34th Tank Division - 16th Tank Brigade

16th Tank Brigade

On disbandment, elements of 34th Tank Division were reorganised on 15 August 1941 at Vladimir as 16th Tank Brigade. From 1941 to 1945 the brigade was a component of the following Red Army armies and fronts:

In early February 1945 the brigade was encamped in the area of Bobruisk, Mahilyow Oblast. It received T-34/85 tanks from factories at Nizhny Tagil and Gorki on 1–3 February 1945, and received Polish personnel supplementation. On 5 February 1945 the brigade was bodily transferred from the Red Army to the Polish Armed Forces in the East (16 Dnowsko-Łużycka Brygada Pancerna). That day the Supreme Commander of the Polish Army, Lt. Gen. Michal Rola-Zymierski, issued Order No. 26/Org. including within the Soviet part of the Polish Army the 16th Tank Brigade, and assigning it to the commander of the 2nd Army. The basis for issuing the order was order No. 302010 of the Headquarters, Supreme Commander of the Red Army of 3 October 1944.

16th Tank Brigade was organized on the basis of war-time Soviet armored brigade Table of Organization and Equipment No. 010/500 - 010/506 numbering 1354 soldiers. The units of the brigade were to comprise the following:

• Brigade headquarters, No. 010/500 - 54 soldiers,
• Three battalions of tanks, No. 010/501 - 148 soldiers,
• A motorised rifle battalion No. 010/502 - 507 soldiers,
• An anti-aircraft machine-gun company No. 010/503 - 48 soldiers,

On 23 February 1945 soldiers took the oath.

On February 26, as the 2nd Army redeployed, the brigade was ordered to move to the Kryza area in Western Pomerania. It was transported by rail, unloaded at the station Paczkowo and deployed in the Siedlisk area. Then it regrouped to march Sagittarius Krajenskie route by Wielen and Drezdenko. March 20 was ordered to march toward Wroclaw. It departed March 29 from the station at Stare Kurowo to Oleśniczki. On April 5 the brigade, along with the entire Second Army became part of the outer blockading force around Wroclaw.

That day, the brigade had 1,312 soldiers, including 250 officers, 559 NCOs and 503 ranking soldiers. Brigade equipment included 438 rifles and 528 pistols, 22 hand machine guns, four heavy machine guns, 9 antiaircraft machine guns, four 76.2 mm guns, 18 rifle, 83 vehicles and 65 T-34/85 tanks.

In preparation for the Berlin offensive the brigade was moved to the Neisse forest area. Staff officers made a reconnaissance of the brigade's approach routes and probable future enemy counterattack directions in the Rothenburg area. On April 15, in accordance with orders from the Second Army, the brigade marched out of its starting positions. After breaking through the Neisse, on the morning on April 17 the brigade reached the eastern shore of the river Weisser Schöps (Bely Šepc) and then it forced the region Uhsmannsdorf Spreehammer Nieder. On April 19 Klitten and Nieder Prauske fell in succession and the brigade reached the reached the river Spree in the evening. It forced the river on 21 April, taking Lieske and Neudorf. On April 22 the brigade suffered huge losses in men and equipment. It took up defensive positions in the Klitten region. May 1 concentrated in the region of thick Ostfeld (Mortka), and the next day in Friedersdorf, where it regrouped from 1 to 4 May, rebuilding combat capability.