The 34th Tank Division was a formation of the Red Army and Soviet Ground Forces that was formed twice.
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The first formation was with 8th Mechanized Corps in June 1941. The formation began to be formed on June 4, 1940. The commander of 8th Mechanized Corps was General Lieutenant Dmitry Ryabyshev.
Ryabyshev's memoirs said: "The new corps was made up from elements of the 4th Cavalry Corps, 7th Rifle Division, 14th Heavy Tank Brigade and 23rd Light Tank Brigade. By June 1941, the corps comprised about 30,000 troops, 932 tanks (establishment strength was supposed to be 1031). However, heavy and medium tanks KV and T-34 received only 169. The remaining 763 machines were obsolete models averaging barely 500 kilometres (310 mi) between maintenance checks, and 197 of them were in need of a full factory overhaul. Artillery also had enough. Of the 141 guns were 53 caliber 37 and 45 millimeters. Means of anti-aircraft defense represented by four 37 mm anti-aircraft guns and 24 machine guns. All the artillery was transported low-speed tractors."[1]
On June 22, 1941, the corps comprised 12th Tank Division, 34th Tank Division, 7th Mechanized Division, 2nd Motorcycle Regiment, an artillery Regiment, an engineer battalion, and a signal battalion. It was located at Stry in the Kiev Military District. It thus became part of the Southwestern Front, and was engaged in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa. The 34th Tank Division itself comprised the 67th and 68th Tank Regiments and the 34th Motor Rifle Regiment.
On 23 June General Kirponos, Commander Southwestern Front, ordered 8th Mechanized Corps, part of 26th Army at the time, to move to Brody out of Kostenko's command.[2] During the 500 kilometres (310 mi) road march from its initial positions in the Drogobychskaja sector in the Ukraine to the Brody area, the corps lost about half its older tanks to mechanical breakdown and enemy air attack.[3] It then became embroiled in the Battle of Brody (1941). On 25 June 1941, 12th and 34th Tank Divisions were clearing the hills south of Brody before the whole corps opened its attack later that day. "...Its 34th Tank Division and elements of the 12th Tank Division advanced northwards, cutting the main road between Dubno and Brody. This forced the 16th Panzer Division to wheel round and attack the 34th Tank Division in the area of Kozin, in order to clear the road." (Easternfront.co.uk)
On June 26, attack plans that had been under preparation for some time were upstaged by direct orders from representatives of Southwestern Front HQ, who demanded that the corps attack immediately. Thus much of the unengaged remnants of 34th Tank Division were formed into a about 9,000-strong strong strike group led by Brigade Commissioner Popel of corps headquarters, whose attack saw some initial success. Later however the strike group was encircled and destroyed.[3]
In July 1941 the corps command was redesignated Headquarters 38th Army, and thus the corps was disestablished.[3]
On disbandment, elements of 34th Tank Division were reorganised on 15 August 1941 at Vladimir as 16th Tank Brigade. From 1941 to 1945 the brigade was a component of the following Red Army armies and fronts:
| Date assigned | Army | Front (or operational group) |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1941 | 54th | Leningrad |
| Feb 1942 | 8th | Leningrad |
| Apr 1942 | 54th | Leningrad |
| Jul 1942 | 54th | Volkhov Group of Forces (Russian: Волховская группа войск) |
| Oct 1942 | 8th | Volkhov |
| Jan 1943 | 2nd Shock | Volkhov |
| Apr 1943 | - | Volkhov |
| Oct 1943 | 59th | Volkhov |
| Apr 1944 | - | Leningrad |
| Jul 1944 | - | 3rd Baltic |
| Oct 1944 | 67th | 3rd Baltic |
| Jan 1945 | Belorussian Military District | RVGK (Stavka reserve) |
| Apr 1945 | - | 1st Ukrainian |
In early February 1945 the brigade was encamped in the area of Bobruisk, Mahilyow Oblast. It received T-34/85 tanks from factories at Nizhny Tagil and Gorki on 1-3 February 1945, and received Polish personnel supplementation. On 5 February 1945 the brigade was bodily transferred from the Red Army to the Polish Armed Forces in the East (16 Dnowsko-Łużycka Brygada Pancerna). That day the Supreme Commander of the Polish Army, Lt. Gen. Michal Rola-Zymierski, issued Order No. 26/Org. including within the Soviet part of the Polish Army the 16th Tank Brigade, and assigning it to the commander of the 2nd Army. The basis for issuing the order was order No. 302010 of the Headquarters, Supreme Commander of the Red Army of 3 October 1944.
