4th Guards Tank Division

The direct ancestor of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division was the Red Army's 17th Tank Corps, initially formed in Stalingrad in 1942 shortly after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The 17th Tank Corps commenced its combat history on 26 June 1942, when it was deployed to the west of Voronezh, just prior to the Battle of Voronezh (1942). For distinction in combat during the Operation Little Saturn between 17 December to 30 December 1942, the 17th Tank Corps was renumbered as the 4th Guards Tank Corps in January 1943.[9] The Corps received the honorific Kantemirovsky after the village of Kantemirovka in Kantemirovsky District, Voronezh Oblast, when it had liberated it from German troops by tank sub-units as their baptism of fire.

Soldiers Guards badge

In the August 1943, the 4th Guards Tank Corps endured continuous combat on the Belgorod-Kharkiv direction of The Kursk Bulge. For the courage and heroism shown during the liberation of cities on the right-bank Ukraine, including Zbarazh, Ternopil, and Shepetovka in April 1944, the Corps was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Seventeen regiments and separate battalions were awarded honorifics of Shepetovsky, Zhitomirsky, Yampolsky, and Tarnopolsky, in honor of the cities they had taken.

The Corps participating in the battle for Krakow, for which it was awarded the Order of Lenin.

The 4th Guards Tank Corps was among the first Red Army formations to reach the river Elbe, and participated in the capture of Dresden in Germany. The Corps made a sudden redeployment to Czechoslovakia, where they saw their final fighting of the war in the suburbs of Prague, during the Prague Offensive. For the courage shown by soldiers and officers of the Corps during wartime, military units were awarded 23 awards, the staff of the Corps was thanked officially by the Supreme commander in chief 18 times, 32 of its members were awarded the Hero of Soviet Union (5 of which are forever enlisted in the unit rolls), more than 20,000 soldiers received awards and medals, five becoming full chevaliers of the Order of Glory.

On 14 June 1945, the 4th Guards Tank Corps became the 4th Guards "Kantemirovskaya" Tank Division, and on 13 September 1945 it was assigned to the armies of Moscow Military District with a re-deployment to Naro-Fominsk, where has remained its garrison ever since.

In the autumn of 1946, the Division participated in the Day of the Tankmen's parade on the Red Square in Moscow.[10][11] On 23 May 1953, the Division's 3rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment became the 119th Guards Mechanized Regiment. The 275th Guards Artillery Battalion was formed from the 264th Guards Mortar Regiment and the howitzer artillery battalion. The 76th Separate Motorcycle Battalion was converted into a reconnaissance battalion. The 120th Guards Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment became the 538th Guards Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment in April 1955. The 14th Guards Tank Regiment was disbanded in June 1957. At the same time, the 43rd Guards Heavy Tank Self-Propelled Regiment became the 43rd Guards Heavy Tank Regiment and the 119th Guards Mechanized Regiment was redesignated the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment.[12]

In 1960, the Division's tank training battalion was disbanded. In early 1962, the 43rd Guards Heavy Tank Regiment became a regular tank regiment. On 19 February of that year, the 196th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion and the 339th Separate Missile Battalion were activated. The 106th Separate Sapper Battalion became the 330th Separate Engineer-Sapper Battalion in 1968. In 1972, the separate Chemical Defence Company became the 616th Separate Chemical Defence Battalion. The motor transport battalion was renamed the 1088th Separate Material Supply Battalion in 1980.[12]

On 23 February 1984, the division received the honorific name "in the name of Yuri Andropov", the Soviet General Secretary at the time. In 1989, the 43rd Guards Tank Regiment was replaced by the 14th Guards Tank Regiment. During the Cold War, the division was maintained at 80% strength.[12]

The division was one of the two major divisions deployed in Moscow in August 1991 as part of the attempted hardline coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup's failure strengthened Boris Yeltsin's position in the Russian SFSR, and soon afterwards in the Russian Federation, of which he became President.

4th Tank Division's T-80 during a training exercise.

CBRN Company soldier of 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the 4th Guards Tank Division became a part of the Russian Ground Forces, the land forces of the Russian Federation. During the most serious crisis of Yeltsin's premiership, the 1993 constitutional crisis, the Division was one of several key divisions that had given their reluctant support to Yeltsin by October 4, the decisive point in the crisis. In the early 1990s, the division came under the command of the famous 1st Guards Tank Army, along with the 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division. The 1st GTA had relocated from the former East Germany to Smolensk when the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany was disbanded at the beginning of the 1990s; it was disbanded in 1998, as was the 144th MRD. Thereafter the Kantemirovskaya Division came under the command of the 20th Guards Army.

The division's units participated in the First Chechen War, and later personnel took part in peacekeeping operations in South Ossetia during 1997, in Kosovo in 1998 to 2002, and later participating in the Second Chechen War.[13]

During this period, it was one of the Russian Army's "constant readiness" divisions, with at least 80% manpower and 100% equipment holdings at all times.

On 9 May 2005, eight T-80BV tanks from the division took part in the parade in Moscow to mark the 60th anniversary of VE Day. On 27 December 2005, the Division was visited by Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Defence Minister. In early 2006, the Division's 13th Tank Regiment participated, along with other 20th Guards Army units, in the joint Russian-Belarusian "Shield of Union" military exercises.

Kantemirovsky Street in Moscow is named in the honour of the 4th Guards Tank Division.[13]

In 2009, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the division would be converted into two brigades, which were to retain their honorifics and decorations. The division was reduced to the 4th Separate Guards Tank Brigade later that year, still stationed at Naro-Fominsk.[13] In May 2013, the Kantemirovskaya division was reformed from the tank brigade.[14]

As of June 2015, within 2 years after the division was reconstituted, the Russian Armed Forces are planning to rebuild the famous Soviet era 1st Guards Red Banner Tank Army by including both the 4th Guards Tank Division and the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division as well as one tank and rifle brigade (from the 1990s up to its 1998 disbandment the 4th Guards TD formed part of the army).[15]

The anniversary of the formation of the division is celebrated on June 29 every year, with festive events being held in Naro-Fominsk. On the divisional parade ground, servicemen are awarded with state and departmental awards. In recent years, participants in the celebrations have seen demonstration performances from cadets of the Moscow Higher Military Command School, as well as had the opportunity to visit the exhibition of weapons and military equipment.[23] Day of Tankmen celebrations are also held by the division.[24]

The division participates in both the ground and mobile columns of the Moscow Victory Day Parade on Red Square, representing the forces of the Western Military District in the former. The division in its current form took part in its first parade in 2013, days after its recreation.[25] It was only as a result of its participation in the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 that it received the honorific of Kantemirovka.[10] The unit's participation of the three-hour Tankmen Day parade in 1946 was decreed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.