Soviet Union Turkestan Military District

The Turkestan Military District (russian: Туркестанский военный округ (ТуркВО), ''Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)'') was a

military district Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...

of both the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

and the

Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and t ...

, with its headquarters at

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

. The District was first created during the 1874 Russian military reform when by order of Minister Dmitry Milyutin the territory of Russia was divided into fourteen military districts. Its first commander was Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann, who was also Governor-General of

Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan (russian: Русский Туркестан, Russkiy Turkestan) was the western part of Turkestan within the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories, and was administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship. It comprised the ...

at the time.

History

Turkmen Horse Half-Regiment

The Turkmen Horse was a cavalry force forming part of the Imperial Russian Army prior to the Revolution of 1917. Numbering two squadrons in peacetime, it was recruited from the Moslem Tekin tribesmen of the Turkestan Military District. Recruitment was on a voluntary basis with the men providing their own horses and equipment, and the Czarist government paying an allowance and issuing weapons. The Half-Regiment was derived from various Turkmen mounted militias first raised in the 1880s. Its uniform was modeled on tribal dress and included a distinctive striped

kaftan A kaftan or caftan (; fa, خفتان, ) is a variant of the robe or tunic. Originating in Asia, it has been worn by a number of cultures around the world for thousands of years. In Russian usage, ''kaftan'' instead refers to a style of men's ...

and shaggy fleeced hats. With the outbreak of World War I the native Turcoman cavalry recruited from Moslem volunteers was increased to a full division in strength. Following the overthrow of the Czarist regime the Turkmen Horse formed the bodyguard of General

Lavr Kornilov Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov (russian: Лавр Гео́ргиевич Корни́лов, ; – 13 April 1918) was a Russian military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and the ensuing Rus ...

Central Asian Military District

From 1918 to 1926 the District was referred to as the Turkestan Front as its forces were conducting active operations against the

Basmachi Revolt The Basmachi movement (russian: Басмачество, ''Basmachestvo'', derived from Uzbek: "Basmachi" meaning "bandits") was an uprising against Russian Imperial and Soviet rule by the Muslim peoples of Central Asia. The movement's roots ...

throughout practically all the District's territory. In October 1919, Gleb Bokii was sent by Cheka head

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Polish nobility ...

to head the operations of the Cheka in the Turkestan Front. By USSR Order No. 304 of June 4, 1926, the Turkestan Front was renamed as the Central Asian Military District (САВО), which included the territories of the Turkmen and Uzbek SSRs and the Kirghiz and Tajik ASSRs. In connection with changes of administrative-territorial division of republics and areas of Central Asia, as of August 1940 the district included the Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics and their respective autonomous areas.

Turkestan Military District

This designation was re-created on 9 July 1945, after the division of the Central Asian Military District into the Turkestan and

Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

Military Districts. The new Turkestan and Steppe districts were formed from the headquarters of the

1st First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

and 4th Shock Armies respectively. In September–October 1945 it included the 1st Rifle Corps (Ashkabad), with the 306th, 344th, and 357th Rifle Divisions, and the 119th Rifle Corps (Stalinabad ((

Dushanbe Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (ru ...

)) with the 201st, 360th, and 374th Rifle Divisions. In July 1946 the Steppe Military District was dissolved and its responsibilities transferred back to the Turkestan Military District. In January 1958 from the abolished South Ural Military District the Turkestan District gained the territories of

Aktyubinsk Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of ...

, Guryev and the West-Kazakhstan areas of the

Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

. In 1957 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the former 5th Guards Mechanised Corps that had ended the war in Germany with

4th Tank Army The 20th Guards Combined Arms Army (originally designated as the 4th Tank Army, 4th Guards Tank Army in 1945, 4th Guards Mechanised Army in 1946, and the 20th Guards Army in 1960 within the Soviet Ground Forces) is a field army. In 1991, after t ...

, moved to Kushka in the

Turkmen SSR Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish des ...

. The district initially covered most of Soviet Central Asia, but due to tensions between the Soviet Union and China the Tajik SSR, Kyrgyz SSR, and Kazakh SSR, the majority of the district area of responsibility, was split off to recreate the Central Asian Military District (''SAVO''), headquartered at

Alma-Ata Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...

, on 24 June 1969. The Turkestan Military District was left with the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR. The 73rd Air Army was transferred to provide air support for the Central Asian Military District, while the Air Force of the Turkestan Military District was reestablished to provide control of air units stationed in the reduced territory of the district. Shortly afterwards in April 1970, the 1st Army Corps headquarters was relocated from Ashkabad to Semipalatinsk, where it became part of the Central Asian Military District. The Turkestan Military District was left with the 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Kushka and the 58th Motor Rifle Division at Kyzyl-Arvat in the Turkmen SSR, and the

108th Motor Rifle Division The 108th Nevelskaya Motor Rifle Division, abbreviated as the "108th MRD," was a unit of the Soviet Ground Forces and the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan. It was the successor to the 360th Rifle Division. The division was created in August 1941 by t ...

at Termez in the Uzbek SSR for ground combat units. It also included the 61st Training Motor Rifle Division at Ashkabad. To replace the 1st Army Corps which had been moved northeast to Semipalatinsk, the 36th Army Corps was created in Ashkabad. The corps was created in 1982. It comprised two divisions - the 88th (created after the transfer of the 5th Guards MRD to the 40th Army) and the 58th Motor Rifle Division. In the 1980s the District became part of the Southern Strategic Direction alongside the North Caucasus and Transcaucasus Military Districts. General Igor Rodionov commanded the District in 1985-6. Within the District's territory and under its command was the

40th Army The 40th Army (, ''40-ya obshchevoyskovaya armiya'', "40th Combined Arms Army") of the Soviet Ground Forces was an army-level command that participated in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and was reformed specifically for the Soviet–Afghan War fr ...

