4th Cavalry Corps (Soviet Union)

During Operation Uranus, the Soviet counteroffensive in the Battle of Stalingrad, the 4th Cavalry Corps was intended to act as an exploitation force, but due to being understrength it was surrounded and suffered heavy losses in November and December.

[1] Corps headquarters were later moved to Armavir, where the 4th Separate Cavalry Communications Battalion began to form on 1 October 1931.

The corps included the 9th, 32nd and the 34th Cavalry Divisions when it was formed, and was commanded throughout its existence by Komkor Dmitry Ryabyshev.

[7][8] The corps was reformed between January and 18 March 1941 in the Central Asian Military District, under the command of Lieutenant General Timofey Shapkin.

After crossing the Iranian border, the corps entered Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, on 28 August.

[10] In September, the 39th Mountain Cavalry Division replaced the 44th, and in November the corps headquarters and assets were transferred back to Central Asia without its front line units.

Entering the battle without the disbanded 97th Division, the corps became part of the 51st Army and fought in Operation Uranus in November.

[14] In early December, as the Axis forces were preparing for Operation Winter Storm, most of the corps was surrounded near Kotelnikovo and suffered heavy losses.

[15] By 1 January the corps had been transferred to the 2nd Guards Army, and by 1 February its remnants were directly subordinated to the Southern Front.

Shapkin died of a brain hemorrhage on the next day, and was replaced by Major General Mikhail Maleyev on 25 March.

On 27 April it was withdrawn to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in the Rossosh area, where it became part of the Steppe Military District.