I'll start with a story. 10th Guards Tank Ural-Lvov Order of the October Revolution, Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Volunteer Division named after Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky.
The Ural (Ural-Lvov) Guards Volunteer Tank Corps was formed in 1943 and equipped with weapons and equipment manufactured by the workers of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Perm regions by free labor beyond the plan and for voluntary contributions.
It was this corps that received the nickname "Black Knives" from the Germans. The workers of the Zlatoust plant armed all soldiers, from general to private, with HP-40 black knives.
The corps took its first battle on July 27, 1943, in the second phase of the Battle of Kursk. Almost three months after the entry into battle by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR No. 306 dated October 26, 1943, the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was transformed into the 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Corps. All parts of the corps were given the name of the Guards. On November 18, 1943, units and formations of the corps were presented with guards banners in a solemn ceremony.
The tank corps was included in the 4th (from March 1945, the Guards Tank Army). Finished the war in Prague. In the fall of 1945, the corps was renamed the 10th Guards Ural-Lvov Tank Division.
After the end of World War II, the division is part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSVG, ZGV). It is part of the 3rd Red Banner Combined Arms Army.
Then there was the withdrawal of the division from Germany back to its homeland. And then the process of the collapse of the division began, which was practically thrown into the fields of the Bogucharsky district. There were many materials about the conditions in which people found themselves after Germany. But, nevertheless, the division continued to carry out any tasks assigned to it.
In 2001 she took part in the hostilities in the North Caucasus.
And in 2009, the division was disbanded and the 226th Guards weapons and equipment storage base (tank) was formed on its base.
In fact, from the tank division, there was a regiment that guarded and maintained equipment - both brought from Germany and available at the time of withdrawal in Boguchar.
In general, it is sad when such famous and glorious units are disbanded.
But in 2015, an event occurred that caused a strong response in many places, including outside our country. The division was rebuilt as a separate tank brigade of the 20th Army. And in 2016, the 9th Vislenskaya Red Banner Orders of Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov II degree, a separate motorized rifle brigade, were added to it.
I have long wanted to visit Boguchar, specifically, it was there, behind the fence of the unit. And see how and what is today at the "Black Knives". And so, thanks to the assistance of the press service of the Western Military District, it worked out.
I'll tell you right away to those who will carefully watch photos and videos. These were not exercises, which are a kind of finale of a certain stage of preparation. These were absolutely planned field exercises. They taught the guys who were called up 3 months ago. Moreover, they were at the KMB for a month, and then relocated from near Nizhny Novgorod to Boguchar.
To be honest, at first, after looking at how the motorized infantry fulfilled the tasks, I shrugged my shoulders. And have seen better, to be honest. But then, turning on the mindset, he approached the battalion commander with a question, and asked, how much, in fact, is the service life of the fighters? And everything fell into place.
80% of the personnel are conscripts. The rest are contractors. By the way, according to observations, a very strong NCO staff. Senior officers think so too. But the contract sergeants are great. I liked both the level of training and the ability to work with young animals. I am sure that no one in the brigade will object to me if I say that the non-commissioned officers are much stronger than the junior officers. I asked.
Senior officers (from major and above) are real maniacs. Of course, getting to Boguchar after the "merchant capital" of Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, is, of course, an intellectual shock. Boguchar, he is so peculiarly cute. But still a regional center, and tiny. But the way senior officers work with subordinates I really liked. This is especially noticeable when the muzzle of a correspondent in camouflage disappears from view, hanging around in the bushes. But he hears everything.
The lessons consisted of several parts. First, the drivers ran in a new landfill. Really new, 50 square kilometers were allocated for training the brigades. True, after an overnight rainstorm, these kilometers from the range turned into a swamp, which we quite felt on our own skin. More precisely, with your feet.
This is how the landfill looked where at least once someone passed. First-class mud.
They wound up and began to disperse.
Just a Bogucharsky landscape.
"What have you piled up here?"
Combat with a walkie-talkie. The radio is not on the armored train.
The head of the classes is Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov.
Chemists came, visibility dropped.
Almost anecdotal footage, as with Zhirinovsky:
Is the enemy ahead? You have a tank on the left!
And for the other platoon - on the right!
We went around with tanks, surrounded, rolled out!
Completed the task - well done!
Approximate translation …
By the way, the lieutenant colonel, the brigade commander, showing the recruits how to tumble with a machine gun correctly - you will not see this in every unit.
Sergeant.
By the way, he explained no worse than the lieutenant colonel.
The chemists pulled themselves up again, now it became more difficult to breathe.
I cowardly slipped behind the line of action of the fumes. And the personnel continued.
Cheerful smokers.
A beautiful pit made it possible to capture several cloudy landscapes.
I noticed that they are not greedy for blank cartridges in the brigade.
The lesson is over, we move to the location.
How can we summarize, what conclusions can be drawn? Basically, there is only one conclusion. In a not very pleasant direction (60 km to Ukraine), the division is actually being revived. Yes, so far these are two brigades, a tank and a motorized rifle, but … These are two brigades. Instead of a regiment guarding corn and serving as a scarecrow for local conscripts.
And with such a glorious past, with such officers and sergeants, I am sure the division will be able to become one of the best in the district. I really want this.
We express the hope that after a while we will be able to visit Boguchar again and get acquainted in more detail with everything that happens in the brigades.
