The Siberian Military District was a Military district of the Russian Ground Forces. The district was originally formed as a military district of the Russian Empire in 1864. In 1924 it was reformed in the Red Army. After the end of World War II the district was split into the Western and Eastern Siberian Military Districts. In 1956 the western district's name was changed back to Siberian Military District, and in 1998 the Transbaikal Military District was merged into it. In 2010 it was divided between the two newly formed Central and Eastern Military Districts.
History
The Siberian Military District was originally formed in 1864, as the Western Siberian Military District, being one of the ten original military districts of the Russian Empire. It was renamed the Omsk Military District in 1882, until renamed again Western Siberian Military District in 1918-1919.
Among the many, many formations the district raised during the Second World War was the 75th Cavalry Division, formed in September and October 1941.
Immediately after the end of World War II, on July 9, 1945, to facilitate the demobilisation process, the Siberian Military District was divided into the Western and Eastern Siberian Military Districts.
The Eastern Siberian District was located at Irkutsk and created from HQ 50th Army. The Eastern Siberian District was disbanded in 1953 with its region being split between the Western Siberian District and the Transbaikal Military District.
On January 4, 1956 the Western Siberian Military District was again renamed the Siberian Military District.[2]
In 1959 the 74th Temryukskaya Red Banner Motor Rifle Division (74-я мотострелковая Темрюкская Краснознамённая дивизия) (в/ч 77087) at Krasnoyarsk was disbanded, with two units joining the 85th Motor Rifle Division.[3]
In 1968 the 33rd Army Corps was transferred into the district from the Turkestan Military District, establishing its headquarters at Kemerovo.[4] The 13th Motor Rifle Division at Biysk was assigned to it. Among the mobilisation divisions formed in the district from the late 1970s was the 167th Motor Rifle Division, whose equipment storage area was co-located with the barracks of the 13th MRD.
In 1974 for their great contributions to the cause of strengthening the defence of the Soviet State and its armed protection, successes in combat and political training, the Transbaikal Military District was rewarded with the Order of Lenin, and the Siberian Military District with the Order of the Red Banner.
The 33rd Army Corps disbanded in July 1991 and its personnel and assets were absorbed by the arriving 28th Army Corps from Czechoslovakia.[5] General Major Nikolai Loktionov remained in command of the merged formation, having been appointed as the 33rd Army Corps commander in June 1991.
In August 1992, the 21st Motor Rifle Division, withdrawn from the 2nd Guards Tank Army in East Germany, was moved to Omsk.[6] In October 1992, the 300th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 98th Guards Airborne Division at Kishinev in the Odessa Military District was split out of the division and sent to Abakan. In the city of Abakan, four years later, the 300th Guards Parachute Regiment was reorganised as the 100th independent Guards Airborne Brigade, but was then disbanded circa 1998.[7]
In 1998, seven years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the District absorbed most of the territory and responsibilities of the former Transbaikal Military District, retaining the name Siberian Military District, but on their merger gave up the vast Sakha Republic (also known as Yakutia) to the expanded Far Eastern Military District.
District forces in 1990
The Siberian Military District has traditionally been a source for creating new wartime reserves, as demonstrated by the crucial role the Siberian rifle divisions have played in the Battle of Moscow during the Second World War. For that reason by the end of the Cold War the Siberian MD's land forces were modest by Soviet standards and air forces were non-existent. The 33rd Guards Berlislavsko-Khinganskaya, twice awarded the Order of the Red Banner and awarded the Order of Suvorov Strategic Missile Army (33-я гвардейская ракетная Бериславско-Хинганская дважды Краснознамённая, ордена Суворова армия) of the Strategic Rocket Forces with its HQ in Omsk and the 14th independent Red Banner Air Defence Army of the Air Defence Forces with its headquarters in Novosibirsk were based in the Siberian Military District's area of responsibility, but were independent operational formations.
Formations and units under direct district subordination
District Command and Headquarters (Управление командующего и штаб) - Novosibirsk
373rd Separate Staff Security and Supply Battalion (373-й отдельный батальон охраны и обеспечения штаба) - Novosibirsk
67th Separate Spetsnaz Brigade (67-я отдельная бригада специального назначения) - Berdsk (GRU formation operationally attached to the district)
172nd Radio-technical Brigade OsNaz (172-я радиотехническая бригада ОсНаз) - Biysk (GRU formation operationally attached to the district)
233rd Radio-electronic Warfare Regiment (233-й полк РЭБ) - Shilovo village (EW Directorate of the General Staff's (Управление РЭБ ГШ СССР) unit operationally attached to the district)
103rd Separate Signals Brigade (103-я отдельная бригада связи) - Yagunovo village
314th Separate Radio-technical Regiment (314-й отдельный радиотехнический полк) - Krasnoyarsk
247th Separate Radio-technical Battalion (247-й отдельный радиотехнический батальон) - Taskino village
11th Chenical Defence Brigade (11-я бригада химической защиты) - Topchikha village
40th Chenical Defence Brigade (40-я бригада химической защиты) - Pospelikha village
430th Separate Sapper Engineer Battalion (430-й отдельный инженерно-сапёрный батальон) - Pospelikha village
309th Pontoon Bridging Regiment (309-й понтонно-мостовой полк) - Mochishte village
587th Separate Pontoon Bridging Battalion (587-й отдельный понтонно-мостовой батальон) - Achinsk
84th Separate Overhaul and Complex Repair and Maintenance Battalion (84-й отдельный ремонтно-восстановительный батальон комплексного ремонта) - Shilovo village
121st Brigade for Material Support (121-я бригада материального обеспечения) - Shilovo village
250th Pipeline Brigade (250-я трубопроводная бригада) - Kamarchaga village
465th District Training Center (465-й окружной учебный центр) - Omsk
Divisions under direct district subordination
33rd Army Corps (33-й армейский корпус) - Kemerovo
5349th Weaponry and Equipment Storage Base (5352-я БХВТ) in Biysk since 1989. Previously the 1010th Territorial Training Center (1010-й территориальный учебный центр) itself formed on the base of the 167th Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (167-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) in 1987.
