16th Army ( Soviet Union ) The 16th Army was a Soviet field army active from 1940 to 1945 . First Formation , 16th Army . The 16th Army Headquarters was formed in July 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District to command Soviet forces deployed in the Dauriya area . On 25 May 1941 , four weeks prior to the commencement of the German invasion of the Soviet Union , Operation Barbarossa , the army received orders to deploy ( with six Trans - Baikalian divisions ) to the Ukraine to be subordinated to the Kiev Special Military District . The first 16th Army units to arrive ( 109th Motorized Division of the 5th Mechanized Corps ) detrained in Berdichev on 18 June 1941 . The Army was commanded by Lieutenant - General М . F . Lukin , and on 22 June the Army Headquarters was located in Orel . Soon after the commencement of Operation Barbarossa a crisis situation developed on the Western Front sector of the frontline , and on 26 June 1941 16th Army was ordered to redeploy to the area of Orsha - Smolensk . However , the breakthrough of the German 11 Panzer Division in the direction of Ostrov during the afternoon of 26 June required an emergency response . Lukin took part of the 109th Motorised Division directly from disembarkation from the trains and directed them towards the enemy . The units involved were designated " Group Lukin . " On 1 July 1941 16th Army consisted of the 32nd Rifle Corps ( with the 46th and 152nd Rifle Divisions ) , two artillery regiments , and the 5th Mechanised Corps ( 13th and 17th Tank Divisions and the 109th Mechanised Division ) . 126th Corps Artillery Regiment and the 112th Separate Anti - aircraft Artillery Battalion . Most of the 16th Army began concentrating in the region of Smolensk , but the 5th Mechanised Corps was transferred to the 20th Army and participated in the counterattack at Lepel 6 – 9 July . After the breakthrough of German mechanized troops to Smolensk , on 14 July Marshal S . К . Timoshenko ordered Lukin to take command of all units in the garrison city of Smolensk , as well as units arriving in the city by rail and units in the defensive sector directly adjacent to the city . Communication with the rear could be maintained only through Solovyovsk across a wooded and swampy area south of Yartsevo . Street fighting began . The Army HQ was disbanded on 8 August 1941 after encirclement ( the Battle of Smolensk ( 1941 ) ) just west of Smolensk as part of the Western Front . Second Formation , 16th Army . As part of a restructuring of the forces of Western Front , on 10 August 1941 the second formation of 16 Army was created from forces in the Yartsevo area and placed under the command of Major - General Konstantin Rokossovsky . In September 1941 the newly promoted Lieutenant - General Rokossovsky was tasked with defending the Volokolamsk Highway , and preventing any advance by German forces towards Moscow . By late November , 16th Army had gradually been forced back to the line Krasnaya Polyana - Kryukovo - Istra , but here it held firm until the Red Army went over to the offensive in December . In January 1942 the Army conducted an offensive on the Gzhatsk axis . In the second half of January 1942 , the forces of 16 Army were transferred to the command of 5th Army , and 16 Army Headquarters was deployed to the area of Sukhinichi , where the Army HQ took command of some of the troops and defensive positions of 10th Army . By February the frontline positions in the Sukhinichi area had stabilized . On 15 July 1942 , Rokossovsky was transferred to take command of the Bryansk Front as part of new command arrangements made by Soviet High Command in response to the disastrous Battle of Voronezh ( 1942 ) . General Zhukov , the commander of Western Front , requested that STAVKA appoint Lieutenant - General Hovhannes Bagramyan , the deputy commander of the right flank 61st Army as the commander of the 16th Army in Rokossovsky ' s place . On 11 August 1942 German forces mounted a surprise offensive on the southern flank of Western Front , splitting 61st Army from 16th Army , which was not taking part in the Rzhev - Sychevka Offensive Operation . The German forces threatened Bagramyan ' s left flank and he reacted quickly , moving his forces to counter the German threat and halting their advance on 9 September . Until May 1943 the troops of the Army conducted defensive and offensive battles on the Zhizdrinsky District axis . . On 1 May 1943 , on the basis of Stavka directives of 16 April 1943 , the army was reorganized into the 11th Guards Army in the Western Front . Third Formation , 16th Army . 16th Army was formed for the third time on 10 July 1943 in the Far Eastern Front and was based on the Special Rifle Corps . From the spring of 1945 the Army was responsible for the defense of the Soviet state border with Japan on the island of Sakhalin , and also along the mainland coast of the Tatar Strait from Sovetskaya Gavan to Nikolaevsk - on - Amur . On 5 August 1945 , 16 Army incorporating 56 Rifle Corps , 3rd , 103 th and 104 th fortified areas , 5th and 113th separate infantry brigades , 214th Tank Brigade , and a number of separate infantry , tank , artillery and other units , was subordinated to the newly formed 2nd Far East Front . 56th Rifle Corps , under General Lieutenant J . V . Novoselsky , consisted of 79th Rifle Division , 2nd Rifle Brigade , the Sakhalin Rifle Regiment , the 6th Battalion ( infantry ) and other formations and units . During the Soviet - Japanese War in cooperation with the Russian Pacific Fleet 16 Army advanced into Japanese - held South Sakhalin in the Yuzhno - Sakhalinsk operation , and its forces were involved in the Kuril landing operation in 1945 . On 1 October 1945 the Army was subordinated to the Far Eastern Military District and within a month was disbanded .