In the opening weeks of Operation Barbarossa, the Soviet Red Army sustained several painful defeats. The Wehrmacht'sArmy Group North (advancing through the Baltic) and Army Group Center (advancing through Belarus and northern Ukraine) had each defeated the Soviet defenders ahead of their sectors and forced large-scale Soviet withdrawals. As a result of the chaotic withdrawals, a gap started to open between the Soviet defenders in the northern and central sector. On 12 July 1941, the Soviet high command Stavka formed the 29th Army, with the intention to fill the gap in the Soviet defenses.[3]: 116
In Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast, the 44th Special Rifle Corps was activated on 22 June 1956 from HQ Arkhangelsk Military District. In June 1957 it was renamed the 44th Special Army Corps. Three years later it comprised the 69th and 77th Motor Rifle Divisions. In August 1961, it was renamed the 44th Army Corps (44-й армейский корпус).[4] In the late 1960s, the Chinese threat to the Soviet Union appeared to be increasing, and as part of the response, the corps was moved eastward. In 1967, it was moved to the Transbaikal Military District and established its headquarters at Ulan Ude.[5] On 12 May 1970 the 44th Army Corps was renamed the 29th Combined Arms Army.
In 1970 the 91st Motor Rifle Division was formed at Chistye Kluychi (Shelekhovo) and moved to Mongolia in 1979. The 12th Motor Rifle Division also moved to Mongolia, and the 198th Motor Rifle Division was formed in its place, coming under the control of the 29th Army. In 1987, the 91st MRD was withdrawn to Nizhneudinsk and came under the control of the 29th Army.
On 1.12.1987 the 52nd and 91st Motor Rifle Divisions were redesignated the 978th and 497th Territorial Training Centres.
In 1988 the army consisted of the following elements:[5]
198th Motor Rifle Division (Divizionnaya, Buryatskaya ASSR)
9th Army was reformed once again around 2010/11, with confirmation coming with a Kremlin decree of 9 January 2011 naming the army's commander.[7] General-Major Aleksandr Vladimirovich Romanchuk, named Commander, 29th Army, was relieved of duty as Chief of Staff, First Deputy Commander, 41st Army.
In 2022 it was reported that in the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, elements of the 29th Army (including units from the 36th Motor Rifle Brigade and 200th Artillery Brigade) had been deployed to Belarus.
Deployed to fight in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, the commander of the army, major general Andrei Kolesnikov, was killed on 11 March 2022,[8] Kolesnikov was later confirmed in 2023 to be alive, having left 29 CAA in summer 2022.[9]Lieutenant General Roman Kutuzov, Chief of Staff of 29th CAA was killed on 5 June 2022 during the battle for Sievierodonetsk–Lysychansk. 29 CAA has been actively engaged in fighting in Ukraine through 2022 and 2023.
^Glantz, David M. (2010). The German Advance to Smolensk, the Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July – 24 August 1941. Barbarossa Derailed. Vol. 1. Helion and Company. ISBN9781906033729.
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