, in Afghanistan, the 36th Army Corps, and other forces, totalling one

Soviet Airborne Troops The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed be ...

airlanding (the 105th Guards Airborne Division at

Fergana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km ...

) and 8 motor rifle divisions. Aviation support for the district was provided by the 49th Air Army, and air defence by the 12th Independent Air Defence Army of the

Air Defence Forces Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

. The VVS Turkestan Military District, created in 1969, was redesignated the 49th Air Army in 1988, with in 1980 a strength of three fighter and fighter-bomber regiments, a reconnaissance aviation regiment, a mixed aviation squadron, and a communications and automated control regiment. From June 1, 1989, the Central Asian Military District was dissolved and its territory again incorporated into the Turkestan Military District, as part of the unilateral reductions which Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

had announced at the United Nations on 7 December 1988. After the withdrawal from Afghanistan the 40th Army was disbanded. But in June 1991 it was reformed at Semipalatinsk from 32nd Army. Immediately prior to its dissolution, the 32nd Army consisted of the

78th Tank Division The 78th Tank Division was a division of the Soviet Ground Forces, active from 1965 to the 1990s. It was originally established in 1949 as the 15th Tank Division, from the 78th Heavy Tank Self-Propelled Regiment (the former 78th Tank Brigade). It ...

(Ayaguz); the 5202nd Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (VKhVT) Semipalatinsk, (prior to 1989 - the

71st Motor Rifle Division The 71st Motor Rifle Division ( Military Unit Number 07225) was a motorized infantry division of the Soviet Army between 1984 and 1989. It was based in Semipalatinsk. Converted to a storage base in 1989, it was taken over by Kazakhstan with the ...

); the 5203rd VKhVT Ust-Kamenogorsk (prior to 1989, the 155th Motor Rifle Division); and the 5204th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment at Karaganda (prior to 1989 - the 203rd Zaporozhye Khingan Motor Rifle Division). The District was finally dissolved on June 30, 1992 with the demise of the Soviet Union, when its forces were distributed between five newly independent Central Asian countries —

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

. The most powerful grouping went to become the core of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan which acquired all the units of the 40th (the former 32nd) Army and part of the 17th Army Corps, including six land force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th Guards Air Assault Brigades, two rocket brigades, 2 artillery regiments and a large amount of equipment which had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the

Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atlan ...

. The Museum of history of The Turkestan Military District is on Gorki Avenue in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Commanders

Russian Empire

* Adjutant General, Engineer-General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann; (07.1867 - 04.1882) * Lieutenant General

Mikhail Chernyayev Mikhail Grigoryevich Chernyaev (Russian: Михаил Григорьевич Черняев) (3 November / 22 October 1828, Bender, Bessarabia Governorate – 16 August 1898) was a Russian major general, who, together with Konstantin Kaufman an ...

; (05.1882 - 02.1884) * Lieutenant General Nikolai Rozenbakh; (02.1884 - 10.1889) * Lieutenant General Baron Alexander Borisovich Vrevsky; (10.1889 - 03.1898) * General of Infantry Sergei Mikhailovich Dukhovsky (03.1898 - 01.1901) * General of the cavalry Nikolai Alexandrovich Ivanov; (01.1901 - 05.1904) * General of the cavalry Nikolai Nikolaevich Tevyashev; (06.1904 - 11.1905) * Lieutenant General

Dejan Subotić Dejan Ivanovich Subotich (also spelled Dejan Subotić and Dean Subbotich; 7 May 1852 – 1920) was a Russo-Serbian military and state leader, military governor of Russian Dalian (''Primorye oblast''; 1897–1898);Transcaspian Oblast (''Zakaspiy ...

(11.1905 - 08.1906) * General Evgeny Osipovich Matsievsky; (08.1906 - 12.1906) * General of Infantry Nikolai Ivanovich Grodekov; (12.1906 - 03.1908) * General of artillery Pavel Mishchenko; (05.1908 - 03.1909) * General of the cavalry

Alexander Samsonov Aleksandr Vasilyevich Samsonov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Самсо́нов, tr. ; ) was a career officer in the cavalry of the Imperial Russian Army and a general during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. He ...

; (03.1909 - 07.1914) * General of Infantry Fyodor Vladimirovich Martson; (10.1914 - 07.1916) * infantry general Mikhail Romanovich Erofeev; (07.1916) * Adjutant General, General of Infantry

Aleksey Kuropatkin Aleksey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin (russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич Куропа́ткин; March 29, 1848January 16, 1925) served as the Russian Imperial Minister of War from January 1898 to February 1904 and as a field command ...

