The 385th Guards Odesskaya

Red Banner In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of left-wing ideologies, including socialism, communism, anarchism, and the labour movement. The originally empty or plain red flag has been associated with left-wing politics since the French ...

Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Artillery Brigade (

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 ...

32755) (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: 385-я гвардейская артиллерийская бригада) 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 Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

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, ...

. It traces its history to the establishment of the 44th Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade (Russian: 44-я гвардейская пушечная артиллерийская бригада) on 20 May 1944, during World War II.

History

From 24 May 1944 to 5 September 1944 it fought as part of the

5th Shock Army The 5th Shock Army was a Red Army field army of World War II. The army was formed on 9 December 1942 by redesignating the 10th Reserve Army. The army was formed two times prior to this with neither formation lasting more than a month before bein ...

of the

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front () was a Front of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Guards Army, 8th Gua ...

; it was then withdrawn into the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the '' Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK () or RGK ( comprises reserve military formations and units; the ''Stavka'' ...

on 6 September 1944; and then from 30 October 1944 to 9 May 1945 it fought again with the 5th Shock Army, but by this time the 5th Shock Army was under the command of the

1st Belorussian Front The 1st Belorussian Front (, ''Pervyy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian"), known without a numeral as the Belorussian Front between October 1943 and February 1944, was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, bein ...

. A VGK order of 19 April 1944 gave it the honorific name "Odessa." It is located at

Totskoye Totskoye () is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Totsky District of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. Population: History The settlement was founded in 1736. During World War I, it was the site of a prisoner-of-war cam ...

Orenburg Oblast Orenburg Oblast (also Orenburzhye) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), mainly located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkal ...

, in the

Central Military District The Order of the Red Banner Central Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the centr ...

, currently part of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army. From 1945 to 1992, the brigade was part of the

3rd Shock Army The 3rd Shock Army () was a field army of the Red Army formed during the Second World War. The "Shock" armies were created with the specific structure to engage and destroy significant enemy forces, and were reinforced with more armoured and ar ...

, which became the 3rd Red Banner Combined Arms Army in 1954. The brigade in its present form was established in August 1981 from the previous 98th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment. It returned from

Planken Planken (; dialectal: ''Planka'') is a municipality in Oberland, Liechtenstein. It has four exclaves, two enclaves and a population of 473. Thus by population it is the smallest municipality of Liechtenstein. History The Romanic population from ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1993. The brigade is now fighting as part of the

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 ...

, as part of the group of forces deployed from the Central Military District.

References

{{Brigades of the Russian Ground Forces Artillery units and formations of the Soviet Union Artillery brigades of the Russian Federation Ground Forces brigades of the Soviet Union Orenburg Oblast Military units and formations established in 1981 Military units and formations of Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine