The 15th Guards Motorized Rifle Shavlinsky Order of Lenin, Red Banner Regiment (15 Guards MSP), () is a motor rifle

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of 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, ...

of the

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

. Its

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...

is 31134. It is based in

Kalininets Kalininets () is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (a Urban-type settlement, work settlement) in the Naro-Fominsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. The town's name is a derivative form an unofficial name for a soldier of ...

(

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

). It is part of the

2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division The 2nd Guards Mikhail Kalinin, M. I. Kalinin Taman Motor Rifle Division is a Russian Guards, Guards Mechanized infantry, mechanised infantry Division (military), division of the Russian Ground Forces. Its Military Unit Number is 23626. The 2nd ...

of the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. Over the entire history of the regiment, more than 600 personnel have been awarded orders and medals, of which more than 250 - Order of Courage.

History

The regiment was created in 1918.

World War II

By the beginning of the war, it was called the 875th Infantry Regiment of the

127th Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

(1st Formation). The regiment fought in the Eastern front battles of

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

and

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

, as well as the . The regiment took part in the occupation of Ukraine and Lithuania. For its wartime actions, the regiment was raised to "Guards" status as the 15th Guards Rifle Regiment. For the occupation of the Lithuanian city of

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

during the

Šiauliai offensive The Šiauliai offensive () was an operation of the Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front, commanded by General Hovhannes Bagramyan, conducted from 5 July to 29 August 1944, during the Second World War. It was part of the third phase of the Opera ...

the regiment received the honorary title "Shavlinsky."

Cold War

In 1953, the 15th Guards Rifle Regiment was reorganized into the 130th Guards Mechanised Regiment (military unit 73881) of the 23rd Guards Mechanised Division. In 1957, the regiment became the 406th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, with the creation of motor rifle units and formations. On 4 May 1990 the regiment reverted to its

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

number as the 15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment.

Post–Cold War era

On May 15, 2009, during a military reorganisation, the regiment was disbanded. The regiment was revived in 2013 as part of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division. Anniversary100YearsOld2018-23

On 10 March 2022, a member of the regiment was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces in the

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

. On 28 March, the Ukrainian military claimed that soldiers of the regiment had refused to participate in hostilities in the Sumy Oblast. In April 2022, it was reported that the regimental commander Colonel Kharitonov was seriously wounded in the

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

Notes

References

* * * {{Russian regiments Infantry units and formations of Russia Ground Forces regiments of the Russian Federation Regiments of the Soviet Union Mechanized units and formations Military units and formations established in 1990