[1] Formed in June 1941, the 25th Army did not see combat until the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, when it advanced into northern Korea.

After World War II it was responsible for the Soviet Civil Administration in the northern Korean Peninsula, and helped establish a Communist state in North Korea under the rule of Kim Il Sung.

[2] It was formed in the Soviet Far East Front on the basis of the headquarters of the 43rd Rifle Corps (in Primorsky Krai) on 20 June 1941 in accordance with an order of 8 March.

On 5 August, the army became part of the 1st Far East Front, which was redesignated from the Maritime Group of Forces in preparation for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

Between 18 and 20 August, the army disarmed surrendered Japanese troops, and was redeployed to the Pyongyang area at the end of the month.

[9] The division of Korea between the United States and the Soviet Union after the defeat of Japan had been agreed to at the Tehran Conference in 1943.

Under the Soviet Civil Administration the 25th Army helped place Kim Il Sung and the Korean Workers' Party into power.

[10] In late 1948, the army was withdrawn from North Korea and stationed in southern Primorsky Krai on the Korean and Chinese borders, as well as on the Peter the Great Gulf coast.