4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division

4th Guards Tank Division
4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division
Active	1942 – 2009 2009 – 2013 (as Brigade) 2013 – present (as Division)
Country	Russia
Branch	Russian Ground Forces
Role	Armoured warfare
Size	~12,000 soldiers
Part of	1st Guards Tank Army Western Military District
Garrison/HQ	Naro-Fominsk, 70km south-west of Moscow.
Nickname(s)	Kantemirovka
Motto(s)	Honour and glory
Engagements	World War II 1993 Russian constitutional crisis First Chechen War South Ossetia – 1997 Second Chechen War
Decorations	Guards Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner

The 4th Guards “Kantemirovskaya” Tank Division, more usually known as the Kantemirovskaya Division (Cyrillic: гвардейская танковая Кантемировская дивизия, Gvardeiskaya Tankovaya Kantemirovskaya Divisiya) or Kantemir Division, is an elite armoured division of the Russian Ground Forces.

It is one of the key formations of the Western Military District, subordinated to the 20th Guards Army under Lt. General Andrey Tretyak. It is one of the Russian Army's 'constant readiness' divisions, with at least 80% manpower and 100% equipment holdings at all times. All of its units, as well as headquarters, are based in the town of Naro-Fominsk, 70 km south-west of Moscow.

The direct ascendant of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division was the 17th Tank Corps, initially formed in 1942, which commenced its combat history on 26 June 1942 just prior to the Battle of Voronezh (1942), deployed to the west of the city. For distinction in combat in the Middle Don Operation (17–30 December 1942), the Corps was renumbered as the 4th Guards Tank Corps in January 1943. It received the honorific Kantemirovsky after Kantemirovka, the village which was liberated by tank subunits as their baptism of fire.

In the August 1943 formation endured continuous combat on the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction of The Kursk Bulge. For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of cities on the right-bank Ukraine: Zbarazh, Ternopil, and Shepetovka in April 1944 the Corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and seventeen regiments and separate battalions were awarded honorifics of: Shepetovsky, Zhitomirsky, Yampolsky, and Tarnopolsky.