The 26th 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 of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union The Soviet ...

7476) 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, afte ...

. The mechanized corps of the Red Army were reorganized after

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. The corps was reorganized and disbanded before it saw action.

History

Formation

The 26th Mechanized Corps was formed in March 1941 in 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, ...

. The corps included the 52nd and 56th Tank Divisions, and the 103rd Motorized Division (the former 103rd Rifle Division).Дриг Евгений. Механизированные корпуса РККА в бою: история автобронетанковых войск Красной Армии в 1940—1941 гг. — М.: АСТ: Транзиткнига, 2005. The corps headquarters and the 56th Tank Division were at Armavir, the 52nd Tank Division at

Mineralnye Vody Mineralnye Vody (Min-Vody) ( rus, Минеральные Воды (Мин-Воды), p=mʲɪnʲɪˈralʲnɨjə ˈvodɨ, mʲɪn ˈvodɨ; lit. ''mineral waters'') is a town in Stavropol Krai, Russia, located along the Kuma River and the main rail li ...

, and the 103rd Motorized Division at Voroshilovsk. The corps was commanded by Major General Nikolai Kirichenko. It became part of the 19th Army. On 1 June, the units of the corps were equipped with 86

BT tank The BT tanks (russian: Быстроходный танк/БТ, translit=Bystrokhodnyy tank, lit. "fast moving tank" or "high-speed tank") were a series of Soviet light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly arm ...

s and

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 ...

tanks, and 15 T-37, T-38, and

T-40 The T-40 amphibious scout tank was an amphibious light tank used by the Soviet Union during World War II. It was armed with one 12.7 mm (0.5 in) DShK machine gun. It was one of the few tanks that could cross an unfordable river without ...

amphibious tanks.

World War II

On 22 June,

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union began. Between 28 and 29 June the corps was sent to the Kiev region with the 19th Army. The corps initially consisted of about 200 tanks and received reinforcements. It moved north with the 19th Army on 2 July. The corps was transferred to the 24th Army in the

Dorogobuzh Dorogobuzh (russian: Дорогобуж) is a historic town and the administrative center of Dorogobuzhsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, straddling the Dnieper River and located east of Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast. ...

region southwest of

Vyazma Vyazma (russian: Вя́зьма) is a town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast, and Mozhaysk. Thr ...

in early July. The corps was ordered to prepare fortified defensive lines northeast of Vyazma. On 8 July the corps was disbanded before it saw action as a result of the reorganization of Red Army mechanized forces. The 52nd and 56th Tank Divisions became the 101st and 102nd Tank Divisions. The 103rd Motorized Division became the 103rd Tank Division. All three divisions became part of the 24th Army's reserve. In mid-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 mi ...

decided to disband the mechanized corps as a result of combat experienced in the first weeks of the war, and planned to reform the corps headquarters as a rifle corps. On 16 July the 107th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), 107th Rifle Division, 108th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), 108th Rifle Division, 6th People's Militia Division, 19th Rifle Division (Soviet Union), 19th Rifle Division, and the 444th Rifle Regiment, with artillery units, were ordered to become part of the rifle corps. The order was countermanded the next day and the rifle corps was never created.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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