5th Guards Tank Army

Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army during

Operation Bagration
3rd Guards Tank Corps and 29th Tank Corps
Hammer and Sickle

Led by the Oslikovskiy Cavalry-Mechanised Group, the Soviet 5ya

Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Armiya (5th Guards Tank Army) struck as the
Hammer or northern spearhead. Advancing rapidly through the
marshes of Byelorussia they found themselves knocking on Borizov,
Minsk’s northern door. Here in a town just east of Minsk they
threatened to both encircle and destroy the German 4. Armee (4th
Army).

The northern exploitation spearhead of Operation Bagration included

the elite 5th Guards Tank Army. This formation was formed from two
vastly experienced tank corps, the 3rd Guards and 29th.
With the
Oslikovskiy’s
Cavalry-Mechanised
Group leading with
way with the 3rd
Guards Mechanised
and 3rd Guards
Cavalry, the tanks of
the 5th Guards Tank
Army followed
behind, before
moving towards
Minsk to secure the
river crossing east of
the city. Once
across the Berezina
River they worked
their way around the
flanks of Minsk,
cutting off routes
into and out of the
city, trapping the
German defenders
inside.

3rd Guards Tank

Corps

The 3rd Guards

Tank Corps (3-y
Gvardeyskiy
Tankovy Korpus)
was formed from 7th
Tank Corps in 1943
with the honorific
“Kotelnikovskikh”
after their fighting at
Kotelnikovo in
December 1943.
After further fighting
it was withdrawn
from combat in
February 1943 to
help form the 5th
Guards Tank Army
in Stavka reserve.
During the summer
campaign of 1943 it
joined the 4th
Guards Army where
it took part in the
post-Kursk
exploitation battles.
Continuous fighting
in late 1943 wore
the corps down and
at the end of the
year it was shifted to
the Moscow military
district to be refitted.
In early 1944 the 3rd
Guards Tank Corps
was sent to the
Leningrad front,
before being
withdrawn to
prepare for
Operation Bagration
and reassignment to
the 5th Guards Tank
Army.
During refitting its tank battalions were fully reequipped with T-34/85 tanks.

29th Tank Corps

The 29th Tank Corps (29-y Tankovy Korpus) was formed in February 1943 and was assigned to the 5th
Guards Tank Army in March. It took part in the battle of Prokhorovka during the battle for Kursk. It then
fought in the battle of Kharkov and the advance on the Dnepr in the second half of 1943. On 10 December
1943 the Corps received the honorific title “Znamenskikh” for liberating Znamensk. They also receive the
Order of the Red Banner for the Kirovograd Operation. It then took part in the February 1944 exploitation of
the Korsun Pocket. In May the corps, along with the 5th Guard Tank Army, finally went into reserve to refit
ready for Operation Bagration.
Operation
Bagration

The 5th Guards

Tank Army was
moved from the 2nd
Ukrainian Front in
May 1944 secretly
north to the Stavka
Reserve, but only
after it was re-
equipped. Its tank
battalions received a
full compliment of T-
34/85 tanks. In June
it was deployed
behind the 3rd
Byelorussian Front
in reserve to exploit
a breakthrough
south of Vitebsk.
The move was done
at night using the rail
network as part of
the planned
deception, which
 proved successful
as German
intelligence missed
the move and
believed the 5th
Guards Tank Army
to be in Romania.
They were deployed in reserve and assigned to support either the 5th Army at Bogushevsk or the 11th
Guard Army’s drive for Borisov.

The 5th Guards Tank Army was not fully committed to Operation Bagration until the evening of 25 June
when it was ordered to advance through the gap on the right of the 5th Army at Bogushevsk. This was after
it had been repositioned to take advantage of the Soviet success in that area. It then operated with
Oslikovskiy’s Cavalry-Mechanised Group to north of Senno.
After a rapid 40km
advance the army
took Tolochin on 26
June, 50km west of
Orsha. Lukomskoe
and Cherekhya were
then quickly taken.
Their advance
threatened to cut off
Orsha and open a
wide corridor to the
Berezina River. The
3rd Guards Tank
Corps cut the road
west from Moscow
to Minsk just west of
Orsha on 26 June.

The 5th Guards

Tank Army then
attacked
kampfgruppen von
Sauken and von
Gottberg who were
defending the road
to Borisov. By the
evening of 27 June
they had taken Bobr,
Krupki and Krugloe.
By this point there were few pitched battles as the rapid movement of the Soviet armoured forces were too
fast for the Germans to react to, forcing them to continue to withdraw or be cut off. Lend Lease US trucks
were used to transport infantry with the tanks.
On 28 June the 5th Guards Tank
Army supported the 11th Guards
Army in the battle for Orsha. The
German 5. Panzerdivision, 14. and
95 Infanterie divisions held back the
5th Guards Tank Army and the 11th
Guard Army until 26 June, but the
movement of Oslikovskiy’s Cavalry-
mechanised group to the rear of
these German units destabilised their
front. By 29 June the 5th Guards
Tank Army and other Soviet units
were pouring through a 50km gap
between the German Third Panzer
and the Fourth Armies. The 5.
Panzerdivision was sent to close the
gap south of Lepel and was soon
engaged with the 5th Guards Tank
Army coming the other way. Rather
than bypass the defences that the 5.
Panzerdivision had set up and leave
them to be attacked by the Soviet
infantry, Rotmistrov engaged them
with his 5th Guards Tank Army
troops, which slowed the corps’
advance. The 5. Panzerdivision was
 able to delay the advance of the 5th
Guards Tank Army with support of
the 14. and 95. Infanterie divisions.

By 30 June the tank army was attacking Borisov from all directions. The 29th Tank Corps crossed the
Berezina at Chernevka, 30km south of Borisov. Once across they ran into remnant forces of the German
14. Infanteriedivision (Kampfgruppe Florke).

The 5th Guards Tank Army was still moving fast enough to catch the German units off guard. However, the
tank army was delayed crossing the river waiting for 30-ton and 60-ton bridges to arrive with the 2nd
Guards Engineer Brigade.
Despite the slowing progress front commander Vasilevsky demanded that Minsk be taken by 2 July.

On 2 July the mobile columns of the tank army pressed towards the rail lines west of Minsk. By the 2 July
(0600 hours) the tank army was 18km northeast of Minsk (for the loss of 60 tanks in the previous few
days). By the evening the tank army had entered Minsk.

On the evening of 3 July (1800 hours) tanks of the 5th Guards Tank Army broke through the Kampfgruppe
von Gottberg line and cut the road to Minsk.

By this time the Soviet mobile troops had almost out paced their supply. Depots were now over 300km
away and deliveries took four days by truck on heavily congested roads. Vehicles and tanks were starting
to break down and fail. The Germans were given a short respite. Further progress was delayed as the 5th
Guards Tank Army waited for its slow train of supporting units to catch up.
3rd Guards Mechanised Corps…

1st Mechanised Corps…