80 years ago, the 1st Guards Tank Army was formed in the structure of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
It included mechanized corps, tank and ski brigades, an anti-aircraft artillery division, artillery and other units.
The core of the 1st Tank Army is the 1st Guards Tank Brigade (until November 11, 1941 - the 4th Tank Brigade).
This unit was commanded by the future Marshal of the Armored Forces Mikhail Katukov.
The brigade showed itself from the best side in the battles near Orel and Mtsensk during the battle for Moscow.
In particular, she fought with units and formations of the 2nd German Panzer Group of Heinz Guderian.
The success of the brigade was ensured by ambush operations with short surprise counterattacks with well-organized reconnaissance, as well as with the use of the legendary T-34s.
According to Katukov's memoirs, in two weeks of fighting, the brigade destroyed 106 enemy tanks, 16 heavy and 37 anti-tank guns, 16 mortars, up to three enemy regiments.
The fighters of the brigade broke 13 bunkers and 27 machine-gun nests.
During the fighting, 33 tanks of the Soviet unit failed.
“Moreover, we irretrievably lost seven cars.
They burned out.
The remaining 26, lined, damaged, came on their own or were pulled by tractors to the assembly point, and then repaired, restored and returned to the front line of defense, ”Katukov wrote in his book“ At the Edge of the Main Strike.
It was this commander that the Soviet leadership instructed to lead the 1st Tank Army, which in April 1943 was included in the Voronezh Front.
The new association of the USSR Armed Forces received its baptism of fire on the Kursk Bulge, where it defeated units of the motorized division "Grossdeutschland", tank divisions "Dead Head", "Adolf Hitler" and "Reich".
In April, the 1st Tank Army received the honorary title "Guards" for military merit.
The association participated in the largest operations of the Red Army to liberate Western Ukraine, Poland and Germany: the Lvov-Sandomierz, Vistula-Oder, Warsaw-Poznan, East Pomeranian strategic operations and the Berlin offensive.
Soviet tank T-34 on the Royal Square in front of the Reichstag on the first peaceful morning in Berlin
RIA News
© Leonid Korobov
From Kursk to Berlin, the 1st Guards Tank Army traveled 3,000 km.
Independently and in cooperation with other formations of the Red Army, she liberated 54 cities in the USSR, 72 in Poland, 25 in Germany.
“The army was especially successful in the Warsaw-Poznan operation (January 14 - February 3, 1945), during which the troops fought about 500 km in 18 days, broke through seven defensive lines, crossed the Pilica, Warta, Oder rivers on the move, liberated hundreds of Polish cities and villages, ”the materials of the Russian Ministry of Defense say.
"Great Success"
In total, the 1st Tank Army destroyed and captured 5.5 thousand enemy tanks, 491 self-propelled guns, 1161 aircraft, 1251 armored vehicles, 4794 guns of various calibers, 1545 mortars, 5797 machine guns, over 31 thousand vehicles and other military equipment .
For successful combat operations, the banners of the 1st Army units were decorated with 127 military orders.
For exploits in the Great Patriotic War, more than 80 thousand soldiers of the army received orders and medals.
117 servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Twice this title was awarded to Mikhail Katukov.
As Andrey Gorbunov, head of the scientific and methodological department of the Victory Museum, said in an interview with RT, the 1st Tank Army owes its success to Katukov to a large extent.
“The army was headed by the best, in my opinion, Soviet tank commander Mikhail Katukov.
It can be called a product of a well-thought-out personnel policy pursued by the Soviet leadership.
First, he fought on the border, then near Moscow and proved himself on the Kursk Bulge already as commander of the 1st Army, ”said Gorbunov.
According to the expert, the great merit of the 1st Army is the exhaustion of the "German tank ram" near Kursk.
The fighters of this very association bore the brunt of the battles with enemy formations, ensuring the success of the defensive phase of the Battle of Kursk.
