The Soviet order of battle for the invasion of Poland in 1939 details the major combat units arrayed for the Soviet surprise attack on Poland on September 17, 1939. As a result of joining battle after the Germans had already launched their invasion, the Soviets, prepared for battle in secrecy, met comparatively limited resistance. Several skirmishes between the German and Soviet forces did occur, but neither government was prepared for starting a larger conflict, and these were soon referred to as "misunderstandings".
Before the invasion there were created two "fronts" as a form of the Army Group based on Byelorussian Special Military District (BOVO) into the Byelorussian Front and Kiev Special Military District (KOVO) into the Ukrainian Front.
Like the Germans, the Soviets employed two primary offensive axes, each managed by a Front. Each Front commander had at his disposal a mobile group of forces created from cavalry and mechanised troops; a precursor of the cavalry-mechanised groups of the Second World War.
The effects of the purge are visible in the ranks of the commanders in the order of battle, with only one Army commander serving in the appropriate rank of Komandarm, in this case 2nd Class (Komandarm 2nd rank, ), the rest serving in being Corps (Komcor) and Divisional (Komdiv) Commander rank ()
Belorussian Front Covered north-eastern sector of Polish front from Byelorussian Special Military District Komandarm 2nd rank Mikhail Kovalyov Chief of Staff Komkor Maksim Purkayev
Polotsk Army Group Komkor Vasily Kuznetsov 4th Rifle Corps 27th Rifle Division 50th Rifle Division Lepelska Group 5th Rifle Division 24th Cavalry Division 22nd Tank Brigade 25th Tank Brigade
Minsk Army Group Komdiv 16th Rifle Corps 2nd Rifle Division 100th Rifle Division 3rd Cavalry Corps 7th Cavalry Division 36th Cavalry Division 6th Tank Brigade
BSSR Border Troops Kombrig Ivan Bogdanov
Dzerzhinsk Cavalry-mechanised Group Komkor Ivan Boldin Bochka i obruchi ili Kogda nachalas' Velikaya Otechestvennaya voyna? (Chasti 1,2) Электронная библиотека echitalka.ru 5th Rifle CorpsTable 27 in Сентябрь 1939 года. Война с запада 4th Rifle Division 13th Rifle Division 6th Cavalry Corps 4th Cavalry Division 6th Cavalry Division 11th Cavalry Division 15th Tank Corps 2nd Tank Brigade 21st Tank Brigade 27th Tank Brigade 20th Motorised Rifle Brigade
Tenth Army Komkor Ivan Zakharkin 11th Rifle Corps 6th Rifle Division 33rd Rifle Division 121st Rifle Division
Slutsk Army Group Komdiv Vasily Chuikov 8th Rifle Division 29th Tank Brigade 32nd Tank Brigade 23rd Rifle Corps 52nd Rifle Division Dnieper Flotilla
Ukrainian Front Covered southern sector of Polish front from Kiev Special Military District Komandarm 1st rank Semyon Timoshenko Chief of Staff Kombrig Nikolai Vatutin
Shepetovka Army Group Komdiv Ivan Sovetnikov 15th Rifle Corps 45th Rifle Division 60th Rifle Division 87th Rifle Division 8th Rifle Corps 44th Rifle Division 81st Rifle Division 36th Light-Tank Brigade
UkrSSR Border Troops Komdiv
Volochysk Army Group Komkor Filipp Golikov 2nd Cavalry Corps 3rd Cavalry Division 5th Cavalry Division 14th Cavalry Division 24th Light Tank Brigade 17th Rifle Corps 96th Rifle Division 97th Rifle Division 10th Heavy-Tank Brigade 38th Light-Tank Brigade
Kamienets-Podolsky Army Group Komandarm Ivan Tyulenev 13th Rifle Corps 72nd Rifle Division 99th Rifle Division
Front Cavalry Group 4th Cavalry Corps 32nd Cavalry Division 34th Cavalry Division 26th Independent Light-Tank Brigade 5th Cavalry Corps 9th Cavalry Division 16th Cavalry Division 23rd Independent Light-Tank Brigade
25th Tank Corps 4th Light-Tank Brigade 5th Light-Tank Brigade 1st Motor Rifle Brigade
See also War and campaign articles World War II Invasion of Poland Other forces in the Polish Campaign German order of battle for Operation Fall Weiss Polish army order of battle in 1939
Notes
References
Sources Meltyukhov M.I., Soviet-Polish wars. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939, Moscow, Veche, 2001. ()