47th Guards Tank Division

This article is about the 1965–1997 and 2022–present military unit. For the 1957–1960 military unit, see 72nd Guards Joint Training Centre.

47th Guards Tank Division (1965–1997 and 2022–present) 26th Guards Tank Division (1957–1965) 19th Guards Mechanized Division (1945–1957) 47th Guards Rifle Division (1942–1945)
Active	1942–1997 2022–present
Country	Soviet Union Russia
Branch	Red Army (Soviet Army from 1946) Russian Ground Forces
Type	Infantry (later Armor)
Part of	Western Military District 1st Guards Tank Army
Engagements	World War II 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Northeastern Ukraine offensive Battle of Sumy
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner  Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class
Battle honours	Lower Dnieper
Commanders
Notable commanders	Fyodor Ostashenko Sergey Bobruk Sobir Rakhimov Vasily Shugayev

The 47th Guards Tank Division (Russian: 47-я гвардейская танковая дивизия) was a tank division of the Soviet Army during the Cold War that became part of the Russian Ground Forces after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

It was formed in October 1942 during World War II from the first formation of the 154th Rifle Division as the 47th Guards Rifle Division. It served with the 8th Guards Army from late 1943. In late 1945, the division was converted into the 19th Guards Mechanized Division as part of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany. It was ultimately relocated to Hillersleben as part of the 3rd Shock Army (later the 3rd Army) and served there with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany for the rest of the Cold War, being converted to the 26th Guards Tank Division in 1957 and renumbered to restore its original number in 1965. Disbanded in 1997, the divison was reestablished in 2022.

World War II

The 47th Guards Rifle Division was formed on 20 October 1942 by the conversion of the first formation of the 154th Rifle Division for the latter's "courage and heroism" during the Kozelsk Offensive. It included the 437th, 473rd, and 510th Rifle Regiments, the 571st Artillery Regiment, and smaller units. The commander of the 154th, Major General Yakov Fokanov, continued in command of the 47th Guards. The division's units received Guards designations on 26 December, with the rifle regiments becoming the 137th, 140th, and 142nd Guards, while the artillery regiment became the 99th Guards.

Postwar

In late May 1945, the division with the 8th Guards Army became part of the newly created Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (renamed the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) in 1954). In late 1945, the 47th Guards Rifle Division was converted into the 19th Guards Mechanized Division. The latter included three mechanized regiments and two tank regiments: the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th Guards Mechanized Regiments, formed from the 137th, 140th, and 142nd Guards Rifle Regiments, and the 26th and 153rd Tank Regiments, the former 244th Separate Tank Regiment and 153rd Tank Brigade, respectively. It was subsequently transferred to the 3rd Shock Army (the 3rd Army from 1954) in 1947, joining the 79th Rifle Corps. The corps was renumbered as the 23rd in 1955 and disbanded a year later, leaving the division directly subordinated to the army headquarters. On 17 May 1957 the division was converted into the 26th Guards Tank Division. The 63rd and 64th Guards Mechanized Regiments were accordingly disbanded, while the 62nd Guards became the 245th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment. To replace the disbanded units, the 49th Guards Tank Regiment was transferred to the 26th Guards from the 12th Guards Tank Division.

The division was renumbered as the 47th Guards to restore its World War II designation on 11 January 1965. The 49th Guards was subsequently renumbered as the 197th Guards in addition. As the Cold War ended, the GSFG was reduced in size and renamed the Western Group of Forces. Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the division became part of the Russian Ground Forces. In April 1993 the division began its withdrawal to Mulino in the Moscow Military District.

The division was disbanded by merging it with the 31st Tank Division of the Moscow Military District into the 3rd Motor Rifle Division at Nizhny Novgorod in 1997.

21st century

In February 2022 the division was reestablished as part of the 1st Guards Tank Army. The command structure and composition of the division remain unclear. Inter alia it comprises of elements of the former 6th Tank Brigade, now forming the 26th Tank Regiment, the 1077th Separate Logistics Bataillon and the 63rd Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Unit.

The 26th Tank Regiment took part in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Northeastern front around Kharkiv, and suffered substantial losses. Reportedly, conscripts from the regiment refused to fight in Ukraine and requested to terminate their contracts.

References

Bibliography

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• Grylev, A. N. (1970). "Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг" [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
• Lenskii, A.G.; Tsybin, M.M. (2001). Советские сухопутные войска в последний год Союза ССР [The Soviet Ground Forces in the Last Years of the USSR]. St Petersburg: B&K Publishers. ISBN 5-93414-063-9.
• Tsapayev, D.A.; et al. (2014). Великая Отечественная: Комдивы. Военный биографический словарь [The Great Patriotic War: Division Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 5. Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 978-5-9950-0457-8.