Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army
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The 5th Guards Tank Army (Russian: 5-я гварде́йская та́нковая а́рмия) was a Soviet Guards armored formation which fought in many notable actions during World War II. The army was formed in February 1943. Until the aftermath of the Vilnius Offensive in July 1944, it was commanded by Pavel Rotmistrov. Its organisation varied throughout its history, but in general included two or more Guards Tank Corps and one or more Guards Mechanized Corps. It was considered an elite formation. Under Red Army doctrine of deep operations, Tank Armies were primarily to be used for large-scale exploitation of major offensives. Once a breach in enemy lines had been made by other units (typically Shock Armies or combined-arms armies), the tank army would be inserted into the gap to drive deep into enemy territory, attacking rear areas and seizing major communications centers to disrupt the enemy reactions. Tank armies were expected to penetrate up to several hundred kilometers into the enemy rear. After the war, the 5th Guards Tank Army moved to the Belorussian Military District. It was downsized to division size in late 1946 and became a mechanized army in 1948. The designation "5th Guards Tank Army" was restored in 1957. The army was taken over by the Belarus Ground Forces in June 1992 and became an army corps two months later. The 5th Guards Army Corps was disbanded in 2001. Its headquarters became the headquarters of the Belarus Ground Forces.


World War II

The 5th Guards Tank Army was formed on 25 February 1943 based on a ''
Stavka The ''Stavka'' (Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces formerly in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrative staff, a ...
'' order of 10 February 1943. It was part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (''Stavka'' Reserve). The army included the 3rd Guards and the 29th Tank Corps, the
5th Guards Mechanized Corps The 5th Guards ''Zimovnikovskaya'' order Kutuzov II degree Motor Rifle Division, (Military Unit Number (V/Ch) 51852 from 1979) named on the 60th anniversary of the USSR, was a military formation of the Soviet Ground Forces. It was formed from the ...
, the 994th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, artillery and other smaller units.


Battle of Kursk

In 1943, it played a significant role in the Battle of Kursk, being one of the formations tasked with the counterattack at the Battle of Prokhorovka. Subordinated to the
Steppe Front The Steppe Front (russian: Степной фронт) 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 ...
, at Kursk the Army controlled the
18th Tank Corps 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...
,
29th Tank Corps The 29th Tank Corps was a tank corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army. Formed in February 1943, the corps served through the entire war, fighting in the Battle of Prokhorovka, the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive, the Battle of the Dnieper, the Dniepe ...
,
2nd Tank Corps The 2nd Tank Corps was a Red Army armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as a Wehrmacht Panzer Division, and less than a British Armoured Divisio ...
,
5th Guards Mechanised Corps Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...
plus smaller units with a total of approximately 850 tanks. Early in 1944, it took part in the reduction of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket.


Operation Bagration

In June 1944, the 5th Guards Tank Army was used as the main exploitation force during the Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration. The formation was committed to an attack along and parallel to the main Moscow– Minsk road, following initial breakthroughs by the rifle divisions of
11th Guards Army The 11th Guards Army () was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1943 to 1997. History World War II For its prowess in battle, the second formation of the 16th Army was redesignat ...
, and was instrumental in completing the encirclement and destruction of German forces at Minsk. It was then employed in the third phase of Operation Bagration. High casualties in this campaign, however, led to the unit's commander Lieutenant-General Pavel Rotmistrov being relieved of command and replaced with
Vasily Volsky Vasily Timofeyevich Volsky (russian: Василий Тимофе́евич Во́льский) (Tula Oblast, Tula Province, Russian Empire, Russia, 10 March 1897 – Moscow, Soviet Union, 22 February 1946) was a General of Soviet Union, Sovie ...
.


