The 8th Mechanised Army was initially formed on 12 June 1946 with its headquarters at Zhytomyr in the Carpathian Military District, under the command of Nikolay Pukhov. The army was formed from the headquarters of the 52nd Army. It initially comprised the 18th, 23rd and 31st Tank Divisions (the former 18th Tank Corps, 23rd Tank Corps, 31st Tank Corps) and the 11th Guards and 32nd Guards Mechanised Divisions. The army also included the 28th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, 12th Light Artillery Brigade, 45th Separate Tank Training Regiment, 9th Separate Motorcycle Regiment, 329th Separate Guards Mortar Regiment, 4th Separate Pontoon Bridge Regiment, and the 60th Separate Communications Regiment. Several units of the army used the T-44, the successor of the T-34.[3]On 30 April 1947 the 18th Tank Division, 28th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, 12th Light Artillery Brigade, 329th Separate Guards Mortar Regiment and the 4th Separate Pontoon Bridge Regiment were disbanded. The 45th Tank Training Regiment moved to Turkestan, becoming part of the 344th Rifle Division. The 9th Motorcycle Regiment became the 200th Motorcycle Battalion.[4]
Hamazasp Babadzhanian became commander of the army on 30 May 1956. During Operation Whirlwind in October and November 1956, the army headquarters was moved to Debrecen, and its troops occupied the eastern part of Hungary on the left bank of the Danube. The 70th Guards Rifle Division was attached to the army for the operation. [5] On 1 May 1957 the army became the 8th Tank Army. A month later, the 32nd Guards Mechanized Division became the 41st Guards Tank Division at Berdychiv. Around this time the 11th Guards Mechanized Division became the 30th Guards Tank Division at Novohrad-Volynskyi. The 23rd Tank Division was stationed at Ovruch, and the 31st Tank Division at Ternopil, later moving to Zhytomyr. On 1 October 1960 the 41st Guards Tank Division became a training unit and was directly subordinated to the Carpathian Military District. The army and its 31st Tank Division fought in Operation Danube in 1968. The 8th Tank Army was subordinated to the Carpathian Front during the operation and was moved to southern Poland.[6] After the end of the Prague Spring the 31st Tank Division remained in Czechoslovakia with the Central Group of Forces. The division's place was taken by the mobilization 50th Tank Division. From then on the army had only the 23rd and 30th Guards Tank Divisions, and the mobilization 50th Tank Division. On 15 January 1974 the army received the Order of the Red Banner.[4]
The 50th Tank Division was reorganized into the 686th Territorial Training Center on 1 December 1987. On 21 March 1989 the 199th Guards Rocket Brigade became part of the army after arriving from Belarus. On 1 July 1989 the 686th Territorial Training Center became the 5358th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base. On 1 July 1990 the 23rd Tank Division became the 6065th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base. By the end of 1990, the army was essentially composed of only the 30th Guards Tank Division. Stationed in Ukraine, after dissolution of the Soviet Union the army was reorganized as Ukrainian military formation 8th Army Corps on 1 December 1993,[7] whilst commanded by Lieutenant General Aleksey Mikhaylovich Torshin.[4][8]
Commanders
The following officers commanded the 8th Tank Army.[4]
^"Нащадки танкової армії" [Descendants of the tank army]. Narodna Armiya (in Ukrainian). Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
^"Новини Житомирщини" [Zhytomyr News]. Zhytomyr Oblast Administration (in Ukrainian). 20 June 2006. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
^Holm, Michael. "8th Tank Army". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
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. ISBN9785895035306.
Soviet Union
Order of the Red Banner
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