Some news regarding the structure of the Russian Armed Forces. Apparently, the 1st and the 2nd Army Corps (i.e. the former armies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, respectively) are likely to have been reformed into Combined Arms Armies. This is not officially confirmed yet either from the Russian MoD or from Ukrainian sources, but at this point I would say there is enough evidence to report this.
Two weeks ago, a lot of channels linked to the “Akhmat” galaxy as well as Kadyrov himself began mentioning the “3rd Combined Arms Army” (CAA) as part of the Southern Military District.
Specifically, the first post is dated July 12 and mentions the 4th [Motorized] Brigade as part of the 3rd CAA.
https://t.me/AptiAlaudinovAKHMAT/4909
It’s well known that until now this brigade was part of the 2nd Corps. At first I thought it was a mistake, but subsequent publications have changed my mind. Even this channel (in spite of the not-yet-updated name), which until mid July was mentioning the 4th Brigade as part of the 2nd Corps, has started referring to this brigade as part of the 3rd Army: this cannot be a mistake.
https://t.me/medsluzba_speznaz_akhmat/86
By the way, the 4th Motorized Brigade (a historical brigade of the LPR Army, based in Khrustalnyi in Luhansk Oblast), currently active in the southern flank of the Chasiv Yar sector, is often mentioned by Akhmat-related channels as it works closely with Akhmat units such as the 78th Motorized Regiment “Sever-Akhmat” and detachments of the “Akhmat Special Forces”. The commander of the “Akhmat Special Forces” (Major General Apti Alaudinov) was the deputy commander of the 2nd Corps until April. In general, Kadyrov’s men have quite some influence in the 2nd Corps.
This channel, too, run by the commander of the “Shustrogo” Detachment of the “Akhmat Special Forces” as well as of the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Motorized Brigade, recently updated the bio, mentioning the 4th Brigade as part of the 3rd CAA.
I investigated on VK and found a photo, published during this week, featuring an official recognition issued by the command of the 3rd CAA (3 общевойсковая армия), which also features the logo of the new army (which doesn’t match the logo of any of the existing armies). Note the colors of the former LPR flag behind the logo. Interestingly, the new CAA does not appear to have inherited the “Guards” status from the 2nd Army Corps for the time being. In any case, this made me sure that the 2nd Corps during this month was indeed reformed into the 3rd Army.
Why 3rd? At first I thought because it was the first available number not occupied by existing CAAs, but this number is actually logical from a historical point of view. During the course of Operation “Gallop”, on the morning of February 14, 1943, the vanguards of the divisions of the 18th Rifle Corps (as part of the 3rd Guards Army) penetrated the city of Luhansk (back then Voroshilovgrad), liberating it from the Germans.
Incidentally, in mid June the Russian Telegram channel “Northern Channel”, run by servicemen of the Group of Forces “North”, had mentioned the transfer to the Kharkiv sector (from Donetsk Oblast) of elements of the 9th Motorized Brigade as part of… the 51st Army.
At the time I thought it was a mistake. Thinking back and linking this to the other news, at this point I find it very likely that 1st Corps too is being reformed as a CAA, specifically into the 51st Army.
Again, why 51st? During the course of the Second Donbas strategic offensive, on the morning of September 8, 1943, units of the 50th Guards Rifle Divisions of the 3rd Guards Rifle Corps (part of the 5th Shock Army), entered Donetsk (back then Stalino), liberating the city. The “issue” for the Russians is that there is already an army with this number - the 5th CAA of Eastern MD. However, the 3rd Guards Rifle Corps had been transferred to the 5th Shock Army only at the end of August: until then it was fighting as part… of the 51st Army, which in any case continued to support the offensive of the Southern Front in the Donbas. Consequently, naming it 51st Army makes historical sense.
A few final considerations. Firstly, there is no evidence at the moment that this reform is accompanied by the creation of new maneuver brigades or by the reform of some of the existing brigades into divisions. Unless this is disproved, in the front this reform should not have major consequences.
