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18th Guards Motor Rifle Division

{{Short description|Division of the Russian Ground Forces}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2012}}

{{Update|date=January 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox military unit

| unit_name = 133rd Rifle Division (I Formation)
(1939–1942)

18th Guards Rifle Division
(1942–1945)
30th Guards Mechanised Division
(1945–1965)
18th Guards Motor Rifle Division
(1965 – c. 2001, 2020 – present)

| native_name = 18-я гвардейская мотострелковая Инстербургская Краснознамённая, ордена Суворова дивизия

| image = Sleeve patch of the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division.svg

| caption = Sleeve patch of the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division

| dates = 1939–present

| country = {{Flag|USSR}} (until 1991)
{{RUS}} (1991–2001; 2020–)

| allegiance =

| branch = {{Army|USSR}} (until 1991)
{{Army|Russia}} (1991–2001; 2020–)

| type = Mechanized infantry

| size = Division

| command_structure = Leningrad Military District
11th Army Corps, Baltic Fleet

| garrison = Gusev and Sovetsk

| nickname =

| patron =

| motto =

| colors =

| march =

| mascot =

| battles = {{tree list}}

{{tree list/end}}

| anniversaries =

| decorations = {{plainlist|

  • {{OrderRedBanner}}
  • {{OrderSuvorov2ndClass}}, 2nd class

}}

| battle_honours = Insterburg

| notable_commanders = Grigory Karizhsky

| current_commander =

}}

The 18th Guards Insterburg Red Banner Order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Division ({{Langx|ru|18-я гвардейская мотострелковая Инстербургская Краснознамённая, ордена Суворова дивизия|translit=18-ya gvardeyskaya motostrelkovaya Insterburgskaya Krasnoznamonnaya, ordena Suvorova diviziya}}), is an active division of the Russian Ground Forces.

History

File:Орудийный расчет противотанкового орудия гвардии старшего сержанта Г. А. Чичева выдвигается на передовую линию.jpg

The 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed originally as the 133rd Rifle Division at Novosibirsk in 1939. The division was part of 1st Shock Army on 1 December 1941 during the Battle of Moscow. It was redesignated as the 18th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942 with the 51st, 53rd, 58th Guards Rifle Regiments and 52nd Guards Artillery Regiment. The division fought in the East Prussian Offensive. The unit became 30th Guards Mechanised Division in 1945 as part of the 11th Guards Army. In 1965 it was renumbered as 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division. It was stationed in the Kaliningrad enclave with 11th Guards Army before entering Czechoslovakia in 1968, joining the Central Group of Forces.

In 1991 the division was withdrawn back to Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast. The division was reorganised as a cadre strength formation, as part of the third-line reserves of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2002, it became the 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade ({{langx|ru|79-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада}}).{{Cite web |url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/army/msd/18gvmsd.htm |title=18th Guards Motorised Rifle Division |last=Holm |first=Michael |website=www.ww2.dk |access-date=2016-04-06}} The division was reformed from the 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in Kaliningrad in December 2020 as part of the 11th Army Corps.{{Cite web |url=https://www.gfsis.org/russian-monitor/view/2934 |title = Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 77, 1 March - 7 March 2021}} In 2022, elements of the division were reportedly heavily engaged in combat in from the start of the invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web |last=vasgri |date=2022-04-02 |title=Russian units of 18th MRD transferred from Kaliningrad Oblast to the east of Ukraine |url=https://informnapalm.org/en/russian-units-of-18th-mrd-transferred-from-kaliningrad-oblast-to-the-east-of-ukraine/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=InformNapalm.org (English) |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=12 December 2022 |title=Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 12 |work=Institute for the Study of War |url=https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-december-12 |access-date=22 January 2023}}{{Cite web |date=2022-09-16 |title=Ukraine's Counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson and the Road Ahead {{!}} FDD's Long War Journal |url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2022/09/ukraines-counteroffensives-in-kharkiv-and-kherson-and-the-road-ahead.php |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=www.longwarjournal.org |language=en-US}}

Structure (1990s)

  • 210th Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 275th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 278th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 280th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 52nd Guards Artillery Regiment

Honorifics are Insterburgskaya Krasnoznamennaya and Order of Suvorov.

