| 4th Mechanized Corps (1941 – Dec 1942) 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps (1942–1945) 3rd Guards Mechanized Division (c. 1946 – 1957) 47th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1959) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1941–1959 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Armoured Forces |
| Type | Corps |
| Engagements | Operation Uranus Operation Bagration Baltic Offensive Invasion of Manchuria |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Andrey Vlasov Vasily Volsky Viktor Obukhov |
The4thMechanized Corps was a formation in the SovietRed Army during theSecond World War.
Initially formed in January 1941, it served with the6th Army,[1]Kiev Special Military District, under the command of General MajorAndrey Vlasov when the GermanOperation Barbarossa began in June 1941. On 22 June 1941 4th Mechanised Corps consisted of 28,098 soldiers and 979 tanks. It initially comprised the 8th and 32nd Tank Divisions, the81st Mechanised Division, the 3rd Motorcycle Regiment, and other, smaller units.[2] It fought in theBattle of Brody,[3]b and was destroyed in theUman Pocket in August 1941 with the 6th Army and was disbanded shortly after.[4]
The corps was reformed in September 1942. It was commanded by GeneralVasily Volsky during theBattle of Stalingrad in 1942. The corps entered the sector south of Stalingrad as part ofOperation Uranus.
The plan was to attack through the51st Army's sector to break through the RomanianFourth Army led byConstantin Constantinescu to help encircle the Germans in Stalingrad. On 20 November 1942, the corps started feeding its units into the attack, between Lake Tsatsa and Barmatsak when the 126th and302nd Rifle Divisions of the 51st Army began to advance on a three-mile front, supported by the 55th and 158th Independent Tank Regiments from the 4th Mechanized Corps. The advance was made against the Romanian 6th Corps, whose units, Erickson says, began to surrender as the tanks got in among their positions.
The corps's main attack opened late, further down the line, with three mechanized brigades hugging one road instead of the planned three, and the left-flank brigades, the 36th and 59th, running into minefields. However the attack went on, until a pause at Zety on the evening on 21 November for fuel and ammunition. On the morning of 23 November, the 4th Mechanized Corps linked up with 4th and 26th Tank Corps in the Sovietskii-Marinovka area, and the northern and southern pincers had met. The GermanSixth Army was surrounded in Stalingrad.
In December 1942, the corps gained aGuards title and became the3rd Guards Mechanised Corps. It fought at theBattle of Kursk as part ofSteppe Front. In June 1944, forOperation Bagration, it was assigned to Chernyakhovsky's3rd Belorussian Front as part of aCavalry Mechanized Group which also included the 3rd Cavalry Corps and was tasked to attack Bogushevsk in conjunction with the5th and39th Armies.[5] Its units included the 64th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, which operatedIS-2 heavy tanks while fighting as part of the 1st Baltic Front in theŠiauliai area during July 1944.[6] It was then moved to the Far East and took part in theinvasion of Manchuria as part of theTransbaikal Front.[7]
The corps, which gained the honorificStalingrad-Krivorozhskaya, became the3rd Guards Mechanised Division in November 1945, and the47th Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957. It was finally disbanded on 27 November 1959 while serving with the5th Army in theFar East Military District[8] atDalnerechensk.[9]
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| Mechanised |
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| Rifle |
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| Rocket |
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| Tank |
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| Army corps (1957–1991) |
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