| rdg1125 | 04 Aug 2015 10:31 a.m. PST |
Recently I saw reference to the Soviet 25th Heavy Tank Division (part of the 2nd Guards Tank Army) in Germany. It apparently was renamed as a regular tank division in 1968. Was this division a heavy tank division in name only or, was in fact equipped with heavy tanks (IS-3?) until 1968? |
| jekinder6 | 04 Aug 2015 11:34 a.m. PST |
Two regiments T-10 and one regiment T-55. I believe there were two in GSFG and a few in the Soviet Union. |
| Mako11 | 04 Aug 2015 1:00 p.m. PST |
Not sure if it applied to this/these units, but I recently read that some of their tank regiments had as many as 50 tanks in it as well (instead of the usual 30 – 40 vehicles), back in the early Cold War period. |
| jekinder6 | 04 Aug 2015 1:49 p.m. PST |
From "Armor" magazine July 2002.
The new regiments paralleled the
postwar medium tank regiments —
three battalions of 31 tanks each, plus
one or two command tanks. A total of
six heavy tank divisions were created:
two in GSFG, two in the Byelorussian
Military District, and one each in the
Kiev and North Caucasus Military Districts.
Each division had up to 186
heavy tanks, or a total of around 1,000
IS-3 and T-10 tanks in these special
divisions.
The given mission of these heavy tank
divisions and regiments was "breakthrough". |
| Mako11 | 04 Aug 2015 2:06 p.m. PST |
My posting above should read battalions of 50, I suspect, instead of regiments, and yes, as you suggest, they were "breakthrough" units. |
| jekinder6 | 04 Aug 2015 2:18 p.m. PST |
Mako, I think that may be the independent battalions that were still in the GSFG in the 1970s. |
| Mako11 | 04 Aug 2015 5:39 p.m. PST |
I'm not sure, but recall coming across that in one of the FM models. I thought that the large units dated back as far as the 1950s and 1960s, but could be incorrect about that. |
| Mako11 | 04 Aug 2015 11:50 p.m. PST |
Hmmmm, meant to say manuals, not models. |
| rdg1125 | 05 Aug 2015 5:59 p.m. PST |
Here's what I have on the heavy divisions: Division/dates as heavy division/assigned to (as heavy div) 14th Guards (later 75th)/54-65/6th GTA Kiev MD
18th Guards/54-62/North Caucasus
5th/57-60/5th GTA Belarus
13th (later 9th)/58-65/1st GTA GSFG
17th/56-60/Ukraine
25th/58-67/2nd GTA GSFG |
| Mako11 | 06 Aug 2015 12:19 p.m. PST |
Ooooo, thanks for that info. Excellent, which does help to confirm those nice T-10s and T-10Ms can steamroll over those anemically equipped NATO units. |
| rdg1125 | 06 Aug 2015 7:50 p.m. PST |
I got the info from this website: ww2.dk/new/newindex.htm Not sure if you know of it. I surfed through the tank divisions section and think I caught all the heavy divisions, but I may have missed one. I believe that Conqueror was deployed during this period (but only one battalion). It's my understanding that they were no match for the T-10's. Also, I wonder how the M103 would fare against the T-10. Again, there was only battalion (2/33 Armor) deployed. NATO would definitely be out gunned. |
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