The 1st Guards Tank Red Banner Army (Military Unit Number 73621) has been the only tank army of the Russian Ground Forces since its restoration in 2014. It was previously one of the tank armies of the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War.
The army traces its heritage back to the 1st Tank Army, formed twice in July 1942 and in January 1943 and converted into the 1st Guards Tank Army in January 1944. The army fought as part of the Red Army on the Eastern Front during World War II. The army was commanded throughout most of the war by Mikhail Katukov.
It fought on the defensive during Case Blue, ultimately being partially destroyed and disbanded. After its reformation in 1943, it participated in the Battle of Kursk, the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation, the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation, the Vistula-Oder Offensive and the Battle of Berlin. After the war, the army was stationed in East Germany as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.
After the end of the Cold War and the resultant withdrawal of Soviet units in Germany, the army was relocated to Smolensk, and disbanded in 1999. The army was reformed in 2014 as part of Russia's military expansion. This reformed army fought in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where it was claimed to have suffered heavy casualties following its eventual retreats from the northeast Ukraine and later from Kharkiv. After being reconstituted, the army fought against the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, and later fought in the Kupiansk offensive.
First formation The 1st Tank Army was first formed within the Stalingrad Front from the 38th Army in July 1942, under the command of Major General Kirill Moskalenko. The army was encircled and partially destroyed. It was disbanded as a result in August 1942, its headquarters becoming the Southeastern Front headquarters.
Second formation
The 1st Tank Army was formed a second time on 30 January 1943 (order No. 46021) from the headquarters of the 29th Army, under the command of famous armoured troops commander Lieutenant General of Tank Troops Mikhail Katukov, personally appointed by Stalin. The army was transferred to the North-Western Front. The 3rd Mechanised Corps (later to become 8th Guards Mechanised Corps) and 6th Tank Corps (later to become 11th Guards Tank Corps) joined it on formation, and served with the army throughout the war.Bonn, 2005, p.351, 354 It was quickly transferred to the Voronezh Front for the defense of the Kursk salient's southern shoulder, adding the newly formed 31st Tank Corps to its subordinate commands.
Its order of battle prior to Operation Citadel was as follows:
1st Tank Army 3rd Mechanized Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Semyon Krivoshein) 1st Mechanized Brigade 3rd Mechanized Brigade 10th Mechanized Brigade 49th Tank Brigade 58th Motorcycle Battalion, 35th Tank Destroyer Regiment 265th Mortar Regiment 405th Guards Mortar Battalion* 6th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Andrei Getman) 22nd Tank Brigade 112nd Tank Brigade 200th Tank Brigade 6th Motor Rifle Brigade 85th Motorcycle Battalion 1461st Self Propelled Artillery Regiment 538th Tank Destroyer Regiment 270th Mortar Regiment 31st Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces D. Kh. Chernienko) 100th Tank Brigade 237th Tank Brigade 242nd Tank Brigade 71st Engineer Battalion 267th Engineer Battalion 316th Guards Mortar Regiment* 8th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division 797th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 848th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 978th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 1063rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment
Guards Mortar Regiment (or Battalion) () was the overt designation used for Katyusha rocket launcher units.
First Guards Tank Army
After Kursk, 1st Tank Army participated in the Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation, the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation, the Vistula-Oder Offensive, and the Battle of Berlin. It was awarded a Guards title and became the 1st Guards Tank Army in April 1944, and Katukov was promoted to Colonel General.
On 1 January 1945, the Army's principal combat formations were:
8th Guards Mechanized Corps (Major General Ivan Dremov) (3 January 1944 – 9 May 1945) 19th Guards Mechanized Brigade 20th Guards Mechanized Brigade 21st Guards Mechanized Brigade 1st Guards Tank Brigade 48th Guards Separate Tank Regiment 353rd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment 400th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment 265th Guards Mortar Regiment * 405th Guards Mortar Battalion * 358th Guards Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 8th Guards Motorcycle Battalion 11th Guards Tank Corps (Colonel Hamazasp Babadzhanian) (25 August 1944 – 9 May 1945) 40th Guards Tank Brigade 44th Guards Tank Brigade 45th Guards Tank Brigade 27th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade 399th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment 362nd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment 1454th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment 350th Light Artillery Regiment 270th Guards Mortar Regiment * 53rd Guards Mortar Battalion * 1018th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment 9th Guards Motorcycle Battalion Army Troops 64th Guards Tank Brigade 11th Guards Separate Tank Regiment 19th Light Self-Propelled Artillery Brigade 197th Light Artillery Brigade 79th Guards Mortar Regiment * 17th Motorised Engineer Brigade 191st Guards Liaison Aviation Regiment 6th Motorcycle Regiment 12th Guards Motorcycle Regiment
Guards Mortar Regiment (or Battalion) () was the overt designation used for Katyusha rocket launcher units.
Cold War The 1st Guards Tank Army was awarded the Order of the Red Banner postwar. It became part of the Soviet occupation force in Germany, known as Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, with its headquarters in Dresden. In 1968, it, along with the 11th Guards Tank and 20th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions, took part in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, after which the units returned to their garrisons.
In the late 1980s the Army included the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division, 9th Tank Division, and 11th Guards Tank Division. The headquarters was withdrawn to Smolensk, in the Moscow Military District in the early 1990s, and lost the 'Tank' from its title in 1995. In its last period within the Russian Army it comprised the 4th Guards 'Kantemir' Tank Division and the 144th Motor Rifle Division (which had been withdrawn from Tallinn in Estonia).
