5th Guards Motor Rifle Division
6th Mechanized Corps (1940–1941) (1942–1943) 5th Guards Mechanized Corps (1943–1945) 5th Guards Mechanized Division (1945–1957) 53rd Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1965) 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1965–1989) | |
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Active | 1940 – early 1990s (including the early Mechanized Corps) |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Red Army (1940-1946) Soviet Army (1946-1990s) |
Type | Mechanised Infantry |
Size | Division |
Part of | 40th Army (Soviet Union) (1979–1988) |
Patron | 60th Anniversary of the USSR |
Engagements | World War II Soviet–Afghan War |
Decorations | Order of Kutuzov II Degree |
Battle honours | Zimovnikovskaya |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Mikhail Khatskilevich Semyon Bogdanov Boris Skvortsov |
The 5th Guards Zimovnikovskaya order Kutuzov II degree Motor Rifle Division, (
It was renamed the 5th Guards Mechanized Division in 1945, and subsequently the 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1965.
Creation of 6th Mechanized Corps
The 6th
The Corps initially comprised the 4th and 7th Tank Divisions and the
A report by Major General B.S. Vasil'evich, commander of 7th Tank Division, on 4 August 1941 said that the division had been at 98% enlisted strength and 60-80% officer strength. The division included 348 tanks, of which 51 were KVs and 150 T-34s.[4] However, there was lack of supplies. It possessed only one to one and a half loads of 76 mm ammunition when it entered battle, no armor-piercing ammunition for its tanks, three refills of gasoline, and a single fill of diesel fuel. The fuel ran out quickly, partially due to unclear orders. The division had to move to three new assembly areas within the first two days of the war. The division was soon immobilized south of Grodno in Belarus.
Similar to the 4th Mechanized Corps, the 6th Mechanized Corps stood out of the remaining mechanized corps of the Red Army.[5]
On 22 June 1941 it was fully formed, and stationed 100-150 kilometers from the border.[5]
Defeat in Operation Barbarossa
The 6th Mechanized Corps was heavily involved in the first battles with Germans. At 11:40 pm on the day of German invasion,.
Historian
Solonin states that the only battle that 6th Mechanized Corps saw was an attack of 24 June, when it lost 2% of tanks.[7] The corps dissipated soon without any other combat, with negligible losses to aircraft, and with distance traveled that hardly necessitated any fuel tanking or repairs.[5] The corps dispersed on 27 June near Krynki, with the personnel retreating east in small groups, and the equipment being abandoned or destroyed en masse.[5] Communication with the headquarters of Boldin was lost and Major General Khatskilevich was killed on 25 June 1941.[5]
Hoth's panzers had reached
The 6th Mechanized Corps was destroyed in the Białystok encirclement. It was formally dissolved in late July 1941.[8]
Second formation
The idea of mechanized corps were revived in the spring of 1942. The second formation of 6th Mechanized Corps was assembled in November 1942. On the basis of Headquarters' 14th Tank Corps, the 6th Mechanized Corps was reformed on Nov. 26, 1942 at the station Kostereva in accordance with NKO directive number 11905907ss and GABTU number 1105723 dated November 26, 1942. Major General of Armored Forces Semyon Ilyich Bogdanov was appointed the commander of the 6th Mechanized Corps.
On December 18, 1942, 6th Mechanized Corps was assigned to the
The Corps participated in the
Later in 1944 the 5th Zimovnikovsky Guards Mechanized Corps fought in
Postwar
After the war, on 10 June 1945, the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps became the 5th Guards Mechanised Division. On 25 June 1957 it was renamed 53rd Guards Motor Rifle Division.[10] On 11 January 1965, it became the 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division. On 17 December 1982 it was named "The 60th anniversary of the USSR".
On 28 June 1945, the division was awarded the
The division had the Military Unit Number (V/Ch) 11904 until the invasion of Afghanistan (December, 1979) upon which the V/Ch changed to 51852.[11]
Afghanistan War
On the night of 27 December, from
"It happened at dawn on December 27th. Surprised: 5:00 am, and the streets full of people with flowers. It turned out, meet the shuravi, as we were called, the Soviet soldiers. A similar meeting was warm and in other towns and villages in the north of Afghanistan."
At the beginning of 1980, the 5th GMRD began to participate in raids against the Afghan Mujahideen. During the period of the Afghan war, the division participated in 156 scheduled and unscheduled operations.
