The 26th Mechanized Corps (
Military Unit Number 7476) was a
Mechanized corps 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 ...
.
The mechanized corps of the Red Army were reorganized after
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The corps was reorganized and disbanded before it saw action.
History
Formation
The 26th Mechanized Corps was formed in March 1941 in the
North Caucasus Military District. The corps included the
52nd and
56th Tank Divisions, and the
103rd Motorized Division (the former 103rd Rifle Division).
[Дриг Евгений. Механизированные корпуса РККА в бою: история автобронетанковых войск Красной Армии в 1940—1941 гг. — М.: АСТ: Транзиткнига, 2005.] The corps headquarters and the 56th Tank Division were at
Armavir, the 52nd Tank Division at
Mineralnye Vody, and the 103rd Motorized Division at
Voroshilovsk. The corps was commanded by Major General
Nikolai Kirichenko. It became part of the
19th Army. On 1 June, the units of the corps were equipped with 86
BT tanks and
T-26 tanks, and 15
T-37,
T-38, and
T-40 amphibious tanks.
World War II
On 22 June,
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
, the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. Between 28 and 29 June the corps was sent to the
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
region with the 19th Army. The corps initially consisted of about 200 tanks and received reinforcements. It moved north with the 19th Army on 2 July. The corps was transferred to the
24th Army in the
Dorogobuzh region southwest of
Vyazma in early July. The corps was ordered to prepare fortified defensive lines northeast of Vyazma. On 8 July the corps was disbanded before it saw action as a result of the reorganization of Red Army mechanized forces.
The 52nd and 56th Tank Divisions became the 101st and 102nd Tank Divisions. The 103rd Motorized Division became the 103rd Tank Division. All three divisions became part of the
24th Army's reserve. In mid-July, the
Soviet General Staff decided to disband the mechanized corps as a result of combat experienced in the first weeks of the war, and planned to reform the corps headquarters as a rifle corps. On 16 July the
107th Rifle Division,
108th Rifle Division,
6th People's Militia Division,
19th Rifle Division, and the 444th Rifle Regiment, with artillery units, were ordered to become part of the rifle corps. The order was countermanded the next day and the rifle corps was never created.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Soviet Union corps
Mechanized corps of the Soviet Union
Military units and formations established in 1941
Military units and formations disestablished in 1941