2nd Guards Tank Army

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2nd Tank Army (1943–1944) 2nd Guards Tank Army (1944–1993) 2nd Guards Red Banner Army (1993–1998)
2-я гвардейская танковая армия
Active	1943–1998
Country	Soviet Union (to 1991)  Russia (1991–1998)
Branch	Armoured Forces
Type	Field army
Role	Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations
Size	500–800 main battle tanks
Part of	Central Military District
Engagements	World War II East Pomeranian Offensive Battle of Berlin
Commanders
Notable commanders	Semyon Bogdanov Alexei Ivanovich Radzievsky
Insignia
NATO Map Symbol	2 гв ТА

The 2nd Guards Tank Army (Russian: 2-я гвардейская танковая армия, romanized: 2-ya gvardeyskaya tankovaya armiya) was a large military formation of the Red Army and Soviet Army, later part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation.

The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was the first Red Army unit to enter Berlin during the Battle of Berlin.

The 2nd Tank Army was formed during January and February of 1943 from the 3rd Reserve Army of the Bryansk Front under the command of Prokofy Romanenko.^[1]

On February 1, 1943, the Army's order of battle was as follows:

2nd Tank Army^[2]

• 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Technical Forces A. G. Maslov)^[3]
  • 107th Tank Brigade
  • 109th Tank Brigade
  • 164th Tank Brigade
  • 15th Motor Rifle Brigade
• 6th Guards Rifle Division
• 16th Rifle Division
• 37th Guards Mortar Regiment*
• 51st Motorcycle Battalion
• 357th Engineer Battalion

In the middle of February the army joined the

2nd Tank Army[4]

• 3rd Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Maxim Sinenko)^[5]
  • 50th Tank Brigade
  • 51st Tank Brigade
  • 103rd Tank Brigade
  • 57th Motor Rifle Brigade
  • 74th Motorcycle Battalion
  • 881st Tank Destroyer Regiment
  • 728th Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 234th Mortar Regiment
  • 121st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment
• 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces V. E. Grigor'ev)^[6]
  • 107th Tank Brigade
  • 109th Tank Brigade
  • 164th Tank Brigade
  • 15th Motor Rifle Brigade
  • 51st Motorcycle Battalion
  • 1441st Self Propelled Artillery Regiment
  • 614th Tank Destroyer Regiment
  • 729th Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 226th Mortar Regiment
• 11th Guards Tank Brigade
• 87th Motorcycle Battalion
• 357th Engineer Battalion

In July – August – 2nd Tank Army took part in the Orel strategic offensive operation – Operation Kutuzov – within the Kromy’-Orel offensive operation and the Chernigov-Pripyat offensive operation (26.08–30.09.1943) under the command of Alexey Rodin.^[1]

In the beginning of September 1943 Rodin was replaced by

As part of the

During the war, over 103,000 soldiers of the army were awarded awards and medals, 221 of them being awarded the decoration of the Hero of the Soviet Union, while the army commander Semyon Bogdanov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union twice.

The 1185th independent Landing-Assault Battalion was formed within the Army in 1981, withdrawn to Estonia in 1989, and disbanded in 1991.[9]

Post-Cold War service

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2023)

The Army was withdrawn to

Volga Military District in 1993 and changed its name into 2nd Guards Red Banner Army matching its nature of combined-arms army that same year. It holds the Fighting Banner of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in storage.^[10] It was allocated the 16th and 90th Guards Tank Divisions for some years before being disbanded in 1998. 16th Guards Tank Division was reduced to a Guards weapons and equipment storage base in December 1997.^[11]

The Army was reformed in 2001 as the

201st Motor Rifle Division

.

A former commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, Army General

Nikolai Makarov, became Chief of Material of the Armed Forces, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, and is now Chief of General Staff

.