Structure (2020/21)

  • 275th Motor Rifle Regiment{{Cite web |url=https://www.gfsis.org/russian-monitor/view/2963 |title=Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 81, 29 March - 9 May 2021}}
  • 280th Motor Rifle Regiment
  • 79th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (former 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade re-formed as a regiment){{Cite web |url=https://www.gfsis.org/russian-monitor/view/2971 |title=Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 82, 10 May - 23 May 2021}}
  • 11th Separate Tank Regiment (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast){{Cite web|url=https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=506496&lang=RU|title = Танковый полк Балтфлота привлечён к манёврам в Калининградской области -}} (Military Unit Number V/Ch (в/ч) 41611) (Equipped with T-72B Main Battle Tanks (upgrades of T-72s to B3M-standard underway as of 2019/20{{Cite web|title=Fortress Kaliningrad- Ever Closer to Moscow|url=http://aei.pitt.edu/102361/1/Report_Fortress_Kaliningrad_net_0.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617105856/http://aei.pitt.edu/102361/1/Report_Fortress_Kaliningrad_net_0.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2020 }}{{Cite web |url=https://romeosquared.eu/2019/01/28/russia-increases-number-of-tanks-in-kaliningrad/ |title = Russia increases number of tanks in Kaliningrad |date = 28 January 2019}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-military-kaliningrad/russia-adds-firepower-to-kaliningrad-exclave-citing-nato-threat-idUSKBN28H1B8 |title=Russia adds firepower to Kaliningrad exclave citing NATO threat |newspaper = Reuters |date = 7 December 2020}})
  • 20th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (forming 2020/21; Orlan-10 UAVs and "Sobolyatnik"{{Cite web |url=https://www.armyrecognition.com/june_2020_news_defense_global_security_army_industry/russian_airborne_forces_receive_sobolyatnik_portable_radar.html |title=Russian Airborne forces receive Sobolyatnik portable radar | June 2020 News Defense Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2020 | Archive News year}} and "Fara-VR" reconnaissance radars){{Cite web|url=https://iz.ru/1134600/anton-lavrov-aleksei-ramm/v-tylu-srazhenii-kaliningrad-zashchitiat-sverkhdalnie-razvedchiki|title = В тылу сражений: Калининград защитят сверхдальние разведчики|date = 10 March 2021}}
  • 22nd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Tor M1/M2), in Kaliningrad{{Cite web|url=https://tass.com/defense/1080523|title = Baltic Fleet's Tor-M2 missile systems down maneuvering fast-speed targets in drills}}{{Cite web|url=https://romeosquared.eu/2020/04/06/a-look-at-the-defense-of-kaliningrad/|title=A look at the Baltic Fleet and the defense of Kaliningrad|date=6 April 2020}}{{Cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Catherine|last2=Kagan|first2=Frederick W.|title=Russia's Military Posture: Ground Forces Order Of Battle|url=http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Russian%20Ground%20Forces%20OOB_ISW%20CTP_0.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314210531/http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Russian%20Ground%20Forces%20OOB_ISW%20CTP_0.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2018 }}

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Советская Военная Энциклопедия: [В 8 томах] / Пред. Гл. ред. комиссии Н. В. Огарков – М.: Воениздат, 1977. Т. 4. 1977, 656 с., ил. "Инстербургско-Кёнигсбергская операция" стр. 471—472.
  • {{cite book| author = Галицкий К. Н.| author-link = Галицкий, Кузьма Никитович| chapter = Глава двенадцатая. Последние бои. Разгром группы "Земланд"| title = В боях за Восточную Пруссию: Записки командующего 11-й гвардейской армией | edition = 40 000 экз| location = М.| year = 1970 | publisher = Наука| page = 500 | series = Вторая мировая война в исследованиях, воспоминаниях, документах }}
  • {{Cite book|url=http://18msd.ru/div1968/data/media/kniha.pdf|title=Восемнадцатая гвардейская.|last=Lobanov|first=V.V.|publisher=Kaliningradskoye knizhnoye izdatel'stvo|year=1975|location=Kaliningrad|language=ru|trans-title=Eighteenth Guards}}
  • В. И. Феськов К. А. Калашников В. И. Голиков "Красная Армия в победах и поражениях 1941-45 гг" Часть I.
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20151223190544/http://soldat.ru/files/3/22/35/189/ "Боевой состав Советской Армии. Часть III. (январь — декабрь 1943 г)., Москва, Военное изд. Мин. Обороны, 1972 г."],

External links

  • http://wikimapia.org/7820871/79th-Separate-Guards-Motor-Rifle-Brigade

{{Soviet Union divisions before 1945}}

{{Soviet Union divisions 1945–57}}

{{Soviet Union divisions}}

{{Russian divisions}}

018

018

Category:Military units and formations established in 1965

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 2001

Category:1939 establishments in the Soviet Union

Category:Military units and formations of Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine