On 26 July 1943, the 7th Guards Tank Corps, part of the 3rd Guards Tank Army on the Bryansk Front, was formed from the 15th Tank Corps in recognition of the "courage and bravery" of its actions in Operation Kutuzov, the Soviet counterattack after the Battle of Kursk, under the command of Major General Filipp Rudkin. The 88th Tank Brigade became the 54th Guards Tank Brigade, the 113th became the 55th Guards, the 195th became the 56th Guards, and the 17th Motor Rifle Brigade became the 23rd Guards. On the same day as it became a Guards unit, the corps and the rest of the army attempted to advance towards Stanovoy Kolodez, but were stopped by heavy fire after Soviet aerial reconnaissance detected a concentration of German tanks in the area of Mikhailovka and Pilatovka, and the advance of tank columns from Pilatovka to Stanovoy Kolodez. Further advance by the 3rd Guards Tank Army threatened to result in protracted and bloody positional battles, and thus in the late evening of the day the army was ordered to relocated to the Central Front to support the advance of the 48th Army on the front's right flank.