Soviet 746th Tank Regiment

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Matt Wiser

The unit Rae's referring to is the 83rd ID. They became known as The Rag-Tag Circus because of their extensive use of any and all captured German equipment they "acquired." If it was on wheels or tracks, and could move and shoot, it got a coat of olive-drab paint, a white U.S. star, and was immediately put to use. They drove everything from trucks to half-tracks, tanks (Mark IVs and Panthers are mentioned), even two fire trucks, with GIs riding on the ladders. And yes, they did fly a captured Me-109. They are mentioned in Ryan's The Last Battle, Hastings' book, and Antony Beevor's book on the battle for Berlin.

Thanks, Matt! It's good to know that I'm not completely senile yet.

[Legbreaker]

I'm guessing this is the unit I heard about that used the German tanks.

[Matt Wiser]

83rd ID had as many motor vehicles (captured and U.S.) as the 2nd Armored Division on their right flank. They had a race from the Rhine to the Elbe, and both wanted to be first into Berlin when the order to halt on the Elbe came.

The 83rd ID wasn't the only American unit to use captured German equipment: Third Army had several provisional artillery battalions using captured German guns against their former owners.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by Matt Wiser

83rd ID had as many motor vehicles (captured and U.S.) as the 2nd Armored Division on their right flank. They had a race from the Rhine to the Elbe, and both wanted to be first into Berlin when the order to halt on the Elbe came.

The 83rd ID wasn't the only American unit to use captured German equipment: Third Army had several provisional artillery battalions using captured German guns against their former owners.

Matt,

Seems plausible, and I can buy the use of German transports (trucks/Kubelwagens) and light armour. Despite anecdotes stating the Americans used German tanks, I still can't quite credit it. I'm not disagreeing with you in particular, just voicing some personal skepticism.

My logic is that at that stage of WWII units like the 83rd were struggling to keep up with the pace of advance into Germany. They were literally outrunning their own supply lines and therefore couldn't easily get replacement vehicles for their tank crews. Fair enough. Using captured armour would keep up the rapid pace of advance because it is available. Despite the far superior combat ability of German tanks they would be a nightmare to maintain and supply, thus slowing down the division overall and defeating the main reason for using captured armour in the first place.

Tony

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by helbent4

Matt,

Seems plausible, and I can buy the use of German transports (trucks/Kubelwagens) and light armour. Despite anecdotes stating the Americans used German tanks, I still can't quite credit it.

Seems like a book I may have of US and British troops using German armor...I'll have to check my library. I know the Germans did it with US, British, and Russian tanks. Back later.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Seems like a book I may have of US and British troops using German armor...I'll have to check my library. I know the Germans did it with US, British, and Russian tanks. Back later.

Paul,

That would be awesome!

There's no disputing Germans and Russians used each others' captured tanks.

Check out the following page, with pictures of German tanks captured in North Africa in allied service (British, US and Australian). There's no evidence they were used in combat, only maybe in training.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/weapons...service-3.html

Tony

[James Langham2]

An update taking a few of the points above into account (still a work in progress):

As the war progressed, large numbers of captured vehicles became available to both sides. The Soviets took advantage of this and created a number of units using captured equipment. The best documented unit is the 746th Independent Tank Regiment formed in early 1998.
The cadre for this unit was made up of staff from the Kubinka Tank Museum. These were familiar with a range of NATO vehicles that were held as exhibits (the museum was the official Soviet Army Tank Museum which was not open to the public and was manned entirely by military staff. These exhibits came from all over the world, known examples were captured and transferred by friendly Arab countries, China prior to the split, Cuba and North Vietnam. Some M113s were also believed to have come from Somalia after it changed allegiance to the Soviet Block.
This unit was made up as follows:

* Regimental headquarters in 2 M1 plus 2 M577

* 1st tank battalion with 21 M1A1 and 10 Leopard 2 (made up of vehicles captured and repaired during the fighting in 1997)

* 2nd tank battalion with 3 M60A3, 2 M60A4 and 6 M60A1, 3 M48A5 (at least one with Blazer armour), 6 Centurions (all 105mm 2 are believed to be South African Oliphants and the remaining 4 were probably ex-IDF although 1 might have been a British model), 7 Leopard 1 (third company only has two platoons) – these vehicles were predominantly taken from museum exhibits

* 3rd tank battalion with 21 M1/IMP M1 (only two companies strong) – made up primarily of captured vehicles

* Motor rifle battalion with 21 M113s and 10 M2 Bradleys (mortars were towed behind trucks) - one source states that one company was in British FV432s and that the mortars were US M106s. The M113s were a mix of captured and museum exhibits. The M113s include at least one with a German MG3 as the pintel mount.

* Anti-aircraft battery with 2 M163 PIVAD and 2 Gepard

* A combined artillery/ howitzer battery with 8 (as opposed to the normal 6) M109 (assorted models). Sources indicate MLRS was considered as an alternative but not enough ammunition was available.

* A recce company with 3 Panhard AML, 1 South African Eland, 3 M1 and 2 BRDM2 Rkhs.

* No anti-tank battery was included.

* Logistic vehicles were a mix of NATO types.

It is interesting that no Chieftains or Challengers were included in the 746th (these were however seen in the 789th Independent Tank Regiment) – it has been suggested that this was to reduce the number of main gun calibres in use as the British used a different (rifled) 120mm gun).

This unit was thrown into the front along the Baltic Coast in where it performed well. Gradually however the lack of spares started to show and one by one the NATO vehicles were abandoned until the few survivors were incorporated into the 20th Tank Division when it was withdrawn to the Ukraine in 1999. It is noticeable that tanks of the Regiment coped much better regarding reliability, probably due to the standards of maintenance taught by the original cadre.

Despite common misconceptions, the unit was never used as a deception unit only as a front line combat unit. Vehicles were usually repainted in standard Soviet colours with larger than usual red stars added.

I plan to add:
* vehicle numbering
* a possible orbat for later war
* personalities
* quotes
* illustrations