The 51st Mechanized Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The Brigade drawns its history from the 51st Guards Rifle Division, which was formed from the 76th Rifle Division mid way through the Second World War. In late 1942 the 76th Rifle Division decimated the German force holding and protecting Kletskaya, a key industrial city with numerous metal works factories. For it, the division was promoted to Guards (Советская Гвардия) status on November 23, 1942 and became known as the 51st Guards Rifle Division.
Stalingrad, Kursk, the Baltic: 1943–1945In November 1942, the newly renamed Division was sent back to Stalingrad where it helped encircle and trap the attacking German 6th and 4th Panzer Armies during Operation Uranus. For its participation in the battle of Stalingrad, the unit was decorated with the Order of Lenin. In the summer of 1943, it was sent to complement tanks and other armored vehicles during the Battle of Kursk in Ukraine, once again retaking the cities of Belgorod and Bogodouqovye. From Kursk, the division was sent northward to push back German Army Groups Center and North. Under the command of General Ivan Bagramyan, the 1st Baltic Front commander, it liberated the Belorussian cities of Vitebsk and Polotski. Continuing its advance to the west, the 51st Guards Division took part in pushing Army Group North out of the former Soviet republics the Soviet Union had annexed in 1940, Latvia and Lithuania. Its sacrifice and courage in recapturing Vitebsk were recognized as it was bestowed with the honorary title of Vitebskyan in October 1944. One of the division's artillerymen Aramais Sarkisyan was killed in combat in Belorussia on June 25, 1944 and was recognized as a Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest honorary title for individuals in the Soviet Union. In the Latvian province of the Courland peninsula was the final bastion of Army Group Courland. Despite repeated attempts to take the region, the German units resisted and successfully fended off Red Army offensives. In May 1945, the 51st Division was sent to Courland where it managed to isolate the forces remaining at the peninsula. On May 8, 1945 the remainder the garrison surrendered. The 51st division passed through approximately 7,000 kilometers of former Soviet territory and liberated over 600 towns and cities from the Axis occupying forces. Twenty-one men in the division were recognized as Heroes of the Soviet Union. The division's final wartime honorary title was '51 Guards Rifle Vitebsk Order of Lenin, Red Banner Division Armenian in the name of Voroshilov.'[4] PostwarThe 51st Guards MRD (first formation) was formed after the Second World War from the 51st Guards Rifle Division but disbanded in the late 1950s in the Baltic Military District. The 51st Guards Motor Rifle Division seems to have been formed, for the second time, when the 15th Guards MRD was redesignated the 51st Guards MRD in 1965. It remained as part of the 13th Army in the Carpathian Military District since the late 1940s (when it was reassigned from the disbanding Fifth Guards Army) until the fall of the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union, during the 1990s, the 13th Army was redesignated the 13th Army Corps. Some 400 reservists will be added to the brigade's personnel in time of war to bring troop numbers up to war time strength. The median age of the reserves, which in 2005 consisted of 440 officers, sergeants, and soldiers, is 25–30 years old.[5] Brigade Order of Battle
Awards
Past Commanders
Sources and references
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