Baltic Offensive

Late in 1944, the 5th Guards Tank Army was committed against
3rd Panzer Army The 3rd Panzer Army (german: 3. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942. 3rd Panzer Group The 3rd Panzer Group (german: Panzergruppe 3) was formed on 16 November ...
as part of the Baltic Offensive, pushing the German forces into a pocket at Memel. It was then moved south and took part in the East Prussian Operation as part of Konstantin Rokossovsky's
2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front (Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...
; driving to the coast at Elbing, it successfully cut off the '' Wehrmacht'' forces in
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
in what became known as the Heiligenbeil pocket. However, by March 1945, the 5th Guards Tank Army was being drawn down, with the subordinate
10th Tank Corps The 10th Tank Corps was a tank corps of the Red Army, formed twice. First Formation In May–June 1938, the 7th Mechanized Corps headquarters was relocated from Novy Petergof to Luga and converted into the 10th Tank Corps when the Red Army m ...
moved first to direct subordination of the 3rd Belorussian Front and then the STAVKA Reserve by 1 April 1945. This left the 5th Guards Tank Army with a single tank corps, the 29th, under its control. This reduction in strength coincided with the hospitalization of the 5th GTA's commanding general, Vasily Volsky, for tuberculosis. Volsky did not return to the army (he died in February 1946) and Major General Maxim Sinenko �иненко Максим Денисовичtook command from 16 March 1945 to the end of the war. After the war, Rotmistrov wrote a memoir and history of the unit, ''The Steel Guards''.


Cold War

In July 1945, the army was relocated to Slutsk, part of the Baranovichi Military District. In February 1946, it moved to Bobruisk, after the Baranovichi and Minsk Military Districts had been combined into the Belorussian Military District. The army moved to Belarus with the 8th Guards and 29th Tank Divisions, and the 8th Mechanized Division, all formed from the corps of the same numbers after the end of the war. There, the 8th Mechanized Division was transferred and the newly created 15th Guards and 12th Mechanized Divisions joined the army. The army was briefly redesignated the 5th Guards Mechanized Army on 12 June 1946, and was reduced to the mobilization 5th Guards Mechanized Division (or 5th Separate Guards Tank Division (mobilization)) on 31 October 1946, with its divisions reduced to regiments. The unit was expanded into the 5th Guards Mechanized Army on 28 October 1948 as Cold War tensions increased. In the early 1950s, the 22nd Mechanized Division replaced the 15th Guards. By 1955 the army numbered 1,219 tanks and self-propelled guns, including 161 IS-4, 893 T-54, sixteen T-34/85, 75 PT-76, and 74 ISU-122, 24 ZSU-57 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and 705 guns. From then until the late 1980s the army's composition remained virtually unchanged – only the mechanized divisions were redesignated in 1957. On 20 May of that year, the army was redesignated as the 5th Guards Tank Army. The 22nd Mechanized became the 36th Tank Division, then the 193rd in 1965, while the 12th Mechanized Division became the 5th Heavy Tank Division and was disbanded in 1960. On 21 February 1974, the army was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In August 1979, the 84th Motor Rifle Division (a mobilization unit) was attached to the army at Marina Gorka after transferring from the 28th Army; it was disbanded in 1987. Until the late 1980s, the army included three tank divisions – the 8th Guards at
Marina Gorka Marjina Horka or Maryina Gorka ( be, Мар'іна Горка; russian: Марьина Горка; pl, Maryjna Górka) is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus, and the administrative center of Pukhavichy District. As of 2009 its population was 22,500 ...
, the 29th at Slutsk, and the 193rd at Bobruisk-25. Support units included the 302nd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at Marina Gorka, the 460th Rocket (formed 1988) and 306th Gun Artillery Brigades at Osipovichi, and the 56th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at Slutsk. In 1990, as the Cold War drew to a close, the 8th Guards and 29th Tank Divisions were reduced to storage bases. To replace the 8th Guards, the
30th Guards Motor Rifle Division 3 (three) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cu ...
, withdrawn from the Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia, joined the army. By November of that year, according to
CFE Treaty The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atla ...
data, the army fielded 238 T-72 tanks, 381 infantry fighting vehicles, and 228 guns, mortars, and MLRS.


