Tank corps (Soviet)

A tank corps was a Soviet armoured formation used since after the beginning of World War II.

Pre-War Development of Soviet Mechanized Forces

In Soviet Russia, the so called armored forces (броневые силы) preceded the Tank Corps. They consisted of the automated armored units (автобронеотряды) made of armored vehicles and armored trains. The country did not have its own tanks during the Civil War of 1918-1920.

In January 1918, the Red Army established the Soviet of Armored Units (Совет броневых частей, or Центробронь), later renamed to Central Armored Directorate and then once again to Chief Armored Directorate (Главное броневое управление). In December 1920, the Red Army received its first light tanks, assembled at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory. In 1928, it began the production of the MS-1 tanks (Малый Сопровождения -1, where M stands for "small" and S – for "convoy"). In 1929, it established the Central Directorate for Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. Tanks became a part of the mechanized corps at this point.

During this time, and based on the experience of the Civil War with its sweeping movements of horse-mobile formations, Soviet military theorists such as Vladimir Triandafillov and Konstantin Kalinovsky elaborated the principles of combat use of armored units, which envisioned a large-scale use of tanks in different situations in cooperation with various army units. In the mid-1930s, these ideas found their reflection in the so called Deep Operation and deep combat theories. From the second half of the 1920s, tank warfare development took place at Kazan, where the German Reichswehr was allowed to participate.

In 1930, the First Mechanized Brigade had its own tank regiment of 110 tanks. In 1932, the First Mechanized Corps had over 500 tanks, and it was probably the first armoured unit of operational significance anywhere in the world. That same year, the Red Army established the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (today’s Military Academy of Armored Units named after Rodion Malinovsky).

In 1931-1935, the Red Army adopted light, medium, and later heavy tanks of different types. By the beginning of the 1936, it had already had four mechanized corps, six separate mechanized brigades, six separate tank regiments, fifteen mechanized regiments within cavalry divisions and considerable number of tank battalions and companies. The creation of mechanized and tank units marked the dawn of a new branch of armed forces, which would be called armored forces. In 1937, the Central Directorate of Mechanization and Motorization was renamed to Directorate of Automated Armored Units (Автобронетанковое управление) and then to Chief Directorate of Automated Armored Units (Главное автобронетанковое управление). Soviet armored units gained some combat experience during the Battle of Lake Khasan (1938), Battle of Khalkhin Gol (1939) and Winter War with Finland (1939-1940).

Besides the operational armoured and mechanized formations, separate tank battalions within rifle divisions existed. These were meant to reinforce rifle units for the purpose of breaching enemy defenses. They had to act in cooperation with the infantry without breaking away from it and were called tanks for immediate infantry support (танки непосредственной поддержки пехоты).

Great Patriotic War

Tank Corps were reformed in March 1942 on a smaller scale than the pre-war Tank Corps. They at first usually consisted of two-three Tank Brigades and one Motorized Rifle Brigade, with some Corps elements such as reconnaissance, anti-tank, or pioneers added. This made them essentially a division size formation with ca. 120 to 180 tanks, slightly weaker than a German Panzer division at this stage in the war. It was soon found that this was too weak, and a third tank brigade was added. The final organisation which was published in 1944 included additional heavy tank/heavy SU self-propelled gun regiments, a medium, and a light SU self-propelled gun regiment.

A total of 31 Tank Corps were formed during the war, and 12 of them became Guards Tank Corps. Due to the destruction of 21st Tank Corps in the second battle for Kharkov, and the use of some tank corps to form mechanized corps, no more than 24 of them actually saw combat. The tank corps were the basic building block of the Tank Armies (see Army (Soviet Army)#Tank Armies).

Most tank corps were converted to Tank Divisions in 1945-6. See List of Soviet Army divisions 1989-91.

