Tank corps ( Soviet Union ) A tank corps ( ) was a Soviet armoured formation used during World War II . Pre - War Development of Soviet Mechanised Forces . In Soviet Russia , the so - called armored forces ( броневые силы ) preceded the Tank Corps . They consisted of the motorised armored units ( автобронеотряды ) made of armored vehicle s and armored train s . The country did not have its own tanks during the Civil War of 1918 - 1920 . In January 1918 , the Red Army established the Soviet of Armored Units ( Совет броневых частей , or Центробронь ) , later renamed to Central Armored Directorate and then once again to Chief Armored Directorate ( Главное броневое управление ) . In December 1920 , the Red Army received its first light tanks , assembled at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory . In 1928 , it began the production of the MS - 1 tanks ( Малый Сопровождения - 1 , where M stands for " small " and S – for " convoy " ) . In 1929 , it established the Central Directorate for Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers ’ and Peasants ’ Red Army . Tanks became a part of the mechanised corps at this point . During this time , and based on the experience of the Civil War with its sweeping movements of horse - mobile formations , Soviet military theorists such as Vladimir Triandafillov and Konstantin Kalinovsky elaborated the principles of combat use of armored units , which envisioned a large - scale use of tanks in different situations in cooperation with various army units . In the mid - 1930s , these ideas found their reflection in the so - called Deep Operation and deep combat theories . From the second half of the 1920s , tank warfare development took place at Kazan , where the German Reichswehr was allowed to participate . In 1930 , the First Mechanised Brigade had its own tank regiment of 110 tanks . In 1932 , the First Mechanised Corps had over 500 tanks , and it was probably the first armoured unit of operational significance anywhere in the world . That same year , the Red Army established the Military Academy of Mechanisation and Motorisation of the Workers ’ and Peasants ’ Red Army ( which became the Malinovskiy Mechanised Force Academy and is today part of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ) . In 1931 - 1935 , the Red Army adopted light , medium , and later heavy tanks of different types . By the beginning of the 1936 , it had already had four mechanised corps , six separate mechanised brigades , six separate tank regiments , fifteen mechanised regiments within cavalry divisions and considerable number of tank battalions and companies . The creation of mechanised and tank units marked the dawn of a new branch of armed forces , which would be called armored forces . In 1937 , the Central Directorate of Mechanisation and Motorisation was renamed to Directorate of Automated Armored Units ( Автобронетанковое управление ) and then to Chief Directorate of Automated Armored Units ( Главное автобронетанковое управление , Габту , " GABTU " ) . Soviet armored units gained some combat experience during the Battle of Lake Khasan ( 1938 ) , Battle of Khalkhin Gol ( 1939 ) and Winter War with Finland ( 1939 – 1940 ) . Besides the operational armoured and mechanised formations , separate tank battalions within rifle divisions existed . These were meant to reinforce rifle units for the purpose of breaching enemy defenses . They had to act in cooperation with the infantry without breaking away from it and were called tanks for immediate infantry support ( танки непосредственной поддержки пехоты ) . Eastern Front of World War II . Tank Corps were reformed in March 1942 on a smaller scale than the pre - war Tank Corps . They at first usually consisted of two - three Tank Brigades and one motorised rifle brigade , with some Corps elements such as reconnaissance , anti - tank , or pioneers added . This made them essentially a division size formation with ca . 120 to 180 tanks , slightly weaker than a German Panzer division at this stage in the war . It was soon found that this was too weak , and a third tank brigade was added . The final organisation which was published in 1944 included additional heavy tank / heavy SU self - propelled gun regiments , a medium , and a light SU self - propelled gun regiment . A total of 31 Tank Corps were formed during the war , and 12 of them became Guards Tank Corps . Due to the destruction of 21st Tank Corps in the Second Battle of Kharkov , and the use of some tank corps to form mechanised corps , no more than 24 of them actually saw combat . The tank corps were the basic building block of the Tank Armies ( see List of Soviet armies # Tank Armies ) . Most tank corps were converted to Tank Divisions in 1945 - 6 . See List of Soviet Army divisions 1989 - 91 . See also . Mechanized Corps ( Soviet )