Baltic Military District
Baltic Military District | |
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Hovhannes Bagramyan, Aleksandr Gorbatov |
The Baltic Military District (Russian: Прибалтийский военный округ (ПрибВО)) was a military district of the Soviet armed forces in the Baltic states, formed shortly before the German invasion during World War II. After the end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added to the District's control in 1946, and the territory of Estonia was transferred back to the Baltic Military District from the Leningrad Military District in 1956. The Baltic Military District was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and reorganised into the North Western Group of Forces, which ceased to exist following the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 1 September 1994.
World War II
First formation
The Baltic Military District was first created by order of the
The district was created in order to strengthen the defense of the northwestern borders of the Soviet Union and to protect the approaches to Moscow and Leningrad from German-controlled
In 1940 and 1941 the district formed new units, including two mechanized corps (the
On 22 June 1941 the District consisted of the:
- 8th Army
- 11th Army
- 27th Army
- 5th Airborne Corps
- and other smaller formations and units.[3]
Air Forces comprised the 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 57th Mixed Aviation Divisions, two further regiments, and a last regiment in the process of formation earmarked for transporting 5th Airborne Corps.
On 22 June, after the outbreak of the war, the district headquarters was used to form the headquarters of the
Second formation
The Baltic Military District was formed for a second time in accordance with a directive of the General Staff of the Red Army on 30 October 1943, although its assigned territory (the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Soviet Socialist Republics) was at that time still under German occupation. Its headquarters was formed in
Post war
Postwar, the district was formed for a third time on 9 July 1945 at
Circa 1944 a headquarters for
On 30 April 1948 10th Guards Army became 4th Guards Rifle Corps.
The main combat formation within the District was the 11th Guards Army in the Kaliningrad Oblast, following the disbandment of 10th Guards Army.
In 1955 the district's forces comprised the 11th Guards Army, the
In 1955 4th Guards Army Corps consisted of
For the entire postwar period the 11th Guards Army comprised the 40th Guards Tank Division (former 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, then 28th Guards Mechanised Division) and the 1st Tank, and the 1st and 26th Guards MRD (former Rifle Divisions). In 1960 the 5th Guards MRD, a former Rifle Division, was disbanded.
With the transfer of the Estonian area to the
The
In 1969 the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Division was moved from the District to the Central Asian Military District and arrived eventually at Frunze.
In 1979 Scott and Scott reported the HQ address of the District as PriBVO, Riga-Center, Ulitsa Merkelya (Merķeļa iela ), Dom (house no.) 13, with the officers' club in the same location.[8]
Commanders of the Baltic Military District
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82_%D0%98.%D0%98._%D0%93%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B5%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B5.jpg/220px-%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%82_%D0%98.%D0%98._%D0%93%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B5%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B5.jpg)
- 1940 General Colonel Aleksandr Loktionov
- 1940–1941 General Colonel Fyodor Kuznetsov
- 1943–1945: General Major Nikolai Biasi
- 1945–1954: General of the Army Hovhannes Bagramyan
- 1954–1958: General of the Army Aleksandr Gorbatov
- 1958–1959: General of the Army Pavel Batov
- 1959-63: General of the Army Iosif Gusakovsky
- 1963-71: General of the Army Georgy Khetagurov
- 1971-72: General Colonel Vladimir Govorov[9]
- 1972-80: General Colonel Aleksandr Mayorov
- 1980–1984: General Colonel Stanislav Postnikov
- 1984–1987: General Colonel А. V. Bekhtenin
- 1987: General Colonel Viktor Grishin
- 1987-91: General Lieutenant Fyodor Kuzmin
- 1991: General Lieutenant Valery Mironov
Forces at the end of the 1980s
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Rus%C5%B3tankai19910110.jpg/200px-Rus%C5%B3tankai19910110.jpg)
Toward the end of the 1980s the District's forces consisted of:
- 3rd Guards Motor Rifle Division, Klaipėda (which transferred to the Baltic Fleet as a coastal defence division in 1989)
- 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division, Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast. Began arriving from Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia, in October 1990, and completed the move in March 1991.[10]
- 25th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, but remained in Ādaži until 11.11.93, when it left for Strugi Krasnye (Vladimirsky Lager), Pskov Oblast.[11]The training centre was disbanded in 1995.
