| 133rd Rifle Division (I Formation) (1939-42) 18th Guards Rifle Division (1942-45) 30th Guards Mechanised Division (1957-1965) 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1965-c. 2005-8) |
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|---|---|
| Active | 1939 - Present |
| Country | Russia |
| Branch | Soviet Ground Forces, Russian Ground Forces |
| Type | Division or brigade |
| Role | Motor Rifle |
| Part of | Baltic Fleet |
| Engagements | East Prussian Offensive |
The 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed originally as 133rd Rifle Division at Novosibirsk or Biysk[1] in 1939. 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.
In 1991 the Division was withdrawn back to Gusev in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The Division is now at cadre strength, as part of the third-line reserves of the Russian Ground Forces. However there is one Russian chat-forum report that the Division has been reorganised as 79th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade[2] (Russian: 79-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая бригада). As the 280th Guards MR Regiment was the last reported unit in the area, in 2002, the 79th Brigade may have inherited its awards and honorific names.
Honorifics are Insterburgskaya Krasnoznamennaya of Order of Suvorov.