The 27th Mechanized Corps (

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: Войсковая часть) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and Internal Troops, internal troops of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union. Fo ...

2850) was a mechanized corps of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. Stationed in present-day

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

after its formation in March 1941, the corps was relocated westwards after the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

. As a result of the reorganization of the Soviet mechanized corps, the 27th Mechanized Corps was disbanded before it saw combat.

History

Formation

The corps was formed in March 1941 in

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

in the

Central Asian Military District The Red Banner Central Asian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, which existed in 1926–1945 and 1969–1989, with its headquarters at Tashkent (1926–1945) and Almaty (1969–1989). By USSR Order No.304 of 4 ...

. The corps included the previously formed 9th Tank Division at Mary, and the new 53rd Tank Division at

Kyzyl-Arvat Gyzylarbat (formerly Serdar and Kyzyl-Arvat or Gyzylarbat and Farāva) is a city subordinate to a district in Turkmenistan, located north-west of the capital, Ashgabat on the M37 highway to the Caspian Sea. The population of Gyzylarbat is 50,000 ...

, as well as the new 221st Motorized Division at

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

. The corps was commanded by Major General

Ivan Yefimovich Petrov Ivan Yefimovich Petrov (russian: Иван Ефимович Петров; – 7 April 1958) was a Soviet Army General from 1941. Early military career Born in Trubchevsk in 1896, he began his military service in the Red Army in 1918, the year whe ...

World War II

On 22 June 1941,

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began. At the time the corps was equipped with 356 tanks. On 25 June the corps was alerted for movement to the west. On 27 June the first echelon of the 9th Tank Division moved west by rail, followed by the rest of the division. Moving through

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

and

Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...

, the division's first echelon reached

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

on 8 July. On 8 July, the

Soviet General Staff The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (russian: Генеральный штаб Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации, General'nyy shtab Vooruzhonnykh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the mil ...

decided to disband the mechanized corps and reorganize the tank divisions as a result of heavy tank losses in the first days of the war. The division's headquarters arrived at Voronezh on 10 July. The 27th Mechanized Corps was to become part of the 28th Army at Kirov. Unloading was to be carried out at the Fayansovaya railway station to the north of Kirov. The trains transporting the corps began to arrive at the station the next day, unloading only at night due to German air superiority. Many trains were delayed due to damage to the railway tracks, including one tank battalion that was stuck at

Bryansk Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban layout The location of the settlement was originally ass ...

station for three days. By 15 July, the concentration of the 9th Tank Division had been completed with 208 tanks (mostly

T-26 The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light ...

s and

BT-7 The BT-7 BT (russian: БТ) is the Russian abbreviation for "fast tank" (, ). was the last of the BT series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 1935 and 1940. It was lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for ...

s). At the same time the 9th Tank Division had become the 104th Tank Division, the 53rd Tank Division the 105th Tank Division, and the 221st Motorized Division the 106th Tank Division. The corps was disbanded on 15 July, and the 106th Tank Division became the 106th Motorized Division on 19 July.

References

* {{Soviet Union corps Mechanized corps of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1941