Visualization of Red Army Tank Division June 1941

[gladius2metal]

Since you really liked my Visualization of a German Tank Division from 1939, I thought I do one for the Red Army in June 1941 too. Note that this is an intended organization (aka "wet dream") and the organization changed quite a few times in 1941, but it serves as a good starting point.

And in case you want to know:
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Notes on Accuracy & “Methodology”
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1) The Numbers of personnel are rounded in 100-steps. The exact numbers for the small groups are: 235 Technicians, 114 Administrators, 81 Medics & Doctors, 161 Political officers.
2) The Numbers are authorized numbers and according the sources make it clear that no Tank Division in June 1941 resembled exactly these numbers, some were close some were far away.
3) The armored cars were BA-10 and BA-20, but sadly I don’t have the exact knowledge how they were divided across the units.
4) The Layout for the Light Tank Battalion (which is also sometimes called Flame Tank Battalion) is probably not correct.
5) The T-26 tanks are depending on the source sometimes T-26 Radio Tanks.
6) BT-7 Tanks and BT-7 Radio Tanks are summed up and referred to only as BT-7 Tanks.
7) The Division layout doesn’t show all units, it focuses mainly on combat units.
8) The KV-2 doesn’t show up in the Niehorster Layout. Also the number of just one tank makes little sense in military terms, there is no other weapon system that shows up only once.

 

[Vidkjaer]

You ask in the video for more info on the KV2 tank.
It was not a frontline tank but used for support and therefore was in the artillery regiment.

http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=210

 

[AOW]

iirc a Soviet tank corps was analogous to a western division .... or am I misremembering?

Still, the representations are very cool. Thank you.

 

[gladius2metal]

iirc a Soviet tank corps was analogous to a western division .... or am I misremembering?

nope, not far as I know, but I mainly looking at divisions right now. Also the Soviet Army reorganized their divisions in 1941 many times (July, August, ...). The same goes for the Germans, before Barbarossa the number of tanks was about half of those in 1939. So at one point in time your statement is probably spot on too cause it was quite chaotic. Also there is clear difference between intended vs. historical setup.

edit: + on

 

[Goodis]

Thank you so much for putting time and effort into this, great! Will we see more nations ?

 

[gladius2metal]

Thank you so much for putting time and effort into this, great! Will we see more nations ?

thank you! Definitely, got some basic (to good) sources for UK and US. Also I have some information for a basic video about a Polish infantry division (1939). Could take a few days/weeks though, because I want to diversify a bit more.

 

[ObssesedNuker]

Very nice. Any intention to do mid and/or late-war Soviet mechanized formations at some point?

Also: your question about the KV-2 makes more sense if you consider that it's intended role was identical to that of an assault gun rather then that of a heavy tank. So putting it in the motorized artillery unit makes sense in that context. Don't have the slightest clue as why there would only be one, though.

 

[jamesd]

Since you really liked my Visualization of a German Tank Division from 1939, I thought I do one for the Red Army in June 1941 too. Note that this is an intended organization (aka "wet dream") and the organization changed quite a few times in 1941, but it serves as a good starting point.

iirc a Soviet tank corps was analogous to a western division .... or am I misremembering?

Still, the representations are very cool. Thank you.

nope, not far as I know, but I mainly looking at divisions right now. Also the Soviet Army reorganized their divisions in 1941 many times (July, August, ...). The same goes for the Germans, before Barbarossa the number of tanks was about half of those in 1939. So at one point in time your statement is probably spot too cause it was quite chaotic. Also there is clear difference between intended vs. historical setup.

The Russians disbanded their surviving tank divisions before winter hit in 1941, determining that they were too big and unwieldy for their commanders to manage. They were replaced with tank brigades - theoretically up to 3 tank battalions plus some infantry support. The tank brigade structure became more formalised at the start of 1942 with 40-50 tanks and a small infantry battalion. In the spring they started forming 2, and later 3, of these brigades plus a motorised infantry regiment into tank corps. These corps were initially much smaller than western armoured divisions, but steadily grew in size over the course of the war. Their tank numbers were lower than US & British armoured divisions throughout, with a maximum strength of 198 x T-34's or Sherman's and 21 x KV/JS heavy tanks. After the war ended, the tank corps were renamed tank divisions.

Edit: corrected number of medium tanks in late war tank corps from 185 to 198

 

[gladius2metal]

Very nice. Any intention to do mid and/or late-war Soviet mechanized formations at some point?

yeah, I have some good sources on that and also I want to know what they looked but could take weeks or even months.

