In August 1941, the front commander, General of the Army I. R. Apanasenko was tasked to send to the west several divisions, including tank formations. Almost at the same time in October - November, were sent to the West: the 58th Tank Division of General AA Kotljarova (1st Red Banner Army), 60th Tank Division - Major-General A. Popova and 112th Tank Division.[citation needed]
The Soviet invasion of Manchuria was launched against the Japanese held region of Manchukuo, the Japanese protectorates of Inner Mongolia and Korea, and several Japanese-claimed islands from the Soviet Far East by the Far Eastern Direction, with the two Far East Fronts under its command, under Marshal Vasilevsky in the last days of the Second World War.
On September 10, 1945, the 1st Far East Front was disbanded by being redesignated the Primorskiy Military District, controlling the Primorye Territory,[2] and the 2nd Far Eastern Front was redesignated the Far East Military District controlling Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands. In 1947 parts of Khabarovsk Krai and the Amur Oblast, transferred from the redesignating Transbaikal-Amur Military District,[3] were added to the Far Eastern Military District. Six years later on April 23, 1953, the two districts were reunified as the Far Eastern Military District, with its headquarters staff in Khabarovsk, the staff being drawn from the former Commander-in-Chief of Forces of the Far East's staff.
There were originally a corps headquarters and three divisions of the Soviet Airborne Forces (VDV), active in the district after the war. 37th Guards Airborne Corps had the 13th, 98th, and 99th Guards Airborne Divisions, but the 99th was disbanded in 1956, the 13th disbanded in 1959 and the 98th transferred to Ukraine in 1969, leaving air assault brigades as the only Airborne Forces present. Among the air assault brigades formed was the 13th, activated 8.70 in Magdagachi, Amur Oblast, and active until 1996.[5] The 83rd Air Assault Brigade arrived in Ussuryisk, Primorskiy Kray, in mid-1990, and was transferred from the VDV to the District in 1995.[6]
In 1969 the staff of the 51st Combined Arms Army was formed on the basis of the staff of the 2nd Army Corps. Around 1988 the composition of the 51st Combined Arms Army of the Far Eastern Military District included:
Toward the end of the 1980s the District included the 5th Army (HQ Ussuriysk, 29th Motor Rifle Division, HQ Kamen-Rybolov, Primorskiy Kray; 40th Motor Rifle Division HQ Smolyaninovo-1, Primorskiy Kray; 123rd Guards Motor Rifle Division, Barabash, Primorskiy Kray; 199th Motor Rifle Division, HQ Krasnyy Kut, Primorskiy Kray; 277th Motor Rifle Division, HQ Sergeevka, Primorskiy Kray; 475th Territorial Training Center, HQ Shkotovo, Primorskiy Kray, a former cadre MRD; the 77th Tank Division, renamed the 1008th TTC on 1 December 1987 with its headquarters at Lyalichi, Primorsky Krai; five Fortified Regions (the 4th, 5th, 13th, 15th and 20th); the 124th (cadre) MRD, a duplicate of the 123rd Guards MRD, had been disbanded in 1987[8]), the 15th Army (HQ Khabarovsk, with the 73rd Motor Rifle Division (HQ Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Khabarovsk Krai); the 81st Guards Motor Rifle Division, with its HQ at Bikin, Khabarovsk Krai; the 135th Motor Rifle Division (HQ Lesozavodsk, Primorskiy Krai); the 270th Motor Rifle Division, HQ Krasnaya Rechka (Khabarovsk-41), Khabarovsk Krai; the 2nd Fortified Area (Bolshoy Ussuriyskiy Island, Khabarovsk Kray) and the 17th Fortified Area (Dalnerechensk, Primorskiy Kray)[9]); the 35th Army (HQ Belogorsk, 21 GTD; 67, 192, 265 and 266th MRDs[10]), and the 51st Army (HQ Yuzho-Sakhalinsk, (three divisions), and the 25th Army Corps with the 87th and 99th MRDs.[11]
Far Eastern Military District after absorption of Sakha Republic
In 1992 Colonel General Viktor Chechevatov, who had previously commanded the Kiev Military District, but refused to take the oath of allegiance to Ukraine, arrived as the new district commander.[12] On 11 October 1993 the 51st Army became the 68th Army Corps. 25th Army Corps eventually became the headquarters of Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the new North-Eastern Group of Troops and Forces in the Chukotka area. The District gained the vast Sakha Republic from the disbanding Transbaikal Military District following reorganisation in the late 1990s, which also saw the disbandment of the 15th and 51st Armies. After that 1998 reorganisation, forces within the District included the 14th Separate Brigade of Special Designation (Spetsnaz) at Ussuriysk, the 5th Army, the 35th Army, HQ 68th Corps (the former 51st Army), four Motor Rifle Divisions, and four Machine-Gun/Artillery Divisions. In April 2007 it was reported that ten units in the DVVO were manned by contract servicemen.[13]
Under naval command was the North Eastern Group of Troops and Forces (Ru: Группировки войск и сил на Северо-Востоке России (ВССВ)), formed in 1998 and incorporating troops of the former 25th Army Corps. The North-Eastern Group was established in Kamchatka in 1998 "primarily because of the remoteness of the zone of responsibility in the North-East from the controlling structures, the Far East Military District, and the Pacific Fleet".[14] It was based on the headquarters of the Kamchatka Flotilla. It included the 40th Motor Rifle Brigade on the Kamchatka peninsula, which appeared to be at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and includes the 59th Separate Tank Battalion and 385th Separate Motor Rifle Battalion. In August 2007 the 40th Brigade become a Naval Infantry brigade,[15] and in 2009 it became the 3rd Naval Infantry Regiment.
81st Guards Krasnograd Motor Rifle Division (Bikin)(81 Guards Rifle Division was ex 422nd Rifle Division March 1943. Fought at Krasnograd, Iasi, and Pressburg. With 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front 5.45. Became 81st Guards Motor Rifle Division on 4 June 1957.)[17]
^Commanders were Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Afanasevich Meretskov, 30.10.45 - 3.6.47; and Colonel General Sergey Biryuzov, 3.6.47 - 23.4.53. This district, Michael Holm writes, was formed on 30.10.45 in Voroshilov (1957 Ussuriysk), Primorskiy Kray, from HQ 1st Far East Front. Disbanded 23.4.53.
^"Морской пехоты ТОФ - прибыло" [Pacific Fleet Naval Infantry - Arrived]. mil.ru (in Russian). 23 October 2007. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 17 December 2007.
Feskov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Golikov, V.I.; Slugin, S.A. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945-1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. ISBN5-7511-1819-7.
Scott and H.F. Scott, The Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, Eastview Press, 1979
Soviet Union (1935–1991)
Russia (1992–December 1, 2010)
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