16th Tank Brigade was organized on the basis of war-time Soviet armored brigade Table of Organization and Equipment No. 010/500 - 010/506 numbering 1354 soldiers. The units of the brigade were to comprise the following:
On 23 February 1945 soldiers took the oath.
On February 26, as the 2nd Army redeployed, the brigade was ordered to move to the Kryza area in Western Pomerania. It was transported by rail, unloaded at the station Paczkowo and deployed in the Siedlisk area. Then it regrouped to march Sagittarius Krajenskie route by Wielen and Drezdenko. March 20th was ordered to march toward Wroclaw. It departed March 29 from the station at Stare Kurowo to Oleśniczki. On April 5 the brigade, along with the entire Second Army became part of the outer blockading force around Wroclaw.
That day, the brigade had 1,312 soldiers, including 250 officers, 559 NCOs and 503 ranking soldiers. Brigade equipment included 438 rifles and 528 pistols, 22 hand machine guns, four heavy machine guns, 9 antiaircraft machine guns, four 76.2 mm guns, 18 rifle, 83 vehicles and 65 T-34/85 tanks.
In preparation for the Berlin offensive the brigade was moved to the Neisse forest area. Staff officers made a reconnaissance of the brigade's approach routes and probable future enemy counterattack directions in the Rothenburg area. On April 15, in accordance with orders from the Second Army, the brigade marched out of its starting positions. After breaking through the Neisse, on the morning on April 17 the brigade reached the eastern shore of the river Weisser Schöps (Bely Šepc) and then it forced the region Uhsmannsdorf Spreehammer Nieder. On April 19 Klitten and Nieder Prauske fell in succesion and the brigade reached the reached the river Spree in the evening. It forced the river on 21 April, taking Lieske and Neudorf. On April 22 the brigade suffered huge losses in men and equipment. It took up defensive positions in the Klitten region. May 1 concentrated in the region of thick Ostfeld (Mortka), and the next day in Friedersdorf, where it regrouped from 1 to 4 May, rebuilding combat capability.
The second formation ('Днепровская ордена Суворова') was a division of the Soviet Ground Forces from 1957 to the early 1990s. It descended from the 10th Tank Corps, a Soviet tank corps of the Red Army during World War II.
The 10th Tank Corps was part of Steppe Front for the Battle of Kursk. 10th Tank Corps was subsequently assigned to the 5th Guards Tank Army, but by April 1945 during the Battle of Berlin, the 10th Tank Corps was part of the Reserves of the Supreme High Command (RVGK).[5] It comprised the 178th, 183rd, and 186th Tank Brigades, and the 11th Motor Rifle Brigade.[6]
It should not be confused with the 30th Tank Corps, which became the 10th Guards Tanks Corps, and later the 10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Tank Division.
After the war ended it became 10th Tank Division, and then in 1957 34th Tank Division. 34th Tank Division was in the Belorussian Military District for many years,[7] part of 7th Tank Army. In 1988 divisional headquarters was at Borisov and the division comprised the 38th Guards, 183rd, and 186th Tank Regiments, the 26th Motor Rifle Regiment (BMPs), the 409th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, and the 1138th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment.[8]
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the division became part of the Armed Forces of Belarus.