The regiment traces its history back to the 67th Tank Brigade. Formed in early 1942 near Stalingrad at the Stalingrad Armored Center, Colonel Nikolay Golyas was appointed brigade commander in May. The brigade was assigned to the 17th Tank Corps in June and was sent with the corps to the 60th Army of the Bryansk Front in July, where it saw combat for the first time in the Battle of Voronezh. After rebuilding in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK), the corps returned to combat on 5 December in Operation Little Saturn, fighting under the Voronezh and later the Southwestern Front. The brigade and corps joined the 1st Guards Army on 28 December. The brigade was converted into the 13th Guards Tank Brigade on 2 January 1943 when the corps became the 4th Guards Tank Corps in recognition of its performance during the operation. Golyas was killed in action on the next day and replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Baukov. In February, during the Third Battle of Kharkov, the brigade and corps became part of the operational group of Markian Popov. The brigade fought in the  battle for Barvenkovo and on the approaches to Izyum. After the Soviet defeat at Kharkov, the brigade and its corps were withdrawn to the RVGK for rebuilding in March.