12th Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)
12th Mechanized Corps | |
---|---|
Active | March–August 1941 |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Armoured Forces |
Type | Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Major General N.M.Shestopalov Colonel Grinberg Ivan Korovnikov |
The 12th
Formed in March 1941 in response to the German victories in the West, it served with the
By the end of 22 June, the German armoured spearheads had crossed the
Near Raseiniai, the XLI Panzer Corps was counter-attacked by the tanks of the Soviet 3rd and 12th Mechanised Corps. But this concentration of Soviet armour was detected by the Luftwaffe, which immediately directed heavy air attacks from Fliegerkorps I Ju 88s against tank columns of the 12th Mechanised Corps south-west of Šiauliai. These attacks went in unopposed by any Soviet fighters and were carried out with great success. The Soviet 23rd Tank Division sustained particularly severe losses, with 40 tanks or lorries set ablaze. On 25 June, the Germans reportedly destroyed another 30 tanks and 50 lorries. The 28th Tank Division alone lost 84 tanks. The battle would last four days.[4] After escaping the encirclement at Raseiniai and making a fighting retreat through Estonia during July, the remnants of the 12th Mechanized Corps were disbanded in August 1941.
However, the 28th Tank Division was reported as part of the Novgorod Operational Group (seemingly a reformation of the 1939-40
Footnotes
- T-26, BT Seriesmodels, plus 23 armoured cars, 92 artillery guns, 221 mortars, 2531 vehicles, 194 tractors and 39 motorcycles.
- b Colonel Grinberg, who was the temporary commander of the 12th Mechanized Corps after the death of his corps' original commander Major General Shestopalov, reported on 29 July that the strength of his corps had fallen to under 17,000 men after the first two weeks of combat.
- c On 11 July 1941 Colonel P Poluboiarov, from the Northwestern Front armoured directorate, reported that the 12th Mechanized Corps had been in combat for 12 days and had been committed initially in large formations without infantry support or cooperation from artillery and air support. Subsequently, committed in local counter-attacks, it had only '80 worn out tanks and 15 to 17 armoured cars in total in both tank divisions'.
Sources & References
- ^ Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p. 155
- ^ Brian Taylor, Barbarossa to Berlin: A Chronology of the Campaigns on the Eastern Front 1941–1945, Volume 1, 2003, p. 16
- ^ Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, pp. 126–128
- ^ Christer Bergstrom, Barbarossa – The Air Battle: July–December 1941, 2007, pp. 22–25
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, http://www.tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1941/19410901.html Archived 6 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine, 1 September 1941.
Further reading
- Bergstrom, Christer. (2007). Barbarossa – The Air Battle: July – December 1941. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 1-85780-270-5.
- ISBN 0-7006-0879-6.
- ISBN 0-7006-1208-4.
- Newton, Steven H . (2003). Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front – The Memoirs of General Raus 1941–1945. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81247-9.