The 385th Guards Artillery Brigade was established in August 1981 from the previous 98th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment. It returned from Planken in East Germany to Totskoye in 1993.^[13]

Structure

1990

• 16th Guards Tank Division (Neustrelitz)
• 21st Motor Rifle Division (Perleberg
  )
• 94th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Schwerin
  )
• 207th Motor Rifle Division (Stendal
  )
• 112th Guards Rocket Brigade (Gentzrode) (12 9K72 Elbrus)
• 458th Rocket Brigade (Neustrelitz)
• 61st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Staats)
• 290th Artillery Brigade (Schweinrich)
• 118th Logistic Support Brigade (
  Ravensbrück
  )
• 172nd Helicopter Regiment (Parchim)
• 439th Helicopter Regiment (Parchim)
• 9th Helicopter Squadron (Neuruppin)
• 480th Engineer Sapper Brigade
• 69th Pontoon-Bridge Regiment (Rathenow)
• 15th Transporting-Landing Battalion
• 5th Signal Regiment (Ravensbrück)
• 52nd NBC Protection Battalion (12 K-611) (Rathenow)
• 250th Radio-Technical Regiment (Stendal)
• 52nd Radio-Technical Battalion (Ravensbrück)
• 836nd Radio Relay Cable Battalion
• 908th Electronic Warfare Battalion
• 297th Repair Recovery Battalion
• 310th Repair Recovery Battalion
• 240th Security and Support Battalion (Fürstenberg/Havel)

Commanders

• Lieutenant General Prokofy Romanenko (January – February 1943)
• Lieutenant General
  Alexei Rodin
  (February – September 1943)
• Colonel General
  Semen Bogdanov
  (September 1943 – July 1944 and January 1945 – 1947)
• Lieutenant General Alexei Radzievsky (July 1944 – January 1945)

See also

• List of Soviet military sites in Germany

Sources and references

Citations

1. ^
   ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
2. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
3. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
4. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
5. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
6. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
   .
7. ^ V.I. Feskov et al. 2004 made the point about retaining wartime divisions.
8. ^ Holm, Michael. "5th independent Tank Brigade". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
9. ^ "1185th independent Landing-Assault Battalion".
10. ^ Therefore it has a different lineage from the 2nd Guards Army.
11. ^ Michael Holm, 16th Guards Umanskaya order of Lenin Red Banner order of Suvorov Tank Division 16-я гвардейская танковая Уманская ордена Ленина Краснознамённая ордена Суворова дивизия (2015).
12. ^ Semyonov, Dmitry (24 January 2008). "65 лет 2-й гвардейской общевойсковой Краснознаменной армии" [65th Anniversary of the 2nd Guards Red Banner Combined Arms Army]. Samaratoday (in Russian). Retrieved 15 June 2017.
13. ^ Holm, Michael. "385th Guards Artillery Brigade". www.ww2.dk - Soviet Armed Forces organisation and order of battle. Retrieved 2022-11-15.

Bibliography

• Galeotti, Mark (2017). The Modern Russian Army 1992–2016. Elite 217. Oxford: Osprey.
  ISBN 978-1-47281-908-6
  .

• http://samsv.narod.ru/

• Glantz, David M. (2005). Companion to Colossus Reborn: Key Documents and Statistics. Lawrence: Kansas University Press.
  ISBN 0-7006-1359-5
  .

Further reading

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing.
  ISBN 9785895035306
  .
• Nebolsin, Igor (2015). Stalin's Favorite: The Combat History of the 2nd Guards Tank Army from Kursk to Berlin. Vol. 1: January 1943–June 1944. Translated by Stuart Britton. Solihull: Helion.
  ISBN 9781909982154
  .
• Nebolsin, Igor (2016). Stalin's Favorite: The Combat History of the 2nd Guards Tank Army from Kursk to Berlin. Vol. 2: From Lublin to Berlin, July 1944–May 1945. Translated by Stuart Britton. Solihull: Helion.
  ISBN 9781910777794
  .