Korocha, Russia

History

What is now Korocha has been known since 1638 as a small Russian fortress built as a part of the defense line between modern Belgorod, Tambov, and Ulyanovsk against the Crimean Tatars. At the time, it was the south frontier of the Tsardom of Russia. It was first named Krasny gorod na Koroche, which was then shortened to Korocha. It was granted town status in 1708. Until the early 20th century, Korocha remained the main town in the region but then it lost its importance. During World War II, Korocha was occupied by the German Wehrmacht on 1 July 1942.

On 4 February 1943 Hungarian armoured units and the German 168th Infantry Division retreated to the town. On the morning of 6 February 1943 Soviet troops attempted to liberate the town, but a Hungarian counter-attack drove them back by the late afternoon. At 4:45am the next morning soviet troops again attacked the town. Intense combat followed, with two Hungarian 40M Nimród Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns holding off the 400-500 Soviet attackers. At 6:30am the German forces from the 168th retreated, with the Hungarians retreating later in the day. The Hungarian armoured units lost both Nimróds (which were set ablaze by the crews to avoid capture) and the last T-38 (which was destroyed be a Soviet T-34. After the battle the Hungarian armoured forces had only two vehicles left.

From the History section of Korocha on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.