On 1 March 1980 the division was reorganized. The 373rd Guards Red Banner Order of Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motor Rifle Regiment, had formed part of the division on its arrival in the country.
From 1980 to 1982 the division was commanded by the future commander of the famous 40th Combined Arms Army General Boris Gromov.
In March 1985 the 12th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment arrived from Kaliningrad and joined the division.[10]
On February 15, 1989, the last units of the 40th Combined Arms Army, along with Gromov, left Afghanistan to the west. Withdrawal was carried out by two methods: by air (5,142 people) and land (6,986 people). 10 colonies from 4 garrisons were withdrawn (
During the Afghan war, four soldiers from the division were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, and 12,825 in total were awarded orders and medals. From May 1988 the division, under the Geneva conventions, prepared to withdraw from Afghanistan. The withdrawal of the 5th GMRD began as scheduled on 29 January 1989, and ended 15 February 1989. The division was relocated permanently to the city of Kushka.
Total number of killed in the division from 27 December 1979 to 15 February 1989 was 1135 (910 of them in combat).
The division was absorbed into the
Organisation
In Afghanistan war (1979–1989),[13] the 5th GMRD comprised
- Divisional Headquarters – Shindand.
- Agitotryad.
- Headquarters company.
- Bakery.
- 795th Station courier mail service.
- 251st Battery Management and artillery reconnaissance.
- 814th military fire brigade.
- 582nd-second bath and laundry item
- Field establishment of the State Bank of the USSR
- 164th Separate flame thrower Company(before March 1985 – 164th Separate Company of Chemical Protection).
- 101st Motor Rifle Regiment – Herat
- 371st Guards Berlin Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motor Rifle Regiment – Shindand.
- 12th Guards Red Banner Order of Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motor Rifle Regiment – Herat.
- 24th Guards Prague Orders of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Tank Regiment – Shindand.
- 1060th Artillery regiment Shindand.
- 1122nd Sevastopol Redflag Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment – Shindand.
- 1377th Separate Antitank Artillery Battalion Shindand.
- 650th separate Prague Order of Alexander Nevsky reconnaissance battalion. Shindand.
- 68th Guards separate engineering battalion. pos. Adraskan.
- 388th separate battalion. Shindand.
- 307th separate missile division. Herat.
- 177th separate repair battalion of recovery Shindand.
- 375th independent battalion of material support Shindand.
- 46th separate medical-sanitary battalion Herat.
After the withdrawal from Afghanistan
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 'Zimovnikovskoy,' a unit of
Heroes of the Soviet Union awarded to the 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division
Source:[14]
- Captain Kuchkin Gennady Pavlovich, Hero of the Soviet Union [15]
- Colonel Vladimir Neverov Lavrentyevich, Hero of the Soviet Union [16]
- Captain Fyodor Ivanovich Pugachev, Hero of the Soviet Union [17]
- Captain Sergey Gushin, Hero of the Soviet Union [18]
References
- ISBN 978-1-906626-21-1, p.34, and see Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 120, for map of mechanised corps dispositions on 22 June 1941.
- David Glantz, Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa – Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941, 2003, p32
- David Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p 155 and p229
- ^ Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 134.
- ^ ISBN 978-83-7510-130-0. (the only English translations of Solonin's works seem to be, as of June 2011, these online chapters)
- David Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, 1998, p 130
- ^ 18 tanks of 7th Tank Division lost during an unsuccessful attack against either German 162nd or 256th Infantry Division; Solonin 2007 p. 144
- David Glantz, Before Stalingrad Barbarossa – Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941, 2003, p32-p35
- ^ "Боевой состав Советской Армии на 1 августа 1943 г". Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ a b c d e Michael Holm, 5th Guards Zimovnikovskaya Red Banner order of Kutuzov Motorised Rifle Division imeni 60th Anniversary SSSR, 2015.
- ^ Holm
- ^ Source for this section is Site Veteran 5 Zimovnikovskoy Guards Red Banner ordena Kutuzov II degree Cavalry Division Name the 60th anniversary of the USSR. Archived 2011-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Soviet invasion of Afghanistan | Summary & Facts | Britannica".
- ^ "Heroes of the Soviet Union and full cavaliers of the Order of Glory". Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- ^ Hero Soviet Union Kuchkin Gennady
- ^ Hero Soviet Union Vladimir Neverov Lavrent'evich
- ^ Hero the Soviet Union Fyodor Ivanovich Pugachev
- ^ Hero Soviet Union Sergey Gushin