22nd Army ( Russia ) The 22nd Army was a field army of the Russian Ground Forces , part of the Moscow Military District . It was active from 1941 to 2010 . The order for the formation ' s dissolution was signed by the Minister of Defence on 1 July 2009 . Originally it was formed in June 1941 within the Red Army and it comprised 51st Rifle Corps ( 98th , 112th , and 153rd Rifle Divisions ) and 62nd Rifle Corps ( 170th , 174th , and 186th Rifle Division s ) , and several separate regiments , including the 336th and 545th Corps Artillery Regiments . Headquarters was at Velikiye Luki by 22 June 1941 , and General Lieutenant F . A . Yershakov took command ( who would direct the army until August 1941 ) . Lenski notes that it was then made part of the ' Group of armies of the Reserve of the Main Command ' . During the Battle of Smolensk ( 1941 ) , six rifle divisions of the army fought fiercely against what victory . mil . ru describes as sixteen Wehrmacht divisions , including three tank and three motorized , and under their assault 22nd Army was forced to retreat . On July 16 , 1941 , the Germans managed to surround the 51st Rifle Corps , and on July 20 , to seize Velikiye Luki . 48th Tank Division joined the Army by August 1 , 1941 . As part of the Soviet Western Front , since October , 17th the Kalinin Front , the Army conducted defensive operations on the Idritsa – Drissa – Vitebsk frontier , participated in the Battle of Smolensk , the Kalinin defensive operation , and the Battles of Rzhev - Operation Mars in 1942 . General Major V . A . Yushkevich again took command in April 1942 , after previously commanding the army in August – October 1941 . 3rd Mechanised Corps under General Major M . Ye . Katukov joined the Army in September 1942 when it was formed , though it was later reassigned . The Army ' s task as part of Operation Mars was as part of what in Soviet parlance was the ' Bely Offensive Operation in conjunction with 39th Army . Spearheaded by the 3rd Mechanised Corps , the army was tasked to : ' advance eastward up the Luchesa River valley , pierce the German defenses , assist in the capture of Bely , and encircle German forces around Olenino in conjunction with 39th Army . ' ' Early on 25 November , 22nd Army , with over 50 , 000 men and 270 tanks of 3rd Mechanised Corps , assaulted eastward up the Luchesa River valley . Attacking along a narrow corridor flanked by forests and frozen swamps , Soviet forces tore a gaping hole through German defences and drove German forces eastward up the valley . General Yushkevich ' s attack was spearheaded by Colonel I . V . Karpov ' s 238th Rifle Division and two regiments of Colonel M . F . Andryushenko ' s 185th Rifle Division , supported by a tank brigade of General Katukov ' s mechanised corps . The combined force routed a regiment of the German 86th Infantry Division and punctured the German front . ' In 1943 , the Army fought as part of the North - Western Front since April 21 , then from October 13 as part of the Baltic Front , which became 2nd Baltic Front on October 20 , 1943 . 22nd Army defended the river Lovat , and participated in operations at Kholm , Velikiye Luki , Leningrad - Novgorod , Staraya Russa – Novorzhev , and Rezhitsa – Dvina . It then took part in the Riga Offensive Operation , part of the Baltic Offensive . Since October 1944 , together with the other armies of the Front it carried out the blockade of the German Army Group Courland in the Courland Pocket . One of the Army ' s rifle corps was the Latvian 130th Rifle Corps that included two rifle divisions in which served a large number of Latvians in their ranks who would soon be facing their opposites in the Latvian 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS . Immediately after the war ended , its HQ along with the 109th Rifle Division arrived in the South Ukraine in May 1945 . In the Northern summer of 1945 , together with the headquarters of the Separate Coastal Army , located in the Crimea , it was reorganised as the new but short - lived Tavricheskiy Military District . Its wartime commanders were : Post Cold War . The 22nd Army Headquarters was reformed from the previous 13th Guards Army Corps in the early 1990s in the Moscow Military District at Nizhny Novgorod . Initially it controlled the 31st Tank Division , withdrawn from the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia and the 47th Guards Tank Division formerly from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , as well as the 166th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade ( Tver ) ( which was formerly the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Division with the Northern Group of Forces in Poland ) , the 211th Artillery Brigade , the 918th Multiple Rocket Launcher Regiment , ( both at Mulino ) and two helicopter regiments . However , manpower levels were low ; the tank divisions were reported to be at an establishment of 2 , 193 each and the 166th Motor Rifle Brigade at 3 , 638 . By June 1998 the two tank divisions had been merged as the new 3rd Motor Rifle Division , and the new division was designated at as ' constant readiness ' formation , to be maintained at at least 80 % strength . Also , the 166th Motor Rifle Brigade has now been reduced to a storage base as the 70th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment ( VkhVT ) . Composition in 2000s . The army headquarters was disbanded in 2010 as part of wider reforms of the Russian Ground Forces , and it appears HQ 20th Guards Army is moving to its previous facilities in the Nizhy Novogorod area .