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 district was reformed. 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, being one of the ten original military districts of the Russian Empire. It was recreated in June 1924 with the consolidation of the Western, Central and Eastern Siberian Military Districts, which had become the Imperial Military Districts in the area. In June 1941 the District was host to the 24th Army, under Lieutenant General Stepan Kalinin, which comprised two Rifle Corps, the 52nd and 53rd.[1] The 52nd, with its headquarters in Novosibirsk along with the 133rd Rifle Division, additionally had the 166th Rifle Division at Barabinsk and the 178th Rifle Division at Omsk. The 53rd Rifle Corps at Krasnoyarsk, where the 119th Rifle Division was stationed, also included the 107th Rifle Division at Barnaul and the 91st Rifle Division at Achinsk.
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 1968 the 33rd Army Corps was transferred into the district from the Turkestan Military District, establishing its headquarters at Kemerovo.[3] 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 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
35th Guards Independent 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.)[11]
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.