19th Motor Rifle Division

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.

During the war it served successively with the 24th, 43rd, 5th, 20th, 3rd Guards Tank, 57th, 37th, 7th Guards, and 46th Armies. It conducted defensive operations near Elnia and was fought during the Battle of Moscow. In 1942 and 1943 it defended in the Gzatsk and Kharkov areas, took part in the Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation (3 August 1943 - 23 August 1943) (a part of Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev) as part of the 7th Guards Army, and the liberation of the Ukraine. In 1944 its combat part took it through Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia where it ended the war. In September 1944 it was given the 'Shumlin' place name honorific.

Until 1957 the Division remained titled the 19th Rifle Division, its Second World War designation. It was briefly the 92nd Motor Rifle Division from 1957 to 1965 but in 1965 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

 * 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

Sources and references

 * Feskov et al., 'The Soviet Army in the period of the Cold War'
 * Crofoot et al., 'Armies of the Bear'
 * Aberjona Press, 'Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front'
 * See also http://www.soldat.ru/forum/?gb=3&id=33194