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The 20th Motor Rifle Division (Cyrillic: ''20 гвардейская мотострелковая Прикарпатско-Берлинская дивизия'') is a formation of the Russian Ground Forces, originally formed within the Soviet Red Army as the 3rd Mechanised Corps. ==The first formation of 1940== The formation of the corps began in the Western Special Military District in June 1940 on the basis of headquarters and the relevant parts of the 24th Rifle Corps, 7th Cavalry Division, 21st Heavy Tank Brigade, 2nd Light Tank Brigade, 84th Rifle Division, and tank battalions of the 113th, 121st and 143rd rifle divisions. The 3rd Mechanised Corps was first formed in July 1940,〔Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p155〕 and on 22 June 1941, was stationed at Vilnius in the Baltic Military District under MG A.V. Kurkin. It consisted of 2nd Tank Division (:ru:2-я танковая дивизия (СССР)), 5th Tank Division, 84th Motorised Division, 15th Motorcycle Regiment, an artillery regiment, and engineer and signals battalions.〔http://www.orbat.com/Niehorster〕 On 22 June, the 2nd Tank Division was located in the forest in Gajzhuny, in the Ionava area, the 5th Tank Division was positioned to defend the Neman bridge near Alitus, and the 84th Motorised Division - was in forest in the Kajshadoris area.〔Boyevoye Doneseniye No.1, HQ North-western Front, 2 July 1941, 24:00// Sbornik boyevykh dokumentov vol. 34, Moscow, Voyennoye Izdatelstvo Ministerstva Oborony, 1958, via http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/formation/mechcorps/3mk.htm〕 On 22 June 1941, the 3rd Mechanised Corps had 31,975 men & 651 tanks, of which 110 were new T-34 and KV-1 types.〔Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p 155, 229〕 The Corps was heavily engaged in the first battles of Operation Barbarossa,〔Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p155〕 particularly during the Baltic Operation (1941) and at the Battle of Raseiniai. On 24 June 1941, a single KV-2 heavy tank of 2nd Tank Division, at a crossroads in front of Raseiniai, managed to cut off elements of the 6th Panzer Division which had established bridgeheads on the Dubysa. It stalled the Division's advance for a full day while being attacked by a variety of antitank weapons, until it finally ran out of ammunition.〔Zaloga 1995, pp 18–19〕 General Erhard Raus, the Officer commanding 6th Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe Raus, which was the unit held up by the lone vehicle, described the incident.〔Steve Newton, Panzer Operations on the Eastern Front - The Memoirs of General Raus, 2003, p33〕 Raus said that the vehicle was damaged by several shots from a 88 Anti-Tank Gun firing at the vehicle from behind whilst it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65 and the crew were killed by grenades from a Pioneer Engineer unit. The grenades were pushed through two holes made by the gun whilst the turret had started moving again, the other five or six shots having not apparently penetrated completely. The crew had remarkably only been apparently stunned by the shots which had entered the turret. Afterwards they were buried nearby with honours by the German soldiers of the unit held up. However, by early July the Corps had virtually ceased to exist as a formation, though remnants rejoined Soviet lines later. For example, the 5th Tank Division was at Yelnya by 4 July 1941, and consisted of 2,552 men and a total of 2 BT-7 tanks and four armoured cars. The 2nd Tank Division was encircled and destroyed at Raseiniai and the 5th Tank Division was encircled and destroyed at the Battle of Białystok–Minsk〔Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p229〕 and was disbanded shortly after.〔E. Drig, "Mekhanizirovannye korpusa RKKA v boyu", AST, Moscow, 2005 cited in http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/formation/mechcorps/3mk.htm〕〔Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p126〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「20th Guards Motor Rifle Division」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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