91st Motor Rifle Division
| 91st Rifle Division 91st Motor Rifle Division | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1941-1945; 1957-1959; 1970-1987 |
| Country |
 Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army |
| Type | Infantry, Motorized Infantry |
| Engagements | |
| Decorations |
 Order of Suvorov 2nd class (2nd formation) |
| Battle honours | Melitopol |
The 91st Motor Rifle Division was a division of the Soviet Army, from 1957 to 1987.
The 91st Rifle Division was active with 52nd Rifle Corps (24th Army) in June 1941,[1] and then transferred to 19th Army, Western Front before being destroyed at Vyazma. The Soviet defense, still under construction, was overrun and spearheads of the 2nd and Third Panzer Groups met at Vyazma on 10 October 1941.[2] Four Soviet armies (the 19th, 20th,the 24th, and 32nd) were trapped in a huge pocket just west of the city.[3] It was formally disbanded in December 1941.
On 5 December 1941 the 464th Rifle Division was formed in Degestan in the North Caucasus Military District, near the cities of Makhachkala.and Bataysk. On 27 January 1942 the division was redesignated the 91st Rifle Division (Second Formation) in the North Caucasus Military District.[4] On 19 November 1942, the division was fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad, part of the 51st Army of the Stalingrad Front under General N.I. Trufinov.[5] On 1 April 1944, the division was part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps of 51st Army and appears to have become involved in the Battle of the Crimea.[6] It was disbanded in the summer of 1945.
In June 1957 the 91st Melitopolskaya Order of Suvorov MRD (Military Unit Number (v/ch) 34562) was formed at Perm in the Ural Military District from the 91st Rifle Division. It comprised four regiments, all at Perm: the 2nd Motorised Rifle Regiment; the 26th Motorised Rifle Regiment; the 434th Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment; and the 345th Tank Regiment. It was disbanded on 1 March 1959.[7]
In July 1970 the 91st Motor Rifle Division (Military Unit Number (v/ch) 58421) was reformed for the second time at Chistye Kluychi (Shelekhovo) in Irkutsk Oblast from the 362nd Motor Rifle Regiment of the 52nd Motor Rifle Division. It did not have the 'Melitopol Order of Suvorov' honorifics that the 91st MRD (First Formation) had inherited from the 91st RD.
It moved to Mongolia in 1979. In 1987 it was withdrawn to Nizhneudinsk, and came under the control of 29th Army. The 91st MRD became the 497th Territorial Training centre in 1987,[8] and 5209th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (VKhVT) in October 1989. It then became the 6063rd Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment in 1992, inheriting the honorifics and awards of the 15th Motor Rifle Division, just disbanded in the Transcaucasus Military District. It then became the 187th Weapons and Equipment Storage and Repair Base in 2009.[8]
References
- ↑ Niehorster, http://www.niehorster.org/012_ussr/41_oob/stavka-reserves/army_24.html
- ↑ Clark Chapter 8,"The Start of the Moscow Offensive", p.156 (diagram)"name="GlantzVAB">Glantz, chapter 6, sub-ch. "Viaz'ma and Briansk", pp. 74 ff.
- ↑ Vasilevsky, p. 139.
- ↑ See Goff, James F., The mysterious high-numbered Red Army rifle divisions, Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Vol. 11, No.4, December 1998, pp. 195–202
- ↑ Beevor, Antony (1998). Stalingrad. Viking, London. pp. 435–437. ISBN 978-0-14-103240-5.
- ↑ "Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1 April 1944". Tashv.nm.ru. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ↑ Michael Holm, 91st Motor Rifle Division
- 1 2 Holm, Michael. "91st Motorised Rifle Division (II)". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-01-02.