7th Guards Rocket Division


The 7th Guards Missile Rezhitskaya Red Banner division, abbreviated as 7 GRD, is a military unit of the 27th Guards Missile Army, Strategic Rocket Forces stationed in Ozyorny, Bologovsky District, Tver Oblast, Russia.

History

On 14 July 1943, the 19th Separate Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade was formed on the basis of the 79th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment in the area of Staraya Russa. On 27 July 1944, the brigade was awarded the honorific of "Rezhitsa" for bravery and heroism shown by its personnel in the battles for the capture of Rēzekne in Latvia, as commended by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
During the Great Patriotic War, the brigade fought its way from Staraya Russa to Saldus, Latvia, with Colonel M.I. Sokolov commanding the brigade throughout the war. The actions of the entire brigade personnel were highly praised by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and 1,200 servicemen were awarded government awards.
In June 1960, the 7th Missile Engineering Brigade was formed in accordance with the directive of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, dated 25 May 1960. The new brigade was formed on the basis of the 19th Guards Cannon Artillery Rezhitskaya Brigade, redeployed from Gatchina to the village of Vypolzovo in the Kalinin Oblast. The formation of the brigade took place on the housing stock of the 25th Mixed Aviation Division of the 6th Separate Air Defense Army, with Guards Colonel P. P. Uvarov appointed as commander of the missile brigade. The brigade numbered 9,000 personnel, including soldiers and sergeants. Initially, the brigade was part of the 46th training artillery range; from 10 March 1961, it became part of the 3rd Separate Guards Missile Corps.
The first unit to be formed was a missile regiment consisting of three divisions: two with ground launchers and one with a silo launcher. On 30 November 1960, the brigade commander reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that the formation of the missile brigade - military unit 14245 - had been completed. Scheduled training with the R-5 Pobeda missile commenced in early 1961.
On 30 May 1961, by the directive of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the 7th Missile Brigade was transformed into the 7th Missile Division of central subordination. On 14 April 1961, to preserve the combat traditions and memory of the military merits accomplished by the soldiers of the 19th Separate Guards Cannon Artillery Brigade during the Great Patriotic War, the unit was given the honorary title "Guard Rezhitskaya". The division included 4 missile regiments, a repair technical base, a communications center, and support units. The annual celebration date remained the same - 14 July 1943. On 16 July 1961, the unit was awarded the Red Banner.
On 16 August 1961, Division Captain 3rd rank L. S. Shvygin conducted the division's first R-5 missile launch at the Kapustin Yar test site and received a rating of "good." In December 1962, the combat crew of the first division of one of the missile regiments conducted the first standard launch of the R-16 missile for the division at the Baikonur test site.
On 11 February 1963, the first division entered combat duty with two R-16s with ground-based launchers. In total, six divisions entered combat duty in 1963-1964: four with ground-based launchers and two with silo-based launchers.
On 24 May 1963, shortly after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy, the division was visited by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, and Marshals of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky and Nikolai Krylov. Khrushchev showed Castro the new R-16 missile.
On 20 March 1964, the division was incorporated into the 3rd Separate Guards Missile Corps with R-16 missiles. In June 1964, R-16 missile regiments were formed on the basis of the division: military units 14264, 07382, 12408, 14474, 57388, 74201, 14420, and 68528. The combat duty positions of the regiments were located near the borders of the Tver and Novgorod Oblasts.
From 1965, the division began preparing for the construction of a new generation of missile systems with individual launch silos. In accordance with the General Staff directive dated 31 March 1966, six new missile regiments with UR-100 missiles were formed. In 1967, the first of these regiments went on combat duty.
On 1 November 1967, the division was awarded the Commemorative Banner of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and the Council of Ministers of the USSR for success in military labor in honor of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.
From April 1970 to 30 June 1990, the division was part of the 50th Rocket Army in Smolensk. In April 1970, five more regiments began rearming with the UR-100 missile system.
Starting in 1973, work began to remove the UR-100 from combat duty and deploy new 15P015 systems with the MR-UR-100 missile . The first regiment with the 15A15 missile went on combat duty on 6 May 1975. Between 15 October 1975 and 3 October 1978, eight more regiments were put on duty, replacing the Chelomeyev UR-100 with the Yangel MR-UR-100.
On 30 April 1975, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
On 3 October 1978, two missile regiments with the modernized 15P016 complex with the MR-UR-100U missile entered combat duty.
On 14 December 1979, the division was awarded the pennant of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR "For Courage and Military Valor".
From 1982, according to the General Staff plan, some of the regiments with MR-UR-100 were removed from duty and disbanded, while others were transferred to the improved 15P016 complex.
From March 1986, the division conducted comparative tests of the 15U157 wheeled launchers on the and MAZ-7907 chassis of the 15P162 Tselina-2 missile system with the RT-23 Molodets missile weighing 104.5 tons. These tests were carried out on the basis of the division and required the construction of enormous hangars and special road sections with bridges and interchanges to test the destructive effects on asphalt concrete pavement. All work was carried out only at night and under strict secrecy. The tests were completed in September 1987, with the selection of the launcher on the 12-axle articulated chassis MAZ-7907.
In 1994, the last silo missile regiment was removed from combat duty. In accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers of Russia, a museum of missile forces was organized on the basis of one of the combat launch positions of military unit 14264, which was subsequently disbanded. On 30 December 1994, the first silo regiment was transferred to the Topol ICBM with the RT-2PM missile. On 27 December 1996, the second regiment of Topols went on combat duty. In the fall of 1996, the combat crews of the division's missile regiments carried out two successful combat training launches at the Plesetsk training ground.
The annual holiday is on July 14.

