Cavalry corps (Red Army)
Encyclopedia
The cavalry corps of the Workers and Peasant Red Army was a type of military formation that existed from the early days of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

 until 1947 when the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 was renamed as the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...

 and all cavalry corps were disbanded.

The cavalry corps represented the foundation of large mobile formations in the Red Army, and most were converted to mechanised and motorised corps during the 1930s. However, due to severe loses in vehicles by the Red Army following the German invasion of USSR
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

 many more cavalry corps were raised. These corps initially included two cavalry divisions
Cavalry division (Soviet Union)
Regular Red Army cavalry divisions in 1941 had four cavalry regiments, a horse artillery battalion , a tank regiment , an anti-aircraft battalion , a signals squadron, a field engineer squadron and other rear echelon support units and sections.A cavalry...

, two self-propelled artillery regiments and a signals battalion. During 1943 another cavalry division was added, and all divisions received a tank regiment.

Despite the name, for the most part the troops of the cavalry corps operated primarily as dismounted infantry, using their horses only to negotiate terrain that would prove difficult to motor vehicles, and conducting rapid raid
Raid (military)
Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...

s into the rear of the enemy positions.

During the Battle for Moscow the first Guards
Russian Guards
Guards or Guards units were and are elite military units in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The tradition goes back to the retinue of a knyaz of medieval Kievan Rus' and the streltsy, the Muscovite harquebusiers formed by Ivan the Terrible by 1550...

 cavalry corps was created from the former 2nd Cavalry Corps, originally of the Odessa Military District
Odessa Military District
The Odessa Military District was a military administrative division of the Imperial Russian military, the Soviet Armed Forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was known under such name from around 1862 to 1998. It was reorganized as part of the Military of Ukraine and the Military of Moldova in...

, following the Battle of Kashira to prevent German envelopment of Moscow from the south.

In the Battle for Stalingrad, three cavalry corps, the 8th
8th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)
The 8th Cavalry Corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a cavalry corps active during the Second World War.It was created on 18 January 1942 at Tula. General Lieutenant P.P. Korzun took command...

 (including the 21st, 55th and 112th cavalry divisions), the 3rd Guards (including the 5th and 6th Guards and 32nd cavalry divisions) and the 4th Cavalry Corps (61st and 81st cavalry divisions) participated in the counter-offensive. These varied in strength between 22,500 and 10,200 personnel, and had from 18,000 to 9,000 horses.

Between April 1942 and July 1942, the Red Army, suffering a shortage of horses, disbanded 41 cavalry divisions. The lack of horses was the deciding factor in the reduction in the cavalry units.

During the Second World War the cavalry corps were used primarily as components of the Cavalry Mechanized Group
Cavalry Mechanized Group
A cavalry-mechanized group was a type of military formation used in the Red Army during World War II against Germany and Japan.- Organization :...

s that were inserted into the breakthrough sector of the Front
Front (Soviet Army)
A front was a major military organization in the Soviet Army during many wars. It was roughly equivalent to an army group in the militaries of most other countries except Germany...

 following an offensive, paired with either a tank corps or a mechanized corps, providing additional mobile infantry component that could escort tanks and support them against enemy anti-tank defences. Sometimes dismounted cavalrymen were used as tank desant
Tank desant
Tank desant is a military combined arms tactic, where infantry soldiers ride into an attack on tanks, then dismount to fight on foot in the final phase of the assault...

 to ensure closer cooperation between tanks and cavalry.

Corps and time of formation

Disbandment dates are from Bonn, Slaughterhouse.
  • 1st Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 16 December 1941, disbanded c. March 1942
  • 2nd Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - March-November 1941, then converted to 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, second formation 23 December 1941, disbanded June 1942
  • 3rd Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 20 November 1941, converted to 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps
  • 4th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 18 March 1941, disbanded May 1943
  • 5th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - March 1941-December 1941, then converted to 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, second formation 1 January 1942, disbanded July 1943
  • 6th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - March 1940-July 1941, second formation 30 November 1941, disbanded May 1942
  • 7th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 26 December 1941, converted to 6th Guards Cavalry Corps, January 1943
  • 8th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)
    8th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)
    The 8th Cavalry Corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a cavalry corps active during the Second World War.It was created on 18 January 1942 at Tula. General Lieutenant P.P. Korzun took command...

     - January-February 1943
  • 9th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - February-April 1942
  • 10th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 12 January 1942, disbanded February 1942
  • 11th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)
    11th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)
    The 11th Cavalry Corps of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a cavalry corps active during the Second World War.It was created on 12 January 1942 at Kalinin Oblast...

