Active 1942-1946 Branch Armoured Forces | Country Soviet Union Type Mechanized Corps | |
Role Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations Size ca. 19,000-20,000 men
180-220 tanks | ||
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.
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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In its final form, it was designated the 137th Military Base and was withdrawn from Vaziani in Georgia and disbanded in the early 1990s.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After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was redesignated as the 137th Military Base, and finally withdrawn and disbanded in the 1990s.