7th Guards Tank Division
7th Guards Tank Division (1945–1990) 7th Guards Tank Corps (1943–1945) | |
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Active | 1943–1990 |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Red Army (Soviet Army from 1946) |
Type | Armor |
Garrison/HQ | Roßlau (1947–1990) |
Engagements |
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Decorations |
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Battle honours | |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
The 7th Guards Tank Division was a
The division traced its heritage back to the 7th Guards Tank Corps, formed during
Operation Kutuzov
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Operation_Kutusov_%28map%29.jpg/220px-Operation_Kutusov_%28map%29.jpg)
On 26 July 1943, the 7th Guards Tank Corps, part of the
The 7th Guards were to concentrate in the area of Krasnaya Rybnitsa, Olgino, and Preobrazhenskoye by 22:00 on 27 July. Due to heavy rain that washed away dirt roads, the relocation of the army was not completed until 06:00 on the morning of 28 July.
At 21:00, the army issued new orders, which involved breaking through the German fortifications on 29 July and then reaching the Oka on 30 July. Throughout 29 July, the corps unsuccessfully attempted to advance through the German fortifications, but was again halted. Thant night, the Central Front ordered a continuation of the attack, with each of the army's corps supported by a mechanized brigade from the
In the evening, the front issued orders for a daylong pause in the offensive for reorganization, and a resumption of the attack on 1 August. This was changed by an order received by the army at 01:30 on 31 July, which directed that the army withdraw from the battle on the night of 1 August and reconcentrate 24–25 kilometers (15–16 mi) southwest of Rybnitsa. The army reached the new area at 05:00 on 2 August and spent the next two days receiving reinforcements and supplies.[10] On the night of 3–4 August, the army was transferred to the area of Beldyazhki, Rzhava, and Puzeyevo to support the 13th Army's drive on the Kroma River. The 7th Guards were to cross the Kroma in the area of Kutafino and Krasnaya Roshcha, capture the Starognezdilovo area, and advance on Melikhovo, Soskovo, and Mytskoye.[11]
Heavy German artillery fire and air strikes, coupled with terrain virtually inaccessible to tanks, hindered the crossing. As a result, a 200-meter (220 yd) dam was built in the corps' sector to enable the crossing of the marshes leading to the river, and by the end of the day, the army held positions on the southern bank of the Kroma from Novotroitsky to Kutafino. On the night of 4 August, army commander
Rybalko assessed the dispersion of the artillery support from both the 13th Army and 3rd Guards Tank Army as the reason for the failure of the attacks on 5 August, and in order to concentrate artillery fire along a shortened front he narrowed the army's attack towards Kalinovsky, Kalinov, and Troitsky, with the immediate objective of reaching the line of Krasny Pakhar and Ivanovsky. The 7th Guards were tasked with advancing on Krasny Pakhar and Ivanovsky from the area of Leshnya. Slowly driving back the German defenders in fierce fighting, the corps was unable to advance beyond the Leshnya area on 6 August.[13] On 7 August, the corps was ordered to continue the attack towards Ivanovsky, further develop the breakthrough towards Melikhovo and capture the area of Martyanovo and Zyagintsevo. During the day, the corps captured Ivanovsky against slowly retreating German troops. For the next two days, they continued to advance against stubborn resistance, capturing Melikhovo by 9 August but being stopped at Soskovo that morning.[14]
As the German forces fell back on heavily fortified heights at Soskovo, Gniloye Boloto and Martyanovo, their resistance intensified. After the army's initial attacks on the afternoon of 9 August failed, Rybalko created a shock group for the next day's attack, built around the 6th and 7th Guards Tank Corps, reinforced by the 91st Brigade, and supported by all of the army's artillery and two artillery regiments from the 13th Army. It was to bypass Soskovo from the north and develop the offensive towards Mytskoye. Despite heavy losses and ineffective artillery support due to ammunition shortages from the 13th Army, the shock group managed to overrun the heights, with the 7th Guards fighting on Soskovo's northern edge. The defending German
Late on 10 August, the 3rd Guards Tank was ordered to be withdrawn from the front and concentrated in the area of Kalinov, Maslovo, and Apalkovo for reorganization and replenishment. On the night of 10–11 August, the army handed over its positions to the 13th Army's infantry units and moved to the rear in the specified concentration areas. Early on 12 August, the army was placed under the overall command of the 13th Army's commander,
Battle of the Dnieper
On 6 September, the army was ordered to begin moving to the
The westward advance from Romny began as scheduled at 20:00 on 20 September, but the army was not "in contact" with the retreating German troops. In order to speed up the pace of the offensive on 21 September, Rybalko ordered the formation of a forward detachment in each tank corps, consisting of motorized infantry, sappers, motorcyclists, an anti-tank artillery regiment, a
Kiev to Berlin
At the end of October and the beginning of November, the 7th Guards were secretly transferred from Bukrin to the
During the
In the
Cold War
In accordance with an order dated 10 June 1945, the corps was converted into the 7th Guards Tank Division, and the army became the 3rd Guards Mechanized Army. The corps' brigades became regiments with the same numbers.
