11th tank brigade

Formed from 09/02/1941 to 03/10/1941 in the village of Kosterevo, Moscow Region, on the basis of the 217th Tank Regiment in the state No. 010/78, approved on August 23, 1941 ^[1] . I received a set of machines of the Kharkov assembly and was fully equipped.

In the army: from 03/10/1941 to 12/21/1941, from 03/29/1942 to 12/26/1942, and from 02/01/1943 to 02/18/1944.

On the defensive near Mtsensk

With the beginning of the operation, "Typhoon" was sent to the army. At 12:00 on 04.10.1941, the first echelon of the brigade arrived in Mtsensk , and the brigade became part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps of D. D. Lelyushenko .

On October 6, 1941, she entered the battle, operating from ambushes north-west of Mtsensk, two kilometers south-west of the village of Zheleznitsa, waged heavy battles, often falling into semicircles.

According to the military magazine, on the morning of October 10, the 11th tank brigade received an order to go for loading to the Gorbachevo station, but at 14:00 in connection with the critical situation in Mtsensk, it received an order from D. D. Lelyushenko to return. At 17:20, approaching the city, the brigade was tasked with driving the Germans out of it to allow the 4th tank brigade of M.E. Katukov to leave through Mtsensk. However, this task was not completed due to the onset of darkness. On October 10-11, in battles in the city and in an attempt to destroy 7 BM-13-16 installations captured by the Germans, the brigade lost 5 T-34 tanks , 5 KV-1 tanks, 65 wounded, 16 killed and 84 soldiers and officers were missing ^[2] .

In the Tula direction

On October 19, on the basis of a directive from the command of the 26th Army, the 11th motorized rifle battalion and a company of light tanks (10 T-26 ) from the brigade located in the city of Chern were sent to the Tula region ^[3] .

In mid-October, the commander of the German 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Heinz Guderian , launched his 47th motorized corps in the direction of Teploe ( Tula Region ), where fierce battles unfolded on October 20. At the same time, the German 2nd Field Army , which at the beginning of October operated to the left of the 2nd Panzer Army, was sent to the right flank of the 47th Panzer Corps in the direction of Efremov - Yelets . At the same time, the 24th motorized corps of the 2nd Panzer Army resumed the offensive along the Tula Highway ( Moscow - Serpukhov ), where it was detained by units of the 1st ro-Guards Rifle Corps and the 11th Panzer Brigade, operating mainly from ambushes ^{[4 ]} .

From the memoirs of Colonel General L. M. Sandalov :

By the evening of October 24, our delegate returned by plane from Mtsensk. He reported bad news to Zakharov:

The severity of the enemy’s strike fell mainly on the shoulders of the 6th Guards Rifle Division and the 11th Tank Brigade. They mainly hold back the onslaught of enemy forces several times superior to them for two days. They caused significant damage to people and military equipment, especially in tanks. But they themselves suffered very big losses. Today the commander of the tank brigade, Lieutenant Colonel V. A. Bondar, fell on the battlefield ^[5] . In general, our troops near Mtsensk have thinned out and are unlikely to last until tomorrow morning.

On October 24, due to the mistakes made by the command of the 11th tank brigade, the 24th tank corps of the Germans managed to take control of the city of Chern ( Tula Region ) and then advance the advance detachment to attack the working village of Plavsk ^[4] . At 22:30 the command post of the brigade in Czerny was attacked by German tanks. According to German data, the dead lieutenant colonel V. A. Bondarev was found by tankers of the 35th tank regiment of the 4th tank division in one of the houses with a gun in his hand ^[6] :

When Colonel Eberbach settled in a house in the city of Chern, they found a dead Russian colonel of tank troops with a gun in his hand. He committed suicide. From his papers it became clear that he was the commander of the tank brigade, which so fiercely and stubbornly fought with our tank regiment. Apparently, he did not want to survive the shame caused by the defeat of his brigade. Colonel Eberbach saluted his brave enemy and ordered him buried.