Command

  • From May 1960 to 13 April 1970 – Major general Petr Petrovich Uvarov
  • From 13 April 1970, to 21 November 1973 – Major general Yuri S. Marsac
  • From 21 November 1973, to 3 December 1977 – Major general Alexander P. Volkov
  • From 3 December 1977, to 4 January 1982 – Major general Yevgeny Ivanov
  • From 4 January 1982, to 31 July 1986 – Major general Viktor Khramchenkov
  • From 31 July 1986, to 14 July 1998 – Major general Alexander Gribov
  • From 14 July 1998, to 4 July 2000 – Major general Aleksey Abramov
  • From 4 June 2000, to 2006 – Major general Anatoly Shura
  • From June 2006 to December 2009 – Major general Ivan Nikolaevich Kuzichkin
  • From December 2009 to May 2011 – Colonel Alexander M. Galaktionov
  • From July 2011 to August 2013 – Colonel Andrei Anatolyevich Burbin
  • From August 2013 to April 2016 – Colonel Oleg Vyacheslavovich Lankin
  • From April 2016 – Major general Maxim Vladimirovich Ryabchenko
  • From December 2020 – Colonel Andrey Nikolaevich Malinin

    Subordinate units

The division included 11 missile regiments:
  • 129th missile regiment - disbanded 1 December 1989
  • 222nd missile regiment - disbanded 7 January 1990
  • 319th missile regiment - disbanded 1 December 1989
  • 320th missile regiment - disbanded 1 December 1989
  • 509th missile regiment - disbanded 30 January 1990
  • 510th Guards missile Tver regiment
  • 818th missile regiment - disbanded 1 December 1993
  • 272nd missile regiment , - disbanded
  • 342nd Guards missile regiment - disbanded 30 October 1990
  • 256th missile regiment , - disbanded 1 October 1993
  • 41st missile regiment
Other military formations:
  • 281st Communication Centre, since 2012 military unit 14245-B
  • Communications Repair Base
  • 212nd separate group of regulations for combat control and communication means as part of the 1193rd combat control center 606310, Nizhny Novgorod region, Dalnee Konstantinovo-5
  • 2423rd technical missile base
  • 1501st repair and technical base
  • 509th separate engineer-demining battalion
  • 41st operational and technical commandant's office, pos. Ozerny, st. Sovetskaya, 7
  • 29th Separate Helicopter Squadron at Vypolzovo - disbanded in December 2001
  • guard and reconnaissance battalion
  • 61st station
  • separate operational and regulatory group - disbanded
  • 3rd separate medical and sanitary battalion
  • 9th mobile car repair shop
  • 261st complex technical control unit
  • military school for junior specialists

    Weapons

In different years, the armaments division standing missile systems:
  • In 1963–1977 years. – P-16U ;
  • In 1967–1979 years. – UR-100 ;
  • As in 1975–1991. – MR UR-100 ;
  • In 1978–1994 years. – MR UR-100U ;
  • From 1994 to present. at. – RT-2PM Topol.

    Anniversary

On 14 July, the Division's Anniversary is celebrated – since 1943 when the 19th Separate Guards artillery gunnery brigade was established.