3rd Motor Rifle Division

The 3rd Motor Rifle Division is a motorized infantry division of the Russian Ground Forces.

3rd Motor Rifle Division
Active1997–2009, 2016–present
Country Russia
Branch22nd Guards Army (1997-2009)
20th Guards Army (2016 - present)
Garrison/HQNizhny Novgorod (1997–2009)
Valuyki, Belgorod Oblast (2016–present)
DecorationsOrder of the Red Banner

Order of Kutuzov 2nd class

Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Battle honoursVislenskaya

The 3rd Motor Rifle Division was formed in 1997 from the amalgamation of the 31st and 47th Guards Tank Divisions of the Moscow Military District in Nizhny Novgorod, and existed until March 2009, when the division was disbanded and split into the 6th Separate Tank Brigade and the 9th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade. The 3rd Motor Rifle Division was reformed in 2016 and based in the town of Valuyki, Belgorod Oblast, as part of the 20th Guards Army in the Western Military District.

History
T-72B tanks of the 3rd Motor Rifle Division at the Pogonovo proving grounds in Voronezh Oblast, 2017.

The division formed as 3rd 'Vislenskaya (Russian for Vistula) Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov' Motor Rifle Division by amalgamation of 31st and 47th Guards Tank Divisions at Novy in the Moscow Military District on 1 July 1997[1] gaining the honours of the 31st Tank Division. The Division was in 2004 under the command of General Major Aleksandr Konnov.[2] Elements of the division, notably the two motor rifle regiments, participated in the First Chechen War and Second Chechen War.

Warfare.ru notes that 3rd MRD was unit number 54046, and had constant readiness status. In 2000 the division had 10850 personnel, 244 T-80 tanks, 361 BMP/BTR, 36 2S19 Msta-S, 96 2S3 Akatsiya, and 16 Grad multiple rocket launchers.[3] It consisted of the 100th and 237th Tank Regiments, and the 245th and 752nd Motor Rifle Regiments, as well as the 99th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment.

In March 2009 the division was disbanded and reorganised as the 6th Separate Tank Brigade and the 9th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade. V/Ch 54046 became the 9th Separate Motorized Rifle Visla Red Banner Order of Suvorov Brigade.

In 2016, the 9th Motor Rifle Brigade moved to Boguchar. Its transition to the west wasn't easy. The 9th will become the new, reformed 3rd MRD, as announced On 21 October 2016, by Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.[4]

The post-Soviet 3rd MRD should not to be confused with 3rd Guards Motor Rifle Division, active during the Cold War.

Structure

Sources
  1. http://www.soldat.ru/forum/?gb=3&id=30439 - Russian language forum post on 3rd MRD, see also Michael Holm, 31st Tank Division, 2015.
  2. Scott and Scott, Russian Military Directory 2004
  3. Warfare.ru, Moscow Military District, accessed May 2009
  4. https://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/more-on-the-new-divisions/
  • June 1998 report by Andrew Duncan in Jane's Intelligence Review
  • Feskov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Golikov, V.I. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945-1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7.
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