13th Army ( Soviet Union ) The 13th Army ( Russian : 13 - я армия " 13 - ya armiya " ) was a name given to several field armies of the Soviet Union ' s Red Army , first created during the Russian Civil War . Later armies existed until the 1990s , and the army survived as part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces for some years . Russian Civil War . It was first formed from the Kursk direction group of forces which was later assigned the group under leadership of I . S . Kozhevnikov arriving from the frontlines of the First World War . After its assignment to the Southern Front in December 1918 it was renamed as the Donetsk group of forces in February 1919 , and in March reformed as the 13th Army . The Army under command of the V . I . Selivachev group until September , together with the 8th Army , while the Southern Front was renamed as the Southwestern in January 1920 . In September 1920 it was assigned to the newly created Southern Front at that time fighting against Vrangel . During the Civil War the Army ' s force structure was highly dynamic with most subunits operating as part of operational groups . These included Special ( reserve ) group ( two regiments and a battery ) , Left group ( two divisions , cavalry and infantry brigades ) , Shock group ( Latvian division , Cossack cavalry brigade and separate brigade ) , and Perekopskaya group ( Latvian and 3rd divisions , 8th cavalry division , Nesterov group , and later 52nd division and 85th brigade of the 29th division ) . This group fought on the approaches to Crimea , and experienced many changes , at one time including a group of armoured trains and the 1st Cavalry corps , but was eventually split between the Ekaterinoslav direction group of forces and the 6th Army . The rest of the 13th fought towards the southern coast of the Black sea between Perekop and north - east of Odessa . In October 1920 the army lost many of its units to the 2nd Cavalry Army , and in November of the same year it was merged into the 4th Army . Its last location of headquarters was in the city of Slavyansk . This first 13th Army participated in operations spanning an area from southern Kursk gubernia to Crimea , fought Denikin , the Don nationalist Cossacks and Vrangel , participated in the offensive into Donbass , and its defence , and in the counter - offensive in Southern Tavria . Russo - Finnish War . The 13th Army was created again at the end of December 1939 as a " separate 13th Army " in the course of the Soviet advance into the Karelian Ishtmus when the 7th Army was split into two , and also renamed separate , after being substantially reinforced . As part of the 1940 February Vyborg offensive they were coordinated by the North Western Front in Leningrad , both armies were able to breach either first or second defensive positions in the Mannerheim Line , but were unable to breach the main position . The separate 13th Army was allocated three of the eight rifle corps assigned to the operation . World War II . The 13th Army ( Ist formation ) headquarters was formed in May 1941 in the Western Special Military District , starting on 5 May in Mogilev in accordance with the decision of Central Committee of the Communist Party and Sovnarkom of the USSR No . 1113 - 460cc . dated 23 April 1941 In the beginning of June General - Leytenant Piyotor Filatov arrived to take command . From the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the Army included the 21st Rifle Corps , 50th Rifle Division , the 8th Anti - Tank Artillery Brigade and a number of other separate units . From the end of June 1941 the Army conducted defensive operations in the Minsk Fortified Region , on the Borisov direction and on the Dnieper river . The formation conducted operations as part of the Soviet Western Front and the Soviet Central Front . Parts of the Army held up the Wehrmacht advance for almost three weeks near Mogilyev . The 172nd Rifle Division under General Romanov especially distinguished itself in the combat . Parts of the Army participated in the Battle of Smolensk 10 July to 10 September 1941 . During September and October 1941 the Army was operating as part of the Bryansk Front and included the 6th Rifle Division . The Army fought as part of the Soviet Central Front in the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 under General N . P . Pukhov , numbering four corps with twelve rifle divisions ( including the 75th Guards Rifle Division ) . The Army finished its war service in Germany within the 1st Ukrainian Front in 1945 , consisting of the 24th Rifle Corps ( 117th Rifle Division , 380th Rifle Division , 395th Rifle Division ) , 27th Rifle Corps ( 6th Guards Rifle Division and 121st Guards Rifle Division ) , 102nd Rifle Corps ( 147th Rifle Division and 172nd Rifle Divisions , which took part in the Battle of Halbe ) , 17th Artillery Division , and many other smaller artillery and other formations . Soviet Army . The Army , which was awarded the Order of the Red Banner after the Soviet victory , was located for the entire postwar period in the Lviv and Carpathian Military District s , initially comprising three Rifle Corps with a total of nine rifle divisions . From 1947 to 1949 it was commanded by General Issa Pliyev who was a renowned commander of several Cavalry mechanized group s during the war . It was for much of this period headquartered at Rovno . Almost all its divisions were Guards formations : the 17th , 51st , 97th ( the former 40th , 15th , and 97th Rifle Divisions ) . Only the 24th ( subsequently resubordinated to Military District control ) and the 161st Rifle Division were not Guards , but both were renowned combat formations . Also part of the army in 1988 were the 119th and 442nd Independent Helicopter Regiments ( Mi - 24s ) , 62nd Anti - Aircraft Rocket Brigade , 49th Independent Engineer Regiment , and 38th Rocket Brigade . On the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the army , its facilities and most of the equipment was transferred to the newly - sovereign Ukraine . Ukrainian Army . The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence chose to retain the Army and its formations for some time . On 18 March 1992 , in accordance with Decree No . 161 of the President of Ukraine , General Major ШУЛЯКА Petra ( Петра ) Івановича was assigned as the army commander . The reorganisation of 17th Guards MRD as 15th Mechanised Brigade may have occurred as late as 2004 . 83rd Guards Motor Rifle Division was disbanded . However , by 1997 the Army was substantially reduced in size and renamed the 13th Army Corps .