10th Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)

The 10th Mechanized Corps was a formation in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. Initially formed in March 1941 in response the German victories of 1940 it was attached to the Leningrad Military District, & held in reserve near Leningrad fortified region in Soviet Union It was under the command of Major General I. G. Lazarev when the German Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941. It initially comprised the 21st and 24th Tank Divisions, & the 198th Mechanized Division. After the Invasion began the Leningrad Military District was renamed Northern Front, Commanded by Lieutenant General Markian M. Popov.

The 10th Mechanized Corps was not involved in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa, being brought out of reserve on 10 July 1941  to form part of the Luga Operational Group under the command of Lieutenant General K. P. Piadyshev, defending the 'Luga Line'. The defences for which were constructed by 55,000 civilians & which extended from Narva to Shimsk on Lake Ilmen. It first engaged 8th Panzer Division on 13 July 1941 along with the 177th Rifle Division isolating it from its neighbouring divisions for several days around Dno & costing it 70 of its 150 tanks destroyed or damaged.

However the Luga Operational Group was encircled & destroyed on 8 August 1941 near Krasnogvardeisk which resulted in losses of 30,000 men, 120 tanks & 400 guns. The 10th Mechanized Corps was officially disbanded a short time later although individual units continued to exist separately for a short while.