The 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 ...

was a cavalry corps active during the

Second World War 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 ...

. It was formed from the 8th Cavalry Corps in February 1943.

Second World War

8th Cavalry Corps

The 8th Cavalry Corps was created on 18 January 1942 at Tula. Lieutenant General Pavel Korzun took command. It was initially composed of the *

21st Mountain Cavalry Division First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

, * 52nd Cavalry Division, * 55th Cavalry Division. Immediately upon forming the 8th Cavalry Corps was assigned to 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 ...

. During the winter fighting in February - March 1942 the Corps controlled the 36th and 37th Ski Battalions. By the end of March 1942, the ski battalions and the 52nd Cavalry Division were gone. In April the corps was rebuilt: * 21st Mountain Cavalry Division * 55th Cavalry Division *

112th Cavalry Division Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'', ...

* 148th Artillery-Mortar Regiment * 263rd Horse Artillery Battalion (76mm guns and mortars) The Corps completed its reorganization in June 1942. In July it went into battle with the Bryansk Front against the northern flank of the German summer offensive. After a month of hard fighting the corps went back into reserve. In October it moved south and was assigned to the

5th Tank Army The 5th Tank Army is the name of several Soviet units during World War II (not to be confused with the 5th Guards Tank Army). Its first formation occurred on 5 June, 1942, commanded by Major-General Alexander Lizyukov, serving under the Bryansk ...

in November for

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

. 13th Separate Signals Battalion, and 23rd signals air-flight. The Corps was assigned to the Southwestern Front’s in the area of the

(2nd formation) ( Serafimovich) north of Stalingrad where it cooperated with the

1st Tank Corps First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(General V. V. Butkov) during

. in which they had the task of cutting the railroad in the region of the stations Bolshaya Osipovka, Surovikino, and Oblivskaya. Attached to the Corps was: * 174th Antitank Regiment * 179th Antitank Regiment * 35th Guards Mortar Regiment (BM-13) * 586th Antiaircraft Regiment (37mm guns) * 511th Flamethrower Tank Battalion In 1943, on January 30 from the area of the

Seversky Donets The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

river, the Corps went over to the offensive in the direction of

Voroshilovgrad Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

(now Lugansk) as part of the

3rd Guards Army The 3rd Guards Army () was a field army of the Soviet Red Army that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The army fought in the Battle of Berlin, during which it mopped up German resistance around Cottbus. 1942 to 1945 It was formed o ...

under the command of lieutenant general

Dmitry Lelyushenko Dmitry Danilovich Lelyushenko (; ( – 20 July 1987) was a Soviet military officer and a commander in the Red Army during World War II. He rose to prominence during the first months of the Eastern Front of the Second World War, where he became a ...

, where it was engaged in furious fighting on the approaches to the city. At dawn on February 14 began the assault, as a result of which the first provincial city in central Ukraine was liberated. Although the main role in this operation was played by the

59th The 59th Quartermaster Company is a bulk petroleum company designed to provide semi-portable storage for of fuel and to provide distribution of fuel to military units within a specified geographic area while deployed overseas. Its secondary missi ...

, 243rd, 279th Guard rifle divisions, 2nd Guard and 2nd Tank Corps, active assistance in the liberation of Lugansk was rendered by the 8th Cavalry Corps now under the command of General Major M.D. Borisov. The Corps was assigned by the

Soviet Southwestern Front The Southwestern Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War, formed thrice. It was first created on June 22, 1941 from the Kiev Special Military District. The western boundary of the front in June 1941 was 865 km long, f ...

to break through German lines at Debaltsevo near the city and cut German communications. On the night of February 8, 1943, the Corps accomplished this and by February 14 the raid had been so successful that the whole corps was raised to Guards status. The Corps became the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps, and its three divisions, the 21, 35, and 112 became the 14th, 15th and 16th Guards Cavalry Divisions. During the raid the corps also included the 148th Mortar Regiment, the 263d Separate Cavalry Artillery Battalion, and the 8th Separate Antitank Artillery Battalion. It completed this most difficult raid on the rear areas of enemy, distracting significant forces of enemy from reinforcing the frontline units. The Corps sustained very heavy losses breaking out of the encirclement, but the enemy also sustained losses in manpower and material which were essential for reinforcement of the forward units.Glantz, ''Companion to Colossus Reborn'', p. 81.

