2nd Tatsinskaya Guards Tank Corps

The 2nd Tatsinskaya Guards Tank Corps was a Red Army armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front. After the war it continued to serve with Soviet occupation forces in Central Europe. It was originally the 24th Tank Corps. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as a Wehrmacht Panzer Division, and less than a British Armoured Division had during World War II.

Formation
The first of the Guards Tank Corps were formed when 26th Tank Corps was renamed 1st Guards Tank Corps in December 1942. (http://stalingrad.ic.ru/s26tcorp.html)

24th Tank Corps
24th Tank Corps was formed in 1942 during the re-establishment of the tank corps as a formation in the Red Army. It was equipped with a mix of T-34 medium, T-60 light, KV-1 heavy, and U.S. Lend Lease M3 Stuart light tanks. It was assigned to 6th Army, and participated in the Stalingrad Defensive Operation on the Don River during July 1942, where it lost almost two-thirds of the tanks. Its 24th Motorized Brigade conducted offensive operations along the Don together with 25th Guards Rifle Division. 

Following re-building, it was assigned to 3rd Guards Army which was under the command of General Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko to participate in the encirclement of German Army Group A in Operation Saturn, which was undertaken during the Battle of Stalingrad.

The 24th Tank Corps consisted of the following units:

Combat Units
 * 4th Guards Tank Brigade (Colonel G.I. Kolypov)
 * 54th Tank Brigade (Colonel V.M. Polyakov)
 * 130th Tank Brigade (Colonel S.K. Nesterov)
 * 24th Motorized Rifle Brigade (Colonel V.S. Savchenko)

Support Units
 * 13th Mining Engineer Company
 * 158th Mobile Repair Base
 * Corps Train

The Corps undertook the famous raid on Tatsinskaya during Operation Little Saturn. In honour of the successful raid, where a large number of Axis aircraft was destroyed on ground, it was renamed 2nd Guards Tank Corps, and given the honorific 'Tatsinskaya'.

2nd Guards Tank Corps
2nd Guards Tank Corps was initially based on the same units as 24th Tank Corps. The individual combat units were also renamed and renumbered as Guards units. With changing organization and equipment during the war, additional units were added. Depending on the specific tasks allotted to the Corps, units from the STAVKA Reserve could be added to help it achieve its mission.

At the Battle of Kursk, the following OOB applied: Main Combat Units (totalling 187 tanks at Prokohorovka):
 * 25th Guards Tank Brigade
 * 26th Guards Tank Brigade
 * 4th Guards Tank Brigade
 * 4th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade
 * 47th Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment
 * 1500th SU-regiment (Self-propelled Artillery)
 * 1695th AA-regiment
 * 273rd Mortar regiment
 * 755th Antitank battalion

Support Units (unconfirmed)
 * Aviation Liaison Section (F.A.C.)
 * 51st Sapper Battalion
 * Corps Train

1942

 * Operation Saturn
 * Tatsinskaya Raid (almost destroyed)

1943

 * Battle of Kharkov (1943)
 * Battle of Kursk
 * Battle of Prokhorovka (heavily damaged)
 * Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev
 * Battle of Smolensk

1944

 * Operation Bagration
 * Minsk Offensive(1944) - the 4th Guards Tank Brigade was the first Soviet unit to enter Minsk during this battle.
 * Baltic Operation

1945

 * Vistula-Oder Offensive
 * East Prussian Offensive
 * Gumbinnen Operation
 * Insterburg-Königsberg Offensive
 * Berlin Operation

1942

 * 1st Guards Army

1943

 * 3rd Tank Army
 * 5th Guards Tank Army

1944

 * 11th Guards Army
 * 5th Guards Tank Army

Postwar

 * It was later converted into the 2nd Guards Tank Division and postwar it was stationed in the Leningrad Military District, before being transferred to the Transbaikal Military District in the 1960s and finally being disbanded c. 2001-3.

Commanders

 * Major General V.M.Badanov
 * Major General Alexei Burdeinei

Decorations

 * Order of Suvorov
 * Order of the Red Banner
 * Honorific "Tatsin"

Books

 * Bonn, K.E. 'Slaughterhouse - The Handbook of the Eastern Front', Aberjona Press
 * Erickson, J. 'The Road to Stalingrad'
 * Glantz, D. 'From the Don to the Dnepr'
 * Porfiryev, ‘Raid to Tatsinskaya’, VIZH 11/1987

Websites

 * Battlefield.ru
 * Eastern Front.co.uk