The 30th Mechanized Corps (

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 ...

8354) was a

mechanized corps Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is disting ...

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 ...

. Formed in March 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 ...

, the corps did not see action. It was disbanded in mid-July 1941 as part of the reorganization of Red Army mechanized forces.

History

The corps was formed in March 1941 in the Far East as part of the

Far Eastern Front The Far Eastern Front (Russian: Дальневосточный фронт) was a front — a level of military formation that is equivalent to army group — of the Red Army during the Second World War. Early war service Тhe Far Eastern Front wa ...

. The 60th Tank Division formed in the

Birobidzhan Birobidzhan ( rus, Биробиджан, p=bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan; , ), also spelt Birobijan ( ), is a town and the administrative centre of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, near the China–Russia bord ...

area and the rest of the corps was formed in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...

. The 58th Tank Division headquarters was formed from the 48th Light Tank Brigade, which arrived in Monastyrische from Voroshilova. The 3rd Light Tank Brigade was transferred to free up barracks for the 58th Tank Division. The corps also included the 239th Motorized Division at Iman and the 29th Motorcycle Regiment at Lesozavodsk. The headquarters of the corps was at Monastyrische and it was commanded by Lieutenant General Vasily Golubovsky. Its chief of staff was Colonel

Andrei Getman Andrei Lavrentyevich Getman (; , Andriy Lavretiyovych Hetman; 5 October (22 September OS) 1903 – 8 April 1987) was a Soviet military commander, Army General (13 April 1964) and Hero of the Soviet Union (May 7, 1965). After joining the Red Army ...

. The chief of artillery of the corps was Colonel Pyotr Kosenko. The corps had more than a thousand tanks, but none of these were

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, ...

s or KVs. Most of the corps' tanks were

T-26 The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light ...

s and

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 ...

s. The corps was numerically stronger than other higher-numbered mechanized corps due to its location on the Soviet border. In mid-July 1941 the corps headquarters was disbanded. The 58th Tank Division and 239th Motorized Division became part of the

1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Chinese Communist Party unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Army ...

. The 60th Tank Division became part of the 15th Army. The 29th Motorcycle Regiment became part of the 35th Army.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Soviet Union corps Mechanized corps of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1941