1st Guards Special Rifle Corps

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The 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps was a hastily formed Red Army blocking formation active briefly in 1941, during the German advance on Moscow.

The Corps was created on the 4th of October, 1941, by special request of the STAVKA supreme command. The rifle corps was formed in the area of the city of Mtsensk (the Oryol Oblast). Initially its structure included the 6th Guards Rifle Division, 5th Air Assault Corps, the 4th Tank Brigade, the 11th Tank Brigade, the Tula military school, several Border Guard Regiments, two artillery regiments, two rocket artillery battalions and also the 6th reserve aviation group. Major General Dmitri Lelyushenko was appointed the commander of the corps. The corps was given several tasks; to destroy the nearby enemy, to breakthrough into Oryol, to slow the progress of the German tank armies, and to block the way to Tula.

Fierce fights raged on from October, 4th till October, 18th, 1941. Subsequently these battles have been named the Oryol-Bryansk defensive operation. Soviet soldiers have shown unprecedented heroism in these fights. The Soviet government and the STAVKA command highly valued the efforts and sacrifices of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps.

So, on November 11th, 1941 by the order of the National Commissioner of Defense of USSR № 337, the 4th Tank Brigade, which played a vital role in the battle of Mtsensk, was renamed the 1st Guards tank brigade. The Commander of the brigade, colonel Mikhail Katukov, was eventually promoted to commander of the Soviet 1st Guards Tank Army, and was twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union award.

On the 12th of October, 1941, by the order of STAVKA supreme command, the corps was transformed into the 26th Army. On October, 25th, 1941 its field HQ was disbanded, and its armies transferred to the 50th Army of the Bryansk Front.