The army was formed twice during the war, disbanded as part of the post-war demobilization and then reformed in 1969 to protect the Soviet-Chinese border.

The army was formed on 16 July 1941 in the Moscow Military District near the cities of Naro-Fominsk, Kubinka, and the settlement of Dorokhovo.

[2] On 3 October the army was heavily engaged in a defensive battle against German forces advancing on Vyazma as part of the northern wing of Operation Typhoon.

The army was formed from the Medvezhegorshaya and Maselskaya Operational Groups of the Karelian Front.

When Finland was knocked out of the war on 19 September 1944 the army was relegated to guarding the Finnish border.