7th Guards Tank Corps
| 7th Guards Tank Division (1945–1990) 7th Guards Tank Corps (1943–1945) |
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|---|---|
| Active | 1943–1990 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army (Soviet Army from 1946) |
| Type | Armor |
| Garrison/HQ | Roßlau (1947–1990) |
| Engagements |
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| Decorations |
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The 7th Guards Tank Division was a tank division of the Soviet Army during the Cold War.
The division traced its heritage back to the 7th Guards Tank Corps, formed during World War II in July 1943 from the 15th Tank Corps for its performance in Operation Kutuzov, the Soviet counteroffensive after the Battle of Kursk. It was part of the 3rd Guards Tank Army during the war, and was converted into a tank division like the rest of the tank corps in 1945. Stationed in Czechoslovakia postwar, it was briefly downsized into a regiment in 1946 and relocated to eastern Germany in 1947, becoming part of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany, which later became the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG). The division was stationed at Roßlau in East Germany for the rest of the Cold War and participated in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube, in August 1968. For much of the 1980s it formed part of the 3rd Red Banner Army. As the Cold War wound down, the troops of the GSFG, renamed the Western Group of Forces in 1989, were pulled out of Germany, and the 7th Guards Tank Division was withdrawn to Pyriatyn in Ukraine, where it became a storage base in July 1990.
On 26 July 1943, the 7th Guards Tank Corps, part of the 3rd Guards Tank Army on the Bryansk Front, was formed from the 15th Tank Corps in recognition of the "courage and bravery" of its actions in Operation Kutuzov, the Soviet counterattack after the Battle of Kursk, under the command of Major General Filipp Rudkin. The 88th Tank Brigade became the 54th Guards Tank Brigade, the 113th became the 55th Guards, the 195th became the 56th Guards, and the 17th Motor Rifle Brigade became the 23rd Guards. On the same day as it became a Guards unit, the corps and the rest of the army attempted to advance towards Stanovoy Kolodez, but were stopped by heavy fire after Soviet aerial reconnaissance detected a concentration of German tanks in the area of Mikhailovka and Pilatovka, and the advance of tank columns from Pilatovka to Stanovoy Kolodez. Further advance by the 3rd Guards Tank Army threatened to result in protracted and bloody positional battles, and thus in the late evening of the day the army was ordered to relocated to the Central Front to support the advance of the 48th Army on the front's right flank.
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