The 26th Artillery Brigade named after Roman Daszkewycz is an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

formation of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

, based in

Berdychiv Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

. It traces its history to the 117th Guards Rifle Division of the

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 ...

. After the war, and several redesignations, the 117th Guards Rifle Division became the 117th Guards Tank Training Division. After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the 117th Guards Tank Training Division was succeeded by the 62nd Mechanized Brigade, which, in turn, was created 26th Artillery Brigade (based on the Directive of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from 18.06.2004 № 312/1/014). In May 2019 the brigade was given the honorary name of "Corporal General " in a decree of President

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

. The brigade is operating

Panzerhaubitze 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for t ...

self-propelled howitzers gifted by Germany and the Netherlands during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, artillery used in the

Battle of Bakhmut The battle of Bakhmut was a major battle between the Russian Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces for control of the city of Bakhmut, during the eastern Ukraine campaign, a theatre of the Russian invasion of Uk ...

Cold War

In 1945, the 117th Guards Rifle Division became the 32nd Guards Mechanized Division. It moved to

Berdichev Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

and later became part of the 8th Mechanized Army. On 4 June 1957, the division was converted into the 41st Guards Tank Division and the army became the 8th Tank Army. The 76th Separate Tank Training Battalion was disbanded in 1960. On 19 February 1962, the 685th Separate Missile Battalion and 437th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion were activated. On 11 January 1965, the division was renamed the 117th Guards Tank Division, restoring its World War II number. In 1968, the 129th Separate Guards Sapper Battalion became an engineer-sapper unit. On 1 November of that year, the division became a training tank division and was directly subordinated to the

Carpathian Military District The Red Banner Carpathian Military District (, ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces during the Cold War and subsequently of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the early Post-Soviet period. It was established on 3 May 1946 on the ...

. On 1 September 1987, it became the 119th Guards District Training Center. On 1 December 2000, the training center was disbanded, and its units used to form the 62nd Mechanized Brigade. In 2004, the brigade was converted into the 26th Artillery Brigade.

Structure

As of 2017 the brigade's structure is as follows: * 26th Artillery Brigade,

** Headquarters & Headquarters Battery ** Target Acquisition Battery ** Observer and FDC Battery ** 1st Self-propelled Artillery Battalion ( 2S19 Msta-S) ** 2nd Self-propelled Artillery Battalion ( 2S19 Msta-S) ** 3rd Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (

2S5 Giatsint-S The 2S5 ''Giatsint-S'' () is a Soviet Union, Soviet 152 mm self-propelled gun. "2S5" is its GRAU designation. It has CBRN defense, nuclear, biological, and chemical protection. The 2S5 is capable of engaging targets at longer ranges and at a ...

) ** 4th Anti-tank Artillery Battalion (

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 ...

) ** Artillery Reconnaissance Battalion ** 14th Security Battalion "

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

" ** Combat Engineer Company ** Maintenance Company ** Logistic Company ** CBRN-defense Platoon

References

*Michael Holm
117th Guards Tank Division
2015.

External links

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Artillery brigades of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 2004 Military units and formations of Ukraine in the Russian invasion of Ukraine