Moscow Military District

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Coat of arms of the Moscow Military District
Coat of arms of the Moscow Military District

The Moscow Military District is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Colonel General Vladimir Bakin has commanded the District since June 6, 2005.

Contents

[edit] History

In the beginning of the second half of the 19th century Russia officials realized the need for re-organization of the Russian Army to meet new circumstances. During May 1862, the War Ministry, headed by Army General Dmitry Milyutin, introduced to Tsar Alexander II of Russia proposals for the reorganization of the army, which included the formation of fifteen military districts. A tsarist edict of 6 August 1864, announced in a Defence Minister’s order on 10 August of the same year, established ten military districts, including Moscow. The District’s territory then comprised 12 provinces: Vladimir, Vologda, Kaluga, Kostroma, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, and Yaroslavl. The District was intended as a reinforcement source for troops and equipment, being some distance from the frontier, rather than an operational area.

The District dispatched five infantry and a cavalry division south to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, as well as sending another division to the Caucasus area. This force totaled around 30,000 men and 20,000 horses. Over 80,000 men were also called into reserve units. The District also housed 21,000 Turkish prisoners of war. During the First World War over a million men were stationed in the district. Much of the garrison was involved in the October Revolution of 1917, and consequent establishment of a Soviet regime in the cities of Bryansk, Vladimir, Voronezh, Kaluga, Nizhniy Novgorod, Orel, Tver, Yaroslavl. By a resolution of the Moscow military revolutionary committee on 17 November [O.S. 4 November] 1917, N.I. Muralyov was assigned the as the new commander of the district.

In the period of the Civil War and military intervention in Russia 1917 - 22 the District prepared military personnel for all the fronts and supplied the Red Army with different forms of armament and allowances. From June to the middle of September of 1919 the District conducted 33 callups totalling more than 500 thousand people. In Moscow the 1 Moscow Rifle Division, Warsaw revolutionary regiment, and 2-1 revolutionary regiment were formed, and Latvian forces were brought to the Latvian Rifle Division. In Voronezh two cavalry divisions were formed, two rifle divisions and two rifle regiments in Nizhniy Novgorod, and the 16th Rifle Division in Tambov.

After the end of Civil War in the troops of region were demobilized, as a result of which their number was reduced from 580,000 (at the end of 1920) to 85,000 in January 1923, and the District was reorganised on a peacetime basis. Autumn manoeuvres bagan to be conducted yearly. In the beginning of the 1930 tanks started to be introduced, including the MS or T-18, T-26, T-27, BT, T-28, and the heavy T-35. In 1930 the first mechanized brigade in the Soviet Army was formed in the district.

The Russian Ground Forces' official site notes that the first tactical parachute landing took place in the District on 2 August 1930.

In World War II the District formed three fronts, 23 armies, 128 divisions, and 197 brigades, an approximate total of 4.5 million men. In 1944-5 alone the District sent to the front 1,200,000 soldiers. From summer 1945 to summer 1946, in order to supervise the demobilisation process, the District was subdivided into four: the Moscow, Voronezh, Gorki (where the 324th Rifle Division was probably demobilised), and Smolensk Military Districts.

On 22 February 1968, for the large contribution to the cause of strengthening the defense of the state, for its' successes in combat and political training, and in view of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Army, the District was awarded the Order of Lenin.

In 1979 Scott and Scott reported the HQ address as being Moscow, A-252, Chapayevskiy Per., Dom 14.

The District's dispositions at the end of the 1980s were:[1]

[edit] The 1990s and Today

With the collapse of the USSR the District became for the first time in its history a boundary district and thus a new priority was put on building up combat forces within it, rather than the training and capital garrison focus of the Soviet period.

In the early 1990s the District received the headquarters of the First Guards Tank Army from the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. It was relocated to Smolensk, and consisted of the 4th Guards Tank Division and 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division (at Yelnaya). However the Army's headquarters disbanded later in the 1990s, along with the 144th Guards MRD.

The 22nd Army Headquarters was reformed from 13th Army Corps in the early 1990s, to control the new 3rd Motor Rifle Division among other formations. The 22nd Army had previously been inactive for a long period; it was last operational immediately after the war, when its HQ along with the 109th Rifle Division arrived in the South Ukraine in May 1945 . In the Northern summer of 1945, together with the headquarters of the Independent Coastal Army, located in the Crimea, it was reorganised as the new but shortlived Tavricheskiy Military District.

After several years as a direct reporting formation, the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Moldova was realigned under the command of the Moscow Military District in 1998.[2] Previously the Fourteenth Army, forces and individuals from this command played a major part in the early 1990s in establishing and maintaining the trans-Dnestr separatists of the Transnistria as a viable de facto state.

The District has around 80-90,000 troops assigned and consists of:

Formations of the Airborne Forces, including the 98th Guards Airborne Division and Russian 106th Guards Tula Airborne Division, also are based within the District's boundaries, but report directly to VDV headquarters.

Colonel General Vladimir Bakin was the former chief of staff - first deputy commander-in-chief of forces of the Volga-Ural Military District.

[edit] Sources

[edit] References and Notes

  1. ^ V.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004
  2. ^ Andrew Duncan, Russia and Ukraine: restructuring for a new era, Jane's Intelligence Review, June 1998, p.5
  3. ^ According to [1] the full name is 10 гвардейская танковая Уральско-Львовская ордена Октябрьской революции Краснознаменная орденов Суворова и Кутузова добровольческая дивизия имени Маршала Советского Союза Р. А. Малиновского
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