The 135th Motor Rifle Division was a mechanized infantry division of the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The division was formed in 1960 as a mobilization division in

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

. It became a regular division in 1968 and was transferred to Lesozavodsk. In 1989, it was renamed the 130th Machine Gun Artillery Division (Military Unit Number 92910) and continued to serve in the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

. It was reduced to the 245th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base in 2009.

History

On 22 November 1960, the 135th Motor Rifle Division was activated as a mobilization division in

. It was co-located with the 4th Guards Motor Rifle Division. In April 1968, the division became a regular unit and was transferred to Lesozavodsk as a result of increased Sino-Soviet tensions. The division's 199th Motor Rifle Regiment fought in the

Damansky Island Zhenbao Island () or Damansky Island () is an island in Hulin, Jixi, Heilongjiang Province, China, with an area of only . It is on the Ussuri River on the border between Primorsky Krai, Russia, and Heilongjiang, Heilongjiang Province, China. P ...

incident in March 1969 during the

Sino-Soviet border conflict The Sino-Soviet border conflict, also known as the Sino-Soviet crisis, was a seven-month undeclared military conflict between the Soviet Union and China in 1969, following the Sino-Soviet split. The most serious border clash, which brought th ...

, when they were sent into the fight on 15 March to prevent Chinese capture of the island. The 199th had already been deployed ostensibly for exercises at the end of February 1969 as the conflict escalated and on March 2 was ordered to advance to Damansky Island. As the Chinese threaten to overwhelm the border guards, the regiment was committed to battle on 15 March. The 199th remained on the border until the end of March and departed only after the Chinese incursion attempts had ceased. Junior sergeant Vladimir Orekhov of the regiment's 5th company was posthumously made a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

for his actions in the battle. The conflict was classified as a border conflict and the participation of the regular Soviet Army in it kept secret until the 1990s, and thus Army soldiers who participated did not automatically receive veteran status. During the

, the division was maintained at 65% strength. On 1 October 1989, the division became the 130th Machine Gun Artillery Division. The 199th Motorized Rifle Regiment was disbanded and replaced by the 365th Machine Gun Artillery Regiment. In 1994, the 365th Machine Gun Artillery Regiment became the 199th Motorized Rifle Regiment. The division was reduced to the 245th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base under the 2009 Russian military reforms. The base stores equipment planned to be used to form the 93rd Motor Rifle Brigade in event of mobilization. According to 2017 open-source data from milkavkaz, the storage base contains 18

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" () is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first combat use in March 1969 during the Sino-S ...

, 36 152mm 2S1 Gvozdika, 18 120 mm

2S12 Sani The 2S12 "Sani" ("sleigh") (GRAU index 2S12) is a 120 mm heavy mortar system used by the Russian Army and other former Soviet states. First fielded in 1981, the 2S12 is a continued development on the towed mortars first used in World War I ...

, six 100 mm

MT-12 Rapira 2A19 or T-12 is a Soviet-designed 100-mm anti-tank gun. It was the first anti-tank gun to adopt a smoothbore barrel, and to introduce modern armor piercing shot, like the APFSDS. It uses long projectiles that are more powerful than its caliber ...

, 18 9P149 Shturm-S, six BM 9A34(35) Strela-10, 18 57 mm

AZP S-60 AZP S-60 (, abbrev. АЗП (AZP); literally: ''Automatic anti-aircraft gun S-60'') is a Soviet towed, road-transportable, short- to medium-range, single-barrel anti-aircraft gun from the 1950s. The gun was extensively used in Warsaw Pact, Middle ...

, six

ZSU-23-4 Shilka The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar-guided Anti-aircraft warfare, anti-aircraft weapon system (Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, SPAAG). It was superseded by the 2K22 Tunguska (SA-19 Grison). Etymology Th ...

, and 41

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

Composition

In 1988, the 135th Motor Rifle Division was composed of the following units. * 199th Motorized Rifle Regiment ( Lazo) * 469th Motorized Rifle Regiment (Filino, Primorskiy Kray) * 472nd Motorized Rifle Regiment (Lesozavodsk, Primorskiy Kray) * 122nd Tank Regiment (Koltsevoye, Primorskiy Kray) * 378th Artillery Regiment (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray) * 1135th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Koltsevoye, Primorskiy Kray) * 17th Separate Missile Battalion (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray) * 81st Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray) * 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (Lazo, Primorskiy Kray) * 225th Separate Engineer-Sapper Battalion (Lazo, Primorskiy Kray) * 354th Separate Communications Battalion (Lesozavodsk, Primorskiy Kray) * 366th Separate Chemical Defence Company (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray) * 204th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray) * 201st Separate Medical Battalion (Koltsevoye, Primorskiy Kray) * 1136th Separate Material Supply Battalion (Panteleymonovka, Primorskiy Kray)

References

{{Soviet Union divisions Military units and formations established in 1960 Military units and formations disestablished in 1989 Motor rifle divisions of the Soviet Union