     - 12 January 1942 and
  • 12th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 12 January 1942 and
  • 13th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 20 January 1942, disbanded July 1942
  • 14th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 23 January 1942, disbanded April 1942
  • 15th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 1 January 1942, disbanded May 1945
  • 16th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - 4 January 1942, disbanded? March 1942
  • 17th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - June-August 1942, converted to 4th Guards Cavalry Corps
  • 18th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - August 1942, disbanded August 1943
  • 19th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union) - February 1943, disbanded July 1943


In connection with the great vulnerability of cavalry from artillery fire, air strikes and tanks, the number of 1 September 1943 and was reduced to 8.

Guards Cavalry Corps (Gv.kk)

  • 1-th Guards Cavalry Corps - 26 November 1941 and (2nd Cavalry Corps)
  • 2-th Guards Cavalry Corps - 25 December 1942 (3rd Cavalry Corps)
  • 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps - 25 December 1941 (5th Cavalry Corps)
  • 4th Guards Cavalry Corps - 27 August 1942 (17th Cavalry Corps) - operated with Cavalry mechanized group
    Cavalry Mechanized Group
    A cavalry-mechanized group was a type of military formation used in the Red Army during World War II against Germany and Japan.- Organization :...

    s in 1944-45, destroyed as part of Cavalry-mechanized Group Pliyev
    Issa Pliyev
    Issa Alexandrovich Pliyev was a Soviet military commander, Army General , twice Hero of the Soviet Union , Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic . Member of the CPSU since 1926. He was an ethnic Ossetian....

     at the Battle of Debrecen
    Battle of Debrecen
    The Battle of Debrecen, called by the Red Army the Debrecen Offensive Operation, was conducted by the 2nd Ukrainian Front on the Eastern Front of World War II...

    , fought during Budapest, Bratislava-Brno, and Prague Offensive
    Prague Offensive
    The Prague Offensive was the last major Soviet operation of World War II in Europe. The offensive, and the battle for Prague, was fought on the Eastern Front from 6 May to 11 May 1945. This battle for the city is particularly noteworthy in that it ended after the Third Reich capitulated on 8 May...

    s.
  • 5th Guards Cavalry Corps - 20 November 1942 - created at Kizlyar
    Kizlyar
    Kizlyar is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located in the delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala. Population: 30,000 ....

     by an order of the Stavka
    Stavka
    Stavka was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union...

     VGK for inclusion in the Transcaucasus Front. Consisted of the 11th Guards 'Don' Cossack Cavalry Division, 12th Guards 'Don' Cossack Cavalry Division, and 63rd Cavalry Division. Participated in Iassy-Kishinev Offensive, Battle of Debrecen
    Battle of Debrecen
    The Battle of Debrecen, called by the Red Army the Debrecen Offensive Operation, was conducted by the 2nd Ukrainian Front on the Eastern Front of World War II...

    , Budapest Offensive
    Budapest Offensive
    The Budapest Offensive was the general attack by Soviet forces against Germany and their allies from the territory of Hungary. The offensive lasted from 29 October 1944 until the fall of Budapest on 13 February 1945.-Prelude:...

    , and Vienna Offensive
    Vienna Offensive
    The Vienna Offensive was launched by the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in order to capture Vienna, Austria. The offensive lasted from 2–13 April 1945...

    .
  • 6th Guards Cavalry Corps - 19 January 1943 (7 th Cavalry Corps)
  • 7th Guards Cavalry Corps - 14 February 1943 (8 th Cavalry Corps)


In the second half of the 20th century the cavalry corps in the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...

 disbanded.

Composition

At the beginning of the war, Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 Cavalry Corps had 2-3 Cavalry (or mountain cavalry) divisions in each. In the corps was:
  • Personnel
    • More than 19 000 people
  • Horse
    • 16 000 horses
  • Basic weapons and equipment
    • 128 tank
      Tank
      A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

       s
    • 44 armored cars
    • 64 field, 32 anti-tank and 40 anti-aircraft guns
    • 128 mortar
      Mortar (weapon)
      A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

      s


During the war the battle of the cavalry corps has been significantly strengthened, it began to enter:
  • 3rd Cavalry Division
  • Self-propelled artillery, anti-tank artillery and anti-aircraft artillery regiments
  • Guards Mortar Regiment Rocket artillery
    Rocket artillery
    Rocket artillery is a type of artillery equipped with rocket launchers instead of conventional guns or mortars.Types of rocket artillery pieces include multiple rocket launchers.-History:...

  • Mortar and separate anti-tank battalions.

Further reading

  • Bonn, Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, 2005
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