To delay the enemy, the 108th Panzer Division (about 40 tanks and motorized rifles in total) was urgently deployed to the Plavsk area, which, together with the remnants of the 11th Panzer Brigade, defended in the Yuryevo - Marmyzhi area . All 9 tanks of the 11th tank brigade, together with their motorized rifle battalion and motorized rifle regiment of the 108th tank division blocked the railway and highway to Tula. The tanks of the 108th division were in the mobile anti-tank reserve of the Plavsk defenders. On October 26, German infantry and tanks, with the support of aviation, several times unsuccessfully attacked Soviet positions, which were repelled by artillery fire and ambushed tanks of the 108th Panzer Division and 11th Panzer Brigade. With the onset of darkness, the Germans launched their last attack, but the decisive counterattack of the Soviet tankers were thrown back with heavy losses. In total, on October 26, the 108th Panzer Division destroyed 13 tanks, 4 guns, 7 machine guns, 5 mortars, 8 transport vehicles and to the infantry battalion ^[7] .

The next day, October 27, German tanks circumvented the positions of Plavsk defenders from the flanks and forced the command of the Bryansk Front to withdraw the defending units to the Tula combat site, to the near approaches to Tula ^[8] .

During the October battles, the brigade suffered huge losses. From the report on the strength of the Bryansk Front, the composition of the 11th Tank Brigade as of November 1, 1941 was 130 people, there were no motor vehicles and tanks ^[9] .

November 2, 1941 a decision was made to disband the brigade.

According to other sources, in mid-November, the 11th tank brigade had 5 serviceable tanks, which together with the rifle regiment of the 299th rifle division defended Dedilovo . And the motorized rifle battalion of the 11th tank brigade and the 108th tank division (about 2,000 people, 30 T-26 tanks) made up the reserve of the 50th army commander and were in the second echelon at the Shat and Don rivers ^[10] .

On November 18, 1941, the brigade was in the second echelon of the left flank of the Western Front and was forced to withdraw from the Epifani area. Toward the evening of November 20, 1941, she fought in the Bolokhovo area. On November 21, after breaking through the defenses along the Shat River and capturing Uzlovaya and Stalinogorsk , the remains of the 11th, 32nd Panzer Brigades and 108th Panzer Division were sent to the Venevsky combat area, created to eliminate the German breakthrough and cover the Venevsky direction ^[11] .

On November 21, 1941, she defended the immediate approaches to Venev . Venevsky combat site with varying success defended until the end of the day on November 24. On November 23, the brigade participated in a counterattack, striking at Semyany . On November 24, the German 17th Panzer Division (Colonel Rudolph-Eduard Licht) went around the city from the east, forcing its defenders to move north. The city of Venev fell, and the Venevsky battle site ceased to exist as a combat unit. The 32nd tank brigade, the remnants of the 124th tank regiment and the motorized rifle battalion of the 11th tank brigade moved to the Tula region ^[12] .

Russian historian M.V. Kolomiyets notes that the defense of the Venevsky combat site was weakened due to the lack of communication between ambushes and the strike group, as well as due to the small number of infantry (30 tanks and 500 infantry, including tank brigade infantry). However, these lessons were taken into account when organizing the defense of combat sites on the entire left flank of the Western Front, where there was no solid front line . In addition, the actions of tanks from ambush thwarted the plans of the German command on the move to break through to the crossings on the Oka River near Kashira, Serpukhov and Kolomna, and also made it possible to better prepare the defenses of Kashirsky, Laptevsky, Zaraysky and Ryazan combat sites ^[13] .

On November 27, 1941, withdrew in battle in the north-east direction from the turn of the Sturgeon River.

In 1942, the 11th tank brigade conducted local battles at the turn southwest of Yukhnov .

Further fighting

At the end of 1942, she took part in the Rzhev-Sychevskaya operation , participated in the Pogorel-Gorodishchensky operation , and suffered heavy losses.

At the beginning of 1943, without completing the reformation, it was directed to the South-Western Front , marched under its own power to the Donbass region, having traveled about 700 kilometers in 13 days, advancing in the direction of Krasnoarmeysk , and then retreated to the line of the Seversky Donets River .

She participated in the Donbass strategic offensive operation and the Zaporizhzhya operation of 1943.

08/28/1944 in Kharkov it was transformed into the 9th training tank brigade.

