- 3rd Guards Tank Army (Soviet Union)
Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=3rd Guards Tank Army
3rd Guards Mechanised Army (1946-57)
3rd Guards Tank Army (1957-67
18th Guards Army (1967-79)
caption=
dates=1942-1979
country=Soviet Union
allegiance=
branch=Armoured Forces
type=Field army
role=Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations
size=500-800 Tanks
command_structure=
nickname=
patron=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
battles=Lvov-Sandomir OffensiveBattle of Berlin Prague Operation
notable_commanders=General Colonel P. S. RybalkoThe 3rd Guards Tank Army ( _ru. 3-я гвардейская танковая армия) was a tank army established by theSoviet Union 'sRed Army during theSecond World War . The 3rd Tank Army was created in 1942 and fought in the southern areas of theU.S.S.R. ,Poland ,Germany , andCzechoslovakia until the defeat of Germany in1945 . Postwar, the army served as occupation troops inEast Germany , went through several name changes, and was finally inactivated in 1979.History
The 3rd Tank Army was formed as part of the RVGK (
Stavka reserve) on the basis of the 55th Army in theMoscow Military District in May1942 . It was placed under the command of General Lieutenant P. L. Romanenko. Its initial composition was 12th and 15th Tank Corps (later to become 6th and 7th Guards Tank Corps), one motor rifle division, and two rifle divisions. As part of theSoviet Western Front , the 3rd Tank Army successfully counter-attacked the GermanSecond Panzer Army in August 1942. Soon afterwards, in September 1942, Romenenko handed over to General Colonel P. S. Rybalko, who held command of the Army for the remainder of the war.Committed to the fighting for Kharkov in March 1943 as part of the
Voronezh Front , the 3rd Tank Army was subsequently pocketed and virtually destroyed by German forces. The Army's remnants were reorganised as the 57th Army.The army was reformed as the 3rd Guards Tank Army in May 1943, including the 9th Mechanised Corps & 12th & 15th Tank Corps. In 1943, the army took part in the
Orel offensive and, assigned to the Voronezh andFirst Ukrainian Front s, played a leading role in the liberation of Left BankUkraine . The army was among the first Soviet troops to reach theDnieper River in October 1943. In 1944, the 3rd Guards Tank Army fought in the Proskurov-Chernovits and Lvov-Sandomir offensive operations. The army subsequently fought in southern Poland, Silesia, and the Berlin Operation, overrunning theOKH command post atZossen (headquarters for German Eastern Front operations) on April 21, 1945. Finally, the army drove on Prague, entering that city on May 9.By 1946, the army had been re-designated as the 3rd Guards Mechanized Army and was headquartered in
Luckenwalde , Germany, as part of theGroup of Soviet Forces in Germany . The 3rd Guards Mechanized Army was one of several Soviet armies used in the suppression of the 1953 uprising in East Germany, moving the 6th Guards Tank Division intoDessau andWittenberg as well as the 9th Mechanized Division intoLubben ,Cottbus , andSpremberg . [ [http://www.17juni53.de/chronik/530617/17-06-53_0900_o.html German website on the events of June 1953] ] In 1957, the army was renamed the 3rd Guards Red Banner Tank Army and then again renamed as the 18th Guards Red Banner Army in 1967.Up to 1967 it had preserved two formations which had served with it during World War II: the 6th and 7th Guards Tank Divisions (former similarly-numbered Tank Corps). Its third formation - 82nd Motor Rifle Division (the former 9th MD, former 9th MK) was in 1958 withdrawn to the USSR and disbanded, and instead the 14th Guard MD was included (former 9th Guards, named for a short period the 116th Rifle Division).
Withdrawn to the
Belarussian Military District in 1979, the army was inactivated the same year. After that point only 6th Guards Tank Division remained of its previous formations.Article Sources
*Born, Keith E. (ed.) "Slaughterhouse". Bedford: Aberjona Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9717650-9-X.
*Glantz, David M. "Companion to Colossus Reborn". Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005. ISBN 0-7006-1359-5.
*Poirier, Robert G., and Conner, Albert Z. "The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War". Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. ISBN 0-89141-237-9.
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