The 55th Naval Infantry Division (,

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 ...

30926) was an

infantry division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...

of the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

and

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

Naval Infantry Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

, established in 1968 and disestablished in 2009.

History

Formation

The 55th Naval Infantry Division originated with the formation of the 357th Rifle Regiment of the

342nd Rifle Division The 342nd Rifle Division began forming in September 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, in the Saratov oblast. It arrived at the front southwest of Moscow in December, in time to take part in the winter counteroffensive. During most of 194 ...

from the second and third submachine gun battalions of a separate rifle brigade at Novotroitskoye,

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

during the winter of 1944–1945. The first regimental commander was Major I. T. Rudnik. Receiving its battle flag on 15 March 1945, the regiment took part in the August 1945

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

with the division and its parent

87th Rifle Corps The 87th Rifle Corps () was a rifle corps of the Red Army during World War II and the Soviet Army in the early years of the Cold War. World War II On 10 July 1945 it comprised 231st and 300th Rifle Divisions as part of 1st Red Banner Army, M ...

. The 357th Regiment and the division were relocated from

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

Maoka Kholmsk (), known until 1946 as Maoka (), is a port town and the administrative center of Kholmsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, on coast of the gulf of Nevelsky in the Strait o ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

between 23 and 26 August. After the war, the regiment remained on Sakhalin, stationed at the settlement of

Aniva Aniva () is a coastal town and the administrative center of Anivsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the coast of Aniva Bay in southern Sakhalin Island on the Lyutoga River, south of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Population: History It ...

. In 1957, the regiment was reorganized as the 390th Motor Rifle Regiment while the division became the 56th Motor Rifle Division. It had a strength of about 1,000 men, including twenty officers. After the decision of the

Soviet General Staff The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation () is the military staff of the Russian Armed Forces. It is the central organ of the military command of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational command of the arme ...

in spring 1963 to restore naval infantry units in the

, the 390th Motor Rifle Regiment was selected for transfer to the Pacific Fleet. In June, the regiment was transported on the ships of the 100th Landing Ship Brigade to

Vanino, Khabarovsk Krai Vanino (), an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Vaninsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, operates as a port on the Strait of Tartary. Population: Geography Vanino is located north (straight-line dist ...

and then by rail to

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

. Having left its heavy weapons behind, the regiment received

T-34-85 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

tanks,

BTR-50 The BTR-50 (BTR stands for ''Bronetransporter'' (), literally "armored transporter") is a Soviet Union, Soviet tracked Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC) based on the PT-76 light tank chassis. The BTR-50 was developed ...

armored personnel carriers,

GAZ-51 The GAZ-51 (Russian: ГАЗ-51) is a light truck manufactured by the Soviet vehicle manufacturer GAZ, Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod. The vehicle was designed before the World War II, Second World War and mass-produced together with the all-wheel-driv ...

and

ZIS-151 The ZIS-151 () was a general-purpose truck produced by the Soviet Union, Soviet car manufacturer ZiL, Automotive Factory No. 2 ''Zavod imeni Stalina'' in 1948–1958. In 1956, the factory was renamed to ''Zavod imeni Likhacheva'', and new truc ...

trucks, and other vehicles at Khabarovsk. It was brought up to strength there by junior officers freshly graduated from the military schools of the

Siberian Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states si ...

and

Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District () was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District. Histo ...

s, as well as officers called up from the reserve or transferred from the Navy. In this process many officers changed their specialty: signals officers became infantry, while motor vehicle officers moved to tanks and artillery. In late August 1963, the regiment departed for Slavyanka, where it was housed in the barracks of a former artillery regiment, where it was redesignated the 390th Separate Naval Infantry Regiment in December and officially joined the Pacific Fleet. At first the regiment only had two dilapidated barracks, as a result of which it was forced to spend the winter in tents. In the spring of 1964 the regiment received black naval infantry uniforms to replace their army uniforms. The regiment replaced its obsolete equipment with

T-54 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

and

PT-76 The PT-76 is a Soviet Union, Soviet amphibious vehicle, amphibious light tank that was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armed forces. It was widely exporte ...

tanks and

BTR-60 The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...

amphibious personnel carriers in 1965. By then, the regiment included three naval infantry battalions and a T-54 tank battalion. The regimental artillery consisted of

BM-21 Grad The BM-21 "Grad" () is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first combat use in March 1969 during the Sino-S ...

rocket launcher,

SU-100 The SU-100 ( Russian: самоходная установка-100, СУ-100 romanized: '' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka-''100) is a Soviet tank destroyer armed with the D-10S 100 mm anti-tank gun in a casemate superstructure. It was used extens ...

self-propelled gun, and anti-tank guided missile batteries. Air defense was provided by ZSU-23 Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and Strela-10 amphibious missile launcher batteries. In addition, the regiment included a reconnaissance company, and logistics, engineer, and chemical defense units. In the middle of 1967, the leadership of the USSR Armed Forces decided to form a naval infantry division for the Pacific Fleet from the 390th Naval Infantry Regiment, due to the worsening situation in the Far East. Colonel Pavel Timofeyevich Shapranov became the first division commander. The formation of the division was completed on 1 December 1968. In the period from August 1968 to December 1, 1968, on the basis of the 390th Separate Naval Infantry Regiment of the Pacific Fleet, the 55th Naval Infantry Division was formed. Later, by order of the Minister of Defence of the USSR No. 007 dated February 22, 1971, December 1 was declared the "Day of the unit" of the 55th DNI. The regiments received battle flags in December 1969. During the Soviet period, the personnel of the division served in Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Its personnel fought in the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

and the

Second Chechen War Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...

. In 2007, division commander Colonel Valery Oleynikov was relieved of command after a series of

dedovshchina ''Dedovshchina'' (, ) is the informal practice of hazing and abuse of junior conscripts historically in the Soviet Armed Forces and today in the Russian Armed Forces, Internal troops, and to a much lesser extent FSB, Border Guards, as well a ...

incidents and beatings and humiliations of sailors by officers of the unit. On 1 June 2009 the division was reduced into the 155th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade.

Commanders

* Major General Pavel Timofeyevich Shapranov (1967–1971) * Major General P. F. Kazarin (1971–1975) * Colonel V. I. Gorokhov (1975–1977) * Colonel V. A. Yukhimchuk (1977–1980) * Colonel V. A. Yakovlev (1980–1982) * Colonel V. M. Govorov (1982–1986) * Major General V. T. Kornienko (1986–1989) * Major General Anatoly Fyodorovich Domnenko (1989–1993) * Major General V. S. Kholod (1994–1996) * Major General V.S. Korneyev (1996–2000) * Major General A. Ye. Smolyak (2000–2002) * Major General M. G. Pleshko (2002–2005) * Colonel Valery A. Oleynikov (2005–2007) * Major General Sergey Vitalyevich Pushkin (2007–2009)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Cite book, title=Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской, last=Feskov, first=V.I., last2=Golikov, first2=V.I., last3=Kalashnikov, first3=K.A., last4=Slugin, first4=S.A., publisher=Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing, year=2013, isbn=9785895035306, location=Tomsk, language=ru, trans-title=The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces, ref={{sfnRef, Feskov et al, 2013

External links

55th DMP in Ethiopia, 1981-1982
* https://sovmorpeh.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017_MP3_WEB.pdf Division origins * http://sovmorpeh.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017_MP4_web.pdf division history * http://sovmorpeh.ru/2017/%E2%84%965-2017/#page/15 division history continued Russian Naval Infantry Divisions of Russia Infantry divisions of the Soviet Union Naval units and formations of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1968