The 2nd Guards Tank Army () was a large military formation 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 ...

and

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 ...

, later part 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, ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was the first Red Army unit to enter Berlin during 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 ...

World War II

Formation

The 2nd Tank Army was formed during January and February of 1943 from the 3rd Reserve Army of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

under the command of Prokofy Romanenko. On February 1, 1943, the Army's order of battle was as follows: 2nd Tank Army * 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Technical Forces A. G. Maslov) ** 107th Tank Brigade ** 109th Tank Brigade ** 164th Tank Brigade ** 15th Motor Rifle Brigade * 6th Guards Rifle Division * 16th Rifle Division *37th Guards Mortar Regiment* *51st Motorcycle Battalion *357th Engineer Battalion In the middle of February the army joined the Soviet Central Front and as part of Central Front in February – March took part in offensive operations in the direction of

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

, which ultimately failed.

Summer of 1943

By July 1st, 1943, the 2nd Tank Army had been reorganized as a fully mechanized formation, with the following order of battle: 2nd Tank Army * 3rd Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Maxim Sinenko) ** 50th Tank Brigade ** 51st Tank Brigade ** 103rd Tank Brigade ** 57th Motor Rifle Brigade ** 74th Motorcycle Battalion ** 881st Tank Destroyer Regiment ** 728th Tank Destroyer Battalion ** 234th Mortar Regiment ** 121st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment * 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces V. E. Grigor'ev) ** 107th Tank Brigade ** 109th Tank Brigade ** 164th Tank Brigade ** 15th Motor Rifle Brigade ** 51st Motorcycle Battalion ** 1441st Self Propelled Artillery Regiment ** 614th Tank Destroyer Regiment ** 729th Tank Destroyer Battalion ** 226th Mortar Regiment * 11th Guards Tank Brigade * 87th Motorcycle Battalion * 357th Engineer Battalion In July – August – 2nd Tank Army took part in the Orel strategic offensive operation –

Operation Kutuzov Operation Kutuzov was the first of the two counteroffensives launched by the Red Army as part of the Kursk Strategic Offensive Operation. It commenced on 12 July 1943, in the Central Russian Upland, against Army Group Center of the German ''Ger ...

– within the Kromy’-Orel offensive operation and the Chernigov-Pripyat offensive operation (26.08–30.09.1943) under the command of Alexey Rodin.

The Soviet Offensives, 1943-1945

In the beginning of September 1943 Rodin was replaced by Semyon Bogdanov as commander, and the 2nd Tank Army was redeployed to the

Stavka The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...

VGK reserve. In the middle of January 1944, it joined the

1st Ukrainian 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 ...

and remained in its structure until the end of January when it participated in the repulse of German counter-strokes in the direction of Vinnitsa; in February the army fought in the south-west of the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky operation. As part of the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

, and from the middle of June 1944 within the

1st Belorussian Front The 1st Belorussian Front (, ''Pervyy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian"), known without a numeral as the Belorussian Front between October 1943 and February 1944, was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, bein ...

, the Army participated in the Uman-Botoşani offensive, Lublin – Brest, and the Warsaw-Poznan offensive. For its service in the above operations the Army was granted the title of the Second Guards ' Red Banner' Tank Army in November 1944 and almost all of its formations and units received combat awards, with the majority of sub-units awarded honorifics commemorating operations they distinguished themselves in. After participating in the East Pomeranian Offensive and the Seelow-Berlin offensive operation, it was the first Soviet Army to enter Berlin during the Battle for Berlin. During the war, over 103,000 soldiers of the army were awarded awards and medals, 221 of them being awarded the decoration of the

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

, while the army commander Semyon Bogdanov was awarded the

twice.

