2nd Air Army


The 2nd Air Army was a formation of the Aviation of the Red Army as part of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Second World War.

World War II

The army was formed on May 12, 1942, by an order of the NKO of May 5, 1942, on the basis of the Air Force of the Bryansk Front. It participated in defensive battles in the Voronezh sector, and then supported the troops of the Southwestern Front in the counter-offensive at Stalingrad, in collaboration with the 8th Air Army, the 16th Air Army and the 17th Air Army in the fight for supremacy in the air.
As part of the Voronezh the army participated in the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of the Dnieper, Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, Rovno–Lutsk Offensive, Proskurov–Chernovtsy Offensive, Lvov-Sandomierz, Sandomir-Silesia, Lower Silesian Offensive, Upper Silesian Offensive, Battle of Berlin and the Prague Offensive.
From its founding the army was part of the Bryansk Front. On 9 July 1942 is included in the Voronezh Front. From 16 November by 21 December 1942 was in operational control of Southwestern Front, and then returned to the composition of the Voronezh Front. On 20 October 1943, the Voronezh Front was renamed the 1st Ukrainian Front and 2 VA was subordinated to it.

Postwar

After the war 2nd Air Army was stationed in Austria as part of the Soviet occupation forces. It was not disbanded in 1949, but only renumerated to '59th' Air Army together with many of its subordinate units. The 59th Air Army was disbanded in Austria, but its core was relocated to the town of Székesfehérvár to become a department of the newly created 'Special Corps' when the Soviet forces withdrew in September 1955.
Later the Soviet Air Defence Forces formed a 2nd Army of Air Defence Forces which operated in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, but this formation was disbanded around 1991–92.

Commanders

The army was commanded by:

May 12, 1942

On 1 December 1944, the army included the following units: