The 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed originally as 133rd Rifle Division at Novosibirsk or Biysk in 1939. The division was part of

1st Shock Army The 1st Shock Army (russian: 1-я ударная армия) was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. The 1st Shock Army was created in late 1941 and fought in the northern areas of Russia and the Baltic ...

on 1 December 1941 during the Battle of Moscow. It was redesignated as the 18th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942 with the 51, 53, 58 Guards Rifle Regiments and 52 Guards Artillery Regiment. The division fought in the East Prussian Offensive. The unit became 30th Guards Mechanised Division in 1945 as part of the

11th Guards Army The 11th Guards Army () was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1943 to 1997. History World War II For its prowess in battle, the second formation of the 16th Army was redesignat ...

. In 1965 it was renumbered as 18th Guards MRD. It seems to have been stationed in the

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

enclave with 11th Guards Army before entering

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1968, joining the

Central Group of Forces The Central Group of Forces (Russian: Центральная группа войск) was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955 and tr ...

. In 1991 the division was withdrawn back to Gusev in the

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and admin ...

. The division was reorganised as a cadre strength formation, as part of the third-line reserves of the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

. In 2002, it became the 79th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (russian: 79-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада). The division itself was reformed in Kaliningrad in December 2020 as part of the 11th Army Corps.

Structure (1990s)

*210th Motor Rifle Regiment; *275th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment; *278th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment; *280th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment; *52nd Guards Artillery Regiment Honorifics are

Insterburg Chernyakhovsk (russian: Черняхо́вск) – known prior to 1946 by its German name of (Old Prussian: Instrāpils, lt, Įsrutis; pl, Wystruć) – is a town in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, where it is the administrative center of C ...

skaya Krasnoznamennaya and

Order of Suvorov The Order of Suvorov () is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honor of Russian Generalissimo Prince Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). History The Order of Suvorov was originally a Soviet award established on July 29, 19 ...

Structure (2020/21)

* 275th Motorized Rifle Regiment * 280th Motorized Rifle Regiment * 79th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment (former 79th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade reformed as a regiment) * 11th Independent Tank Regiment (

Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast Gusev (russian: Гу́сев; german: Gumbinnen; lt, Gumbinė; pl, Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border ...

) (

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: Войсковая часть) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union The Soviet ...

V/Ch (в/ч) 41611) (Equipped with

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

B Main Battle Tanks (upgrades of T-72s to B3M-standard underway as of 2019/20) * 20th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (forming 2020/21; Orlan-10 UAVs and "Sobolyatnik" and "Fara-VR" reconnaissance radars) * 22nd Guards Air Defence Missile Regiment ( Tor M1/M2), in Kaliningrad

References

External links

*http://wikimapia.org/7820871/79th-Separate-Guards-Motor-Rifle-Brigade {{Russian divisions 018 018 Military units and formations established in 1965 Military units and formations disestablished in 2001 1939 establishments in the Soviet Union

Structure (1990s)

Structure (2020/21)

References

Further reading

External links