42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division

Last updated
173rd Guards District Training Centre (1987–present)
42nd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division (1960–1987)
42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1960)
24th Guards Rifle Division (1942–1957)
111th Rifle Division (1940–1942)
Russian: 42-я гвардейская мотострелковая дивизия
42nd GMRD's insignia.jpg
Shoulder sleeve patch
Active
  • 1940—2009
  • 2016—present
Country Russia
Branch Russian Ground Forces
Type RussianMotorizedInfantryForcesCollar.png   Mechanized infantry
Size Division
Part of 58th Combined Arms Army
Garrison/HQ Khankala, Chechnya
AnniversariesJuly 16, 1940
Engagements
Decorations Order of Red Banner.svg   Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours Yevpatoria

The 42nd Guards "Evpatoriyskaya Red Banner" Motor Rifle Division (Military Unit Number 27777, until 1987 MUN 29410; until 2009 MUN 28320) [2] is a Russian military unit.

Contents

The division was formed as the 111th Rifle Division in Vologda in 1940, and became the 24th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942. It was based in the North Caucasus following World War II; it became 42nd Guards MRD on 10 June 1957, while at Grozny. [2] It became 42nd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, part of the 12th Army Corps, on 18 October 1960.

Second World War

The division was formed in July 1940 in Vologda as the 111th Rifle Division based on the 29th Reserve Brigade of the Arkhangelsk Military District.

In the active army from June 22, 1941, to March 17, 1942. On July 16, 1940, the division was fully formed (which became the division's anniversary). Until March 1941, the 111th Rifle Division only held 3,000 personnel. According to the "Reference on the deployment of the Armed Forces of the USSR in the event of a war in the West", prepared by N.F. Vatutin on May 13, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was supposed to join the 28th Army. From June 10 to June 20, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was strengthened with 6,000 assigned personnel. The peacetime shtat (table of organization and equipment) No. 4/120 in the spring of 1941 was 5900 personnel.

On the day the German Operation Barbarossa began, June 22, 1941, the division was in field camps at the Kushchuba training center, 50  km from Vologda. From June 24 to June 30, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was included in the 41st Rifle Corps of the Moscow Military District. The division was redeployed through Yaroslavl and Leningrad and departed for the Northwestern Front. On June 30, 1941, the corps arrived in the region of the city of Ostrov, Pskov Oblast, to engage in defense in the Ostrov and Pskov fortified areas. Under enemy fire, elements of the division unloaded at the Pskov, Cherskaya, and Ostrov stations and moved directly from the railway into battle. On July 10, the first commander of the division, Colonel I. M. Ivanov, died.

The division became the 24th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942. [20] It was based in the North Caucasus following World War II; it became 42nd Guards MRD on 10 June 1957, while at Grozny. [2] It became 42nd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, part of the 12th Army Corps, on 18 October 1960.

Training centre 1987–1992

1986 Structure of the 42nd Motor Rifle Division 42nd Motor Rifle Division.png
1986 Structure of the 42nd Motor Rifle Division

On 14 September 1987, it became the 173rd Guards District Training Centre. [2] In 1991, it comprised the 70th, 71st, and 72nd Motor Rifle Regiments; the 392nd Tank Regiment at Shali; the 50th Guards Training Artillery Regiment; and the 1203rd Anti-aircraft Rocket Regiment. In November 1990, it had 219 tanks, 187 being T-55s.

From September to December 1991, part of the Training Centre's equipment and weapons were withdrawn from Chechnya by rail. In 1992, the Training Centre was disbanded. By Directive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces No. 314/3/0159 dated January 4, 1992, the 173rd Guards District Training Centre was to be separated, [2] and weapons and military equipment were to be removed. By a cipher telegram from the Minister of Defense of Russia, General of the Army P. S. Grachev, dated May 20, 1992, the commander of the North Caucasus Military District was allowed to transfer to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 50 percent of military equipment and weapons. [21]

In early January, Major General Pyotr Sokolov, the commander of the Training Centre (ru:Соколов,_Пётр_Алексеевич_(генерал)), issued an order to issue personal weapons to officers and ensigns to protect them and other Soviet personnel from Chechen attacks. [22]

