Red Army Timeline of Events

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Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to the traditional colour of the workers' movement...

Timeline of Events

1918

2.23.1918

First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser's German troops near Narva and Pskov. In honor of this victory, the date is celebrated from 1923 onward as "Red Army Day"; it is renamed Defender of the Fatherland Day after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and is colloquially known as "Men's Day".

1920

5.7.1920

Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.

8.13.1920

Polish-Soviet War: the Battle of Warsaw begins and will last till August 25. The Red Army is defeated.

8.25.1920

Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, which began on August 13, ends. The Red Army is defeated.

1921

7.11.1921

The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.

1939

9.22.1939

Joint victory parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk at the end of the Invasion of Poland.

1941

10.23.1941

World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the Wehrmacht from capturing Moscow.

1942

5.12.1942

World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov: in eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a major offensive from the Izium bridgehead, only to be encircled and destroyed by the troops of Army Group South two weeks later.

1943

2.2.1943

World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to conclusion as Soviet troops accept the surrender of 91,000 remnants of the Axis forces.

2.16.1943

World War II: Red Army troops re-enter Kharkov.

1944

7.3.1944

World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.

9.22.1944

World War II: the Red Army enters Tallinn.

10.13.1944

World War II: Riga, the capital of Latvia is liberated by the Red Army.

10.23.1944

World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.

1945

1.18.1945

Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army.

1.19.1945

World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź ghetto. Out more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.

1.27.1945

World War II: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.

2.13.1945

World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.

3.30.1945

World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.

4.16.1945

The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin.

1988

5.15.1988

Soviet war in Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

2007

4.27.2007

Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.