18th Guards Motor Rifle Division

The 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed originally as 133rd Rifle Division at Novosibirsk or Biysk[1] in 1939. The division was part of 1st Shock Army on 1 December 1941 during the Battle of Moscow. It was redesignated as the 18th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942 with the 51, 53, 58 Guards Rifle Regiments and 52 Guards Artillery Regiment. The division fought in the East Prussian Offensive. The unit became 30th Guards Mechanised Division in 1945 as part of the 11th Guards Army. In 1965 it was renumbered as 18th Guards MRD. It seems to have been stationed in the Kaliningrad enclave with 11th Guards Army before entering Czechoslovakia in 1968, joining the Central Group of Forces.

133rd Rifle Division (I Formation) (1939–1942)
18th Guards Rifle Division (1942–1945)
30th Guards Mechanised Division (1945–1965)
18th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1965 – c. 2001, 2020–present)
Active1939–present
CountryRussia
BranchSoviet Ground Forces, Russian Ground Forces
TypeDivision or brigade
RoleMotor Rifle
Part of11th Army Corps, Baltic Fleet
Garrison/HQGusev and Sovetsk
EngagementsEast Prussian Offensive
Decorations
Battle honoursInsterburg
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Grigory Karizhsky

In 1991 the division was withdrawn back to Gusev in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The division was reorganised as a cadre strength formation, as part of the third-line reserves of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2002, it became the 79th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (Russian: 79-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада).[2] The division itself was reformed in Kaliningrad in December 2020 as part of the 11th Army Corps.[3]

Structure (1990s)
  • 210th Motor Rifle Regiment;[2]
  • 275th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 278th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 280th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
  • 52nd Guards Artillery Regiment

Honorifics are Insterburgskaya Krasnoznamennaya and Order of Suvorov.

Structure (2020/21)
  • 275th Motorized Rifle Regiment[4]
  • 280th Motorized Rifle Regiment[4]
  • 79th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment (former 79th Independent Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade reformed as a regiment)[5]
  • 11th Independent Tank Regiment (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast)[6] (Military Unit Number V/Ch (в/ч) 41611) (Equipped with T-72B Main Battle Tanks (upgrades of T-72s to B3M-standard underway as of 2019/20[7][8][9])
  • 20th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (forming 2020/21; Orlan-10 UAVs and "Sobolyatnik"[10] and "Fara-VR" reconnaissance radars)[11]
  • 22nd Guards Air Defence Missile Regiment (Tor M1/M2), in Kaliningrad[12][13][14]

References
  1. Poirer and Conner
  2. Holm, Michael. "18th Guards Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  3. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 77, 1 March - 7 March 2021".
  4. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 81, 29 March - 9 May 2021".
  5. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 82, 10 May - 23 May 2021".
  6. "Танковый полк Балтфлота привлечён к манёврам в Калининградской области -".
  7. "Fortress Kaliningrad- Ever Closer to Moscow" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2020.
  8. "Russia increases number of tanks in Kaliningrad". 28 January 2019.
  9. "Russia adds firepower to Kaliningrad exclave citing NATO threat". Reuters. 7 December 2020.
  10. "Russian Airborne forces receive Sobolyatnik portable radar | June 2020 News Defense Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2020 | Archive News year".
  11. "В тылу сражений: Калининград защитят сверхдальние разведчики". 10 March 2021.
  12. "Baltic Fleet's Tor-M2 missile systems down maneuvering fast-speed targets in drills".
  13. "A look at the Baltic Fleet and the defense of Kaliningrad". 6 April 2020.
  14. Harris, Catherine; Kagan, Frederick W. "Russia's Military Posture: Ground Forces Order Of Battle" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 March 2018.

Further reading
  • Советская Военная Энциклопедия: [В 8 томах] / Пред. Гл. ред. комиссии Н. В. Огарков – М.: Воениздат, 1977. Т. 4. 1977, 656 с., ил. "Инстербургско-Кёнигсбергская операция" стр. 471—472.
  • Галицкий К. Н. (1970). "Глава двенадцатая. Последние бои. Разгром группы "Земланд"". В боях за Восточную Пруссию: Записки командующего 11-й гвардейской армией. Вторая мировая война в исследованиях, воспоминаниях, документах (40 000 экз ed.). М.: Наука. p. 500.
  • Lobanov, V.V. (1975). Восемнадцатая гвардейская [Eighteenth Guards] (PDF) (in Russian). Kaliningrad: Kaliningradskoye knizhnoye izdatel'stvo.
  • В. И. Феськов К. А. Калашников В. И. Голиков "Красная Армия в победах и поражениях 1941-45 гг" Часть I.
  • "Боевой состав Советской Армии. Часть III. (январь — декабрь 1943 г)., Москва, Военное изд. Мин. Обороны, 1972 г.,
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