Far Eastern Military District

The Far Eastern Military District (Дальневосточный военный округ) was a military district of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District.

History
The Far Eastern Military District traces its history originally to the East Siberian Military District originally formed in 1918, during the Russian Civil War. Its headquarters were at Khabarovsk.

Following the Soviet victory in the Civil War the Soviet forces in the area became the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA) of the Far Eastern Republic. The District was first briefly formed in 1935 from those forces, but then reverted to the title Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, under Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Blyukher, while still functioning as a military district. The Army became the Soviet Far East Front in June 1938, after Blyukher's torture and death at the hands of the NKVD during the Great Purge.

In August 1941, the commander of the Separate Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKVDA), General of the Army I. R. Apanasenko was tasked to send to the west several divisions, including tank formations. Almost at the same time in October - November, were sent to the West: the 58th Tank Division of General AA Kotljarova, 61st Tank Division - Colonel BM Skvortsov, 60th Tank Division - Major-General A. Popova and 112th Tank Division.

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria was launched against the Japanese held region of Manchukuo, the Japanese protectorates of Inner Mongolia and Korea, and several Japanese-claimed islands from the Soviet Far East by the Far Eastern Direction, with the two Far East Fronts under its command, under Marshal Vasilevsky in the last days of the Second World War.

On September 10, 1945, the 1st Far Eastern Front was disbanded by being redesignated the Primorskoe (Maritime) Military District, controlling the Primorye Territory, and the 2nd Far Eastern Front was redesignated the Far East Military District controlling Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands. In 1947 the Khabarovsk territory and the Amur area were added to the Far Eastern Military District. Six years later on April 23, 1953, the two districts were reunified as the Far Eastern Military District, with its headquarters staff in Khabarovsk, the staff being drawn from the former Commander-in-Chief of Forces of the Far East's staff.

There were originally a corps headquarters and three divisions of the Soviet Airborne Forces (VDV), active in the district after the war. 37th Guards Airborne Corps (ru:37-й гвардейский воздушно-десантный корпус) had the 13th, 98th, and 99th Guards Airborne Divisions, but the 13th was disbanded in 1959 and the other divisions disbanded by the end of the 1970s, leaving air assault brigades as the only Airborne Forces present. Among the air assault brigades formed was the 13th, activated 8.70 in Magdagachi, Amur Oblast, and active until 1996. The 83rd Air Assault Brigade arrived in Ussuryisk, Primorskiy Kray, in mid-1990, and was transferred from the VDV to the District in 1995.

In 1969 on the staff of the 51st Combined Arms Army was formed on the basis of the staff of the 2nd Army Corps. At the end of the 1980s the composition of the 51st combined arms Army of the Far-Eastern military district included:
 * 2nd Army Corps:
 * 33rd Motor-Rifle Red Banner Division
 * 79th Motor-Rifle Sakhalin Red Banner Division.
 * 25th Army Corps (formed around 1974)
 * 22nd Krasnodar-Harbin Twice Red Banner Motor Rifle Division
 * 87th Motor Rifle Division;
 * 99th Motor Rifle Division (Chukotka) (1324th and 1327th MRRs, were converted in 1984 to the 3840th Military Technology Storage Base until 1 June 1999, when it was disbanded on 1 December 2002 in the city of Anadyr’ and township of Schmidt)
 * 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division (settlement Gor’achiy Kluch of Sakhalin region).

Toward the end of the 1980s the District included the 5th Army (HQ Ussuriysk, seven divisions), the 15th Army (HQ Khabarovsk, four divisions), the 35th Army (HQ Belogorsk, six divisions), and the 51st Army (HQ Yuzho-Sakhalinsk, including 25th Army Corps with the 87th and 99th MRDs, and four other divisions).

On 11 October 1993 the 51st Army became the 68th Army Corps. 25th Army Corps eventually became the headquarters of Ground and Coastal Defence Forces of the new North-Eastern Group of Troops and Forces in the Chukotka area. The District gained the vast Sakha Republic from the disbanding Transbaikal Military District following reorganisation in the late 1990s, which also saw the disbandment of the 15th and 51st Armies. After that 1998 reorganisation, forces within the District included the 14th Separate Brigade of Special Designation (Spetsnaz) at Ussuriysk, the 5th Army, the 35th Army, HQ 68th Corps (the former 51st Army), four Motor Rifle Divisions, and four Machine-Gun/Artillery Divisions. The structure of the 83rd Airborne Brigade at Ussuriysk is unclear; it has incorporated a tank battalion is in the past. With the brigade for certain at present are the 635/654 or 954/598 Separate Airborne Battalions (опдб), a Guards artillery battalion, and support units. In April 2007 it was reported that ten units in the DVVO were manned by contract servicemen.

Under naval command was the North Eastern Group of Troops and Forces (Ru: Группировки войск и сил на Северо-Востоке России (ВССВ)), formed in 1998 and incorporating troops of the former 25th Army Corps. The North-Eastern Group was established in Kamchatka in 1998 "primarily because of the remoteness of the zone of responsibility in the North-East from the controlling structures, the Far East Military District, and the Pacific Fleet". It included the 40th Motor Rifle Brigade on the Kamchatka peninsula, which appears to be at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and includes the 59th Separate Tank Battalion and 385th Separate Motor Rifle Battalion. In August 2007 the 40th Brigade become a Naval Infantry brigade, and in 2009 it became the 3rd Naval Infantry Regiment.