Cold War

After the war ended the Army, now named Second Guards ' Red Banner' Tank Army, was located with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany with the staff in Fuerstenberg. However the only wartime formation that continued to serve with the Army was the 16th Guards Tank Division (the former 9th Guards Tank Corps). Although up to the 1970s it had retained of its wartime units – 12th Guards Tank Division (the former 12th Tank Corps) and 35th Motor Rifle Division (former 1st Mechanised Corps), without considering those formations that joined the Army as early as 1946. The three last wartime divisions were replaced at the end of the 1970s – the 94th Guards, 21st (stationed at Perleburg) and 207th Motor Rifle Divisions. It also included the 5th Separate Tank Brigade. The 1185th independent Landing-Assault Battalion was formed within the Army in 1981, withdrawn to Estonia in 1989, and disbanded in 1991.

Post-Cold War service

The Army was withdrawn to

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

in the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at differen ...

in 1993 and changed its name into 2nd Guards Red Banner Army matching its nature of combined-arms army that same year. It holds the Fighting Banner of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in storage. It was allocated the 16th and 90th Guards Tank Divisions for some years before being disbanded in 1998. 16th Guards Tank Division was reduced to a Guards weapons and equipment storage base in December 1997. The Army was reformed in 2001 as the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army from the former Volga MD headquarters and formerly consisted of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the

201st Motor Rifle Division The Russian 201st Military Base (; ) is a List of Russian military bases abroad, Russian military base based in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, part of the Central Military District. It was originally raised twice in World War II as part of the Soviet Un ...

. A former commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, Army General Nikolai Makarov, became Chief of Material of the Armed Forces, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, and is now Chief of General Staff. The 385th Guards Artillery Brigade was established in August 1981 from the previous 98th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment. It returned from Planken in East Germany to Totskoye in 1993.

Structure

1990

* 16th Guards Tank Division (Neustrelitz) * 21st Motor Rifle Division (

Perleberg Perleberg (; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Margravian: ''Perlberg'') is the capital of the district of Prignitz, located in the northwest of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg. The town received German town law, city rights in 1239 and as of ...

) * 94th Guards Motor Rifle Division (

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 ...

) * 207th Motor Rifle Division (

Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located ...

) *112th Guards Rocket Brigade ( Gentzrode) (12 9K72 Elbrus) *458th Rocket Brigade (

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; ) is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital o ...

) *61st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade ( Staats) *290th Artillery Brigade ( Schweinrich) *118th Logistic Support Brigade ( Ravensbrück) *172nd Helicopter Regiment (Parchim) *439th Helicopter Regiment (

Parchim Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch: ''Parchen'') is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Helmuth von Moltke the Elde ...

) *9th Helicopter Squadron (

Neuruppin Neuruppin (, , in contrast to ":de:Alt Ruppin, Old Ruppin"; ; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the noveli ...

) *480th Engineer Sapper Brigade *69th Pontoon-Bridge Regiment (

Rathenow Rathenow () is a town in the district of Havelland (district), Havelland in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany, with a population of 24,063 (2020). Overview The Protestant church of St. Marien Andreas, originally a basilica, and transformed to the Go ...

) *15th Transporting-Landing Battalion *5th Signal Regiment (Ravensbrück) *52nd NBC Protection Battalion (12 K-611) (Rathenow) *250th Radio-Technical Regiment (Stendal) *52nd Radio-Technical Battalion (Ravensbrück) *836nd Radio Relay Cable Battalion *908th Electronic Warfare Battalion *297th Repair Recovery Battalion *310th Repair Recovery Battalion *240th Security and Support Battalion (

Fürstenberg/Havel Fürstenberg () is a town in the Oberhavel district, Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Fürstenberg is situated on the Havel, River Havel, south of Neustrelitz, and north of Berlin. The town lies at the southern edge of the Mecklenburg Lake Di ...

)

Commanders

*Lieutenant General Prokofy Romanenko (January – February 1943) *Lieutenant General Alexei Rodin (February – September 1943) *Colonel General Semen Bogdanov (September 1943 – July 1944 and January 1945 – 1947) *Lieutenant General Alexei Radzievsky (July 1944 – January 1945)

Sources and references

Citations

Bibliography

* *http://samsv.narod.ru/ *