A tank corps (Russian: танковый корпус) was a type of Soviet armoured formation used during World War II.
In Soviet Russia, the so-called armored forces (броневые силы) preceded the Tank Corps.
In December 1920, the Red Army received its first light tanks, assembled at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory.
During this time, and based on the experience of the Civil War with its sweeping movements of horse-mobile formations, Soviet military theorists such as Vladimir Triandafillov and Konstantin Kalinovsky elaborated the principles of combat use of armored units, which envisioned a large-scale use of tanks in different situations in cooperation with various army units.
From the second half of the 1920s, tank warfare development took place at Kazan, where the German Reichswehr was allowed to participate.
[3][4] Besides the operational armoured and mechanised formations, separate tank battalions within rifle divisions existed.
Additional information on these formations can also be found in Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol.
The new tank corps lacked artillery, reconnaissance and engineer units, and rear support elements, although its component brigades included such formations.
The motor rifle brigade was a new unit type intended to retain captured positions and to neutralize enemy infantry and anti-tank weapons.