High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 5th Army is a Russian Ground Forces formation in the Far East Military District. Under the Soviet field army it was known as the 5th Red Banner Army. It was formed in 1939, served during the Soviet invasion of Poland that year, and was deployed in the southern sector of the Soviet defences when the German Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941 during World War II. In the disastrous first months of Barbarossa, the 5th Army was encircled and destroyed around Kiev.