18th Guards Motor Rifle Division

History

The 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed originally as the 133rd Rifle Division at Novosibirsk in 1939. The division was part of 1st Shock Army on 1 December 1941 during the Battle of Moscow. It was redesignated as the 18th Guards Rifle Division in March 1942 with the 51st, 53rd, 58th Guards Rifle Regiments and 52nd 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 Motor Rifle Division. It was 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In 1991 the division was withdrawn back to Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast. The division was reorganised as a cadre strength formation, as part of the third-line reserves of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2002, it became the 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (). The division was reformed from the 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in Kaliningrad in December 2020 as part of the 11th Army Corps. In 2022, elements of the division were reportedly heavily engaged in combat in from the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

Structure

Structure (1990s)

• 210th Motor Rifle Regiment;
• 275th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
• 278th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
• 280th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment;
• 52nd Guards Artillery Regiment

Honorifics are Insterburgskaya Krasnoznamennaya and Order of Suvorov.

Structure (2020/21)

• 275th Motor Rifle Regiment
• 280th Motor Rifle Regiment
• 79th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (former 79th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade re-formed as a regiment)
• 11th Separate Tank Regiment (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast) (Military Unit Number V/Ch (в/ч) 41611) (Equipped with T-72B Main Battle Tanks (upgrades of T-72s to B3M-standard underway as of 2019/20)
• 20th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (forming 2020/21; Orlan-10 UAVs and "Sobolyatnik" and "Fara-VR" reconnaissance radars)
• 22nd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Tor M1/M2), in Kaliningrad

References

References

1. Holm, Michael. "18th Guards Motorised Rifle Division".
2. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 77, 1 March - 7 March 2021".
3. vasgri. (2022-04-02). "Russian units of 18th MRD transferred from Kaliningrad Oblast to the east of Ukraine".
4. (12 December 2022). "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 12". Institute for the Study of War.
5. (2022-09-16). "Ukraine's Counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson and the Road Ahead {{!}} FDD's Long War Journal".
6. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 81, 29 March - 9 May 2021".
7. "Rondeli Russian Military Digest: Issue 82, 10 May - 23 May 2021".
8. "Танковый полк Балтфлота привлечён к манёврам в Калининградской области -".
9. "Fortress Kaliningrad- Ever Closer to Moscow".
10. (28 January 2019). "Russia increases number of tanks in Kaliningrad".
11. (7 December 2020). "Russia adds firepower to Kaliningrad exclave citing NATO threat". Reuters.
12. "Russian Airborne forces receive Sobolyatnik portable radar | June 2020 News Defense Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2020 | Archive News year".
13. (10 March 2021). "В тылу сражений: Калининград защитят сверхдальние разведчики".
14. "Baltic Fleet's Tor-M2 missile systems down maneuvering fast-speed targets in drills".
15. (6 April 2020). "A look at the Baltic Fleet and the defense of Kaliningrad".
16. "Russia's Military Posture: Ground Forces Order Of Battle".