19th Motor Rifle Division

19th Rifle Division (1922-57) 92nd Motor Rifle Division (1957-65) 19th Motor Rifle Division (1965-2009)
Active	1922 - 2009
Country	Soviet Union, Russia
Branch	Soviet Army, Russian Ground Forces
Type	Division
Role	Motor Rifle
Part of	58th Army
Garrison/HQ	Vladikavkaz
Engagements	Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Moscow, War in South Ossetia (2008), others

The 19th Motor Rifle Division appears to have been formed originally in July 1922 at Tambov in the Moscow Military District as a territorial formation. In 1923 it was awarded the 'Tambov' placename and renamed the 19th Voronezh Rifle Division.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War it consisted of the 32nd, 282nd, and 315th Rifle, 90th Artillery, 103rd howitzer artillery regiment. It entered combat against the Germans on July 19, 1941 near Yelnya as part of the 24th Army of the Western Front. Participated in Elninskaya offensive, the Battle of Moscow, Rzhev-Vyazma offensive operation in 1942, the Rzhev-Sychevka offensive, Kharkiv defensive operation in 1943, Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation (3 August 1943 - 23 August 1943) (a part of Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev) as part of the 7th Guards Army, Poltava-Kremenchuk offensive, Pyatihatskoy offensive, Bereznegovatoe-Snigirevskaya offensive, offensive Odessa, Chisinau, Izmail offensive, offensive Belgrade 1944 Derskoy offensive, Bratislava-Brnovskoy offensive.

It participated in the liberation of the cities Elnya, Ruza, Krasnograd, Bobrynets, Bratislava, Shumla (Shumen) liberated September 9, 1944. For exemplary performance of command assignments in Bulgaria it was given the honorary name "Shumlinskoy" (27 Sep. 1944). It boosts the Seversky Donets, Ingulets, Dniester, Prut, Southern Bug, Dnieper and Danube. During the Belgrade operation it October 1944 entered the territory of Yugoslavia, in November, crossed the river. Danube near apathy and in difficult conditions forested mountainous terrain led fierce battles with the Nazis on his left side. In 1944 its combat path took it through Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia where it ended the war. For their courage in these battles and military skill he was awarded the Order of Suvorov 2nd degree (January 6, 1945).

External image
Map of the division's fighting path

During the war it served successively with the 24th, 43rd, 5th, 20th, 3rd Guards Tank, 57th, 37th, 7th Guards, and 46th Armies. In 1942 and 1943 it defended in the Gzatsk and Kharkov areas.

In 1945, the division arrived in the North Caucasus Military District and was stationed in Vladikavkaz. In May–June 1946, the division was reorganised into the 11th Separate Rifle Brigade. All battalions of the brigade were stationed in Ordzhonikidze (which became Vladikavkaz in 1990). In August 1949 the 11th Separate Rifle Brigade was reorganised as the 19th Mountain Division, 12th Mountain Corps. On May 31, 1954, the 19th Mountain Division was renamed the 19th Rifle Division. In March 1957 the 19th Rifle Division was reorganized as the 92nd Motor Rifle Division. According to the USSR Minister of Defense Order No. 00147 of November 17, 1964, in order to preserve the martial traditions, the 92nd Motor Rifle Division was renamed the 19th Motor Rifle Division. Thus in 1965 it became again the 19th Motor Rifle Division.

It arrived in the Caucasus region by the mid-1950s and has been stationed for many years at Vladikavkaz. In the late 1980s it was part of the 42nd Army Corps at Volgograd and consisted of the 397th Tank Regiment, and the 201st, 429th, and 503rd Motor Rifle Regiments.

Today after reshuffling of units during the last fifteen years it is part of the reformed 58th Army, in the North Caucasus Military District. Division honorifics are - Russian: Воронежско-Шумлинская краснознаменная, орденов Суворова, Трудового Красного Знамени.

On August 8, 2008, elements of the 19th Motor Rifle Division (at least 503rd Motor Rifle Reg.) entered South Ossetia.

In 2009 as part of the wider restructuring of the Russian Ground Forces the division became the 19th Motor Rifle Brigade.

Subordinated units

File:19th Motor Rifle Division.png

Structure of the 19th Motor Rifle Division

• 429th Motor Rifle Regiment
• 503rd Motor Rifle Regiment
• 693rd Motor Rifle Regiment
• 292nd Self-propelled Artillery Regiment
• 481st Air-Defence Missile Regiment
• 141st Separate Tank Battalion
• Engineer Battalion
• Military Intelligence Battalion
• Signal Battalion
• Chemical Battalion
• Supply Battalion
• Maintenance Battalion
• Medical Battalion

Personnel and Equipment

The 19th Motor Rifle Division currently has approximately 11,000 personnel in active service.

Equipment Summary

Equipment	Numbers
Main Battle Tanks	120 (T-72)
APC & IFV	330
Self Propelled Artillery	72 (2S3 Akatsiya)
Multiple Rocket Launchers	16

Notes

• Michael Holm, 19th Motor Rifle Division

References

• Michael Avanzini and Craig Crofoot, 'Armies of the Bear'
• Aberjona Press, 'Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front', 2005