The 1st Guards Tank Red Banner Army () is a tank

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

of the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

(

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 ...

73621). The army traces its heritage back to the 1st Tank Army, formed twice in July 1942 and in January 1943 and converted into the 1st Guards Tank Army in January 1944. The army fought as part 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 ...

on the Eastern Front during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The army was commanded throughout most of the war by

Mikhail Katukov Marshal of Armoured Troops Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov ( – 8 June 1976) served as a commander of armored troops in the Red Army during and following World War II. He is viewed as one of the most talented Soviet armor commanders. Mikhail Kat ...

. It fought on the defensive during

Case Blue Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the ''Wehrmacht'' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of Baku ( Azerb ...

, ultimately being partially destroyed and disbanded. After its reformation in 1943, it participated in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

, the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation, the

Lvov-Sandomierz Operation The Lvov–Sandomierz offensive or Lvov–Sandomierz strategic offensive operation () was a major Red Army operation to force the German troops from Ukraine and Eastern Poland. Launched in mid-July 1944, the operation was successfully completed ...

, the Vistula-Oder Offensive and the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

. After the war, the army was stationed in East Germany as part of the

Group of Soviet Forces in Germany The Western Group of Forces (WGF), previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG) and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG), were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupation ...

. After the end of the

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 ...

and the resultant withdrawal of Soviet units in Germany, the army was relocated to

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

, and disbanded in 1999. The army was reformed in 2014 as part of Russia's military expansion. This reformed army fought in the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, where it was claimed to have suffered heavy casualties following its eventual retreats from the

north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and later

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

First formation

The 1st Tank Army was first formed within the

Stalingrad Front The Stalingrad Front was a front, a military unit encompassing several armies, of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of St ...

from the 38th Army in July 1942, under the command of Major General Kirill Moskalenko. The army was encircled and partially destroyed. It was disbanded as a result in August 1942, its headquarters becoming the

Southeastern Front The Southeastern Front was a front of the Red Army during World War II. It was formed on August 5, 1942, out of parts of the Stalingrad Front, using the command elements from the First Tank Army and the disbanded Southern Front. The front's mai ...

headquarters.

Second formation

The 1st Tank Army was formed a second time on 30 January 1943 (order No.46021) from the headquarters of the 29th Army, under the command of famous armoured troops commander Lieutenant General of Tank Troops

, personally appointed by Stalin. The army was transferred to the

North-Western Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-c ...

. The 3rd Mechanised Corps (later to become 8th Guards Mechanised Corps) and

6th Tank Corps 06 may refer to: * 6 (number) * The month of June, commonly referred to as 06 * The years 1906 and 2006, both commonly referred to as '06 * Lynk & Co 06, a Chinese subcompact SUV * ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', a 2006 game commonly referred to as ''Sonic ...

(later to become 11th Guards Tank Corps) joined it on formation, and served with the army throughout the war. It was quickly transferred to the

Voronezh Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (), previously the Voronezh Front (), was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. They took part in the capture of Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. Wartime ...

for the defense of the

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

salient's southern shoulder, adding the newly formed 31st Tank Corps to its subordinate commands. Its order of battle prior to

Operation Citadel Operation Citadel () was the German offensive operation in July 1943 against Soviet forces in the Kursk salient, proposed by Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein during the Second World War on the Eastern Front that initiated the Battle of ...

was as follows: 1st Tank Army * 3rd Mechanized Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Semyon Krivoshein) ** 1st Mechanized Brigade ** 3rd Mechanized Brigade ** 10th Mechanized Brigade ** 49th Tank Brigade ** 58th Motorcycle Battalion, ** 35th Tank Destroyer Regiment ** 265th Mortar Regiment ** 405th Guards Mortar Battalion* *

(Major General of Tank Forces Andrei Getman) ** 22nd Tank Brigade ** 112nd Tank Brigade ** 200th Tank Brigade ** 6th Motor Rifle Brigade ** 85th Motorcycle Battalion ** 1461st Self Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 538th Tank Destroyer Regiment ** 270th Mortar Regiment *31st Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces D. Kh. Chernienko) ** 100th Tank Brigade ** 237th Tank Brigade ** 242nd Tank Brigade * 71st Engineer Battalion * 267th Engineer Battalion * 316th Guards Mortar Regiment* * 8th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division ** 797th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment ** 848th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment ** 978th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment ** 1063rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment * Guards Mortar Regiment (or Battalion) () was the overt designation used for

Katyusha rocket launcher The Katyusha ( rus, Катю́ша, p=kɐˈtʲuʂə, a=Ru-Катюша.ogg) is a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver explosives to a target area m ...

units.

