The 5th Cavalry Corps was a cavalry 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 5th Cavalry Corps headquarters was formed at

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

in accordance with a Red Army General Staff directive of 25 August 1935 and a

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 ...

directive of 8 February 1936, under the command of Komdiv

Konstantin Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky ( 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish general who served as a top commander in the Red Army during World War II and achieved the ranks of Marshal of the Soviet Union and Marshal of Poland. He a ...

. The corps included the 16th, 25th, and 30th Cavalry Divisions. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, Rokossovsky was arrested and imprisoned on 17 August 1937. His successor, Kombrig Dmitry Vaynerkh-Vanyarkh, was arrested on 10 February 1938 and later executed. Komdiv Vasily Gonin succeeded command of the corps on 6 June 1938. The 30th Cavalry Division was disbanded in 1938 and the 16th and 25th Cavalry Divisions transferred in 1939. The corps headquarters moved from Pskov to Kamenets-Podolsk in May 1939, transferring to the

Kiev Special Military District 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, ...

together with its 16th Cavalry Division. After the relocation of the corps headquarters, Gonin was found drunkenly harassing passerby in the streets of Kamenets-Podolsk on 18 June. However, he did not face serious consequences for this, with his case being referred to a court of honor. In July 1939 the 9th Cavalry Division transferred to the corps, remaining part of it until 1940. The corps took part in the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

, advancing into the region annexed as western Ukraine in September 1939, with the 9th and 16th Cavalry Divisions assigned. Gonin and 9th Cavalry Division commander Nikolay Belov were reprimanded in October for appropriating trophies for themselves during the campaign, with Gonin storing four hunting rifles in his vehicle. In December, Gonin was transferred to command the 34th Rifle Corps 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 ...

, and subsequently shot for drinking instead of leading his troops. Komdiv Dmitry Gustishev took over command of the corps. In June 1940 the 14th and 32nd Cavalry Divisions were assigned to the corps, which took part in the

Soviet occupation of Bessarabia Between 28 June and 3 July 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, following an ultimatum made to Romania on 26 June 1940 that threatened the use of force. Those regions, with a total area of and a population of 3,776, ...

. When the corps returned from Bessarabia, Rokossovsky, freed from prison, was restored to his old command. The 3rd Cavalry Division was assigned later in 1940. It was part of the 12th Army. It later became part of the 6th Army. On the Eastern Front of World War II, the corps distinguished itself in the Yelets Offensive, as a result of which, for courage shown in battle, in December 1941 it received the name of ''Guards'' and was transformed into the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps. At the same time, the 3rd Cavalry Division of the corps became the 5th Guards Cavalry Division. The 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps participated in the rest of the War as part of the Kalinin, Western, Bryansk, 1st and 2nd Baltic, South-West, South, Stalingrad, Don, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts. After the end of the war, the

5th Guards Cavalry Division The 5th Guards Cavalry Division (Bessarabian–Tannenberg, Order of Lenin, Grigory Kotovsky, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov) was a military unit in the Red Army, Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Soviet Armed Forces, Armed Forces) of the Soviet Union ...

and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps became part of the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Armed Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army (Russian Ground Forces starting 1992) stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fa ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, but soon withdrew to Izyaslav in the

Carpathian Military District The Red Banner Carpathian Military District (, ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period. It was established on 3 May 1946 on the ...

. It was reduced to the 5th Guards Cavalry Regiment in May and June 1946 when the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps was reduced to a division. The regiment and division were disbanded in April 1948.

Organization

1939: * 9th Cavalry Division * 16th Cavalry Division * 23rd Independent Tank Brigade 1941: * 3rd Cavalry Division * 14th Cavalry Division

References

Sources

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