In July 1992 the 336th Independent Helicopter Regiment returned from Germany to Oreshkovo airfield and was placed under the Moscow Military District. The regiment then came under 1st Guards Tank Army from 31 December 1992.
1st Guards Tank Army was disbanded in 1998.
1988 structure The army's composition in 1988 was (with main equipment), with honorific titles in italics:
Army Headquarters, Dresden 234th Separate Guard and Security Battalion, Dresden 3rd Separate Guards Carpathian Communications Regiment, Dresden 253rd Separate Radio Engineering Regiment, Merseburg 51st Separate Radio Engineering Battalion, Dresden 106th Separate Electronic Warfare Battalion, Dresden 595th Separate Intelligence Gathering Battalion, Chemnitz (K-611) 6th Separate Airborne Battalion, Dresden 308th Artillery Brigade, Zeithain (2c5 Hyacinth) 181st Guards Novozybkovskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky Missile Brigade, Kochstedt 432nd Missile Brigade, Wurzen 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade, Altenburg 443rd Separate Engineer and Combat Engineering Battalion, Dresden 68th Pontoon Bridge Regiment, Dresden 41st Materiel Support Brigade, Dresden 303rd Separate Repair and Recovery Battalion, Dresden 338th Separate Repair and Recovery Battalion, Dresden 225th Separate Attack Helicopter Regiment, Allstedt (Mil Mi-24) 485th Separate Attack Helicopter Regiment, Brandis (Mil Mi-24) 6th Separate Transport Helicopter Squadron, Klotzsche (Mil Mi-8) 9th Bobruisk-Berlin Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Tank Division, Riesa 11th Guards Berlin-Carpathian Tank Division, Dresden 20th Guards Taganrog Red Banner Order of the Suvorov Division Motor Rifle Division, Grimma
Reactivation After a 15-year hiatus, the 1st Guards Tank Army was reconstituted in November 2014. It was reportedly planned to consist of 500–600 tanks, 600–800 infantry fighting vehicles, 300–400 field artillery units and 35,000 to 50,000 soldiers.
The army was formed as the main ground forces manoeuvre and reserve operational formation of the Western Military District, in addition to the 6th Combined Arms Army (headquartered in Saint Petersburg) and the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army (headquartered in Voronezh). It is considered an elite formation of the Russian Ground Forces. The army carries on the traditions of the chronologically first army of the Soviet Union to reach 'Guards status.
It commands the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle and the 4th Tank Divisions, which are considered the elite formations of their respective combat arms. The most decorated divisions of the Soviet Army, they were garrisoned the closest to Moscow for the city's defense. Due to their proximity to the capital, extra scrutiny was applied to personnel of these formations, making these postings especially prestigious. These units received the latest hardware and were thus known as the 'household' divisions of the Soviet Army. Their loyalty to the government was demonstrated by their involvement in the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt. The divisions retained their elite status within the Russian Army. The army also included the 27th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. While the 4th Guards Tank Division uses T-80 tanks, the rest of the Army uses T-72B and T-90 tanks, and Kurganets-25 fighting vehicles.
the Army was composed of:
Army Headquarters (Odintsovo, Moscow Oblast) 60th Command Brigade (Selyatino village near Odintsovo, Moscow Oblast) 2nd Guards Motor Rifle 'Tamanskaya' Division (Kalininets, Moscow Oblast) (MUN 23626) 4th Guards Tank 'Kantemirovskaya' Division (Naro-Fominsk, Moscow Oblast) (T-80) (MUN 19612) 47th Tank 'Chenstokhovskaya' Division (Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, established 2022) 27th Guards Motor Rifle 'Sevastopol' Brigade (Mosrentgen, Moscow City) 112th Guards Missile 'Novorossiysk' Brigade (Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast) (9K720 Iskander) 288th Guards Artillery 'Warsaw' Brigade (Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) 49th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Krasnyi Bor, Smolensk Oblast) (Buk-M2) 96th Reconnaissance Brigade (Sormovo, Nizhny Novgorod City) 20th NBC Defence Regiment (Tsentralny, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) (MUN 12102) 69th Logistics Brigade (Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast)
Russo-Ukrainian War During the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, elements of the 1st Guards Tank Army were reported to have forward deployed to the Pogonovo training ground south of Voronezh. Main battle tanks, self-propelled and towed artillery, and long-range multiple rocket launchers (MRLs), reportedly drawn from the 4th Guards Tank Division and the 2nd Motorised Rifle Division, were reported to have been positioned in the vicinity of Voronezh. A few months before the invasion, the 47th Guards Tank Division was formed from the 6th Separate Guards Tank Brigade.
During the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 1st GTA was part of the Western Group of Forces, formed by the Western Military District. The formation received the strategic direction of advancing on Poltava through Sumy and Kharkiv. Units of the army's 4th Guards Tank Division, including the 12th and 13th Guards Tank Regiments, were reported to have been among the Russian forces which occupied Trostianets. Members of the 1st GTA's 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division were sentenced in absentia to imprisonment by Ukrainian courts for alleged war crimes including the shelling of the city hospital of Trostianets and ordering the killing of a civilian in Boromlia, both in Sumy Oblast.