First Guards Tank Army

After Kursk, 1st Tank Army participated in the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation, the

, the Vistula-Oder Offensive, and the

. It was awarded a Guards title and became the 1st Guards Tank Army in April 1944, and Katukov was promoted to Colonel General. On 1 January 1945, the Army's principal combat formations were: *

8th Guards Mechanized Corps The 20th Guards Carpathian-Berlin Motor Rifle Division () is a formation of the Russian Ground Forces, originally formed within the Soviet Union, Soviet Red Army as the 3rd Mechanised Corps. The division was reformed in 2021 from the former 20th ...

(Major General Ivan Dremov) (3 January 1944 – 9 May 1945) ** 19th Guards Mechanized Brigade ** 20th Guards Mechanized Brigade ** 21st Guards Mechanized Brigade ** 1st Guards Tank Brigade ** 48th Guards Separate Tank Regiment ** 353rd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 400th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 265th Guards Mortar Regiment * ** 405th Guards Mortar Battalion * ** 358th Guards Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment ** 8th Guards Motorcycle Battalion *

11th Guards Tank Corps In music theory, an eleventh is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a fourth. A perfect eleventh spans 17 and the augmented eleventh 18 semitones, or 10 steps in a diatonic scale. Since there are only seven degrees in a diaton ...

(Colonel

Hamazasp Babadzhanian Hamazasp Khachaturi Babadzhanian or Babajanian (; ; 18 February 1906 – 1 November 1977) was a Soviet military officer of Armenian origin who held the rank of Chief Marshal of the Armoured Troops. Anon. ''Babajanyan, Hamazasp Khachaturi'', ...

) (25 August 1944 – 9 May 1945) ** 40th Guards Tank Brigade ** 44th Guards Tank Brigade ** 45th Guards Tank Brigade ** 27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade ** 399th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 362nd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 1454th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 350th Light Artillery Regiment ** 270th Guards Mortar Regiment * ** 53rd Guards Mortar Battalion * ** 1018th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment ** 9th Guards Motorcycle Battalion * Army Troops ** 64th Guards Tank Brigade ** 11th Guards Separate Tank Regiment ** 19th Light Self-Propelled Artillery Brigade ** 197th Light Artillery Brigade ** 79th Guards Mortar Regiment * ** 17th Motorised Engineer Brigade ** 191st Guards Liaison Aviation Regiment ** 6th Motorcycle Regiment ** 12th Guards Motorcycle Regiment * Guards Mortar Regiment (or Battalion) () was the overt designation used for

units.

Cold War

The 1st Guards Tank Army was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

postwar. It became part of the Soviet occupation force in Germany, known as

, with its headquarters in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. In 1968, it, along with the 11th Guards Tank and 20th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions, took part in the

Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...

, after which the units returned to their garrisons. In the late 1980s the Army included the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division, 9th Tank Division, and 11th Guards Tank Division. The headquarters was withdrawn to Smolensk, in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

in the early 1990s, and lost the 'Tank' from its title in 1995. In its last period within the Russian Army it comprised the 4th Guards 'Kantemir' Tank Division and the 144th Motor Rifle Division (which had been withdrawn from

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

). In July 1992 the 336th Independent Helicopter Regiment returned from Germany to Oreshkovo airfield and was placed under the Moscow Military District. The regiment then came under 1st Guards Tank Army from 31 December 1992. 1st Guards Tank Army was disbanded in 1998.

1988 structure

The army's composition in 1988 was (with main equipment), with honorific titles in italics: * Army Headquarters,

** 234th Separate Guard and Security Battalion,

* 3rd Separate Guards ''Carpathian'' Communications Regiment,

* 253rd Separate Radio Engineering Regiment,

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

* 51st Separate Radio Engineering Battalion,

* 106th Separate Electronic Warfare Battalion,

* 595th Separate Intelligence Gathering Battalion,

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

(K-611) * 6th Separate Airborne Battalion,

* 308th Artillery Brigade, Zeithain ( 2c5 Hyacinth) * 181st Guards ''Novozybkovskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky'' Missile Brigade, Kochstedt * 432nd Missile Brigade,

Wurzen Wurzen () is a town in the district Leipzig (district), Leipzig Land (voting) and Muldental (number plates), in Saxony, Germany. It is situated next to the river Mulde, here crossed by two bridges, 25 km east of Leipzig, by rail N.E. of Leipzig L ...

