Mechanized Corps – a study in mobility and transport

ABSTRACT David Glantz described the Soviet use of forward detachments as the ‘tip of the spear’ of a tank army; small, armored, heavily armed and fully motorized groups wending their way through the German defenses, avoiding contact and operating up to 50 km in advance of the main body. This article seeks to examine the other end, the ‘butt of the spear’: the mechanized corps which provided the mass of infantry required to defend the bridgehead at the end of the offensive. Although they contained a large number of vehicles, the scale of allocation was nothing like that of Western armies and, given wartime shortages, even these were not met. So how did the mechanized corps keep up on the long distance operations of late 1944? This article analyzes the mobility and logistics of mechanized corps during the campaigns of 1945. Using this example, it will seek to explain how the units operated as part of the larger tank armies, and how their use evolved during the earlier campaigns of 1943-44.