2nd Guards Tank Army should not be confused with 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army.
| Unit Name: | 2nd Tank Army (1943–1944)----2nd Guards Tank Army (1944–1993)----2nd Guards Red Banner Army (1993–1998) |
| Native Name: | Russian: 2-я гвардейская танковая армия |
| Dates: | 1943–1998 |
| Country: | (to 1991) |
| Branch: | Armoured Forces |
| Type: | Field army |
| Role: | Breakthrough and Exploitation in Deep Operations |
| Size: | 500–800 main battle tanks |
| Command Structure: | Central Military District |
| Battles: | East Pomeranian Offensive Battle of Berlin Russo-Ukrainian War |
| Notable Commanders: | Semyon Bogdanov Alexei Ivanovich Radzievsky |
| Identification Symbol Label: | NATO Map Symbol |
The 2nd Guards Tank Army was a large military formation of the Red Army and Soviet Army, later part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation.
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.
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.[1]
On February 1, 1943, the Army's order of battle was as follows:
2nd Tank Army[2]
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.
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[4]
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.
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),[7] 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.[8]
The 1185th independent Landing-Assault Battalion was formed within the Army in 1981, withdrawn to Estonia in 1989, and disbanded in 1991.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11]
The Army was reformed in 2001 as the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army from the former Volga MD headquarters[12] and formerly consisted of the 27th Guards Motor Rifle Division and the 201st Motor Rifle Division.
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.
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.[13]