In August 1964, the 18th Guards Army headquarters was transferred to
In July 1990, the division was withdrawn to
In January 1992 it was taken over by Ukraine and renamed 121st Guards Weapons and Military Equipment Storage Base.[34]
Commanders
During World War II, the 7th Guards Tank Corps was commanded by the following officers:[2]
- Major General Filipp Rudkin (27 July–6 August 1943)
- Major General Kirill Suleykov (7 August–13 December 1943)
- Major General Sergei Ivanov (14 December 1943 – 20 July 1944)
- Major General Vasily Mitrofanov (21 July–7 October 1944)
- Major General Sergei Ivanov (8 October 1944 – 10 April 1945)
- Major General Vasily Novikov (13 April–11 May 1945)
Order of battle late 1980s
In the late 1980s, the division included the following units:[30][35]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Ro%C3%9Flau_%C3%96lpfuhlallee_Proletarier.jpg/220px-Ro%C3%9Flau_%C3%96lpfuhlallee_Proletarier.jpg)
- 55th Guards Lutherstadt-Wittenberg)
- 56th Guards Vasylkov-Shepetovka Tank Regiment (Zerbst)
- 79th Guards Bobruisk Tank Regiment (Roßlau)
- 40th Berlin Motor Rifle Regiment (Bernburg)
- 670th Guards Lvov Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (Cochstedt)
- 287th Guards Lvov Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Roßlau)
- 4th Separate Guards Reconnaissance Battalion (Quedlinburg-Quarmbeck)
- 146th Separate Guards Communications Battalion (Roßlau)
- 121st Separate Engineer Battalion (Roßlau)
- 165th Separate Chemical Defence Battalion (Roßlau)
- 183rd Separate Material Supply Battalion (Roßlau)
- 58th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Roßlau)
- 186th Separate Medical Battalion (Dessau)
References
Citations
- ^ Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1964, p. 73.
- ^ a b Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1964, p. 79.
- ^ Zvartsev 1982, p. 76.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 109–111.
- ^ Glantz & House 1999, p. 237.
- ^ Shein 2007, p. 112.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Shein 2007, p. 118.
- ^ Shein 2007, p. 119.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 120–122.
- ^ Shein 2007, p. 122.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 125–126.
- ^ a b Shein 2007, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Zvartsev 1982, pp. 83, 87.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 132–135.
- ^ Shein 2007, p. 136.
- ^ Shein 2007, pp. 136–137.
- ^ a b c d Sergeyev 1999, p. 35.
- ^ Lenskii & Tsybin 2001, p. 67.
- ^ Drogovoz 2003, p. 90.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, pp. 413–414.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 199.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 121.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 130.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 386.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 383.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 392.
- ^ a b Feskov et al 2013, pp. 398–399.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 399.
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 484.
- ^ Lenskii & Tsybin 2001, p. 156.
- ^ Holm, Michael (2015). "7th Guards Kiev-Berlin order of Lenin twice Red Banner order of Suvorov Tank Division". Soviet Armed Forces 1945–1991: Organisation and order of battle. Holm. Retrieved 28 December 2015. See also V.I. Feskov et al 2013
- ^ Lenskii & Tsybin 2001, p. 88.
Bibliography
- Drogovoz, Igor (2003). Танковый меч страны Советов [Tank Sword of the Soviet country] (in Russian). Moscow: AST. ISBN 9851311332.
- 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.
- Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan M. (1999). The Battle of Kursk. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1335-9.
- Lenskii, A.G.; Tsybin, M.M. (2001). Советские сухопутные войска в последний год Союза ССР [The Soviet Ground Forces in the Last Years of the USSR]. St Petersburg: B&K Publishers. ISBN 5-93414-063-9.
- Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941 – 1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy.
- Sergeyev, Igor, ed. (1999). "Киевско-Берлинский танковый корпус" [Kiev-Berlin Tank Corps]. Военная энциклопедия в 8 томах [Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 4. Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 35. ISBN 5-203-01876-6.
- Shein, Dmitry (2007). Танки ведет Рыбалко. Боевой путь 3-й Гвардейской танковой армии [Rybalko's Tanks Lead: Combat Path of the 3rd Guards Tank Army]. Красная армия. Элитные войска [Red Army Elite Troops] (in Russian). Moscow: Yauza/Eksmo. ISBN 978-5-699-20010-8. Archived from the originalon 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
- Zvartsev, Alexander, ed. (1982). 3-я гвардейская танковая. Боевой путь 3-й гвардейской танковой армии [3rd Guards Tank: Combat Path of the 3rd Guards Tank Army] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. OCLC 9829836.