They were replaced with tank brigades - theoretically up to 3 tank battalions plus some infantry support. The tank brigade structure became more formalised at the start of 1942 with 40-50 tanks and a small infantry battalion. In the spring they started forming 2, and later 3, of these brigades plus a motorised infantry regiment into tank corps. These corps were initially much smaller than western armoured divisions, but steadily grew in size over the course of the war. Their tank numbers were lower than US & British armoured divisions throughout, with a maximum strength of 185 x T-34's or Sherman's and 21 x KV/JS heavy tanks. After the war ended, the tank corps were renamed tank divisions.

thx!!! I only took a glimpse at the July and August 1941 layouts and saw the massively dropped in numbers, but at first thought this was due to adapt to sustained losses and/or missing equipment. But considering the complexity, experience and the disarray of Soviet command structures it makes to reduce them to smaller way more manageable units.

 

[ObssesedNuker]

If it helps, whenever you see a reference to a Soviet mechanized or tank corps in the 1942-45 period (but not 1941), just mentally replace "corps" with "division" since these were division-equivalent formations and were used as such. I suppose the Soviets called them corps because their component units were brigades instead of regiments, but this terminology issue confused the hell out of me for a long while. Soviet rifle corps, OTOH, were indeed corps-equivalent formations even if the Soviets tended to treat them as triple or quadruple-sized divisions.

Their tank numbers were lower than US & British armoured divisions throughout, with a maximum strength of 198 x T-34's or Sherman's and 21 x KV/JS heavy tanks.

Minor point of order, but the Soviets removed their heavy tanks from their tank and mechanized corps TO&E in mid-1943 and concentrated them in separate heavy tank regiments which could be moved around and attached to bigger formations on a "as needed" basis.

 

[gladius2metal]

yeah, the regiment/brigade thing is a complete different kind of worms... some have brigades, some don't, some use them in divisions, some don't... in some cases a brigade is the same size as regiment, in others nope... best thing are still the British in 1943 calling their tank companies squadrons... oh yeah and a UK tank brigade is actually a infantry tank brigade and the armoured division is with "normal" (cruiser) tanks.

 

[jamesd]

Minor point of order, but the Soviets removed their heavy tanks from their tank and mechanized corps TO&E in mid-1943 and concentrated them in separate heavy tank regiments which could be moved around and attached to bigger formations on a "as needed" basis.

I'm at work and don't have access to my books, but from memory what they did was strip the heavy tanks from the tank brigades. In 1942 each tank brigade included some heavy, medium and light tank types. I think 1 company in each battalion was supposed to be composed of 7 x KV's. This was because the Germans in 1941 had a lot of issues dealing with the KV's. However in 1942 the Germans reequipped with better ATG's and ammunition, meaning the KV wasn't as much of a problem and for the Russians its weight and speed meant there were issues with operating it in the same units as medium and light tanks. In 1943 they removed the KV's from the brigades and established separate heavy tank regiments. However, late war, each tank corps had 1 heavy tank or SU regiment included in their establishment, and thus there were still heavy tanks in tank corps, just not in the tank brigades.

 

[D Inqu]

iirc a Soviet tank corps was analogous to a western division .... or am I misremembering?

The pre-war corps (or rather "Mechanised Corps") and wartime tank corps were completely different units. The pre war tank corps was supposed to be a full sized corps with nearly 1000 tanks, which was ultimately the problem. Too many tanks, not enough logistic support (relied on tractors which were supposed to be mobilised from the civilian sector), not enough infantry, poor coordination. It was typically made up of several divisions.

Following 1941 border annihilation of "Mechanised corps", the Soviets rebuilt their armor organisation fro the ground up, reflecting numerical inferiority of armor. First, in late 1941, came the tank brigades, a small unit of around 60 tanks, initially used to sumply support infantry. Tank corps were created in 1942, with their first major operation in the Battle of Stalingrad. This tank corps was still in fact still smaller than a western division, equal in tank numbers, but quite weak in supporting units. As the war went on, the soviets gradually added more units to the corps, and by 1945, it was roughly equivalent to western division.

 

[Saltspring]

The KV-2 was not exactly a tank more like a self propelled artillery piece with excellent armor and a 152mm howitzer and was intended to be used against fortifications. So it does make sense to have only one per division and assign it to the artillery as really it wasn't intended to send a barrage of fire just get close enough to lay accurate fire on a bunker to crack it or suppress those inside.

 

[gladius2metal]

The KV-2 was not exactly a tank more like a self propelled artillery piece with excellent armor and a 152mm howitzer and was intended to be used against fortifications. So it does make sense to have only one per division and assign it to the artillery as really it wasn't intended to send a barrage of fire just get close enough to lay accurate fire on a bunker to crack it or suppress those inside.

yeah the KV-2 was intended to kill fortification, but one tank makes no sense in a "military" way, you always go for redundancy for safety in the military. Especially with a quite delicate machine like a KV-2. Another approach would be to create a battalion/company/platoon at corps/army level and assign it to the division if needed.