In my opinion, this reform has a primarily and fundamentally organizational and administrative purpose. During the Donbas War of 10 years ago and in the following period, the armies of the two self-proclaimed republics were under the operational subordination of the 8th CAA of the Southern MD. When after the sham referendums these two oblasts joined Russia, the two armies became the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the 8th CAA, as part of the Southern MD. The problem is that this resulted in a huge army, totally disproportionate to the average size of the other CAAs. Let’s take into account that already until 2022 the 8th CAA was quite large compared to the average - fielding the 20th and 150th Motorized Divisions in addition to an artillery brigade, a rocket brigade and the other support units. The “median” Russian CAA is comparable in size to a NATO division, just a little bigger; the larger ones (1st GTA, 58th CAA) could be comparable to a NATO corps, but then there is the 29th CAA consisting of only one (!) maneuver brigade (+ the support units).
With the 1st and 2nd Corps joining it, the 8th CAA had become extremely larger than the other CAAs; the only one among these formations to reach the size of an actual field army. Let’s recall that the 1st and 2nd Corps are very large, in fact their nominal complement and equipment would make them stronger and bigger than most CAAs. Both the corps field six motorized brigades (1st Corps: 1st, 5th, 9th, 110th, 114th, 132nd; 2nd Corps: 4th, 6th, 7th, 85th, 88th, 123rd) + the rifle regiments of the mobilization reserve (a dozen for the 1st Corps, several for the 2nd) + several separate battalions (including maneuver ones) + an artillery brigade (1st Corps: 14th; 2nd Corps: 2nd) + the other support units. This is extremely more than the typical Russian corps, which consists of either one maneuver division and one maneuver brigade or two maneuver brigades, plus some minor support units (most of the corps for instance do not have an artillery brigade).
With such a reform, the former 1st and 2nd Corps will probably receive an improvement in terms of support units that they don’t have now (such as a rocket brigade, an anti-aircraft rocket brigade, a control brigade, an engineer-sapper regiment, a CBRN regiment etc), since at the moment the support units are absolutely undersized in relation to their maneuver units, compared to the median Russian CAA. In addition, I imagine they are going to increase and strengthen their HQ Staff. Who knows if on the Russian side this is a way to further dilute the power of the “old guard” officers from the Donbas. Let’s recall, however, that the 1st and 2nd Corps have been largely made up of soldiers from Russia proper for a while, after the huge losses of their servicemen who were veterans of the Donbas War and of those mobilized from these two republics during 2022.
In all of this, the status of the 3rd Army Corps (the one formed by volunteers during the summer of 2022 to reinforce the meager Russian forces at the front, and which was brought to strength in the following fall thanks to the influx of mobilized men), is unclear. It was never even really clear to which military district it belongs. Officially it was formed in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and was said to be part of the then Western MD (some Russian sources gave it subordinate to the 20th CAA), later for a Russian source it may have joined the Southern MD; however its 72nd Motorized Brigade was formed in Orenburg Oblast, and for the Ukrainian observer Mashovets this brigade is based in Omsk (both these oblasts fall under the Central MD). At the moment its units are fighting under the GoF “South”: the 72nd Brigade together with most of the 6th Motorized Division (made up of the recently formed 54th Motorized Regiment and several regiments of the Territorial Forces) are fighting in the southern flank of the Chasiv Yar sector, while the 57th Motorized Regiment of the 6th Motorized Division is fighting together with the 20th Motorized Division of the 8th CAA in the Kurakhove sector (again under the jurisdiction of the GoF “South”). There is currently no evidence that this corps has joined one of these two new CAAs mentioned above.
Long story short: it’s a legacy of WW2, when a Soviet corps (which has a troubled history as a formation in the Red Army) was comparable to an Axis division in terms of manpower and equipment, and a Soviet army was comparable to an Axis corps. Soviet armies, of which there were countless, had only a fraction of the men of the Axis armies at peak strength.