(07.1916 - 02.1917) * Colonel Leonty Nikolaevich Cherkes (03.1917).

Soviet Union

* Ivan Petrov - Army General: July 1945 - July 1952 * Alexei Radzievsky - Lieutenant General: July 1952 - April 1953 * Alexander Luchinsky - Colonel-General, from August 1955 Army General : April 1953 - October 1957 *

Ivan Fedyuninsky Ivan Ivanovich Fedyuninsky (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Федю́нинский; July 30, 1900 – October 17, 1977) was a Soviet military leader and Hero of the Soviet Union (1939). Early life Fedyuninsky was born into a peasant fa ...

- Army General : December 1957-December 1965 * Nikolai Lyashchenko - Colonel-General, from February 1968 Army General : December 1965 - June 1969 * Stepan Belonozko - Colonel-General : January 1970 -December 1978 * Yuri Maksimov - Colonel-General, December 1982 Army General : January 1979 -September 1984 * Nikolai Popov - Colonel-General, Army general from February 1988 : September 1984 -January 1989 * Ivan Fuzhenko - Colonel-General : January 1989 -December 1991 * Georgi Kondratyev - Lieutenant General, Colonel-General from 1992 : December 1991 -June 1992.

Composition

In 1988-9, these forces included the: *

(Kabul,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

) ** 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division (

Shindand, Herat Sabzwār ( fa, سبزوار) is a town and the center of the Sabzwar District, Herat Province, Afghanistan. It is located at at 1,066 m altitude on the Harut River. The Sabzwar Air Base is located about 15 miles northeast of the town. ...

) ** 103rd Guards Airborne Division (

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/ fa, بگرام) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir ...

, Afghanistan) **

(

) ** 201st Motor Rifle Division (

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

) * 36th Army Corps ( Ashkabad)(formed May 1982) ** 58th Motor Rifle Division ( Kyzyl-Arvat) ** 88th Motor Rifle Division ( Kushka) ** 154th Motor Rifle Division ( Ashkabad)(mobilisation; activated 1972; part division 61st Training Motor Rifle Division) *District Troops **787th Independent Training Motor Rifle Regiment - 720th Training Centre (Shengeldi ( :ru:Ченгельды)),

Saryagash District Saryagash ( kk, Сарыағаш ауданы, ) is a district of Turkistan Region Turkistan Region (), formerly South Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Оңтүстік Қазақстан облысы, translit= Oñtüstık Qazaqstan oblysy) (russian: ...

, Kazakh SSR) **353rd Guards Artillery Brigade ( Kattakurgan) **845th Independent Rocket ''Divizion'' ( Kattakurgan) **135th Anti-Tank Artillery Brigade ( Mary, Turkmenistan SSR) **2nd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Samarkand) **162nd Independent Military-Transport Helicopter Regiment ( Mil Mi-6, Mi-8, Mi-24V) ( Kagan, Uzbekistan) **399th Independent Helicopter Regiment (

Chirchik Chirchiq, also spelled as Chirchik, ( uz, Chirchiq / Чирчиқ; russian: Чирчик) is a district-level city in Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. It is about 32 km northeast of Tashkent, along the river Chirchiq. Chirchiq lies in the Chat ...

) **230th Engineer-Sapper Brigade (Samarkand) **805th Independent

Spetsnaz Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the ...

Company (Fergana) **94th Pontoon-Bridge Regiment (

) **56th Independent Radio-Technical Brigade PVO (Chimkent) ** 4th Guards Motor Rifle Division ( Termez)( Military Unit Number 28345) ***365th and 367th Guards Motor Rifle Regiments; 1213th Motor Rifle Regiment; 304th Guards Tank Regiment; 837th Artillery Regiment; 1168th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment, smaller units ** 61st Training Motor Rifle Division ( Ashkabad) * 12th Independent Air Defence Army (HQ Tashkent) **88th Communications Centre ** 37th Air Defence Corps (

) ***737th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Ayaguz) **15th Air Defence Division (

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

) *** 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (

Andijan Andijan (sometimes spelled Andijon or Andizhan in English) ( uz, Andijon / Андижон / ئەندىجان; fa, اندیجان, ''Andijân/Andīǰān''; russian: Андижан, ''Andižan'') is a city in Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, ...

) **17th Air Defence Division ( Mary, Mary Oblast) ***152nd Fighter Aviation Regiment ( Ak-Tepe) (MiG-23M)(Formed 1950) ***179th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment

Notes

References

David Glantz David M. Glantz (born January 11, 1942) is an American military historian known for his books on the Red Army during World War II and as the chief editor of '' The Journal of Slavic Military Studies''. Born in Port Chester, New York, Glantz re ...

, Companion to Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, 2005 *William E Odom, The Collapse of the Soviet Military, Yale, 1998 *A.G. Lenskiy & M.M. Tsybin, The Soviet Ground Forces in the last years of the USSR, St Petersburg, B&K, 2001 *