city as an honorific. On 24 October the corps crossed the Dnieper and on the next day the 39th Guards and the 152nd Rifle Division of the 46th Army captured Dnepropetrovsk. 15 soldiers of the corps were made Heroes of the Soviet Union for their actions in the fighting, among them Lieutenant Colonel Yu.M. Mazny, Captain V.A. Belyayev, Senior Sergeant V.S. Kashcheyev, and Sergeant A.I. Paradovich.
In the spring of 1944, the corps fought in the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive and the Odessa Offensive. For their actions in the breakthrough of Axis defenses on the Inhulets River divisions of the corps were decorated. In April the corps defended the east bank of the Dniester Estuary, and in May replaced elements of the 5th Guards Army in the bridgehead on the right bank of the Dniester in the area of Grigoriopol. In June the corps and the 8th Guards Army were shifted to the left wing of the 1st Belorussian Front. During the Lublin–Brest Offensive, the corps broke through German defenses west of Kovel, crossed the Western Bug, entered Polish territory, and captured Lublin on 24 July. For its "courage in these battles," the corps received the name of Lublin as an honorific on 9 August. On 1 August the forces of the corps crossed the Vistula and captured the Magnuszew bridgehead.
In the Warsaw–Poznan Offensive of January 1945, the corps attacked from the bridgehead on 14 January and advanced on Poznań. On 2 February its units crossed the Oder near Reitwein, 10 km south of Kustrin and in February and March fought to retain its bridgehead. For its "courage and heroism" in these operations the 28th Guards Corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 19 February 1945 and corps commander Lieutenant General Alexander Ryzhov and corps artillery commander Colonel A.G. Timoshenko were made Heroes of the Soviet Union. The corps subsequently fought in the Berlin Offensive, during which they captured 11,000 German soldiers. For its actions the corps was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class, on 11 June and all of its division received the Order of Lenin on 28 May.

Commanders