25th Guards Rifle Division

25th 'Chapayevskaya' Rifle Division (1918–1945) 25th Guards Rifle Division (1945–57) 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1992) 25th Mechanised Division (1992–c.2000)
Soldiers of 25th rifle division near Odessa, 1941
Active	1918–1942
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Nickname(s)	Chapayevskaya
Engagements	Russian Civil War Kiev Offensive (1920) Battle of Odessa (1941) Battle of Sevastopol
Battle honours	Order of the Red Banner Order of Lenin
Commanders
Notable commanders	Vasily Chapayev (Civil War)
Insignia
Division sleeve patch
Guards unit
Mechanized branch insignia

The 25th Guards Rifle Division 'Chapayevskaya' was a division of the Soviet Red Army. The division was reorganised and reformed several times until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when it entered service in the Ukrainian Army as the 25th Mechanised Division.

Formed in the period from 24 April 1942 to 12 July 1942, pursuant to Directive GSHKA N org/2/783669 on 16 April 1942, by converting the 2nd Guards Rifle Brigade, ex 71st Naval Rifle Brigade. Station Sonkovo Kalinin region. 11–12 July 1942 g Division ubyla from a place of formation in the Voronezh Front, arrived in the front, the 22 July 1942 until 4 August 1942, the embattled boundary on the eastern bank of the river Bityug. Participated in the battles to establish a bridgehead on the river Don north of the city Korotoyak in August 1942, Ostrogozh-Rossoshanskij, Voronezh-Kastornoye, Kharkov offensive and operations. She took part in the operation to take the city of Budapest, Bratislava .

After the end of World War II (after 1955?), the 25th Guards Rifle Division was given the name and honors of the pre-war 25th Rifle Division, which had been destroyed in the Siege of Sevastopol. Thus it received the name 'Chapayevskaya' after the commander of the 25th RD during the Civil War, Vasily Chapayev. The division's full title became 25th Guards Rifle Sinelkov-Budapest Red Banner Order of Suvorov and B. Khmelnitsky Division named for V.I. Chapayev (Russian: 25-я Гвардейская мотострелковая Синельниково-Будапештская орденов Суворова и Б. Хмельницкого дивизия имени В.Чапаева.)

Cold War service

The 2nd Guards Rifle Brigade was formed from 25th GRD at Kiev, Kiev MD with 20th Guards Rifle Corps after the war. It became 25th GRD again in October 1953. (Feskov et al 2013)

The division was reorganized as a Motor Rifle Division (115th Guards) in 1957, and eventually transferred to the 1st Guards Army in the Kiev Military District. Previously it had been the 38th Guards Mechanised Division.

In December 1964, the division was renumbered the 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division. In March 1967 it was named after the legendary Civil War hero Vasily Chapayev^[1] and thus became the successor of the traditions of the division as the 25th Guards Rifle Division and odnonomernoy 25th Chapayev Infantry Division, died in the besieged Sevastopol and disbanded in late July 1942 (banners parts drowned in the Black Sea).

After the war, the 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division was one of the two names divisions of the Soviet Army, named after the commanders (along with Panfilov - 8th Guards Rifle Division behalf IV Panfilov).

Order of Battle, 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division, 1988–9

• 25th Guards Motor Rifle 'Sinelnikovo-Budapest' Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov and Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division named for V.I. Chapayev (Lubny)^[2]
  • 132nd Guards Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutznesov Regiment (Lubny): 10 T-64; 9 BTR-60, 4 BMP (2 BMP-1, 2 BMP-1К); 12 D-30; 1 PRP-3, 3 1V18, 1 - 1V19; 5 R-145BM, 2 PU-12; 1 MT-55A
  • 136th Guards Motor Rifle Red Banner Regiment (Lubny): Equipment is identical to that of the 132nd Regiment
  • 426th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Lubny): 10 Т-64; 21 BMP (19 BMP-1, 2 BMP-1К); 3 BTR-60" 12 - 2S1 "Gvozdika"; 2 BMP-1K, 1 PRP-3, 3 RHM, 2 MTP-2; 4 R-145BM, 2 PU-12; 1 MTU-20, 1 MT-55А
  • 280th Tank Regiment (Goncharovskoe): 31 Т-64; 4 BMP (2 BMP-1, 2 BMP-1К); 12 - 2S1 "Gvozdika"; 2 BMP-1K, 1 PRP-3, 2 R-145BM, 2 PU-12; 2 МТ-55А; 29 МТ-LBT
  • 53rd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (Lubny): 12 BM-21 "Grad"; 2 PRP-3, 3 - 1ВV18, 1 - 1V19; 22 МТ-LBT
  • 1175th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment

Ukrainian service

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the division became part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces as the 25th Mechanized Division. The division retained its Soviet-era awards and honorifics. One of its regiments, the 280th Tank Regiment, was used to form a new armoured brigade, the 1st Armored Brigade at Honcharivske.^[3] The 25th Mechanized Division was disbanded in 2000.

Awards

• Order of the Red Banner, the division along with 9 separate regiments.
• Order of Lenin
• 78 of the division's personnel were awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union^[4]

Famous People of the Division

• Dmitri Furmanov
• Sydir Kovpak
• Nina Onilova
• Ivan Yefimovich Petrov
• Ivan Panfilov
• Lyudmila Pavlichenko

See also

• List of Soviet Union divisions 1917–1945

References

1. Michael Holm, 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division, 2015.
2. А.Г.Ленского и М.М.Цыбина „Советские сухопутные войска в последний год существования СССР” (Санкт-Петербург, 2001)
3. Andrew Duncan, 'Russia and Ukraine: Restructuring for a New Era,' Jane's Intelligence Review, June 1998, p.7
4. В Чувашии отмечают 40-летие со дня создания чапаевской дивизии - Новости России - ИА REGNUM

• http://gov.cap.ru/
• Chapayev Museum's Website
• Defense of Odessa at http://flot.sevastopol.info
• Celebrating 40 years of the 25th
• Michael Holm, 25th Guards Motor Rifle Division