• 11th tank brigade

• Reserve VGK Bet - 01.10.1941 year.
• Bryansk Front , 1st Special Guards Rifle Corps - from 04.10.1941.
• Bryansk Front , 50th Army - on 01/01/1941
• Western Front , 50th Army - 12/01/1941
• Reserve VGK Bet - 01/01/1942.
• Reserve Headquarters VGK , Moscow Military District - 03/01/1942
• Western Front , 50th Army - on 01/01/1942
• Western Front , 20th Army - on 08/01/1942
• Moscow Military District - on 01/01/1943
• Bryansk Front , 3rd Army , 20th Panzer Corps - 02/01/1943
• Southwestern Front , front submission - on 01/01/1943
• Southwestern Front , 3rd Guards Army - on 06/01/1943.
• Southwestern Front , front submission - on 01/01/1943
• 3rd Ukrainian Front , front submission - on 01/01/1943
• 3rd Ukrainian Front , 8th Guards Army - on 01/01/1944
• Reserve VGK Bet - 03/01/1944.
• Kharkov Military District - on 01/01/1944.

• Office brigade
• Company management
• Reconnaissance company
• 11th Tank Regiment (until 12/26/1941)
• Motorized Rifle Machine Gun Battalion
• Anti-tank division
• Anti-aircraft division
• Motor transport company
• Repair company
• Sanitary platoon
• 11th separate tank battalion (from 12/26/1941)
• 236th Separate Tank Battalion (from 12/26/1941)

• 10/16/1941 - 25 tanks, including: 4 KV-1 , 12 T-34 and 10 light tanks ^[14]

• Bondarev, Victor Alexandrovich (09/28/1941 - October 1941), lieutenant colonel ^[15]
• Arman, Paul Matisovich (??. ??. 1941 - 12/01/1941), Colonel ??
• Bokarev, Ivan G. (04.16.1942 - 05.28.1942), lieutenant colonel
• Arman Paul Matissovich (05/29/1942 - 06/18/1942), Colonel
• Balykov, Mikhail Mikhailovich (06/19/1942 - 01/13/1943), Colonel
• Erisov, Alexander Trofimovich (01/15/1943 - 03/30/1943), Colonel
• Lashenchuk, Nikolai Ivanovich (12/02/1941 - 04/09/1942), lieutenant colonel, from 11/02/1942 colonel
• Filippenko, Dmitry Alekseevich (03/31/1943 - 02/18/1944), major , from 01.06.43 - lieutenant colonel.

In November 1941, a special commission arrived at the front to study new types of Soviet tanks. The commission, which arrived in the 2nd Panzer Army , included well-known designers: Professor Porsche (Niebelungen firm), engineer Oswald (MAN firm) and Dr. Aders ( Henschel firm). At the location of the 35th Tank Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division, the commission carried out detailed technical studies of the KV-1, KV-2 and medium T-34 heavy tanks, probably from 11 infantry battalions lost on 10/6/1941 on the highway from Orel to Mtsensk. The results obtained by the commission contributed to the acceleration of the work of German designers ^[16] .

• Lelyushenko D. D. Moscow-Stalingrad-Berlin-Prague. Ed. 4th. M .: Science, 1985
• Feskov V.I., Kalashnikov K.A., Golikov V.I. The Red Army in victories and defeats. Tomsk, Tomsk University Press, 2003.
• Front-line illustration 2002. No. 1. M. Kolomiets. Battle for Moscow. M .: Publishing house "Strategy KM", 2002.
• The leading political composition of the departments of the fronts, fleets, armies, flotillas, corps, divisions, formations of the navy, tank brigades of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. M. , 1968.
• S. Sopov. Orlovschina in the war. A look through the lens. - Eagle, 2012.
• Schekotikhin E. E. The Battle of Orlov - two years: facts, statistics, analysis. In the 2nd book .. - Eagle: Alexander Vorobyov, 2006. - 744 p. - 400 copies. - ISBN 5-900901-77-7 .
• Maxim Kolomiets. 1941. Tanks in the battle for Moscow. - M .: Eksmo, 2009 .-- 170 p. - (Great tank battles). - ISBN 978-5-699-34612-7 .

• 11th separate tank brigade (neopr.) . Website "Tank Front". Date of treatment August 23, 2011. Archived March 17, 2012.
• 11th tank brigade (neopr.) . Club "Memory" of Voronezh State University. Date of treatment August 23, 2011. Archived March 17, 2012.
• V. Sorokin. 11th tank brigade (neopr.) . The newspaper "Dawn" (02.22.2011). Date of treatment August 23, 2011.
• The fighting of tank units on the left flank of the western front (neopr.) . Date of treatment August 23, 2011. Archived March 17, 2012.