It was formed on December 5, 1942 by the redesignation of the 1st Guards Army (Second formation), in accordance with a Stavka order dated the same day, as part of the Southwestern Front. Lieutenant General Dmitry Lelyushenko was appointed to command the formation, and held the reins until March 1943 (and subsequently from August 1943 to February 1944). Up to the middle of December the army comprised the 14th Rifle Corps, 50th Guards, 197th, 203rd and 278th Rifle Divisions, 90th and 94th Separate Rifle Brigades, the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps, the 22nd Motor Rifle Brigade and three separate tank regiments. It began combat operations during Operation Little Saturn in mid-December, defeating German troops on the Middle Don and frustrating Operation Winter Storm, a German attempt to relieve the 6th Army trapped in the Stalingrad Pocket created by the Soviet counteroffensive in the Battle of Stalingrad, Operation Uranus. During January and February 1943, it fought in the Operation Gallop, then defended the line of the Donets. Major General Georgy Khetagurov held command from March to August.