Through robbery and extortion, much of the Training Centre and other military units' armament and military equipment passed into the hands of Chechen separatists. Only 400 thousand small arms fell into the hands of Dzhokhar Dudayev, which was in warehouses and bases. All armored vehicles remained entirely in the village of Shali, where the 392nd Tank Regiment was stationed. The separatists also received 42 tanks, 34 infantry fighting vehicles, 14 armored personnel carriers, 139 artillery systems, 101 anti-tank weapons, 27 anti-aircraft guns and installations, two helicopters, 27 wagons of ammunition, 3,050 tons of fuel and lubricants, 38 tons of clothing, 254 tons of food. [22]

1992 when the division was disbanded, the following were transferred to the Chechen Republic: 44 MT-LBs, 57,000 small arms, and 27 wagons of ammunition.

Reformed

Following the beginning of the Second Chechen War, the division was designated in December 1999 as the permanent garrison force for Chechnya, and various military districts started raising their regiments separately in 2000. [23] The division was intended to have a strength of 15,500 men. Its headquarters was established at Khankala outside Groznyy, with the 71st Motor Rifle Regiment also at the same base; the 71st MRR was raised in the Volga Military District. 70th Motor Rifle Regiment was formed in the Urals MD and located at Shali. 72nd MRR, raised from the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District was established at Kalinovskaya, and 291st Motor Rifle Regiment, originating in the Leningrad Military District, was set up at Borzoy. [24]

On 1 July 2000, the Russian military leadership announced that a different place had been selected for stationing one of the regiments of the 42nd Division. [25] Deputy Defence Minister for the construction and quartering of troops, Colonel-General Aleksandr Kosovan (ru:Косован, Александр Давыдович) said that the MOD had decided on the area of the Borzoy settlement instead of the planned Itum-Kale for its motor rifle regiment. He also said that three of the regiments of the 42nd Division were going to be equipped "to the maximum" by the end of the year. The writer Michael Orr noted that the 291st Motor Rifle Regiment had been relocated 'when the tactical vulnerability of the position [originally Itum-Kale] was appreciated.' [26] The division was equipped with T-62 tanks, with at least one regiment having BMP-1 IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles).

The 42nd Division included two Chechen battalions, Vostok-Akhmat and Zapad-Akhmat, volunteer formations raised by Ramzan Kadyrov in late June 2022 and named after older Chechen Spetnz units from the Chechen wars, although the new units only relation to the older units is their name. Prior to being subordinated to the 42nd Division the units where part of Rosgvardiya. [27] [28]

The division was reestablished in 2016, based on the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade and additional units. [29] In November 2021 units of the division were deployed to Crimea. [30] The division took part in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine with three of its Motor Rifle Regiments (70th, 71st, and 291st). The 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment suffered substantial losses in southeastern Ukraine. [31] As of July 2023 Colonel Roman Demurchiyev was division commander. [32]

During the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, the division was heavily engaged around Robotyne. [33]