Commanders

* 15.01.1942 — 11.05.1942 Pavel Korzun * 12.05.1942 — 27.05.1942

Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov (), born with the surname "Zhidov" (, 30 March 1901 – 30 November 1977), was a Soviet military officer in the Red Army, who during World War II commanded the 66th Army, later renamed the 5th Guards Army, from the Battl ...

* 28.05.1942 — 09.09.1942 Ivan Fedotovich Lunev * 10.09.1942 — 16.10.1942

* 17.10.1942 — 26.10.1942 Stepan Ivanovich Dudko, KIA * 17.10.1942 — 14.02.1943 Mikhail Dmitrievich Borisov, POW

7th Guards Cavalry Corps

Order No. 78 of the Commissariat of the Defense of the USSR dated 14 February 1943 the corps was redesignated the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps. * 14th Guards Cavalry Division (former 21st Cavalry Division) * 15th Guards Cavalry Division (former 55th Cavalry Division) *

16th Guards Cavalry Division 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. It is the fourth power of two. In English speech, the numbers 16 and 60 are sometimes confused, as they sound similar. Mathematics 16 is the ninth composite number, and a sq ...

(former 112th Cavalry Division) After receiving its Guards designations the corps withdrew from behind German lines through snowstorms. After a week of dodging German patrols, the Corps slipped back through Soviet lines, having disrupted the rear areas and movement of most of the Panzer Corps. After returning to Soviet lines and due to the heavy losses from the Stalingrad offensive and the cavalry raid the Corps was sent into the reserves to rebuild. Between March and May 1943 the corps was reinforced and rebuilt in the Southwestern Front. The corps sent north to join the

Steppe Front The Steppe Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had been effective since 30 April.G ...

in the STAVKA Reserves in June consisting of: * 14th Guards Cavalry Division * 15th Guards Cavalry Division * 16th Guards Cavalry Division * 145th Guards Antitank Regiment (76mm) * 57th Guards Mortar Battalion (rockets) * 7th Guards Antitank Battalion * 1773rd Antiaircraft Regiment The Corps was not committed in the first part of the summer offensive after

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 ...

, remaining in STAVKA reserves until September. Assigned to the 61st Army on 19 September 1943 the corps had added the 1897th SU Regiment (SU-76s) and the 7th Guards Mortar Regiment (120mm mortars). From late September 1943 to March 1944 the corps operated in the 61ast or 65th Armies of the Belorussian Front, trying to enlarge the penetration south of

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

. In January 1944 the 1897th SU Regiment was replaced by the 1816th SU Regiment (Su-76s), which remained in the Corps until the end of the war. On 5 March 1944 the Corps was sent to the

2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front (, ''Vtoroi Belorusskiy front'', also romanized "Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussian"), was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. I ...

reserves, and in April helped clear the Germans out of the Mozyr and River Turya areas, clearing the south edges of the Pripyet marshes for operations later in the summer. On 17 May 1944, the Corps went to 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 ...

in the area of Brest and

Kobrin Kobryn or Kobrin is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Kobryn District. It is located in the southwestern corner of Belarus, where the Mukhavets river and Dnieper–Bug Canal meet. The town lies about e ...

. On 14 July 1944

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

began with the Corps advancing with the

2nd Tank Army The 2nd Guards Tank Army () was a large military formation of the Red Army and Soviet Army, later part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation. The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was the firs ...