* 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade,

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

* 443rd Separate Engineer and Combat Engineering Battalion,

* 68th Pontoon Bridge Regiment,

* 41st Materiel Support Brigade,

** 303rd Separate Repair and Recovery Battalion,

** 338th Separate Repair and Recovery Battalion,

* 225th Separate Attack Helicopter Regiment,

Allstedt Allstedt () is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximatively 10 km southeast of Sangerhausen. History Allstedt is mentioned as the tithable place ''Altstedi'' in Friesenfeld in the ...

(

Mil Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity transport helicopter, troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced ...

) * 485th Separate Attack Helicopter Regiment, Brandis (

) * 6th Separate Transport Helicopter Squadron, Klotzsche (

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

) * 9th ''Bobruisk-Berlin Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov'' Tank Division,

Riesa Riesa (; ) is a town in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany. It is located on the river Elbe, approximately northwest of Dresden. History The name ''Riesa'' is derived from Slavic ''Riezowe''. This name, romanised as "Rezoa", appears f ...

* 11th Guards ''Berlin-Carpathian'' Tank Division,

* 20th Guards ''Taganrog Red Banner Order of the Suvorov Division'' Motor Rifle Division,

Grimma Grimma (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south of Wurz ...

Reactivation

After a 15-year hiatus, the Army was reconstituted in November 2014, probably on 13 November 2014. The army was formed as the main ground forces manoeuvre and reserve operational formation of the

Western Military District The Western Military District () was a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia, in existence from 2010 until its abolishment as a unitary military command on February 26, 2024, succeeded by the newly reconstituted Moscow Mil ...

, in addition to the 6th Combined Arms Army (headquartered in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) and the

20th Guards Combined Arms Army The 20th Guards Combined Arms Army (originally designated as the 4th Tank Army, 4th Guards Tank Army in 1945, 4th Guards Mechanised Army in 1946, and the 20th Guards Army in 1960 within the Soviet Ground Forces) is a field army. In 1991, after th ...

(headquartered in

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

). It is considered an elite formation of the

. The army carries on the traditions of the chronologically first army of the Soviet Union to reach '''Guards status. It commands the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle and the 4th Tank Divisions, which are considered the elite formations of their respective combat arms. The most decorated divisions of the Soviet Army, they were garrisoned the closest to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for the city's defense. Due to their proximity to the capital, extra scrutiny was applied to personnel of these formations, making these postings especially prestigious. These units received the latest hardware and were thus known as the 'household' divisions of the Soviet Army. Their loyalty to the government was demonstrated by their involvement in the

1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to Coup d'état, forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President ...

. The divisions retained their elite status within the Russian Army. The army also included the 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. While the 4th Guards Tank Division uses T-80 tanks, the rest of the Army uses

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

B and

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard p ...

tanks, and

Kurganets-25 The Kurganets-25 () is a tracked amphibious, 25-ton modular infantry fighting vehicle and armored personnel carrier being developed for the Russian Army. The Kurganets-25 is planned to evolve into various models, gradually replacing BMP, BMD, MT ...

fighting vehicles. the Army was composed of: * Army Headquarters (

Odintsovo Odintsovo ( rus, Одинцово, , ɐdʲɪnˈtsovə) is a city and the administrative center of Odintsovsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Western suburb of Moscow. Population: History The village of Odintsovo was established in the la ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

) * 60th Command Brigade (Selyatino village near

) * 2nd Guards Motor Rifle '''Tamanskaya Division (

Kalininets Kalininets () is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (a Urban-type settlement, work settlement) in the Naro-Fominsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. The town's name is a derivative form an unofficial name for a soldier of ...

) (MUN 23626) * 4th Guards Tank '''Kantemirovskaya Division (

Naro-Fominsk Naro-Fominsk () is a town and the administrative center of Naro-Fominsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Nara River, southwest from Moscow. History The Fominskoye village was first mentioned in Russian chronicles under the ...

) (

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72 and changing the engine to a gas turbi ...

