1st Guards Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)

1st Guards Mechanized Corps
Active 1942–1946
Country Soviet Union
Branch Armoured Forces
Type Mechanized Corps
Role Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations
Size ca. 19,000–20,000 men
180–220 tanks
Engagements Operation Saturn
Battle of Kursk
Battle of Prokhorovka
Lake Balaton Defensive
Vienna Offensive
Prague Offensive
Battle honours Vienna

The 1st Guards 'Vienna' Order of Lenin Order of Kutuzov Mechanized Corps was a Red Army armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front. After the war it continued to serve with Soviet occupation forces in Central Europe. It was originally the 1st Guards Rifle Division. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as an early-war Wehrmacht Panzer Division, or a British Armoured Division during World War II.

It was under the command of General Lieutenant Russiyanov, and gained the honorifics "Vienna, Voronezh".

In its final form, it was designated the 137th Military Base and was withdrawn from Vaziani in Georgia and disbanded in the early 1990s.

Formation

The 1st Guards Mechanized Corps was formed in November 1942 in the Tambov region during the re-establishment of the Mechanized Corps as a formation in the Red Army. It was then assigned to the Southwestern Front which was under the command of General N. F. Vatutin to participate in the encirclement of German Army Group A in Operation Saturn, which was undertaken during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The corps consisted of the following units:

Combat Units

Support Units

Changes to unit organization

Depending on the specific tasks allotted to the Corps, units from the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Stavka reserve) could be added to help it achieve its mission. When the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps returned to the front in January 1945, its tank formations were completely equipped with American M4A2 Sherman Lend-Lease tanks.

The Corps had been re-designated the 1st Guards Mechanised Division by March 1946 and served in the Transcaucasian Military District before being reorganised as the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957 and then the 100th Guards MRD in 1965. At some point afterwards, probably in the late 1980s, it was renamed the 171st Guards District Training Centre. It was based in Tblisi throughout the postwar period.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was redesignated as the 137th Military Base, and finally withdrawn and disbanded in the 1990s.

Combat History

1942

1943

1944

1945

Assignment

1942

1943

1944

1945

Bibliography

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