3rd Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)
| 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division 8th Guards Mechanised Division 8th Guards Mechanised Corps 3rd Mechanised Corps |
|
|---|---|
| Active | Mid 1930s - c.2009 |
| Country | Soviet Union, Russian Federation |
| Branch | Red Army, Russian Ground Forces |
| Garrison/HQ | Volgograd |
| Engagements | Baltic Operation (1941) |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Mikhail Katukov, Major General Kurkin |
The 20th Motor Rifle Division (Cyrillic: 20 гвардейская мотострелковая Прикарпатско-Берлинская дивизия) is a formation of the Russian Ground Forces, originally formed within the Soviet Red Army as the 3rd Mechanised Corps.
The formation of the corps began in the Western Special Military District in June 1940 on the basis of headquarters and the relevant parts of the 24th Rifle Corps, 7th Cavalry Division, 21st Heavy Tank Brigade, 2nd Light Tank Brigade, 84th Rifle Division, and tank battalions of the 113th, 121st and 143rd rifle divisions.
The 3rd Mechanised Corps was first formed in July 1940, and on 22 June 1941, was stationed at Vilnius in the Baltic Military District under MG A.V. Kurkin. It consisted of 2nd Tank Division, 5th Tank Division, 84th Motorised Division, 15th Motorcycle Regiment, an artillery regiment, and engineer and signals battalions. On 22 June, the 2nd Tank Division was located in the forest in Gajzhuny, in the Ionava area, the 5th Tank Division was positioned to defend the Neman bridge near Alitus, and the 84th Motorised Division - was in forest in the Kajshadoris area. On 22 June 1941, the 3rd Mechanised Corps had 31,975 men & 651 tanks, of which 110 were new T-34 and KV-1 types.
The Corps was heavily engaged in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa, particularly during the Baltic Operation (1941) and at the Battle of Raseiniai.
On 24 June 1941, a single KV-2 heavy tank of 2nd Tank Division, at a crossroads in front of Raseiniai, managed to cut off elements of the 6th Panzer Division which had established bridgeheads on the Dubysa. It stalled the Division's advance for a full day while being attacked by a variety of antitank weapons, until it finally ran out of ammunition. General Erhard Raus, the Officer commanding 6th Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe Raus, which was the unit held up by the lone vehicle, described the incident. Raus said that the vehicle was damaged by several shots from a 88 Anti-Tank Gun firing at the vehicle from behind whilst it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65 and the crew were killed by grenades from a Pioneer Engineer unit. The grenades were pushed through two holes made by the gun whilst the turret had started moving again, the other five or six shots having not apparently penetrated completely. The crew had remarkably only been apparently stunned by the shots which had entered the turret. Afterwards they were buried nearby with honours by the German soldiers of the unit held up.
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Wikipedia