Odessa Military Academy

The academy was founded as the Odessa Infantry School in 1865, by order of the Minister of War. It was then intended to be a preparatory school that trains infantrymen to serve as a military officer rank. The building of the school was designed by the Russian architect Vasily F. Maas. The military academy was succeeded by the Cadet Corps, which was created on April 16, 1899, by direct the order of Nicholas II, according to the order of creating the school. The idea for creating the cadet corps came from the commander of the Odessa Military District, Count Alexander Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin, who in the mid-1890s recognized the need for the establishment of a special military educational institution in the city of Odessa.[1]

In July 1919, the courses were reorganized into the Military School of the Eastern Front. During the Russian Civil War, courses and schools were repeatedly relocated as the Red Army advanced to Ukraine. In July 1941, the school was redeployed to the Saratov Oblast. In December 1943, the school was given the honorific of Mikhail Frunze. In 1947, it was named the Kiev United College of Self-propelled Artillery. In July 1954, the school was redesignated the Kiev Tank School[2] and was then called the Kiev Command and Technical School, before being renamed to the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School. In 1943 and 1968, the school was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In 1968, it became the senior educational institution of the Soviet Armed Forces for the training of officers of military intelligence units.

By the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on August 19, 1992, the school was closed. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the school remained largely inactive until the military academy was reestablished on June 30, 2011 on the basis of the Military Institute of the Odessa National Polytechnic University in accordance with the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine signed on March 23, 2011.[3]

Until that date the Military Institute, formerly the Ground Forces Institute of Odessa created in the fall of 1992, carried the traditions of the academy.

• Medal "For the Defence of Odessa"

The Band of the Odessa Military Academy (Ukrainian: Військовий оркестр військової академії України) was established in December 2012 and has its origin from the 9th Military Band of the Soviet Army (established in 1964) and the local Song and Dance Ensemble (established in 1939). In 1988, the former won first place at a Moscow competition of small military bands of the Soviet Armed Forces. The choir group of the ensemble showed their art in 1993 at the Leontovich Choir Competition, where it won the 1st place, and in 1995 the dance group became the Laureate of the International Folk Dance Competition in Samsun, Turkey. Today, the small ensembles that are part of the band include a parade band, a jazz band, a ballet group, brass and chamber quintets as well as a concert band. The band represents the academy at all military occasions and the country at international military festivals.[6]