List of Tank Corps

*1st Tank Corps
*2nd Tank Corps
*3rd Tank Corps - see 9th Guards Tank Corps
*4th Tank Corps - March 42-Feb 43 - converted to 5th Guards Tank Corps
*5th Tank Corps - formed April 1942. Equipped largely with British-built Valentine tanks, 5 TC was badly handly in the early stages of the 1943 Smolensk operation, being mauled both from the air and from the ground. However the deflection of German units necessitated by the sacrifice of 5 TC meant that Spas Demensk fell on 13 August 1943. [John Erickson, Road to Berlin, 1982, p.130]
*6th Tank Corps - see 11th Guards Tank Corps
*7th Tank Corps
*8th Tank Corps
*9th Tank Corps - the 9th Tank Division can trace its history back to 12 May 1942 when the 9th Tank Corps was formed in the Moscow Military District. [Craig Crofoot, Group of Soviet Forces Germany, V3.0.0, 2007, manscript available via www.microarmormayhem.com] It took part in the Battle of Kursk, then across the Ukraine with the Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts. It ended the war in Berlin. As part of the occupation forces, it was assigned to the 1st Guards Tank Army (also 1st Guards Mechanized Army). In 1957, it was reorganized into a Heavy Tank Division and re-designated the 13th Heavy Tank Division. This lasted until 1965, when it was returned back to its original 9th Tank Division designation. This it retained until its withdrawal from the GDR in 1991 when it was disbanded. Its divisional headquarters was at Riesa.
*10th - 12th Tank Corps
*13th Tank Corps - "The 13th Mechanized Corps is an oddball in the Soviet Army. 13th Tank Corps had been so shot up that most of its tank brigades were removed in September-October 1942, and when Mechanized Brigades were substituted at the beginning of November, it should have been redesignated as a Mechanized Corps with a new number, as had happened to other tank corps in similar situations. Instead, the corps retained the number '13' and even the Soviet sources get confused on what to call it: a tank corps or a mechanized corps. It had the subordinate units of a mechanized corps when it went into battle in late November and December 1942. It fought as a mechanized corps with 57th, 51st and 2nd Guards Armies during December in the mobile battles against German panzers south of Stalingrad, and in recognition of its actions there on 9 January 1943 the 13th Mechanized Corps was redesignated as the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps." [Sharp, Soviet Order of Battle, World War II, vol. II or III, via http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000040.html]
*14th Tank Corps
*15th Tank Corps
*16th Tank Corps - was part of 2nd Tank Army on formation. Became 12th Guards Tank Corps
*17th Tank Corps - became 4th Guards Tank Corps after Operation Little Saturn.
*18th Tank Corps
*19th Tank Corps
*20th Tank Corps - The 20th Tank Division can trace its history back to 12 December 1942 when the 20th Tank Corps was formed in the Moscow Defense Zone. It took part in the counter-offensives in the winter of 1942/43 and the summer 1943 offensives in the southern Ukraine. After taking part in the offensives in 1944 and early 1945, is was in Stavke Reserves when the war ended. It was allocated to the Northern Group of Forces by Directive No. 11096, where it remained through the Cold War. In later 1945, it was reorganized into the 20th Tank Division. Between 1949 and 1955, it was known as the 7th Tank Division, although as a cadre unit. IN 1955, it was restored to full strength and renamed the 20th Tank Division. It would remain in southern Poland until 1991 when it was disbanded.
*21st - 24th Tank Corps (see also http://stalingrad.ic.ru/s22tcorp.html for 22nd Tank Corps)
*25th Tank Corps - formed June 1942 in the Moscow Defence Zone
*26th Tank Corps
*27th Tank Corps - formed in the Moscow Defense Zone. The 27th was never committed to combat, but instead on 8 September 1942 it was reorganized into the 1st Mechanized Corps.
*28th Tank Corps
*29th - 31st Tank Corps [For an order of battle for 29th Tank Corps, see http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=38744]
*1st Guards Tank Corps
*2nd Guards Tank Corps
*3rd Guards Tank Corps
*4th Guards Tank Corps - now 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division
*5th - 8th Guards Tank Corps
*9th Guards Tank Corps - 3rd Tank Corps was formed at Tula in the Moscow Military District. It took part in the winter counter-offensives in 1942/1943, the Battle of Kursk, then across the Ukraine and then the summer offensive in 1944, Operation Bagration, with the Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts. On 20 November 1944 it was awarded ‘Guards’ status ad re-designated the 9th Guards Tank Corps.
*10th Guards Tank Corps: ex 30th Tank Corps. Now 10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Tank Division.
*11th Guards Tank Corps - The 11th Guards Tank Division can trace its history back to 10 April 1942 when the 6th Tank Corps was formed in the Moscow Defense Zone. [Craig Crofoot, Group of Soviet Forces Germany, V3.0.0, 2007, manscript available via www.microarmormayhem.com] It took part in the Battle of Kursk, then across the Ukraine with the Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts. On 23 October 1943, it was awarded ‘Guards’ status and redesignated the 11th Guards Tank Corps. It ended the war in the Berlin area. As part of the occupation forces, it was assigned to the 1st Guards Tank Army (also 1st Guards Mechanized Army). For the occupation period and post-war era, it was mainly uneventful until 1968 when it took part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1992 it was withdrawn from Germany and landed in Slonim the newly independent Belarus. It would eventually be reorganized into the 11th Guards Mechanized Brigade. Division Headquarters was at Dresden in the 1980s.
*12th Guards Tank Corps - former 16th Tank Corps. 16 TC was formed on 1 June 1942 in the Moscow Defense Zone. It took part in the counter-attacks against the Germans advancing on Stalingrad in the later summer of 1942, the winter counter-offensives of 1942/43, the Battle of Kursk in July (as part of the Central Front), then across the Ukraine with the Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts. In the summer of 1944, it was with the 2nd Tank Army, and took part in the offensives, reaching the outskirts of Warsaw. On 20 November 1944, it was awarded ‘Guards’ status and re-designated the 12th Guards Tank Corps. The Corps took part in the Vistula-Oder and Berlin Operations, ending the war in the Berlin area. As part of the occupation forces, it was assigned to the 2nd Guards Tank Army (also 2nd Guards Mechanized Army). In later 1945, it was reorganized into the 12th Guards Tank Division. During the occupation period and post-war era, its assignments remain unclear. Initially it was assigned to the 2nd Guards Mechanized Army, but then transferred to the 4th Guards Mechanized Army, which became the 20th Guards Combined-Arms Army in 1957. It eventually became part of the 3rd Shock Army - actually 3rd Red Banner Army - and still with 3rd Red Banner Army, disbanded circa 1990.