Gorbunov considers the Proskurov-Chernivtsi offensive operation, which was carried out from March 4 to April 17, 1944, a tremendous success of the 1st Panzer Army in the offensive.
As the expert noted, the Soviet tankers acted unexpectedly and were able to break through the well-fortified enemy defense line.
“It was a tremendous success for the entire headquarters of the Katukov army and the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Georgy Zhukov.
It is no coincidence that after this operation, the 1st Army received a high guards rank.
Subsequently, she successfully fought to Berlin.
I consider the 1st Panzer Army to be the best unit of the Red Army, the most responsible sectors of the front were entrusted to it, ”Gorbunov emphasized.
"Tank Fist"
After the end of World War II, the 1st Tank Army remained in the occupied East German territories and became part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG).
Its tasks included the protection of the western borders of the Warsaw Pact organization.
In a RT commentary, Candidate of Military Sciences Sergei Suvorov said that the highest combat capability of the 1st Tank Army was a deterrent for NATO countries.
One of the units of the 1st Panzer Army
© Russian Ministry of Defense
“The 1st Panzer Army and other formations of the GSVG resolved the issues of preventing the outbreak of a world war and all other conflicts in Europe.
NATO, of course, staged provocations, but at the same time they were well aware of the power represented by well-trained and armed Soviet tankers and our troops as a whole, ”Suvorov noted.
The history of the GSVG ended after the implementation of the Treaty on the final settlement with respect to Germany, according to which Moscow undertook to withdraw all parts of the armed forces from there before the end of 1994.
At that time, 546.2 thousand servicemen and civilian specialists were relocated from Germany to Russia.
From the information of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, it follows that units of the 1st Tank Army were redeployed near Smolensk back in 1992.
In the mid-1990s, she took part in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.
Six of its servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
It is worth noting that from 1997 to 1998 the position of First Deputy Commander of the 1st Tank Army in the Moscow Military District was held by the current Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.
The decision to recreate the 1st Tank Army in 2014 was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who signed a corresponding decree.
Its formation in the structure of the Western Military District was completed in early 2016.
The association included tank, motorized rifle, artillery, missile, anti-aircraft missile and other formations and military units.
“Including (the 1st Tank Army included. -
RT
) the famous Taman and Kantemirovskaya divisions.
At present, in terms of their combat composition, these are unique formations, which have no equal in the Ground Forces, ”the materials of the Russian Defense Ministry say.
The army is armed with modernized tanks T-80, T-72B3, T-90, infantry fighting vehicles BMP-2 and BMP-3, armored personnel carriers BTR-82AM, tactical missile systems (OTRK) "Iskander-M".
In recent years, the arsenal of the association has been replenished with improved tanks T-90M "Breakthrough".
The machine is equipped with new means of protection, a fundamentally new tower module, modern electronics, and an 1130 hp engine.
With.
and communication equipment that allows the tank to be integrated into a single tactical level control system (ESU TK).
As Suvorov explained, the re-establishment of the 1st Tank Army was a response to the events in the Donbass, the militant Russophobic statements of the new Ukrainian authorities, and the rapid degradation of relations with NATO.
“For the first time since the end of the Cold War, a new tank army has been formed.
It was the right decision.
In the Western Military District, a powerful tank fist was needed, which could have a sobering effect on Kyiv and NATO.
It was an adequate response to the tragic events in the Donbass, the militarization of Ukraine and the aggravation of relations with NATO,” says Suvorov.
T-90M "Breakthrough" after repair in the NVO zone
RIA News
According to the expert, the reconstruction of the 1st Panzer Army confirmed the high importance of tank troops in the theater of operations (TVD).
Suvorov emphasized that the tank remains the most protected type of military equipment on the battlefield, which was proved by the special operation.
“There is practically no public information about the participation of the 1st Tank Army in the Northern Military District, but it is known that the tanks of the Western Military District are involved in combat missions.
The main thing is that the servicemen remained true to the glorious traditions of high combat readiness and speed with minimal losses, ”summed up Suvorov.