The 111th Tank Division was a

Tank division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and after 1946, the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. The division was formed in the summer of 1941 in the

Soviet Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Eastern Fe ...

from the tank regiment of a motorized division that had been reorganized into a motor rifle division, and had thus lost its tank regiment. The division never fought in combat and was in reserve during the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

. Postwar, the division continued its garrison duty in the Far East. The 111th was renumbered as the 16th Tank Division (Second Formation) in 1955.

History

Formation

The 111th Tank Division (

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...

8938) began its formation on 26 July 1941 in

Borzya Borzya ( rus, Борзя, p=ˈborzʲə; , ''Boorjo''; , ''Boorj'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Borzinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located southeast of Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, ...

from the 82nd Motorized Division's 123rd Tank Regiment. The 82nd Division was being converted into a motor rifle division, and as a result lost its tank regiment. The division included the following units upon its formation: * 222nd Tank Regiment (from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 123rd) * 223rd Tank Regiment (from the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 123rd) * 111th Motor Rifle Regiment * 111th Artillery Regiment * 111th Separate Headquarters Company * 111th Reconnaissance Battalion * 111th Separate Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (from the 68th Separate Anti-Aircraft Battalion) * 111th Medical-Sanitary Battalion * 111th Motor Transport Battalion * 111th Repair and Recovery Company * 100th Field Post Office * 2120th Field Cash Office of the State Bank On 1 August, Colonel Ivan Shevnikov became the division commander. The division's formation was completed on 20 August and it became part of the 36th Army.

World War II

On 9 September, the division was relocated to the 76th Rail Siding on the Molotov Railway (now Mirnaya). On 15 February 1942, Colonel Ivan Troitsky took command of the division. In June 1943, the division was directly subordinated to the

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front () was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air Army was added to the front, and, finally, in ...

. On 12 April 1944, division chief of staff Colonel Demyan Timokhin became the division commander. Colonel Ivan Sergeyev commanded the 111th from 31 December 1944 to 3 September 1945. In the summer of 1945, the division was transferred to Enger Shand in eastern Mongolia, where it was held in reserve while most of the rest of the front fought in the

. On 17 August, the division numbered 5,853 men and 696 vehicles of all types, including 137 operational

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

medium tanks, 22

BT-7 } The BT-7 was the last of the BT series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 1935 and 1940. It was lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for the time, and had much better mobility than other contemporary t ...

light tanks,17

BA-10 The BA-10 () was an armored car developed in the Soviet Union in 1938 and produced through 1941. It was the most produced Soviet pre-1941 heavy armored car – 3311 were built in three versions. These versions were the BA-10, the BA-10M (imp ...

and

BA-20 The BA-20 () was an armored car developed in the Soviet Union in 1934. It was intended to replace the FAI and its field trials were completed in 1935. The BA-20 was then used in the early stages of World War II. Design and production The BA-20 ...

armored cars, 60 76 mm ZiS-3 divisional guns, twelve 76 mm anti-aircraft guns, six 120 mm mortars, 27 82 mm mortars, and ten Lend-Lease M17 anti-aircraft gun half-tracks.

Postwar

By 9 September 1945 the division had been relocated back to the 76th Rail Siding. On 10 October, it became part of the

6th Guards Tank Army The 6th Guards Order of Red Banner Tank Army was a tank army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first formed in January 1944 as the 6th Tank Army,Glantz (Companion), p. 66. and disbanded in Ukraine in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet U ...

. Around this time, the division also included the following units: * 222nd Tank Regiment * 223rd Tank Regiment * 73rd Tank Regiment * 165th Heavy Tank/Self-Propelled Gun Regiment * 111th Motor Rifle Regiment * 193rd Howitzer Artillery Battalion * 26th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment * 111th Motorcycle Battalion * 74th Guards Mortar Battalion * 111th Communications Battalion * 111th Sapper Battalion * 111th Medical-Sanitary Battalion * 111th Mobile Tank Repair Base * 111th Field Auto Repair Base * 111th Motor Transport Battalion The division remained as a garrison force in the Far East after the war. It was one of the units of the 6th Guards Tank Army that contributed crews and tanks to the formation of ten separate tank regiments to train

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

tankists on the T-34 in November 1950. On 4 March 1955, it was renumbered as the 16th Tank Division.

Commanders

The following officers commanded the division. * Colonel Ivan Shevnikov (1 August 1941 14 February 1942) * Colonel Ivan Troitsky (15 February 1942 11 April 1944) * Colonel Demyan Timokhin (12 April 30 December 1944) * Colonel Ivan Sergeyev (31 December 1944 3 September 1945)

Notes

References

External links

Division page at ww2.dk
{{Soviet Union divisions 1945–57 Tank divisions of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1955