Turkestan Military District

The Turkestan Military District (Туркестанский военный округ (ТуркВО), Turkestansky voyenyi okrug (TurkVO)) was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with its headquarters at Tashkent. The District was first created during the 1874 Russian military reform when by order of Minister D.A. Milyutinym the territory of Russia was divided into fourteen military districts. Its first commander was Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman, who was also Governor-General of Russian Turkestan at the time.

Central Asian Military District
From 1918 to 1926 the District was referred to as the Turkestani Front as its forces were conducting active operations, against the Basmachi Revolt, throughout practically all the District's territory.

In October 1919, Gleb Bokii was sent by Cheka head Felix Dzerzhinsky to Tashkent to head the operations of the Cheka in the Turkestan Front.

By USSR Order No.304 of June, 4th, 1926 the Turkestani front was renamed as the Central Asian Military District (САВО), included territories Turkmen and Uzbek SSRs, Kirghiz and Tadjik ASSRs. In connection with changes of administrative-territorial division of republics and areas of Central Asia as of August, 1940 the district included the Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tadjik, Turkmen, and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics. On 22 June 1941 the Central Asian Military District included the 4th Cavalry Corps (18th, 20th, and 21st Mountain Cavalry Divisions), the 27th Mechanised Corps (9th and 53rd Tank Divisions and 221st Mechanised Division, the 58th Rifle Corps, and the independent 238th Polish Rifle Division, as well as the Air Forces of the Central Asian Military District (under General Major M.P. Kharitonov, including 4th Aviation Brigade with 34th Bomber Aviation Regt (SBs) (Tashkent) and 116th Regiment (I-153s) at Stalinabad) and district troops.

TurkVO
The District was re-created on 9 July 1945 after the division of the Central Asian Military District into the Turkestan and Steppe Military Districts. The new Turkestan and Steppe District were formed from the headquarters of the 1st and 4th Shock Armies respectively. In July 1946 the Steppe Military District was dissolved and its responsibilities transferred back to the Turkestan Military District.

In January 1958 from the abolished South Ural Military District the Turkestan District gained the territories of Aktyubinsk, Guryev and the West-Kazakhstan areas of the Kazakh SSR. In 1957 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the former 5th Guards Mechanised Corps that had ended the war in Germany with 4th Tank Army, moved to Kushka in the Turkmen SSR.

Initially it covered most of Soviet Central Asia, on June 24, 1969 the district was split to recreate the Central Asian Military District (SAVO) following difficulties between the USSR and the People's Republic of China, covering the Tajik SSR, the Kyrgyz SSR, and the Kazakh SSR with headquarters at Alma-Ata. SAVO eventually was merged back into the TurkVO. 73rd Air Army was reestablished to provide air support for the Central Asian Military District. 32nd Army's Second Formation was established at Semipalatinsk in 1969 on the basis of the 1st Army Corps(?) almost simultaneously with the creation of the Central Asian Military District as a result of the tensions with China. The 32nd Army initially combined the former Ukraine-based 167th MRD, the Тurkmenistan-based 155th MRD (was the 16th Mech Div, then 15th Tank Division) and 78th Тank Division (was the 78th Rifle Division, then 19th Мech Div. and 15th Тank Div), being in east Kazakhstan 203rd MRD (was 203rd and 30th Rifle Division, then 102nd MRD).

In 1988 the CAMD included the 32nd Army and 17th Army Corps and troops directly suborfinate to district command. Air support was carried out by the 73rd Air Army, and air defence by the 12th and 14th Air Defence Armies. The 32nd Army (headquartered in Semipalatinsk) includes a tank and three motor rifle divisions, anti-aircraft and missile brigades, artillery and rocket regiments, separate Flame-tank Regiment, and others. The 17th Army Corps (headquartered in Frunze) included the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Frunze) and the 68th Motor Rifle Division (Sary Ozek) (the former 372nd Rifle Division, 68th Mountain Motor Rifle Brigade (Osh), and the 30th independent Motor Rifle Regiment (Kurdai), plus a separate battalion. District units included the 80th Guards Training Motor Rifle Division and the 134th Motor Rifle Division, two communications brigades, a chemical protection missile brigade, a separate air assault battalion, and the 23rd independent Helicopter Transport Regiment (Dushanbe).

Thus the Turkestan Military District covered only the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR. In the 1980s the District became part of the Southern Strategic Direction alongside the North Caucasus and Transcaucasus Military Districts. General Igor Rodionov commanded the District in 1985-6. Within the District's territory and under its command was the 40th Army, in Afghanistan, the 36th Army Corps, and other forces, totalling one VDV airlanding (the 105th Guards Airborne Division at Fergana) and 8 motor rifle divisions. Aviation support for the district was provided by the 49th Air Army, and air defence by the 12th Army of the Air Defence Forces.

In 1988-9, these forces included the: Fighter Regiments of the 12th Army PVO in 1988
 * 40th Army (Kabul, Afghanistan)
 * 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Shindand, Herat
 * 103rd Guards Airborne Division (Bagram, Afghanistan)
 * 108th Motor Rifle Division (Bagram)
 * 201st Motor Rifle Division (Kunduz)
 * 36th Army Corps (Ashkabad)
 * 58th Motor Rifle Division (Kyzyl-Arvat)
 * 84th Motor Rifle Division (Ashkabad)
 * 88th Motor Rifle Division (Kushka)
 * District Troops
 * 4th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Termez)
 * 61st Training Motor Rifle Division (Ashkabad)
 * 12th Air Defence Army (HQ Tashkent)
 * 24th and 37th Corps of the PVO

However from June 1, 1989, the Central Asian Military District was disbanded and its territory again incorporated into the Turkestan Military District, as part of the unilateral reductions which Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev had announced at the United Nations on 7 December 1988.

After the withdrawal from Afghanistan 40th Army was disbanded. But in June 1991 it was reformed at Semipalatinsk from 32nd Army. Immediately prior to its dissolution, the 32nd Army consisted of the 78th Tank Division (Ayaguz); the 5202nd Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (VKhVT) Semipalatinsk, (prior to 1989 - the 167th Sumy-Kiev Motor Rifle Division); the 5203rd VKhVT Ust-Kamenogorsk (prior to 1989, the 155th Motor Rifle Division); and the 5204th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment at Karaganda (prior to 1989 - the 203rd Zaporozhye Khingan Motor Rifle Division).

The District was finally dissolved on June 30, 1992 with the demise of the Soviet Union, when its forces were distributed between 5 new Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The most powerful grouping went to become the core of the Military of Kazakhstan which acquired all the units of the 40th (the former 32nd) Army and part of the 17th Army Corps, including 6 land force divisions, storage bases, the 14th and 35th air-landing brigades, 2 rocket brigades, 2 artillery regiments and a large amount of equipment which had been withdrawn from over the Urals after the signing of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

The Museum of history of The Turkestan Military District is on Gorki Avenue in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.