52nd Army (Soviet Union)

It was created on 25 August 1941 from the headquarters of the 25th Rifle Corps and defended north of Novgorod.

Stavka released the 52nd Army to subordination of the Steppe Front in July 1943, and the 52nd Army thereafter fought in Ukraine, southern Poland, southeastern Germany, and finally in northern Czechoslovakia.

[1] At the beginning of the Battle of Bautzen, on April 21, 1945, the Germans drove in between the Polish 2nd Army and the 52nd Army around Bautzen, some 40 kilometers (25 mi) north-east of Dresden and 25 kilometers (16 mi) west of Görlitz, sweeping the Soviet units of the 48th Rifle Corps, and driving towards Spremberg.

[3] Subsequently, the 52nd Army took part in the advance on Prague with the 1st Ukrainian Front.

Postwar, the army was moved to Poland with its headquarters in Kraków.

Front cover of the 52nd Army newspaper issue of 17 June 1944