The 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps () was a cavalry 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 ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

The corps was formed on 19 November 1942 as the 5th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Corps, assigned to the Northern Group of Forces of the

Transcaucasian Front Transcaucasian Front or Transcaucasus Front (russian: Закавказский Фронт) was a front of the Soviet Red Army—a military formation comparable to an army group, not a geographic military front—during the Second World War. Th ...

. Under the command of Major General Alexey Selivanov, the corps was assigned the 11th and 12th Guards Don Cossack Cavalry Divisions, the 63rd Cavalry Division, and other units. Its divisions had already seen combat during the

Battle of the Caucasus The Battle of the Caucasus is a name given to a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus area on the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia, opening the Caucasus region of t ...

in the preceding months. The corps entered battle as a unit for the first time in early December in the region of

Mozdok Mozdok (russian: Моздо́к; os, Мæздæг, ''Mæzdæg''; Kabardian: Мэздэгу) is a town and the administrative center of Mozdoksky District of North Ossetia – Alania, Russia, located on the left shore of the Terek River, no ...

. Between January and May 1943 it fought as part of the

North Caucasian Front The North Caucasian Front or North Caucasus Front was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War. The North Caucasus Front describes either of two distinct organizations during the war. First Creation The first formation wa ...

and later the Southern Front with a cavalry-mechanized group. Between September and November the corps fought as part of the Southern Front (renamed the

4th Ukrainian Front The 4th Ukrainian Front (Russian: Четвёртый Украинский фронт) was the name of two distinct Red Army strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The front was first formed on 20 October 1943, by ...

on 20 October) in the breakthrough of the

Mius-Front The Mius-Front was a heavily fortified German Nazi defensive line along the Mius River in the Donbas region of the Soviet Union and Ukraine during World War II. It was created by the Germans in October 1941, under direction of General Paul Ludwi ...

, in which it recaptured

Volnovakha Volnovakha ( uk, Волнова́ха, ; russian: Волнова́ха) is a town in Ukraine. It served as the administrative center of Volnovakha Raion, one of the 18 districts of the Donetsk Oblast. Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, ...

on 10 September, Guliaipole on 16 September,

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Zaporizhz ...

on 23 October, and

Kakhovka Kakhovka ( uk, Кахо́вка, ) is a port city on the Dnieper River in Kakhovka Raion, Kherson Oblast, of southern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of the Kakhovka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. It had a population of It ...

on 2 November. In January and February 1944 the corps was shifted to the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front (2-й Украинский фронт), was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943 the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the Second Jassy–Kishinev O ...

for the

Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi ( uk, Ко́рсунь-Шевче́нківський, ; pl, Korsuń Szewczenkowski; russian: Корсунь-Шевченковский) is a small city located in Cherkasy Raion of Cherkasy Oblast (province) in central ...

, in which it fought in the encirclement and destruction of German troops. For its "exemplary fulfillment of combat missions" in the fighting for

Zvenigorodka Zvenyhorodka ( uk, Звенигородка ; pl, Zwinogródka; russian: Звенигородка) is a city located in the Cherkasy Oblast (province) in central Ukraine on the Hnylyi Tikych river. The town is the administrative center of the Z ...

on 28 January, and the "courage and bravery" of its personnel, the corps was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

on 13 February. During March and April the corps fought in the Uman–Botoșani Offensive. In early April, Selivanov, ill with tuberculosis, was replaced by former corps deputy commander Major General

Sergey Gorshkov Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (russian: Серге́й Гео́ргиевич Горшко́в; 26 February 1910 – 13 May 1988) was an admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union. Twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, he oversaw the exp ...

. During the

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

, the corps formed the cavalry-mechanized group of the front together with the 23rd Tank Corps. Swiftly advancing on the right flank of the front, it ensured the advance of the shock group. From October 1944 the corps, transferred to the

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front (Russian: Третий Украинский фронт) was a Front of the Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwester ...

on 27 November, participated in the

Battle of Debrecen The Battle of Debrecen, called by the Red Army the ''Debrecen Offensive Operation'', was a battle taking place 6–29 October 1944 on the Eastern Front in Hungary during World War II. The offensive was conducted by the 2nd Ukrainian Front ...

. In the attack on Emőd on 13 November, 12th Guards Cavalry Division platoon commander Senior Sergeant Pyotr Grigoryevich Kuznetsov was surrounded, but defended his position to the death. For his actions, Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

. For "successful combat actions" and its part in the destruction of the Axis forces surrounded in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, the corps received the name of the city as an honorific on 5 April 1945. The corps saw its last action in the

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street fi ...

in the final weeks of the war. For their actions during the war, roughly 32,000 soldiers of the corps were decorated, and ten became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The corps was disbanded in July 1946.

Postwar

In mid-1945, the 63rd Cavalry Division was reorganized into the 12th Mechanized Division. In late 1945, the corps was withdrawn from the

Southern Group of Forces Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

, with which it had been stationed at

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...

, and relocated to

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...

in the Don Military District with the 11th and 12th Guards Cavalry Divisions. The corps was reorganized as the 5th Separate Guards Cavalry Division in May 1946, with the 7th Guards Cavalry Regiment formed from the 37th Guards Cavalry Regiment, and the 11th and 12th Guards Cavalry Regiments formed from the divisions of the same number. The division also included the 120th Tank Regiment, and remained at Novocherkassk as part of the

North Caucasus Military District The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces, which became in 2010 the Southern Military District and lately also included the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla. It comprised the Republic of Adygeya, ...

. Named for Yefim Shchadenko on 6 September 1951, the division was reorganized as the 18th Guards Heavy Tank Division on 18 November 1954, the last remaining cavalry division.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Soviet Union corps Cavalry corps of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946