2Nd Guards Tank Army

2nd Tank Army (1943–1944) 2nd Guards Tank Army (1944–1993) 2nd Guards Red Banner Army (1993–1998) 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army (2001–Present)
2-я гвардейская танковая армия
Active	1943–1998 2001–Present
Country	Soviet Union (1943–1991)  Russia (1991-present)
Branch	Armoured Forces
Type	Field army
Role	Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations
Size	500–800 main battle tanks
Part of	Central Military District
Engagements	East Pomeranian Offensive Battle of Berlin Russo-Ukrainian War
Commanders
Current commander	Major General Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Gurov
Notable commanders	Semyon Bogdanov Alexei Ivanovich Radzievsky
Insignia
NATO Map Symbol	2 гв ТА

The army was originally formed in early 1943 as the 2nd Tank Army. It was the first Red Army unit to enter Berlin during the Battle of Berlin.

Formation

The 2nd Tank Army was formed during January and February of 1943 from the 3rd Reserve Army of the Bryansk Front under the command of Prokofy Romanenko.

On February 1, 1943, the Army's order of battle was as follows:

2nd Tank Army

• 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Technical Forces A. G. Maslov)
  • 107th Tank Brigade
  • 109th Tank Brigade
  • 164th Tank Brigade
  • 15th Motor Rifle Brigade
• 6th Guards Rifle Division
• 16th Rifle Division
• 37th Guards Mortar Regiment*
• 51st Motorcycle Battalion
• 357th Engineer Battalion

In the middle of February the army joined the Soviet Central Front and as part of Central Front in February – March took part in offensive operations in the direction of Bryansk, which ultimately failed.

Summer of 1943

By July 1st, 1943, the 2nd Tank Army had been reorganized as a fully mechanized formation, with the following order of battle:

2nd Tank Army

• 3rd Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces Maxim Sinenko)
  • 50th Tank Brigade
  • 51st Tank Brigade
  • 103rd Tank Brigade
  • 57th Motor Rifle Brigade
  • 74th Motorcycle Battalion
  • 881st Tank Destroyer Regiment
  • 728th Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 234th Mortar Regiment
  • 121st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment
• 16th Tank Corps (Major General of Tank Forces V. E. Grigor'ev)
  • 107th Tank Brigade
  • 109th Tank Brigade
  • 164th Tank Brigade
  • 15th Motor Rifle Brigade
  • 51st Motorcycle Battalion
  • 1441st Self Propelled Artillery Regiment
  • 614th Tank Destroyer Regiment
  • 729th Tank Destroyer Battalion
  • 226th Mortar Regiment
• 11th Guards Tank Brigade
• 87th Motorcycle Battalion
• 357th Engineer Battalion

In July – August – 2nd Tank Army took part in the Orel strategic offensive operation – Operation Kutuzov – within the Kromy’-Orel offensive operation and the Chernigov-Pripyat offensive operation (26.08–30.09.1943) under the command of Alexey Rodin.

The Soviet Offensives, 1943-1945

In the beginning of September 1943 Rodin was replaced by Semyon Bogdanov as commander, and the 2nd Tank Army was redeployed to the Stavka VGK reserve. In the middle of January 1944, it joined the 1st Ukrainian Front and remained in its structure until the end of January when it participated in the repulse of German counter-strokes in the direction of Vinnitsa; in February the army fought in the south-west of the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky operation.

As part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and from the middle of June 1944 within the 1st Belorussian Front, the Army participated in the Uman-Botoşani offensive, Lublin – Brest, and the Warsaw-Poznan offensive. For its service in the above operations the Army was granted the title of the Second Guards 'Red Banner' Tank Army in November 1944 and almost all of its formations and units received combat awards, with the majority of sub-units awarded honorifics commemorating operations they distinguished themselves in. After participating in the East Pomeranian Offensive and the Seelow-Berlin offensive operation, it was the first Soviet Army to enter Berlin during the Battle for Berlin.