) (MUN 19612) * 47th Tank '''Chenstokhovskaya Division ( Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, established 2022) * 27th Guards Motor Rifle '''Sevastopol Brigade ( Mosrentgen, Moscow City) * 112th Guards Missile '''Novorossiysk Brigade (

Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast Shuya (, ) is the third largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. The town is built on the high left bank of the navigable Teza (river), Teza river, a tributary of the Klyazma river, with two suburbs on t ...

) (

9K720 Iskander The 9K720 Iskander (; NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone) is a Russian mobile short-range ballistic missile system. It has a range of . It was intended to replace the OTR-21 Tochka in the Russian military by 2020. The Iskander has several differ ...

) * 288th Guards Artillery '''Warsaw Brigade ( Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) * 49th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade ( Krasnyi Bor, Smolensk Oblast) ( Buk-M2) * 96th

ISTAR ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...

Brigade ( Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod City) * 20th NBC Defence Regiment ( Tsentralny, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) (MUN 12102) * 69th Logistics Brigade ( Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast)

Structure

Units identified in 2023 in 1GTA

2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division The 2nd Guards Mikhail Kalinin, M. I. Kalinin Taman Motor Rifle Division is a Russian Guards, Guards Mechanized infantry, mechanised infantry Division (military), division of the Russian Ground Forces. Its Military Unit Number is 23626. The 2nd ...

(в/ч 23626) **

1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment The 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Sevastopol Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment named after the 60th Anniversary of the USSR is a tactical formation of the Russian Ground Forces. Its Military Unit Number is 31135 (military unit 31135). Ab ...

(в/ч 31135) **

15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment The 15th Guards Motorized Rifle Shavlinsky Order of Lenin, Red Banner Regiment (15 Guards MSP), () is a motor rifle regiment of the Russian Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Its Military Unit Number is 31134. It is base ...

(в/ч 31134) ** 1st Guards Tank Regiment (в/ч 58198) ** 136th Reconnaissance Battalion (в/ч 51387) ** 147th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (в/ч 73966) ** 1174th Anti-Tank Battalion (в/ч 51381) ** 1117th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (в/ч 51382) *

4th Guards Tank Division The 4th Guards Tank Division is a Russian Guards, Guards armoured division of the Russian Ground Forces. The division is named after Yuri Andropov. The division has the Military Unit Number 19612 and is one of the key formations of the Moscow Mil ...

(в/ч 19612) ** 12th Guards Tank Regiment (в/ч 31985) ** 13th Guards Tank Regiment (в/ч 32010) ** 423rd Motor Rifle Regiment (в/ч 91701) ** 137th Reconnaissance Battalion (в/ч 54919) ** 275th Self Propelled Artillery Regiment (в/ч 73941) ** 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (в/ч 21555) ** 538th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (в/ч 51383) * 47th Tank Division (в/ч 54096) ** 26th Tank Regiment ** 153rd Tank Regiment ** 245th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment ** 272nd Motor Rifle Regiment ** 7th Reconnaissance Battalion * 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade (в/ч 61899) * 96th Reconnaissance Brigade (в/ч 52634) * 112th Missile Brigade (в/ч 03333) * 288th Artillery Brigade (в/ч 30683)

Russo-Ukrainian War

During the

prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine In March and April 2021, prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces began massing thousands of personnel and military equipment near Russia's border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobil ...

, elements of the 1st Guards Tank Army were reported to have forward deployed to the Pogonovo training ground south of

Main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

s, self-propelled and towed artillery, and long-range multiple rocket launchers (MRLs), reportedly drawn from the 4th Guards Tank Division and the 2nd Motorised Rifle Division, were reported to have been positioned in the vicinity of Voronezh. A few months before the invasion, the 47th Guards Tank Division was formed from the 6th Separate Guards Tank Brigade. Members of the 1st Guards Tank Army's

were sentenced ''

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

'' to imprisonment by Ukrainian courts for alleged war crimes including the shelling of the city hospital of Trostianets and ordering the killing of a civilian in

Boromlia Boromlia or Boromlya () is a village in Okhtyrka Raion, in Ukraine's central Sumy Oblast. It is the administrative centre of Boromlia rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is 4,270 (). History Boromlia was establish ...

