More than a century after the British invented them, tanks are still an essential factor in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Much of the mythology of the Great Patriotic War is built around the Soviet tank units which first imitated and then defeated the German panzer divisions. Foremost among these units was the 4th Guards Tank Corps, which fought all the way from Stalingrad to Krakow, Dresden and Prague. Later renamed the 4th Guards Tank Division, its regiments and troops were among the most highly decorated in the whole Soviet armed forces.

Throughout the Cold War this 4th Guards was kept at 80 per cent of its wartime strength, as the lynchpin of the Western Military District. In 1984, as a badge of honour it was named after Yuri Andropov, then the party leader and former head of the KGB. In 1991 it was one of the two divisions that took part in the attempted coup by Communist hardliners against Gorbachev. The putsch failed when Boris Yeltsin, himself standing on a tank, confronted the guardsmen at the White House in Moscow. Since then these elite troops have been loyal to the President, first Yeltsin, then Putin.

The 4th Guards was and is a legend, second to none in the history of armoured warfare. Until now, that is. Last month it was deployed in the invasion of Ukraine, tasked with capturing the town of Trostyanets, a key part of the bigger battle for the regional capital Sumy. There, in a fight to the death that has lasted over a month, the crack soldiers of the 4th Guards met their match. They captured the town after a week and held it for 25 days. But on Sunday the Ukrainian 93rd Mechanised Brigade, known as Kholodhny Yar, declared that Trostyanets had been recaptured. Pictures of mangled Russian armour released since then make it clear that the 4th Guards Division has not merely been forced to retreat: it has been largely destroyed as a fighting force. The Ukrainians have defeated Russia's best armoured division in its first big tank battle since 1945.