2nd Guards Army The 2nd Guards Army was a field army of the Soviet Union ' s Red Army that fought in World War II , notably at Stalingrad . 2nd Guards Army was formed according to the order of the Staff of the Supreme High Command ( STAVKA ) from October 23 , 1942 on the basis of the 1st Reserve Army . Formation and training took place in the Tambov , Michurinsk and Morshansk areas . The Army initially comprised the 1st Guards Rifle Corps - 24th , 33rd Guards and 98th Rifle Division s under Guards General - Major I . I . Missan , and the 13th Guards Rifle Corps with the 49th , 3rd Guards and 387th Rifle Division s . By the time of the Battle of Stalingrad , the 2nd Guards Army had become the most powerful force in the Red Army . The 2nd Guards Army appeared on the scene after the Soviet Operation Uranus had successfully encircled the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad in November 1942 . In December 1942 , as preparations started for Operation Saturn , the 2nd Guards Army was ordered by an impatient Joseph Stalin to get ready for the attack on Rostov . The assault and capture of Rostov was the ultimate goal of the Red Army for Operation Saturn . In December 1942 , plans for Operation Saturn had to be altered . The German Operation Wintergewitter , led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein ' s Army Group Don , made an attack on the Stalingrad Front in an effort to relieve the Sixth Army in Stalingrad . Thus , Operation Saturn was changed to Operation Little Saturn , which was to be a counter - attack that would be launched as soon as Operation Wintergewitter subsides . The German forces , spearheaded by Army Group Hoth , made rapid initial advances but was stalled at the Myshkova River . Colonel - General Hermann Hoth ' s panzer divisions were at a standstill and were suffering heavy casualties , even before the bulk of the 2nd Guards Army had arrived . By this time , Manstein realized that the operation was doomed . The 2nd Guards Army , under General Rodion Malinovsky , had been transferred to Stalingrad Front to halt the offensive . Stalin had agreed to this decision . After Operation Wintergewitter had petered out , Soviet forces in the South - West Front led by the First Guards Army successfully launched Operation Little Saturn against the Italian Eighth Army . After that , the 2nd Guards Army and the 51st Army launched another counter - offensive , this time against Army Group Hoth , right before Christmas 1942 . Not only had Operation Wintergewitter been halted , the Red Army had made substantial gains against Army Group Hoth , Army Group Don , and also Army Group A in the Caucasus that month . Until late 1943 , the 2nd Guards Mechanised Corps was operating as part of the army . The 2nd Guards Army made a very significant contribution to the Soviet halt of Operation Wintergewitter and the successful counter - attacks that followed . In February 1944 , the Army relocated to the area of the Perekop Isthmus . The Crimean Offensive was launched across the Perekop Isthmus on 8 April 1944 by elements of the 2nd Guards Army and 51st Army , under the 4th Ukrainian Front . In cooperation with other troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front and the Black Sea Fleet , Sevastopol was liberated on May 9 . In May and June the 2nd Guards Army was relocated to the area of the cities Dorogobuzh Elnya . On May 20 , was in reserve Supreme Command , on July 8 was a part of the 1st Baltic Front . By that time , it consisted of the 11th and the 13th and 54th Guards Rifle Corps . In this structure , on 5 – 20 July 1944 took part in the Vilnius Offensive / operation at the end of July , in Siauliai offensive reflect enemy counterattacks west and north - west of Siauliai . In October , participated in Memel offensive . On December 20 it was reassigned to the 3rd Belorussian Front . On 1 December 1944 the army , part of 1st Baltic Front , consisted of 11th Guards Rifle Corps ( 2nd , 32nd and 33rd Guards Rifle Division s ) , 13th Guards Rifle Corps ( 3rd , 24th и 87 гв . , 16th Rifle Division ) , 1st Rifle Corps ( 145th , 306th , and 357th Rifle Divisions ) , artillery ( including 21st Artillery Breakthrough Division and 2nd Anti - Aircraft Artillery Division ) , tank forces , and other formations and units . In January - April 1945 , during the East Prussian Offensive the army broke through long - term strategic defenses , eliminated in conjunction with other troops surrounded the front of its group ( south - west of Königsberg and Samland group ) . After the war ended , 2nd Guards Army , numbering six rifle divisions in two corps , was withdrawn to the Moscow Military District where it was eventually disbanded in September 1945 .