| 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 |
The1st Guards 'Vienna'Order of LeninOrder of Kutuzov Mechanized Corps was aRed Armyarmoured formation that saw service duringWorld War II on theEastern Front. After the war it continued to serve withSoviet occupation forces inCentral Europe. It was originally the1st Guards Rifle Division. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as an early-warWehrmachtPanzer Division, or a BritishArmoured Division during World War II.
It was under the command ofGeneral LieutenantIvan Russiyanov, and gained the honorifics "Vienna, Voronezh".
In its final form, as the 171st Guards District Training Centre, it was disbanded while being stationed in Tbilisi in 1992.
The 1st Guards Mechanized Corps was formed in November 1942 in theTambov region during the re-establishment of theMechanized Corps as a formation in theRed Army. It was then assigned to theSouthwestern Front which was under the command of GeneralN. F. Vatutin to participate in the encirclement of GermanArmy Group A inOperation Saturn, which was undertaken during theBattle of Stalingrad.
The corps consisted of the following units:
Combat Units
Support Units
Changes to unit organization
In 1942, the corps fought inOperation Saturn; in 1943, theThird Battle Of Kharkov, theBattle of Kursk,Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev, and theBattle of the lower Dnepr, and in 1945, theBattle of Budapest, theBalaton Defensive Operation, and theVienna Offensive.
Depending on the specific tasks allotted, units from theReserve 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 AmericanM4A2 ShermanLend-Lease tanks.
The Corps had been re-designated the 1st Guards Mechanised Division by March 1946 while atMaragheh in Iran. In April 1946 it moved toTbilisi in Georgia, in theTranscaucasian Military District. It was then reorganised as the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957, 2nd Guards MR Training in 1960, and then the 16th Guards MRD on 17 November 1964 (Military Unit Number 35695). On 18 August 1968 renamed 100th Guards Training Motorised Rifle Division.[1]
On September 7, 1985, the division was named after Lieutenant General I.N. Russiyanov. On 14 September 1987, the division began to be called the 171st Guards District Training Center (Military Unit Number 30105).[1] In June 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, it was disbanded. Remaining Russian units in Vaziani in Tbilisi gained the designation of the 137th Military Base.
Yet that same month, the battle banner of the division, its honours and awards were transferred to the 212th District Training Centre inChita, Zabaykalsky Krai,Far Eastern Military District (Military Unit 30672). Up until 1987 the 212th DTC had been the 49th Tank Training Division. With the change, the centre in Chita became the 212th Guards District Training Center "Vienna of the Orders of Lenin and Kutuzov," for junior specialists named after Lieutenant General I.N. Russiyanov.[2]
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| Rifle |
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