The 6th Guards

Order of 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 ...

Tank Army was a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

of the Soviet Union's

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 ...

, first formed in January 1944 as the 6th Tank Army,Glantz (Companion), p. 66. and disbanded in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in the 1990s after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. During its service in

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 ...

, the army was commanded by Lieutenant General of Tank Troops (later Colonel General) Andrei Kravchenko.

World War II

Initially commanding the 5th Mechanised Corps and the 5th Guards Tank Corps, the 6th Tank Army's first major operation was the suppression of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket in January–February 1944. It then fought in the Iassy-Kishinev Offensive during August 1944 before gaining a Guards title in September 1944. Under its new title, it was soon engaged 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 ...

on 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 ...

, before fighting against the Germans during

Operation Frühlingserwachen Operation Spring Awakening (german: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) was the last major German offensive of World War II. The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton defensive operati ...

in March 1945. Pushing west, the tank army moved south of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria and pivoted to the north in a wide encircling maneuver that cut Vienna off from the rest of the German ''Reich''. At the end of the war, one of its subordinate formations, the 2nd Guards Mechanised Corps, ended operations in the area of

Benešov Benešov (; german: Beneschau; also known as Benešov u Prahy) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the Konopiště Castle. Administrative parts Villages of Baba, ...

, Czechoslovakia, on 9 May 1945. The 6th Guards Tank Army was then moved to the

Transbaikal Military District The Transbaikal Military District (russian: Забайкальский военный округ) was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on May 17, 1935 and included the ...

in order to take part in the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

. The army, under the command of

Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

Andrei Kravchenko spearheaded the

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front (russian: Забайкальский фронт) was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air ...

's offensive against the Japanese

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

on 9 August 1945. The 6th Guards Tank Army consisted of the 5th Guards Tank Corps, and

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and

9th Guards Mechanised Corps The 9th Guards Motor Rifle Division was a Soviet Army unit initially formed as a tank corps in April 1942. In the same year, it was then formed as a mechanized corps in November 1942. This unit then became a Guards mechanized corps in September ...

, and many smaller formations, in all, a total of 1,019 tanks and

self-propelled gun Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

s. For this operation, the tank army was restructured such that the infantry, artillery, and armored components were much more balanced than they had been during the war against the Germans. This was the first example of what proved to be the standard Soviet mechanized army organization during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. During the

, the Army was operating as part of the

, and during the Khingano-Mukden Operation, the Army was tasked to advance 800 kilometers.

Cold War

It was stationed in Mongolia, reporting to the

, for 15 years after the war. It still included the

5th Guards Tank Division The 5th Guards Tank Division was an armored division of the Soviet Ground Forces and Russian Ground Forces, active from 1945 to 2009, in two different formations. First Formation The 5th Guards "Stalingradsko-Kievskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner ...

(First Formation, "Stalingrad-Kiev"). The friendship with China of those days and the

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

military reductions changed the fate of the Army, and in 1959 it was relocated to Dnipropetrovsk (now

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

) in the

Kyiv Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exi ...

. 22nd Guards Tank Division joined the army in 1957. Toward the end of the 1980s it appears to have retained four Guards Tank Divisions – the 17th,

42nd 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

(the former 42nd Guards Rifle Division) and the 75th (formerly the

75th Guards Rifle Division The 75th Guards Rifle Division () was a Red Army infantry division during World War II and afterwards, which later became the 75th Guards Tank Division and was finally disbanded in the 1990s. The 75th Guards Rifle Division was redesignated at the ...

, plus the 22nd Guards Tank Division (disbanded September 1990). On 11 November 1990, following the disbandment of the 22nd and the 75th Guards Tank Divisions, the reorganisation of the 42nd Guards Tank Division as the 6299th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment, and the arrival of the 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division 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, ...

, the Army had on hand 462

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s, all

T-64 The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, while ...

s, 228 BMPs and BTRs, 218 other pieces of equipment of various types, including the surface-to-surface missiles of the 107th Rocket Brigade at

Kremenchug Kremenchuk (; uk, Кременчу́к, Kremenchuk ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnipro river, Dnipro River. The city serves as the Capital city, administrative center of the Kremenchuk Raion (Raio ...

, and five helicopters (with the 16th Separate Mixed Aviation Squadron at Podgorodnoe).

Ukrainian service

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union it became part of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the Army, land forces of Ukraine and one of the five Military branch, branches of the Armed For ...

. In March 1992 Major General

Volodymyr Shkidchenko Volodymyr Petrovych Shkidchenko ( uk, Володимир Петрович Шкідченко; born January 1, 1948, Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia) is a Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something re ...

returned home to become the army's commander. He was promoted to Lieutenant General by Edict 642/92 of 31 December 1992. Shkidchenko was released from command of the 6th Guards Tank Army by Presidential Edict No. 220/93 June 19, 1993, to be appointed to another post. The first reference to the

6th Army Corps 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, the successor formation, appears in Ukaz N 350/93 of the President of Ukraine on 21 August 1993. Thus it appears the 6th Guards Tank Army was disbanded by redesignation sometime between June and August 1993. The

was based at

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

and consisted of several brigades, including the 17th Armored Brigade and the 93rd Mechanized Brigade. It was disbanded in 2013.

Commanders

The army was commanded by the following officers during its existence. * Colonel General Andrei Kravchenko (20 January 1944 June 1947) * Lieutenant General

Vladimir Zhdanov Vladimir Ivanovich Zhdanov (russian: Владимир Иванович Жданов; 29 April 1902 – 19 October 1964) was a colonel-general of tank troops in the armed forces of the Soviet Union. He was a major general in the Soviet Red Army duri ...

(June 1947 30 April 1949) * Lieutenant General Ivan Dremov (30 April 1949 27 February 1958) * Lieutenant General Evgeniy Fominykh (27 February 1958 May 1960) * Lieutenant General

Gennady Obaturov Gennady Ivanovich Obaturov (russian: Геннадий Иванович Обатуров; – 29 April 1996) was a Soviet Army General. Childhood and youth Born in a peasant family in the village of Maloe Zarecheno, then part of the Marakuli ...

(May 1960 13 July 1966) * Lieutenant General Vladimir Makarov (13 July 1966 13 June 1969) * Lieutenant General Gennady Zakharov (13 June 1969 26 February 1971) * Lieutenant General Pyotr Shkidchenko (26 February 1971 17 August 1973) * Lieutenant General Yuriy Terentev (17 August 1973 May 1978) * Lieutenant General

Vladimir Osipov Vladimir Nikolaevich Osipov (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич О́сипов; 9 August 1938 – 20 October 2020) was a Russian writer who founded the Soviet samizdat journal ''Veche'' (Assembly)''.'' The journal is considered t ...

(May 1978 6 January 1981) * Lieutenant General Valery Sokolov (6 January 1981 December 1983) * Lieutenant General Sergey Karsakov (December 1983 September 1985) * Lieutenant General Vladlen Tsvetkov (September 1985 May 1988) * Lieutenant General Valentin Boriskiy (May 1988 July 1989) * Colonel General Vasily Sotkov (July 1989 2 May 1991) * Lieutenant General Vitaly Radetsky (3 May 1991 April 1992)

Notes

References

*Feskov et al., The Soviet Army in the Period of the Cold War,

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

University Press, 2004 *David M. Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2005. . *David M. Glantz, When Titans Clashed, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. . {{Armies of the Soviet Army Tank armies of the Soviet Union Armies of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1993 Guards Armies