, both in

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

. Units of the army's

, including the 12th and 13th Guards Tank Regiments, were also reported to have been among the Russian forces which occupied Trostianets. Units of the 1st Guards Tank Army were reported in

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

as early as 17 March 2022, when the Ukrainian military claimed to have stopped a column belonging to the 47th Division's 26th Tank Regiment near ,

. By the beginning of April 2022, elements of the 1st Guards Tank Army had been redeployed from Sumy Oblast to

Izium Izium or Izyum (, ; ) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast, eastern Ukraine that serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion and Izium urban hromada. It is about southeast of the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative cen ...

in the

. On 13 September 2022, UK

Defence Intelligence Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

identified 1st Guards Tank Army as the primary force that retreated from

during the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive. Having suffered "heavy casualties", the Ministry claimed that the army as "severely degraded" and its ability to counter NATO "severely weakened." Ukraine reported in May 2022 that the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate had obtained documents showing that after 3 weeks of fighting the 1st Guards Tank Army had sustained 409

casualties A casualty (), as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, missing, capture or desertion. In c ...

(61 KIA, 209 WIA, 44 missing, 96 surrendered), and 308 units of military equipment had been seized. The United Kingdom

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

reported on 19 May 2022 that army commander General-Lieutenant Sergey Kisel had been suspended for his failure to capture

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. Kisel was transferred to serve as chief of staff of the Russian troops in Syria. By December, the UK MoD reported that the Army had been replenished with recruits, and was active on the Luhansk Oblast front.

Commanders of the Army

# Katukov, Mikhail Yefimovich –

Guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

ColGen, 1943–1947 # Belov, Yeftikhin Emelyanovich – Guard LtGen, 1947–1951 # Govorunenkov, Pyotr Dmitrievich – Guard GenLt, 1951–1953 # Yakubovsky, Ivan Ignatyevitch – Guard GenLt, 1953–1957 # Tolubko, Vladimir Fyodorovich – Guard MajGen, 1957–1958 # Ukhov, Vladimir Dmitrievich – Guard MajGen, 1958–1961 # Ivanovski, Yevgeny Filippovich – Guard MajGen, 1961–1964 # Kotsasnov, Konstantin Grigoryevich – Guard GenLt, 1964–1968 # Gerasimov, Ivan Aleksandrovich – Guard GenLt, 1968–1971 # Lushev, Pyotr Georgievich – Guard GenLt, 1971–1973 # Snetkov, Boris Vasilievich – Guard LtGen, 1973–1975 # Popov, Nikolai Ivanovich – Guard LtGen, 1975–1979 # Sovotskin, Roman Mikhailovich – Guard LtGen, 1979–1981 # Osipov, Vladimir Vasilyevich – Guard LtGen, 1981–1983 # Shein, Boris Pertovich – Guard LtGen, 1983–1986 # Tchernitsov, Anatoli Kupyanovich – Guard LtGen, 1986–1990 # Kolchkin, Gennadi Andreevich – Guard LtGen, 1990–1992 # Shevtsov, Leonti Pavlovich – Guard LtGen, 1992–1993 # Sosyedov, Vasili Petrovich – Guard LtGen, 1993–1995 # Roshchin, Viktor Mikhailovich – Guard LtGen, 1995–1999 # Did not exist (1999–2014) # Aleksandr Chaiko – Guard LtGen, 2014–2017 # Alexei Avdeyev – Guard LtGen, 2017–2018 # Sergey Kisel - Guard LtGen, 2018–2022 # Nikolai Tereshchenko – Guard LtGen, 2022–2024 #

Vitaly Podlesny Vitali, Vitalii, Vitaly, Vitaliy and may refer to: People Given name * Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976), Ukrainian American Internet fraudster and cyberbully * Vitaly Churkin (1952–2017), Russian politician * Vitaliy Dyrdyra (1938–2024), Uk ...

– Guard LtGen, 2024–present

References

* Bonn, K.E. 'Slaughterhouse – The Handbook of the Eastern Front', Aberjona Press, 2005 * Duncan, Andrew 'Russian Forces in Decline – Part 3', Jane's Intelligence Review, November 1996. * V.I. Feskov, Golikov V.I., K.A. Kalashnikov, and S.A. Slugin, ''The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II, from the Red Army to the Soviet (Part 1: Land Forces).'' (В.И. Слугин С.А. Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской (часть 1: Сухопутные войска))

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

, 2013. * Glantz, David M. 'Companion to Colossus Reborn' University Press of Kansas, 2005. * {{Armies of the Russian Armed Forces Tank armies of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner Guards Armies Armies of the Russian Federation