Former Structure c. 2008

 * 5th Army
 * 81st Krasnograd Order of the Red Banner Guards Order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Division (Bikin)(81 Guards Rifle Division was ex 422nd Rifle Division March 1943). Fought at Krasnograd, Iasi, and Pressburg. With 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front 5.45. Became 81st Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957 or 1965.
 * 121st Order of Red Banner Motor Rifle Division (originally 10th Mechanised Corps)
 * 127th 'Roslavl' Machine-Gun Artillery Division (ex 277 MRD, originally 66th Rifle Division)
 * 129th Machine-Gun Arty Division (former 123 Guards MRD, former 17th Guards Rifle Division)
 * 130th Machine-Gun Arty Division (Lesozavodsk)


 * 35th Army
 * 21st Guards Motor Rifle Division
 * 128th Machine Gun Arty Division (former 272nd Motor Rifle Division and 272nd Rifle Division)
 * 270th Motor Rifle Division
 * 68th Corps (reported to have disbanded December 2006)
 * 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division
 * 33rd Motor Rifle Division


 * 392nd District Training Centre (former 129th Training MRD, split from 135th MRD 1969)
 * other smaller units, including 83rd Airborne Brigade and 14th Spetsnaz Brigade

Subordinate units
Order of the Red Star Far Eastern Military District 2010:


 * Combat formations:
 * 5th Army, in Ussuriysk
 * 57th Guards Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade "Krasnodar", in Bikin equipped with BMP
 * 59th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade, in Sergeyevka equipped with BMP
 * 60th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade, in Kamen-Rybolov equipped with BMP
 * 70th Guards Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade "Dukhovshchino-Khinganskaya", in Barabash equipped with MT-LBV
 * 237th Reserve Base (89th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Bikin
 * 245th Reserve Base (93rd Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Lesozavodsk
 * 247th Reserve Base (94th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Sibirtsevo
 * 35th Army, in Belogorsk
 * 38th Guards Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade, in Yekaterinoslavka equipped with BMP
 * 64th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade, in Khabarovsk equipped with BMP
 * 69th Independent Brigade "Svir-Pomerania", in Babstovo
 * 240th Reserve Base (90th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Belogorsk
 * 243rd Reserve Base (92nd Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Khabarovsk
 * 261st Reserve Base (95th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Mokhovaya Pad
 * 18th Machine Gun-Artillery Division, in Goryachie Klyuchi
 * 46th Machine Gun-Artillery Regiment
 * 49th Machine Gun-Artillery Regiment
 * 14th Independent Spetsnaz Brigade, in Ussuriysk
 * 39th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade, in Khomutovo equipped with MT-LBV
 * 83rd Independent Airborne Brigade, in Ussuriysk
 * 230th Reserve Base (88th Independent Motor-Rifle Brigade), in Dachnoye
 * 392nd District Training Center, in Knyaze-Volkonskoye
 * Missile and Artillery formations:
 * 20th Guards Missile Brigade "Berlin", in Spassk-Dalny
 * 107th Missile Brigade "Mozir", in Birobidzhan
 * 165th Artillery Brigade "Prague", in Nikolskoye
 * 305th Artillery Brigade, in Ussuriysk
 * 338th Guards MLRS Brigade "Nevsko-Dvinskaya", Novosisoyevka
 * 7020th Artillery Reserve Base "Kharbin", in Ussuriysk
 * 7021st Artillery Reserve Base, in Nikolskoye
 * Air-defence formations:
 * 5th Army
 * 8th Air-defence Missile Brigade "Shavlinskaya" equipped with the Buk missile system
 * 641st Air-defence Command Center
 * 35th Army
 * 71st Air-defence Missile Brigade equipped with the Buk missile system
 * 643rd Air-defence Command Center
 * Radar formations:
 * 76th Independent Radio Technical Brigade, in Vyatskoye
 * 94th Independent Radio Technical Battalion, in Ussuriysk (5th Army)
 * 1889th Independent Radio Technical Battalion, in Belogorsk (35th Army)
 * Engineering formations:
 * 37th Engineer Regiment (35th Army)
 * 58th Engineer Regiment (5th Army)
 * 2463rd Independent Engineer Battalion, in Ussuriysk
 * 7027th Engineer Reserve Base
 * NBC-defence formations:
 * 16th Independent NBC-defence Brigade, in Galkino
 * 70th Independent Flamethrower Battalion, in Razdolnoye
 * 122nd Independent NBC-defence Battalion, in Ussuriysk (5th Army)
 * 135th Independent NBC-defence Battalion, in Khabarovsk (35th Army)
 * Signal formations:
 * 17th Independent Electronic Warfare Brigade
 * 104th (Communications Hub) Signal Brigade "Kluzh", in Khabarovsk
 * 106th (Territorial) Signal Brigade
 * 54th Signal Regiment (35th Army)
 * 86th Signal Regiment (5th Army)
 * 156th Independent (Rear) Signal Battalion