Notes

  1. ↑ Hird, Karolina; Barros, George; Mappes, Grace; Wolkov, Nicole; Clark, Mason; Kagan, Fredrick W. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 8, 2023". Institute for the Study of War . Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Michael Holm, 42nd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, accessed February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Arkhangelskii Military District, Red Army, 22.06.41". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  4. ↑ Nafziger, George. "Soviet Army and Air Forces: 22 June 1941" (PDF). United States Army Combined Arms Center. Nafziger Orders of Battle. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-15. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Pettibone, p. 406
  6. ↑ "Soviet Rifle Division, Nos. 50 - 99, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  7. ↑ "Rifle Division, Soviet Army, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  8. ↑ "Reconnaissance Battalion, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  9. ↑ "Light Artillery Regiment, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  10. ↑ "Light Artillery Battalion, Soviet Light Artillery Regiment, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  11. ↑ "Motorized 122mm Howitzer Battalion, Soviet Light Artillery Regiment, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  12. ↑ "Motorized 122mm Howitzer Battery, Soviet Light Artillery Regiment, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  13. ↑ "Motorized 152mm Howitzer Battalion, Soviet Light Artillery Regiment, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  14. ↑ "Motorized 152mm Howitzer Battery, Soviet Howitzer Regiment, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  15. ↑ "Motorized Howitzer Regiment, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  16. ↑ "Antitank Artillery Battalion, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  17. ↑ "Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  18. ↑ "37mm Antiaircraft Battery, Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  19. ↑ "76mm Antiaircraft Battery, Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, Soviet Rifle Division, 22 June 1941". niehorster.org. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  20. ↑ С.Н.Жилин и др. (1980). Под гвардейским знаменем. Архангельск/Вологда.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  21. ↑ Sandler, Battle for Grozny, 2023.
  22. 1 2 Дудаев и кровавый режим в Чечне. Krasnaya Zvezda (in Russian). 27 October 2001. Archived from the original on 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  23. ↑ Orr 2000.
  24. ↑ Borzoy is at 42°50′19″N 45°37′50″E / 42.83859°N 45.63042°E / 42.83859; 45.63042, in the Shatoy district, on the Itum-Kale - Shatoy road.
  25. ↑ Russian Domestic Policy Chronology, July–September 2000, Conflict Studies Research Centre
  26. ↑ Orr 2000, p. 17.
  27. ↑ http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/0/2A70ED295DFC411EC22571FD0049FC9E?OpenDocument. Sulim Yamadayev commands the Vostok battalion.
  28. ↑ Mappes, Grace; Wolkov, Nicole; Hird, Karolina; Harward, Christina; Evans, Angelica; Clark, Mason. "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 15, 2023". Institute for the Study of War . Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  29. ↑ В ЮВО на территории Чечни завершается формирование 42-й мотострелковой дивизии. Министерство обороны Российской Федерации (in Russian). 2016-12-07. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19.
  30. ↑ "42-я гвардейская в Крыму? Передислокация "чеченской" дивизии".
  31. ↑ "Armed Forces of Ukraine Defeated 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment of Russian Army".
  32. ↑ admin (2023-07-11). ""Наступали двумя волнами": командир рассказал об атаках на позиции 42-й дивизии на Ореховском направлении". МОО «Союз ветеранов спецназа ГРУ имени Героя Российской Федерации Шектаева Д.А.» (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  33. ↑ Axe, David. "25 Tanks And Fighting Vehicles, Gone In A Blink: The Ukrainian Defeat Near Mala Tokmachka Was Worse Than We Thought". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-26.

Related Research Articles

A mechanised corps was a Soviet armoured formation used prior to the beginning of World War II and reintroduced during the war, in 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leningrad Military District</span> Administrative-territorial grouping of the Soviet and Russian military

The Leningrad Military District is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to reestablish it along with the Moscow Military District, a decision confirmed in June 2023 by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yevgeny Burdinsky. On December 17, 2023 Vladimir Putin announced plans to recreate the Leningrad Military District as a reaction to Finland joining NATO. The district was formally reconstituted on February 26, 2024 by a Presidential Decree.

The 216th Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army and Soviet Ground Forces. It was the successor to a motorized division of that same number that was destroyed during the Battle of Uman in August 1941. It fought at Kharkov and in Karelia, Crimea, and Kurland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Caucasus Military District</span> Military unit

The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces from 1992-2010. Before 1992 it had been part of the Soviet Armed Forces since 1918. In 2010 it became the Southern Military District and lately also included the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">90th Guards Lvov Tank Division (1985–1997)</span> Armored division of the Soviet Army

The 90th Guards Tank Division was a division of the Soviet Army, and then of the Russian Ground Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">58th Guards Combined Arms Army</span> Russian Ground Forces formation

The 58th Guards Combined Arms Army is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered at Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, within Russia's Southern Military District. It was formed in 1941 as part of the Soviet Union's Red Army and has been part of the Russian Army since 1995. It has the Military Unit Number (в/ч) is 47084.

The Arkhangelsk Military District was a regional military district of the Red Army which oversaw the North-Western part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The district was formed in 1940 during a reorganisation of the Army, but disbanded in 1944, reformed two years later, and finally disbanded in 1951.

The 15th Rifle Division was a military formation of the Red Army formed by renaming the Red Army's Inza Revolutionary Division on 30 April 1919. The division was active during the Russian Civil War and World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 18th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Russian Civil War, Polish–Soviet War, Winter War and World War II. The division was formed a total of five times during this period.

The 42nd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, created in 1941.

