2nd Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)
Initially formed in June 1940 in response the German victories of 1940 it was attached to the Odessa Military District, & attached to the 9th Army in the Odessa Fortified Region in Soviet Union[1] It was under the command of Lieutenant General Yury Novoselsky when the German Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941.
After the invasion began the Odessa Military District was renamed Southern Front, Commanded by Colonel General Ivan Tyulenev.
The 2nd Mechanized Corps was heavily involved in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa, helping to defend Soviet occupied Bessarabia with Colonel General Yakov Cherevichenko's 9th Army against Generaloberst Schobert's 11th Army, which had penetrated Soviet defenses, captured Iassy & reached the Prut River on the first day of action in Operation München.
By 18 July Schobert's 11th Army, had crossed the Dniester River & Stavka finally realised that the 6th, 12th & 18th Armies faced encirclement & ordered the 2nd Mechanized Corps to the Uman region to halt the German advance into Southern Front's rear.
Two days later the trap was shut, and although the 2nd Mechanized Corps tried to free the surrounded armies on 8 August the fighting was over: 107,000 officers & men, including Generals Pavel Ponedelin & Ivan Muzychenko, four corps commanders & 11 division commanders, 286 tanks & 953 guns were captured.
0404 July 26, 1943, the 2nd Mechanized Corps was transformed into the 7th Guards Mechanized Corps for heroism and courage, stamina and courage of personnel in battles against Nazi invaders, as well as for exemplary performance of combat missions shown during the Oryol offensive operation (Operation Kutuzov).
Lieutenant General of the Tank Forces Ivan Korchagin remained commander of the Corps for the rest of the War.
In the fall of 1943 Grigory Kabakovsky was a lieutenant and company commander in the motor rifle battalion of the 57th Guards Tank Brigade.
With grenades, rifle fire and a machine gun, Kabakovsky reportedly killed 60 German soldiers in the battle to hold the bridgehead.
It suffered a major setback in late April 1945 on the southern flank of the front during a counterattack of German troops, when part of the Corps was surrounded and destroyed.
On 1 December 1989, the 11th Division was reduced into the 5890th Guards Base for the storage of military equipment (VKhVT).