,. By the end of the week, the corps had advanced 200 km, south of

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Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

. The front line stabilized and the corps was on the defensive from 8 August 1944 to 7 January 1945. When the Vistula-Oder offensive started in January 1945 the 1st Belorussian Front formed the Konstantinov Cavalry-Mechanized Group under the 7th Guards Cavalry Commander, Lieutenant General Mikhail Konstantinov. The group consisted of: * 7th Guards Cavalry Corps ** 14th Guards Cavalry Division ** 15th Guards Cavalry Division ** 16th Guards Cavalry Division ** 1816th SU Regiment ** 145th Guards Antitank Regiment (76mm) ** 1773rd Antiaircraft Regiment ** 7th Guards Antitank Battalion ** 57th Guards Mortar Battalion (rockets) * 7th Guards Mortar Regiment *

9th Tank Corps 09 may refer to: * The year 2009, or any year ending with 09, which may be written as '09 * September, the ninth month * 9 (number) * Ariège (department) (postal code), a French department * Auckland, New Zealand, which has the telephone area code ...

** 23rd Tank Brigade (T-34/85) ** 95th Tank Brigade (T-34/85) ** 108th Tank Brigade (T-34/85) ** 8th Motorized Rifle Brigade ** 36th Guards Heavy Tanks Regiment (IS-IIs) ** 1445th SU Regiment ** 1508th SU Regiment ** 868th Light Artillery Regiment ** 216th Antiaircraft Regiment ** 218th Mortar Regiment (120mm) ** 286th Guards Mortar Battalion (rockets) ** 90th Motorcycle Battalion This group advanced over 400 km from the center of the 1st Belorussian front to the Oder River in just 17 days. The group then turned north into Pomerania, where it spent two months clearing the flanks of the Soviet penetration of German lines. In April and May 1945 the Group advanced as part of the Berlin Strategic Operation operating independently sweeping north of the city to seize

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and then continuing on to meet advancing units of the US 9th Army.

Commanders

* 25.02.1943 — 20.03.1943 Richard Ivanovich Golovanovsky, * 21.03.1943 — 04.06.1943 Yakov Sergeevich Sharaburko, * 07.06.1943 — 06.10.1943

Mikhail Maleyev Mikhail Maleyev (; 1899 – 23 February 1964) was a Soviet corps commander. He fought for the Bolsheviks in the civil war against the White movement and against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. He was a recipient of the Order of Lenin, ...

, * 07.10.1943 — 09.05.1945 Mikhail Konstantinov

Postwar

The corps' 15th Guards Cavalry Division was converted into the 12th Guards Mechanized Division and transferred to another unit. In the fall of 1945 the corps, with the 14th and 16th Divisions, was transferred from Brest in the

Belorussian Military District The Byelorussian Military District (; alternatively Belarusian; ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces. Originally formed just before World War I as the Minsk Military District out of the remnants of the Vilno Military District an ...

to Nakhchivan in the Baku Military District. In January 1946, the corps was converted into the 31st Guards Mechanized Division. The 14th and 16th Divisions were reduced to the 98th and 99th Guards Mechanized Regiments, respectively. In the spring of that year the 31st Guards became part of the 4th Army. In the spring of 1957, the division became the 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division, and on 17 November 1964 it was renumbered as the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division.

References

Sources

* * Glants, D.M. (1), ''Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War'', Frank Cass, London, 1989 * Glantz, D.M. (2), ''Companion to Colossus Reborn: key documents and statistics'', University of Kansas2005 * ''Perecheni No.4, Command of Corps which were a part of the active Army during the years of the Great Patriotic War 1941-45'', Supplement to the direction of the General Staff for year 1956 No.168780, Moscow, 1956 *Murphy, David E. "'Operation Ring': The Black Berets in Azerbaijan." The Journal of Soviet Military Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 1992. {{Soviet Union corps Guards cavalry corps of the Soviet Union

Second World War

8th Cavalry Corps

Commanders

7th Guards Cavalry Corps

Commanders

Postwar

See also

References

Sources