6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade

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6th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
(1997–2009)

6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade
(1982–1997)

6th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade
(1962–1982)
Post-Soviet brigade insignia
Active1962–2009
Country
Branch
Part of
Garrison/HQ
Engagements
Decorations
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class
Battle honoursBerlin
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (Russian: 6-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада) was a Soviet Army mechanized infantry brigade, stationed in East Berlin during the Cold War, from 1962 to 1989.

Formed in 1962 as the 6th Separate Brigade of Protection after the

10th Guards Tank Division in 1997. Fighting in both the First and the Second Chechen War, the unit was disbanded in 2009.[1]

History

Cold War

Members of the brigade in East Germany.

After the August 1961 Berlin Crisis escalated tensions between the West and the Soviet Union, the GSFG command formed the 6th Separate Brigade of Protection on 20 August 1962 from the Headquarters of the Commandant of the Garrison of Soviet Troops in Berlin, in order to provide a permanent Soviet presence in the city that could, in event of a war, quickly and effectively neutralize the NATO forces in West Berlin.[1]

Colonel Ivan Kirillov, commander of the

6th Guards Motor Rifle Division's 81st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, which had been deployed into the city during the crisis, became the new brigade's commander. The brigade initially included four separate motor rifle battalions: the 133rd, 154th, 162nd, and the 178th, all formed from commandant's battalions that had been stationed in the city since the beginning of the Cold War.[1]

The 133rd Battalion, formed in 1945, was tasked with providing ceremonial guards for the

Tiergarten and Spandau Prison, both of which were located in the British sector of the city. The 162nd Battalion provided security on the Soviet sides of the three vehicle and three rail checkpoints that controlled movement between the two sections of the city. These functions were performed by its three motor rifle companies, based near the checkpoints. On 19 November, the brigade was redesignated as the 6th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade.[1]

Service in the Russian Ground Forces

On 31 August 1994, the brigade was withdrawn from Berlin to

10th Guards Tank Division. In February 2009, the regiment was disbanded.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Tolstykh, Viktor (23 June 2016). "Краткая история 6 гв. омсбр – 1962-1997 гг" [A Brief History of the 6th Guards Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, 1962–1997]. 10otb.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 28 May 2017.
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