The 42nd Rifle Division was a unit of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The division, first formed in 1940, was nearly destroyed in the opening days of the Operation Barbarossa defending the Brest Fortress. Disbanded in late December 1941 and immediately reformed in the Volga Military District. The division then served on the front until disbanded at the end of the war.

The 36th Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army and then the Soviet Army. The division was formed in 1919 as the 36th Rifle Division and fought in the Russian Civil War and the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929. In 1937 it became the 36th Motorized Division. The division fought in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. It was converted into a motor rifle division in 1940 and fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in World War II. Postwar, it became a rifle division again before its disbandment in 1956. The division spent almost its entire service in the Soviet Far East.

The 207th Rifle Division began its combat path under unusual circumstances. It was partly formed for the first time as a standard Red Army rifle division in the spring of 1941, before the German invasion, but was never completed. A second formation began in April 1942 and was completed on June 1, after which it was sent to the Stalingrad Front. Heavily depleted in counterattacks against the north flank of German Sixth Army, by November the survivors were reassigned and the division disbanded. The 207th was formed for a third time in June 1943, and fought its way through the central part of the Soviet-German front, ending the war in the heart of Berlin in the battle for the Reichstag. The division saw postwar service in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

The 40th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. It gained the honorific "named for Sergo Ordzhonikidze" on 14 April 1937. It fought in the engagements at Lake Khasan. On 22 June 1941, it was part of the 39th Rifle Corps, 25th Army, in the Far East Military District. The division fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. In 1957, it was converted into a motorized rifle division. From 1957 to 1989 it was based at Smolyaninovo-1, Primorskiy Krai. In 1989 it was transferred to the Pacific Fleet as a coastal defence division. It was disbanded in 1996.

The 111th Tank Division was a Tank division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and after 1946, the Soviet Army. The division was formed in the summer of 1941 in the Soviet Far East from the tank regiment of a motorized division that had been reorganized into a motor rifle division, and had thus lost its tank regiment. The division never fought in combat and was in reserve during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Postwar, the division continued its garrison duty in the Far East. The 111th was renumbered as the 16th Tank Division in 1955.

The 109th Motorized Division was formed from the 109th Rifle Division in January, 1940, in the Transbaikal Military District. It was one of the first Red Army mechanized divisions formed and also one of the first to be fully equipped with motor vehicles and tanks. Shortly before the German invasion, in late May, 1941, it began moving west by rail, arriving in western Ukraine on June 18. The division went into action on June 26, but by early July had lost most of its tanks and trucks. It was soon pulled back into the reserves of Southwestern Front and converted into the 304th Rifle Division.

The 1st Tank Division was a Division sized unit of the Red Army that existed from 1940–42. It was later reformed, from a separate formation, with a different lineage. Within the Soviet Ground Forces it existed as a second line ready division from 1945–2008, at Kaliningrad in the Baltic Military District.

The 213th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II after a motorized division of that same number was destroyed about seven weeks following the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

The 60th Mountain Rifle Division was formed as a specialized infantry division of the Red Army in the spring of 1941, based on the 60th "Caucasian" Rifle Division which traced its origins back to just after the Russian Civil War. At the time of the German invasion on 22 June 1941 it was located in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains near the border with Hungary as part of the 17th Rifle Corps of 12th Army in the Kiev Special Military District. While the division was not attacked by the main German forces in the first days, its almost total lack of trucks and shortage of horses made it difficult to retreat to the east. It was soon transferred with 17th Corps to the new 18th Army in Southern Front, but returned to 12th Army in mid-July. It fell back through western Ukraine under that headquarters into August when it found itself encircled in the Uman pocket where all but remnants of the division were destroyed. The 60th Mountain was finally officially disbanded on 19 September 1941.

The 72nd Mountain Rifle Division was formed as a specialized infantry division of the Red Army in the spring of 1941, based on the 72nd Rifle Division which had previously been the 4th Turkestan Division. At the time of the German invasion on June 22 it was located on the San River west of Lviv as part of the 8th Rifle Corps of 26th Army in the Kiev Special Military District. After having about half of its complement removed to Army reserves or transferred to other divisions it was forced to fall back through western Ukraine under pressure from the German 17th Army until early August when it was encircled as part of 12th Army near Uman. After about five more days of fighting the 72nd Mountain had been effectively destroyed and it was officially disbanded a month later. It was never reformed.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.