5351st Weaponry and Equipment Storage Base (5351-я БХВТ) in Biysk since 1989. Previously the 13th Motor Rifle Division. In July 1992 took over the traditions, honors and awards from the disbanded 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division, and was renamed 13th Guards Motorised Rifle Division.[8]
5352nd Weaponry and Equipment Storage Base (5352-я БХВТ) in Omsk since 1989. Previously the 62nd Motor Rifle Division (62-я мотострелковая дивизия) - Itatka village
5350th Weaponry and Equipment Storage Base (5350-я БХВТ) since Dec. 1, 1989. Previously the 242nd Motor Rifle Division in Abakan under the 33rd Army Corps
95th Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (95-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) - Stepnoy village
190th Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (190-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) - Berdsk
218th Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (218-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) - Biysk
227th Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (227-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) - Svetliy village
261st Motor Rifle Division [cadred] (261-я мотострелковая дивизия (кадра)) - Stepnoy village
241st Rear Area Security Division [cadred] (241-я дивизия охраны тыла (кадра)) - Novosibirsk
84th Deep Reserve Artillery Division (84-я артиллерийская запасная дивизия) - Taskino village
67th Deep Reserve Tank Division [cadred] (67-я запасная танковая дивизия (кадра)) - Shilovo village
68th Deep Reserve Tank Division [cadred] (68-я запасная танковая дивизия (кадра)) - Topchikha village
71st Deep Reserve Tank Division [cadred] (71-я запасная танковая дивизия (кадра)) - Omsk
Air Forces of the Siberian Military District
Air Forces of the Siberian Military District (ВВС Сибирского военного округа) - Novosibirsk[9]
137th Separate Composite Aviation Squadron (137-я отдельная смешанная авиационная эскадрилья) - Tolmachevo Airport, Novosibirsk (sometimes also listed as Tolmachevo - Ob) - Il-22, An-12, An-26, An-24, Mi-8 (under direct district HQ control)
96th Training Air Regiment (96-й учебный авиационный полк) - Kamen-na-Obi - MiG-21
59th Training Air Regiment (59-й учебный авиационный полк) - Slavgorod, based at two airfields called North (Северный) and South (Южный) - MiG-21, L-29
44th Training Air Regiment (44-й учебный авиационный полк) - Panfilovo - Panfilovo - L-39, Mi-8
Irkutsk Higher Engineer School of Military Aviation awarded the Order of the Red Star, named after the 50th Anniversary of the Komsomol (Иркутское высшее военное авиационное инженерное ордена Красной Звезды училище имени 50-летия ВЛКСМ) - Irkutsk
Achinsk Military Aviation Technical School (Ачинское военное авиационно-техническое училище) - Achinsk
Krasnoyarsk Military Aviation School for Specialists (Красноярская военно-авиационная школа специальных служб) - Krasnoyarsk
Rubtsovsk Military Aviation School for Mechanics (Рубцовская военная авиационная школа механиков) - Rubtsovsk
Kansk School for On-Board Signals and Gunner Airmen (Канская школа воздушных стрелков-радистов) - Kansk
District forces c. 2009–2010
Siberian Military District 1998–2010
The 41st Army was formed from the headquarters of the former Siberian Military District at Novosibirsk while the new district’s headquarters were established at Chita (the former Transbaikal MD HQ). It is likely safe to assume that the 41st Army controls all the field formations of the previous Siberian Military District.
The IISS listed the district in 2006 as having a total of one tank, two motor-rifle and one machine-gun artillery divisions, two motor-rifle and one air assault brigades.[11] The 2nd Guards Tank Division, previously active in Mongolia with the 39th Army, disbanded in 2005 having been stationed at Strugi Mirnaya/Bezrechnaya (ru:Безречная), 50 43 25N, 116 10 35E) in Chita Oblast.[12] Also, while the 21st 'Tagenrog' Motor Rifle Division, withdrawn from Germany to the former Siberian Military District, was apparently partially re-equipped with the T-90 MBT in the mid-1990s, in 2000 it was apparently disbanded.[13]
35th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (former 122nd MRD) (Aleysk) (The 5th Guards Tank Corps was originally part of the USSR 6th Guards Tank Army and was transferred as part of 6th Guards Tank Army to the Transbaikal Military District in preparation for the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. The 5th Guards Tank Corps took part in this offensive and afterwards, soon after the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945, was reorganised as the 5th Guards Tank Division. In 1957, the 5th Guards Tank Division (first formation) was reorganised as the 122nd Guards Motor Rifle Division.)[17]
^Drozdov, Sergey. "Была такая авиация... Эхо былой воздушной мощи (There Was Such Aviation... Echo of Air Power Past)". Авиация и космонавтика (Aviation and Spaceflight). March 2016: 8.
Greg Austin and Alexey Muraviev, The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia, Tauris, 2000
Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN9785895035306.
Further reading
V Plameni I Slave: Ocherki Istorii Sibirskogo Voyennogo Okruga. [In Fire and Glory: An Outline History of the Siberian Military District], (Novosibirsk: Zapadno-Sibirskoye Knizhizdat, 1969.