Composition of a Tank Corps

* 29 May 1942
** Corps HQ
*** Signal Company
*** AAMG Section
** Heavy Tank Brigade with KV-1 tanks (Replaced by a third 'medium' tank brigade in July 1942)
** 2 (Medium) Tank Brigades with two battalions of T-34 and one of T-70 tanks each.
** Motorized Rifle Brigade
** Antiaircraft Battalion
** Guards Mortar Battalion with Katyusha rocket launchers
** Motorcycle Battalion (for reconnaissance)
** Engineer-Mine Company
** Truck Company
** Motorized Vehicle Repair Battalion
** Armored Vehicle Repair Battalion

References

* [http://www.redarmystudies.net/0411030.htm Through the Furnace of War - Article on the development of Red Army armoured formations]
* [http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000040.html Dupuy Institute Forum Discussion on Tank/Mech Corps]
* [http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/formation/mk_hist.htm Article on the History of Red Army Mechanized Forces]

ee also

Mechanized Corps (Soviet)

Books

* Zaloga, Steven & Ness, Leland 'The Red Army Handbook'
* Charles Sharp, Soviet Order of Battle in World War II Vol 1: The Deadly Beginning: Soviet Tank, Mechanized, Motorized Divisions and Tank Brigades of 1940-1942,
* David Glantz, The Initial Period of War on the Eastern Front, 22 June - August 1941, 19
* Page, J. and Bean, Tim 'Russian Tanks of World War II', Zenith Press

Internet sites

* [http://www.battlefront.com/products/books/nafziger/sovietarmorintro.html Charles Sharp Book on Soviet armoured tactics]
* [http://www.rkka.ru/guard/tk.htm Conversion dates for Guards Tank Corps] (in Russian)
* [http://www.bmlv.gv.at/omz/grafiken/thumbs/brand5503.pngGraphic showing OOB of a 1943 Tank Corps]