The 1st Light Tank Brigade () was an armored brigade of the
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 ...
that fought in the
Winter War
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...
.
The brigade was formed as the 19th Mechanized Brigade in 1934 and was one of the units combined to form the
1st Tank Division in 1940.
History
The 19th Mechanized Brigade was formed in May 1934 in
Detskoye Selo, part of the
7th Mechanized Corps of the
Leningrad Military District
The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...
. The brigade was relocated to
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...
by 1938. The brigade was reorganized as the 1st Light Tank Brigade in 1938. The brigade took part in the
Winter War
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...
as part of the
10th Tank Corps
The 10th Tank Corps was a tank corps of the Red Army, formed twice.
First Formation
In May–June 1938, the 7th Mechanized Corps headquarters was relocated from Novy Petergof to Luga and converted into the 10th Tank Corps when the Red Army ...
, which it rejoined on 13 October 1939. After the disbandment of the corps headquarters the brigade was assigned to the
7th Army as a separate tank brigade. By the beginning of the Winter War, the brigade fielded 178 tanks and 23 armored cars. After the end of the Winter War, the brigade returned to Pushkin.
Its headquarters and three tank battalions were used to form the
1st Red Banner Tank Division of the
1st Mechanized Corps, a process completed by the end of July 1940. The division was formed in camps near
Strugi Krasnye, and the 1st Tank Battalion of the brigade was one of the units that formed the division's 1st Tank Regiment. The 4th and 8th Tank Battalions of the brigade were among the units forming the division's 2nd Tank Regiment. The 19th Tank Battalion was one of the tank units used to form the 5th Tank Regiment of the 1st Mechanized Corps'
3rd Tank Division.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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*{{Cite book, last=Zaloga, first=Steven J., title=BT Fast Tank: The Red Army's Cavalry Tank 1931–45, publisher=Osprey, year=2016, isbn=978-1-4728-1065-6, series=New Vanguard 237, location=Oxford
Tank brigades of the Soviet Union
Military units and formations established in 1934
Military units and formations disestablished in 1940
Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in the Winter War