Siberian Military District
Сибирский военный округ
Siberian Military District Coat of Arms
FoundedAugust 6, 1864
CountryRussia Russian Empire (1864–1906)
 Soviet Union (1924–1991)
Russia Russian Federation (1991–2010)
BranchRussian Ground Forces
TypeMilitary district
Part ofMinistry of Defence
HeadquartersChita
DecorationsOrder of Lenin Order of Lenin

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

Boundaries of the Siberian Military District (in red) on 1 January 1989

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.

The Siberian Military District was created 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.

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.

The 242nd Motor Rifle Division was established at Abakan in 1972.

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

Divisions under direct district subordination

Air Forces of the Siberian Military District

Air Forces of the Siberian Military District (ВВС Сибирского военного округа) - Novosibirsk[9]

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]

The 29th Army at Ulan-Ude was seemingly disbanded in the course of 2007.[14]

Subordinate units

Structure and units of the Siberian Military District 2010

Order of Lenin Siberian Military District 2010:

Commanders

West Siberian MD

Omsk MD

Siberian MD

Omsk MD

Siberian MD

Eastern Siberian MD

Western Siberian MD

Siberian MD

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See Leo Niehorster, http://niehorster.org/012_ussr/41_oob/stavka-reserves/army_24.html and http://niehorster.org/012_ussr/41_oob/interior/_siberia.html
  2. ^ "Siberian Military District".
  3. ^ "74th Motorised Rifle Division".
  4. ^ Holm, Michael. "33rd Army Corps". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  5. ^ Feskov et al 2013, 563-564.
  6. ^ Feskov et al. 2013, 396; Holm, 21st Taganrogskaya Motorised Rifle Division
  7. ^ Holm, Michael (2015-01-01). "300th Guards Parachute Regiment [300-й гвардейский парашютно-десантный ордена Кутузова полк] Military Unit: 40390; from 10.92: 00000". Soviet Armed Forces 1945-1991. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  8. ^ Holm, 13th Motorised Rifle Division, and Feskov et al 2013, Chapter 29.1 (33 AK).
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Holm, Michael (2015-01-01). "Barnaul Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots named for Chief Marshal of Aviation K.A. Vershinin". Soviet Armed Forces 1945-1991. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  11. ^ Routledge for the IISS, The Military Balance 2006, p. 160
  12. ^ Michael Holm, 2nd Guards Tank Division, 2015.
  13. ^ Taganrogskaya Red Banner order of Suvorov. See also http://www.ww2.dk/new/army/msd/21msd.htm.
  14. ^ Vad777's Siberian Military District page (Russian language), late July 2007, see Army article for link
  15. ^ "Sib". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2010-03-18., accessed March 2010
  16. ^ http://www.zabmedia.ru/?page=news&rubr=8&text=13721, accessed March 2010
  17. ^ "5th Guards Tank Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  18. ^ "Гарнизон Ясная. Забайкальский край - Здесь будет размещена информация о 131 мсд".
  19. ^ Holm
  20. ^ See http://www.ww2.dk/new/army/td/49td.htm and "Сибирский военный округ | Новости". Archived from the original on 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2010-04-18.

References

Further reading

External links

Categories