Tank Corps (Soviet)
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A Tank Corps was a Soviet armoured formation used since before the beginning of World War II.
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[edit] 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 of 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 of 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).
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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
- Corps HQ
[edit] Post-War
Tank Corps stayed as a formation following World War II.
[edit] References
- Through the Furnace of War - Article on the development of Red Army armoured formations
- Dupuy Institute Forum Discussion on Tank/Mech Corps
- Article on the History of Red Army Mechanized Forces
[edit] See also
[edit] 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
