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After the end of the war, the army was stationed in Austria and Hungary as part of the Soviet occupation forces. Renumbered in 1949 as the 59th Air Army, it was disbanded in 1955 when Soviet troops withdrew from Austria.
World War II
The army was formed on 12 May 1942, in accordance with an order of the NKO of 5 May 1942, from the Air Force of the Bryansk Front. Originally supporting the Bryansk Front, the army was transferred to support the Voronezh Front on 9 July. It participated in defensive battles in the Voronezh sector, and then supported the troops of the Southwestern Front in the counter-offensive at Stalingrad (Battle of Stalingrad) between 16 November and 21 December, in collaboration with the 8th Air Army, the 16th Air Army and the 17th Air Army in the fight for supremacy in the air. During this period the 2nd Air Army was under the operational control of the Southwestern Front before returning to the Voronezh Front.[1]
After the war 2nd Air Army was stationed in Austria and Hungary as part of the Soviet occupation forces, serving as the air force of the Southern Group of Forces. It was renumbered as 59th Air Army in 1949 as many Soviet Air Force units received new numbers. The 59th Air Army was disbanded in Austria, but its core was relocated to the town of Székesfehérvár to become the air force of the newly created Special Corps when the Soviet forces withdrew in September 1955.[3][4]
05/07/1942 – Konstantin Smirnov, Colonel, (Major General Aviation from 17 October 1942);
03/27/1943 – May 1947 – Stepan Krasovsky, (Krasovsky was promoted to Lieutenant General Aviation with effect from 20 December 1942 and Colonel General Aviation from 4 February 1944);
September 1947 - Colonel-General Stepan Ulyanovich Rubanov
July 1950 - Colonel-General Vasily Nikolaevich Bibikov
July 1953 - Colonel-General Georgy Vasilevich Zimin
May 1954 - Colonel-General David Yakovlevich Slobozhan
1st Assault Aviation Corps (1st ShAK) (Major General of Aviation Vasily Ryazanov) (from 1944– 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps) in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine, all three divisions of the corps, received the honorary title – Krasnograds'ka, Poltava, Znamenskaya. The corps received the honorific Kirovograd.
205th Fighter Aviation Division (Colonel Yu. A. Nemtsevich), Yak-1 and Yak-7
291st Assault Aviation Division (291st ShAD) (Colonel (promoted to Major General of Aviation February 1944) Andrey Vitruk, Il-2 in three assault regiments and Yak-1, Yak-7 and La-5 in one fighter regiment
Hardesty, Von; Grinberg, Ilya (2012). Red Phoenix Rising: The Soviet Air Force in World War II (2nd ed.). University Press of Kansas. ISBN978-0-7006-1828-6.
