Red Army blocking formation active briefly in 1941
The1stGuards Special Rifle Corps (Russian: 1-й особый гвардейский стрелковый корпус1-ĭ osobyĭ gvardyeĭskiĭ strelkovyĭ korpus) was a hastily formedRed Army corps active briefly in 1941, during theGerman advance on Moscow.
The Corps was created on 4 October 1941 by special request of theSTAVKA supreme command, in an area of the city ofMtsensk (theOryol Oblast). Initially its structure included the6th Guards Rifle Division,5th Airborne Corps, 4th Tank Brigade, 11th Tank Brigade, the Tula military school, severalBorder Guard Regiments, two artillery regiments, tworocket artillery battalions and the 6th reserve aviation group. Major GeneralDmitri Lelyushenko was appointed the commander of the corps. The corps was given several tasks: to destroy the nearby enemy, tobreak through intoOryol, to slow the progress of theGerman tank armies, and to block the way toTula.
The Soviet government and STAVKA command highly valued the efforts and sacrifices of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps in the Oryol-Bryansk defensive operation, which took place from 4 to 18 October 1941. On 11 November the National Commissioner of Defense renamed the 4th Tank Brigade, which played a vital role in the battle of Mtsensk, the 1st Guards tank brigade. The Commander of the brigade, ColonelMikhail Katukov, was eventually promoted to commander of theSoviet 1st Guards Tank Army, and was twice awarded theHero of the Soviet Union award.
On 12 October 1941, by the order of STAVKA supreme command, the corps was transformed into the26th Army. On 25 October 1941, its field HQ was disbanded, and its constituent formations were transferred to the 50th Army of theBryansk Front.
A new 1st Guards Rifle Corps was formed on 31 December 1941. Its first commander, Col.Afanasy Gryaznov, was appointed the same day; he would be promoted to major general ten days later. As of 1 February it was under the direct command ofNorthwestern Front, with the following units in its order of battle:
- 7th Guards Rifle Division
- 14th, 15th, 52nd Rifle Brigades
- 72nd Naval Rifle Brigade
- 203rd, 204th and 205th Ski Brigades[1]
- 878th Corps Artillery Regiment (re-designated 37th Guards Artillery Regiment later that month, with 4 batteries of 4122mm guns each.)
The Corps saw action around theDemyansk Pocket for most of 1942, with a number of rifle brigades under command, but also with 7th Guards Rifle and 37th Guards Artillery under command as well. In October the Corps headquarters went into theReserve of the Supreme High Command, where it was assigned to the 1st Reserve Army, which later became the2nd Guards Army. For the duration of the war it served as an administrative command, with no assigned support units.[2]
Sources and See also
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Soviet Union corps
