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. 2005–8)
Active1939–present
CountryRussia
BranchSoviet Ground Forces, Russian Ground Forces
TypeDivision or brigade
RoleMotor Rifle
Part ofBaltic Fleet
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In 1991 the division was withdrawn back to Gusev in the Kaliningrad Oblast.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]

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 of Order of Suvorov.

References
  1. Poirer and Conner
  2. Holm, Michael. "18th Guards Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 6 April 2016.

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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