During the war, over 103,000 soldiers of the army were awarded awards and medals, 221 of them being awarded the decoration of the Hero of the Soviet Union, while the army commander Semyon Bogdanov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union twice.

 

After the war ended the Army, now named Second Guards 'Red Banner' Tank Army, was located with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany with the staff in Fuerstenberg. However the only wartime formation that continued to serve with the Army was the 16th Guards Tank Division (the former 9th Guards Tank Corps). Although up to the 1970s it had retained of its wartime units – 12th Guards Tank Division (the former 12th Tank Corps) and 35th Motor Rifle Division (former 1st Mechanised Corps), without considering those formations that joined the Army as early as 1946. The three last wartime divisions were replaced at the end of the 1970s – the 94th Guards, 21st (stationed at Perleburg) and 207th Motor Rifle Divisions. It also included the 5th Separate Tank Brigade.

The 1185th independent Landing-Assault Battalion was formed within the Army in 1981, withdrawn to Estonia in 1989, and disbanded in 1991.

The Army was withdrawn to Samara in the Volga Military District in 1993 and changed its name into 2nd Guards Red Banner Army matching its nature of combined-arms army that same year. It holds the Fighting Banner of the 2nd Guards Tank Army in storage. It was allocated the 16th and 90th Guards Tank Divisions for some years before being disbanded in 1998. 16th Guards Tank Division was reduced to a Guards weapons and equipment storage base in December 1997.

The Army was reformed in 2001 as the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army from the former Volga MD headquarters and formerly consisted of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 201st Motor Rifle Division.

In 2006 the Army conducted a large Command-Staff exercise "Southern Shield – 2006" that included a call up of some 4–5,000 reservists. The exercise proved successful and confirmed the Army's readiness status., including that of two component divisions which conducted a tactical exercise within the scope of the "Southern Shield – 2006". The tactical exercise was again conducted in 2007 by the 27th Motor Rifle Division. This division, and several other Army sub-units are today entirely staffed by service personnel serving under professional contracts.

A former commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, Army General Nikolai Makarov, became Chief of Material of the Armed Forces, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, and is now Chief of General Staff.

As of February 2008, the Army's commander was General-Major Oleg Leont'evich Makarevich (former Chief of Staff, 22nd Army, Moscow Military District).

In 2009, the 27th Division at Totskoye was converted into the 21st Guards Motor Rifle Brigade.

One of the army's units is the 15th Separate Guards Berlin Motor Rifle Brigade, in Roshchinsky, Samara Oblast, equipped with BTR (Military Unit Number 90600).

The 385th Guards Artillery Brigade was established in August 1981 from the previous 98th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment. It returned from Planken in East Germany to Totskoye in 1993.

1990

2018

In 2018, the army included the following units:

• Lieutenant General Prokofy Romanenko (January – February 1943)
• Lieutenant General Alexei Rodin (February – September 1943)
• Colonel General Semen Bogdanov (September 1943 – July 1944 and January 1945 – 1947)
• Lieutenant General Alexei Radzievsky (July 1944 – January 1945)

• September 2001 – February 2005 Major/Lieutenant General Aleksei Ivanovich Verbitsky
• February 2005 – January 2006 Lieutenant General Aleksandr Igorevich Studenikin
• January 2006 – 2008 Major/Lieutenant General Sergei Ivanovich Skokov
• January 2008 – 2009 Major General Oleg Leontevich Makarevich
• 2009 – June 2010 Major General Hasan Bekovich Kaloev
• June 2010 – January 2014 Major General Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Zhuravlyov
• January 2014 – September 2016 Major/Lieutenant General Igor Anatolyevich Seritsky
• September 2016 – December 2017 Major General Gennady Valeryevich Zhidko
• December 2017 – December 2018 Major General Rustam Usmanovich Muradov
• December 2018 – February 2022 Major/Lieutenant General Andrey Vladimirovich Kolotovkin
• February 2022 – present Major General Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Gurov

• List of Soviet military sites in Germany

Citations