97th Guards Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

The 97th Guards Mechanized Brigade was a rifle, and then a motor-rifle division of the Soviet Union's Army, before becoming a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based in Slavuta in western Ukraine.

343rd Rifle Division (1941–43)
97th Guards Rifle Division (1943–57)
97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1992)
97th Mechanized Brigade (1992–2004)
Brigade Insignia
ActiveAugust 1941 – November 2004
CountryUkraine
BranchUkrainian Army
TypeMechanized Brigade
Part of13th Army Corps
Garrison/HQА-1766[1] Slavuta,[2] Khmelnytskyi Oblast
EquipmentT-64[3]
BMP-2[3]
ZSU-23-4[3]
2S3 Akatsiya[3]
2S1[3]
EngagementsWorld War II
DecorationsOrder of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky

The full name of the division was the "97th Guards Poltava Motor-Rifle Division, Red Banner, Suvorov's, Bogdan Khmelnitsky". After the division became part of Ukrainian Armed Forces it was known as the "97th Separate Mechanized Brigade".[4]

History

World War II

The division was formed in August–September 1941 as the 343rd Rifle Division near the city of Stavropol. Over the next twelve months it was assigned to the 56th, 6th, 9th, 21st, and 24th Armies. The division took part in the defensive operations at Rostov, then in the Rostov and Barvenko-Lozovaia offensive operations. Later, it fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov, then fled eastward to take part in defensive operations near Stalingrad. On July 17, 1942, when the 21st Army joined the Stalingrad Front, the division had 2,795 men and fewer than 20 artillery pieces.[5] After October, 1942, it was assigned to the 66th Army, which later became the 5th Guards Army.

On May 4, 1943, the division was re-designated as the 97th Guards Rifle Division.[6] Its order of battle was as follows:

  • 289th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1151st Rifle Regiment
  • 292nd Guards Rifle Regiment from 1153rd Rifle Regiment
  • 294th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1155th Rifle Regiment
  • 232nd Guards Artillery Regiment from 903rd Artillery Regiment
  • 104th Guards Antitank Battalion from 567th Antitank Battalion
  • 110th Guards Sapper Battalion from 620th Sapper Battalion
  • 141st Guards Signal Battalion from 791st Signal Battalion
  • 100th Guards Reconnaissance Company from 402nd Reconnaissance Company

The day before its re-designation the division was assigned to the newly-formed 33rd Guards Rifle Corps.[7] On May 2, the commander of the division, Matvei Usenko, was promoted to the rank of Major General. Just ten days later he was killed after being blown up by a land mine while crossing a road in a vehicle.[8]

The division took part in the Battle of Kursk, along with the rest of 5th Guards Army as part of the Steppe Front. Later, it fought in the liberation of left-bank Ukraine. In September, the division was awarded the 'Poltava' honorific, along with its sister divisions, the 13th and 95th Guards Rifle Divisions.[9] In 1944 and 1945, it took part in the Kirovograd, Uman-Botoshany, Lvov-Sandomir, Sandomir-Silesia, Upper and Lower Silesia, Berlin, and Prague offensives. The division ended the war in 32nd Guards Rifle Corps, still in 5th Guards Army.[6][7]

Postwar

After World War II, the division was stationed in Austria, with the Central Group of Forces, where it remained until 1946. During that time, the division belonged to the 5th Guards Army. After its relocation to Slavuta, it became part of the 13th Army.[10] After it moved to Slavuta, the division was downsized into the 28th Separate Guards Rifle Brigade, but became a division again on 16 September 1949.[11] In 1957, it was reorganized from a Rifle into a Motor Rifle division.[12] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the division was reorganized into a Brigade, which continued to exist until November 2004, when it was disbanded.[13]

Order of battle

During the late 1980s, the division included the following units.[2]

  • 110th Tank Regiment
  • 289th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
  • 292nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
  • 294th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
  • 232nd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
  • 1094th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment

Awards

References
  1. Ukrainskiy Ofitsery Archived 2008-04-09 at the Wayback Machine (Ukrainian)
  2. Feskov et al 2013, p. 473.
  3. 97-ма Полтавська окрема механізована Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine Article in Ukrainian, website of Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
  4. "171 артилерійський снаряд часів Другої світової війни, які були виявлені на городі мешканця села Білопіль, що на Хмельниччині, знешкодили воїни-сапери 97-ої окремої механізованої бригади Західного оперативного командування" [97th Separate Mechanized Brigade soldiers defuse 171 WWII artillery shells] (in Ukrainian). Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. 8 May 2002. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2001-04-24. Retrieved 2008-02-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Bonn 2005, pp. 374–375.
  7. Sharp 1995, p. 84.
  8. Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals, trans. and ed. D.M. Glantz, Frank Cass Publishers, London, 1998, p. 95
  9. http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-5.html Accessed 6 June 2017
  10. Feskov et al 2013, p. 471.
  11. Feskov et al 2013, p. 149.
  12. Feskov et al 2013, p. 472.
  13. Vad777. "Дислокация частей украинской армии" [Bases of Ukrainian Army units] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  14. Feskov et al 2013, p. 166.

Sources
  • Bonn, Keith E., ed. (2005). Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front. Bedford, PA: Aberjona Press. ISBN 097176509X.
  • Sharp, Charles C. (1995). "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units, 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. IV. George F. Nafziger.
  • Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.

Further reading
  • I.A. Samchuk, “Guards from Poltava" (Moscow, Voenizdat, 1965) (Russian)
  • "World War II, Soviet Encyclopaedia, 1985, p. 573 [М. М. Козлов. Великая Отечественная война 1941-1945: Энциклопедия. — М: «Советская энциклопедия», 1985. — С. 573. — 832 с. — 105 000 экз.]
  • Феськов В. И., Калашников К. А., Голиков В. И. Глава 2. Стрелковые и воздушно-десантные войска, укрепленные районы Красной Армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны // Красная Армия в победах и поражениях 1941-1945 гг.. — Томск: Издательство Томского университета, 2003. — 619 с. — ISBN 5-7511-1624-0.
  • Чуйков В. И. Сражение века. — М.: Советская Россия, 1975. — 317 с.
  • Жадов А. С. Четыре года войны. — М.: Воениздат, 1978. — 334 с.
  • Военный энциклопедический словарь. — под. ред. Н. В. Огаркова. — Военное издательство, 1983. — С. 573. — 863 с. — ISBN ББК 68я2 В63.
  • Родимцев А. И., Гвардейцы стояли насмерть, 2 изд., М., 1973


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