- 107th Motor Rifle Division, Vilnius (withdrawn to Solnechnogorsk, 1993)[12]
- 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division, Tallinn (the former 29th Guards Rifle Division) This division had for some time a regiment named for Alexander Matrosov. Withdrawn February 1993 to Yelnya, Moscow Military District.
- 11th Guards Army
- 1st Tank Division, Kaliningrad
- 1st Guards Motor Rifle Division, Kaliningrad
- 26th Guards Motor Rifle Division, Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast – September 1989 became 5190th Guards Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment
- 40th Guards Tank Division, Sovetsk
- 37th Air Assault Brigade
- 149th Artillery Division, Kaliningrad
The
On 1 January 1991 the 15th Air Army consisted of the:[13]
- 79th Separate Communications Regiment (Riga)
- 249th Separate Mixed Aviation Squadron (Riga) with 7 Mi-8, 1 Mi-6 and a few transport aircraft
- 285th Separate Electronic Warfare Helicopter Squadron (Jelgava, Riga area) with 19 Mi-8
- 886th Order of the Red Banner "Stalingrad" Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Jēkabpils, Latvian SSR) with 12 Su-24 and 14 Su-17M4 [known as the 16th ORAP in WW2]
- 39th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division (Lielvārde, Riga area) [activated 1981][14]
- 53rd Guards "Stalingrad" Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (Šiauliai, Lithuanian SSR) with 35 MiG-27 and 11 MiG-23
- 372nd Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (APIB) (Daugavpils, Latvian SSR) with 49 MiG-27 and 12 MiG-23
- 899th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment ([Lielvārde, Riga area) with 47 MiG-27 and 11 MiG-23
During September 1991 the District was reorganised into the North Western Group of Forces (
Sources
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ivanov 2002, pp. 593–594.
- ^ Nigel Thomas, Germany's Eastern Front Allies (2): Baltic Forces, Osprey, 5.
- ^ Orbat.com/Niehorster, Baltic Special Military District Order of Battle 22 June 1941
- ^ Soldat.ru, Headquarters of Internal Troops 1941-1951, accessed April 2014.
- ^ Feskov, 2004, p.49
- ^ Holm, 2015
- ^ Kasyanenko 2008.
- ISBN 978-1-000-31474-8.
- ^ Scott and Scott, The Armed Forces of the USSR, 1979, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado (for district commanders to 1972)
- ^ Michael Holm, 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division, 2015.
- ^ Feskov et al 2004, p.106; Holm 2015
- ^ "107th Motorised Rifle Division".
- ^ "OTAN vs Pacto de Varsovia". Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
- ^ Michael Holm, 39th Aviation Division Fighter-Bomber, retrieved January 2013.
- ^ Krasnaya Zvezda 26 Nov 91 First Edition p.1.
- ^ Moscow Interfax in English 1418 GMT 28 January 92.
Bibliography
- [1]
- Andrew Duncan, Russian Forces in Decline - Part 2, Jane's Intelligence Review, October 1996
- Feskov, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov; V.I. Golikov (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945–1991). ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. (inc district commanders 1972-)
- Kasyanenko, V. I. (2008). "51-я гвардейская Витебская ордена Ленина Краснознаменная стрелковая им. К.Е. Ворошилова дивизия". 29 гвардейская ракетная витебская ордена Ленина Краснознаменная дивизия. Исторический очерк (in Russian). Moscow: Tsentralny Izdatelsko-Poligrafichesky kompleks RVSN (TsIPK).
- Ivanov, Sergei, ed. (2002). "Прибалтийский военный округ" [Baltic Military District]. Военная энциклопедия в 8 томах [Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 6. Moscow: Voenizdat. pp. 593–594. ISBN 5-203-01873-1.
Further reading
- V.I. Feskov; Golikov V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov; S.A. Slugin (2013). The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II, from the Red Army to the Soviet (Part 1: Land Forces). (Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской (часть 1: Сухопутные войска)). Tomsk: Improved version of 2004 work with many inaccuracies corrected.
- Petersen, P. and Petersen, S. (1993) "The Kaliningrad garrison state", Jane's Intelligence Review, 5:2, 1993
- И.А. Губин. Слово о Краснознамённом Прибалтийском. — 1. — Riga: Авотс, 1981. — 296 pp