Belorussian Army

In June 1992 the army was taken over by Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and on 12 August 1992 renamed 5th Guards Army Corps. The 5th Guards Army Corps was still active in September 2001, when the Belarus Minister of Defence, General Lieutenant Leonid Maltsev, congratulated the remaining Belarus Guards units on 60 years of existence. However, later in 2001, the headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Belarus was established on its basis. There is a memorial to the soldiers of the 5th Guards Tank Army at
Znamianka Znamianka ( uk, Зна́м'янка) is a town in Kropyvnytskyi Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Znamianka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: . It is located about half way be ...
,
Kirovograd Oblast Kirovohrad Oblast ( uk, Кіровоградська область, translit=Kirovohradska oblast; also referred to as Kirovohradschyna — uk, Кіровоградщина) is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of t ...
, in Ukraine.


Commanders

The following officers commanded the army. * Marshal of Tank Troops Pavel Rotmistrov (22 February 1943 – 8 August 1944) * Colonel General Mikhail Solomatin (9 August 1944 – 18 August 1944) * Colonel General
Vasily Volsky Vasily Timofeyevich Volsky (russian: Василий Тимофе́евич Во́льский) (Tula Oblast, Tula Province, Russian Empire, Russia, 10 March 1897 – Moscow, Soviet Union, 22 February 1946) was a General of Soviet Union, Sovie ...
(19 August 1944 – 16 March 1945) * Lieutenant General Maxim Sinenko (16 March 1945 – January 1946) * Colonel General Mikhail Solomatin (January-26 April 1946) * Lieutenant General
Pavel Poluboyarov Pavel (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian and Macedonian: Павел, Czech, Slovene, Romanian: Pavel, Polish: Paweł, Ukrainian: Павло, Pavlo) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pa ...
(27 April 1946 – 23 March 1949) * Lieutenant General
Mikhail Panov Mikhail Feodorovich Panov ( Russian: ''Михаил Фёдорович Панов''; 21 November 1901, in Ovchinikov, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire – 8 May 1979, in Moscow, Soviet Union) was a Soviet general. Biography Early life Born t ...
(23 March 1949 – 17 September 1951) * Colonel General Mikhail Katukov (17 September 1951 – 23 June 1955) * Lieutenant General Pyotr Kalininchenko (23 June 1955 – 16 April 1958) * Lieutenant General Vladimir Smirnov (13 May 1958 – 7 May 1960) * Lieutenant General Semyon Kurkotkin (7 May 1960 – 28 January 1965) * Lieutenant General
Boris Likhachev Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...
(28 January 1965 – 13 November 1967) * Lieutenant General Saltan Magometov (13 November 1967 – 2 December 1969) * Lieutenant General Mikhail Zaitsev (2 December 1969 – 11 August 1972) * Lieutenant General Valery Belikov (11 August 1972 – 20 May 1974) * Lieutenant General
Vitaly Saltykov Vitali, Vitalii, Vitaly, Vitaliy and may refer to: People Given name * Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976), Ukrainian American Internet fraudster and cyberbully * Vitaly Churkin (1952–2017), Russian politician * Vitaly Ginzburg (1916–2009), R ...
(3 June 1974 – 5 November 1976) * Lieutenant General
Ivan Gashkov Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgar ...
(5 November 1976 – July 1979) * Lieutenant General Pyotr Ledyayev (July 1979 – 1982) * Lieutenant General Vyacheslav Khaydorov (1982–1984) * Lieutenant General
Valery Fursin The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name '' Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The ...
(1984–1987) * Lieutenant General
Anatoly Ushakov Anatoly (russian: Анато́лий, Anatólij , uk, Анато́лій, Anatólij ) is a common Russian and Ukrainian male given name, derived from the Greek name ''Anatolios'', meaning "sunrise." Other common Russian transliterations are Ana ...
(1987–1989) * Major General
Valery Lagoshin The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name '' Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The ...
(1989-2 May 1991) * Lieutenant General
Stanislav Rumyantsev Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cal ...
(3 May 1991 – 12 September 1992)


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* *Glantz, David M. 'Companion to Colossus Reborn' Univ. Press of Kansas, 2005.


Further reading

*


External links

*
army history
{{Armies of the Soviet Army Tank armies of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations of Belarus Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner Guards Armies