10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Tank Division

30th Urals Volunteer Tank Corps (1943)
10th Guards Tank Corps (1943-c.1945)
10th Guards Tank Division (c.1945-2009)

Ural Volunteer Tank Division Memorial in Perm
Active 1943 - 2009
Country Russia Russia
Branch Regular Army
Type Tank
Size Around 3-4,000 personnel (1990s)
Garrison/HQ Boguchar
Nickname Ural Volunteer, Lvov
Engagements World War II

The 10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Volunteer Tank Division, also known at the Ural-Lvov Tank Division, is a tank division of the Russian Ground Forces and part of the Moscow Military District's 20th Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Andrey Tretyak. The division traces its heritage back to 1943, during World War II. It is headquartered and based at Boguchar, 160 kilometres south of Voronezh, Voronezh Oblast.

Its complete formal designation is: "The 10th Guards Tank Ural-L'vov the Order of October Revolution Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov and the Order of Kutuzov Volunteer division in the name of Marshal of the Soviet Union R.A. Malinovsky" (10 гвардейская танковая Уральско-Львовская ордена Октябрьской революции Краснознаменная орденов Суворова и Кутузова добровольческая дивизия имени Маршала Советского Союза Р. А. Малиновского[1]

Reports indicate that the Division has been reduced in status to a mobilisable base for the storage of weapons and equipment, (which in wartime would become a tank brigade), during the 2009 Russian Ground Forces reorganisation.

World War II

10th Guards Tank Corps tactical sign

The people of the Ural districts took the initiative to create the Urals voluntary tank corps which became an elite formation. Three tank brigades (including one from Perm) and one motor-rifle brigade and other military units were included in its structure. The formation was initially known as the 30th Uralsky Voluntary Tank Corps and was formed in April 1943 in the Ural Military District. Workers from the Ural tank factories were among its initial recruits. The Corps has the distinction of being entirely paid-for by the donations of the population of the Urals. This included its entire complement of T-34 tanks built by the Urals factories. 23 March 1943, is the "birthday" of the Perm tank brigade. On 1 June 1943, units of the corps were despatched to the front line for the first time.

The first action for the Urals Volunteer Tank Corps was at Oryol, the counterattack (Operation Kutuzov) on the northern side of the Kursk salient after the German defeat at the Battle of Kursk proper. Historian John Erickson wrote that, following a 'ragged' attack by 11th Tank and 6th Guards Mechanised Corps by 4th Tank Army on 26 July 1943, during which both corps were heavily battered by concealed German tanks and assault guns. The next day, the 30th Tank Corps 'pushed in with a fierce attack' but the tank army 'covered only about one mile in all'.[2]

The following actions were at Bryansk, Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Proskurovo-Kamenetc-Podolsk, Lvov-Sandomir and during the Prague Offensive, the Vistula-Oder and Berlin offensives. On 5 May 1945, the corps aided the brotherly Czechoslovak people in structuring its army grouping. The corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov and the Order of Kutuzov. The Perm-Keletcky tank brigade, in addition, was awarded the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky for heroism shown in battle. On 25 October 1943 it was honoured and renamed the 10th Guards Uralsky Voluntary Tank Corps. It finished the war in what is now Poland and briefly became part of the Northern Group of Forces.

It was reconstituted from a tank corps to a tank division in the autumn of 1945, as were all other Soviet tank corps. The division was one of the formations used to suppress the East German uprising of 1953.[3]

For good results in combat training on 16 June 1967 the division was named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky and on 21 February 1978 it was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.

At the time of its withdrawal from Germany in 1990 the division was equipped with 316 T-64BM tanks and 12 T-80B tanks.

The division was moved back to Boguchar in the Moscow Military District and lost one of its constituent regiments; the 6th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (ru:6-я гвардейская отдельная мотострелковая бригада), which was withdrawn from Berlin, reorganised as a motor rifle regiment and was garrisoned at Kursk, joined the division in its place.

In 2009-2010 the division was reduced to a weapons and equipment storage site and mobilisable tank brigade. Most recently the new formation has been named as the 262-я гвардейская Уральско-Львовская ордена Октябрьской Революции Краснознаменная орденов Суворова и Кутузова база хранения и ремонта вооружения и техники named for Marshal of the Soviet Union Р.Я. Малиновского (отбр) (п. Богучар Воронежской области, 1-я отбр).[4]

Composition in the late 1980s

Subordinate units in 2006

Sources and references

  1. ↑ According to
  2. ↑ Erickson, John, Road to Berlin, 1982, p.115
  3. ↑ legacy.wilsoncenter.org - note the document from Grechko to Bulganin incorrectly identifies the unit as the "10th Tank Division" vice "10th Guards Tank Division" (the 10th Tank Division was part of the Belorussian Military District in 1953 while the 10th Guards Tank Division was part of the Group of Soviet Forces Germany. These deployments can be verified in Feskov, pp. 74-75.)
  4. ↑ http://www.rusarmy.com/forum/topic6518.html
  5. ↑ Состав соединений и частей 3rd Combined Army Army, verified July 2008