97th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 343rd Rifle Division (1941-43)
97th Guards Rifle Division(1943-57)
97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957-1992)
97th Mechanized Brigade (1992-2004)


caption= Brigade Insignia
dates= August 1941 - November 2004
country= Ukraine
allegiance=
branch= Ukrainian Army
type= Mechanized Brigade
role=
size=
command_structure= 13th Army Corps
current_commander=
garrison= А-1766 [ [http://www.tuo.org.ua/publications/army/2004/03/30/vidpovid_ministerstv_32.html Ukrainskiy Ofitsery] "(Ukrainian)"] Slavuta, Khmelnytskyi Oblast
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
motto=
colors=
march=
mascot=
equipment=T-64 [http://www.vu.mil.gov.ua/index.php?part=article&id=43 97-ма Полтавська окрема механізована] Article in Ukrainian, website of Ministry of Defense of Ukraine]
BMP
ZSU-23-4
2S3 Akatsiya
2S1
battles= World War II
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=
decorations= Order of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky

The 97th Mechanized Brigade was a rifle, then a motor-rifle division of the Red Army of the USSR. Later it became a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based at Slavuta in the west of Ukraine.

The full name of the division was 97th Guards Poltava Motor-Rifle Red Banner, Suvorov's, Bogdan Khmelnitsky division. After the Division became part of Ukrainian Armed Forces it was known as 97th Separate Mechanized Brigade. [ [http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=1022 News Article of the Press of Ukraine] - Ministry of Defense of Ukraine]

History

The Division was formed in August-September 1941 as the 343rd Rifle Division near the city of Stavropol. It was assigned during the war to the 56th, 6th, 9th, 21st, and 24th Armies. In 1941-42 the Division took part in defensive operations at Rostov, then in the Rostov and Barvenko-Lozovaia offensive operations. Later it fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov and took part in defensive operations near Stalingrad. On July 17, 1942, when 21st Army joined the Stalingrad Front, the division had 2,795 men and under 20 artillery pieces. [http://stalingrad.ic.ru/s21arm.html] After October 1942 it was assigned to the 66th Army, which later became 5th Guards Army.

In May 1943 the Division became 97th Guards Rifle Division. [Keith E. Bonn, Slaughterhouse: The handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.374-5.] It then took part in the Battle of Kursk, along with the rest of 5th Guards Army, part of Steppe Front, initially in reserve. Later it fought in the liberation of left-bank Ukraine. In September 1943 the Division was awarded the 'Poltava' placename honorific, along with its sister divisions the 13th and 95th Guards Rifle Divisions. In 1944-45 the Division took part in the Kirovograd, Uman-Botoshany, Lvov-Sandomir, Sandomir-Silesia, Upper and Lower Silesia, Berlin, and Prague offensive operations. [Bonn, Slaughterhouse, ibid.]

After the end of World War II for two years the Division was stationed in Austria, which it left in 1947. During that time the Division belonged to 5th Guards Army. After its relocation to Slavuta the Division belonged to 13th Army. [V.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004 pg89]

The Division was reorganized from a Rifle into a Motor-Rifle Division around 1957.V.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004 pg72]

After 1991 the Division was reorganized into a Brigade. In November 2004 the Brigade was disbanded. [ [http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sng/ukraine/ukraine_grand_force-dislokazia.htm force _sng ] ]

Divisional Order of Battle

Late Soviet Period ~1988

*110th Tank RegimentV.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004 pg54]
*289th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
*292nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
*294th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment
*232th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
*1094th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment

Awards

*September 1943 received the honorable name «Poltava» [Bonn, 2005, p.374-5]
*19?? received Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky
*19?? received Order of Suvorov
*19?? received the Order of the Red Banner

References

Further reading

For combat history see, for example:
*“World War II". Soviet Encyclopaedia, 1985, p.573 "(Russian)"
*I.A.Samchuk “Guards from Poltava " (Military Publishing, 1965) "(Russian)"