The 138th Separate Tank Regiment was a
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
tank regiment of the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany's
2nd Guards Tank Army. Formed in 1962 as the 5th Separate Tank Brigade, it was initially tasked with defending the East German Baltic coast. It became the 138th Separate Tank Regiment in 1980. The regiment was disbanded in 1990.
History
The brigade was activated in May 1962 in
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...
, part of the 2nd Guards Tank Army. It moved to Primerwalde in 1964. The 24th Separate Tank Battalion and 22nd Separate Motor Rifle Battalion were based at Primerwalde. The 45th and 46th Separate Tank Battalions were at
Wustrow. The 58th Separate Tank Battalion was at
Garz. The tank battalions were equipped with
T-54 tanks and the motor rifle battalion was equipped with
BTR-152 armored personnel carriers. The brigade was tasked with the protection of the Baltic coastline. In 1974, the brigade had 130 T-54s.
In 1980 the brigade was renamed the 138th Separate Tank Regiment, with the task of parachuting and airlanding assaults on Denmark. The 24th, 45th and 58th Separate Tank Battalions were transferred to Mongolia and became part of the
12th,
41st and
91st Motor Rifle Divisions. The 46th Separate Tank Battalion and 22nd Separate Motor Rifle Battalion were disbanded. The regiment was also reequipped with
T-55 and
T-62 tanks, as well as
BTR-60
The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...
armored personnel carriers.
It was disbanded in April 1990.
References
Notes
Bibliography
* {{Cite book, title=Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской, last=Feskov, first=V.I., last2=Golikov, first2=V.I., last3=Kalashnikov, first3=K.A., last4=Slugin, first4=S.A., publisher=Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing, year=2013, isbn=9785895035306, location=Tomsk, language=Russian, trans-title=The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces, ref={{sfnRef, Feskov et al, 2013
Regiments of the Soviet Union
Armoured units and formations of the Soviet Union
Military units and formations established in 1980
Military units and formations disestablished in 1990