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 1944. Following

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 opposing ...

, the corps were reorganized as a mechanized division in 1945 and then a motor rifle division in 1957 before being disbanded in 1958.

History

World War II

The unit formed as the 22nd Tank Corps on 3 April 1942 and was subordinated to the 38th and 4th Tank Armies of the

Southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and Stalingrad Fronts. In September 1942, following heavy losses around Kalach, the corps moved into the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the ''Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK ( ru , РВГК)) comprises reserve military formations and units; the Stav ...

('' Stavka'' reserve) and was reorganized as the second instance (formation) of the 5th Mechanized Corps. During 1943, the 5th Mechanized Corps was mainly assigned as a Stavka reserve asset or as a reserve of the Western Front. The corps was assigned to the 6th Tank Army in February 1944 and achieved Guards status on 12 September 1944, being retitled as the 9th Guards Mechanized Corps. As such, the corps remained with the 6th Guards Tank Army for the remainder of the war in Europe, and was then transferred with its parent army to the far east, seeing action against Japanese forces under the direction of 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 ...

. The corps was in combat near Kalach in 1942,

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

and Lenino in 1943, Korsun and Iasi-Kishinev in 1944, and at

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 ...

and

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in 1945, as well as fighting in the Manchurian Operation in September 1945. The 9th Guards Mechanized Corps was notable for its use of U.S. Lend-Lease M4A2 diesel-engined Sherman tanks during 1944-45.

Postwar

In October 1945, the corps, like all Soviet mechanized corps, was reorganized into a division, the 9th Guards Mechanized Division. It was stationed at Yasnaya, part of 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 ...

6th Guards Tank Army The 6th Guards Order of Red Banner Tank Army was a tank army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, first formed in January 1944 as the 6th Tank Army,Glantz (Companion), p. 66. and disbanded in Ukraine in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Un ...

. The division included the 18th, 30th, and 31st Guards Mechanized Regiments, and the 46th and 111th Guards Tank Regiments. On 4 June 1957, the division became the 9th Guards Motor Rifle Division at

Sainshand Sainshand ( mn, Сайншанд; ) is the capital of Dornogovi Province in Mongolia. It is located in the eastern Gobi desert steppe, on the Trans-Mongolian Railway. Administration The territory of Sainshand sum consists of 5 ''bags'' (commu ...

, Mongolia. The division was disbanded on 1 November 1958.

References

*Erickson, John. ''The Road to Stalingrad'', Yale University Press, 1995 * *Glantz, David, ''Companion to Colossus Reborn'', University Press of Kansas, 2005. *Poirier, Robert G., and Conner, Albert Z., ''The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War'', Presidio Press, 1985. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 G009 Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1958