Odessa Military District
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The Odessa Military District (Russian: Одесский военный округ) was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, active from around 1939 to the 1990s.
It was formed by a decision of 11 October 1939, and before the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941 its territory included the Moldovian SSR, the Izmail and Odessa areas of the Ukrainian SSR, and in depth the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, and Kirovohrad areas of the Ukrainian SSR, and also the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the RSFSR. The Odessa MD gained parts of the forces of the Ukrainian Front that took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland, previously formed from the Odessa Army Group of the Kiev Special Military District. The 9th Army was formed in the District in June 1941.
The District was reformed on April, 23rd, 1944 with its headquarters at Kirovohrad, which moved in October 1944 to Odessa. After the war the 57th Аrmy and the Seventh Guards Army were deployed in the District. In April 1960 the District consisted of three oblasts (Nikolaev, the Izmail Oblast and the Odessa Oblast) as well as the Moldavian SSR as well as three new oblasts from the disbanded Taurian Military District: the Zaporizhia Oblast, the Crimean Oblast, and the Kherson Oblast. (The Taurian MD had previously been created in July 1945 from the headquarters of the Independent Coastal Army and 22nd Army with its headquarters in Simferopol.) In April 1960 the District came under command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwestern Direction, with his headquarters at Kishinev.
In the District's territory were deployed the 14th Guards Army (Combined Arms, created on the basis of 10th Guards Rifle Corps), the 32nd Army Corps (created on the basis of the former Taurian Military District HQ) the 82nd Army Corps (which was disbanded in 1987), totaling the 98th Guards Air-landing Division as well as 7 motor-rifle divisions. The 5th Air Army of the Soviet Air Forces provided tactical air support for the District's units and the 49th Corps of the 8th Army of the Soviet Air Defence Force was tasked with national air defense for the territory.
It was disbanded after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its units became part of the Military of Ukraine.
[edit] Commanders 1945-91
- General Colonel V A Yushkevich (until 06 1946)(former commander of 31st Army)[1]
- Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov (06 1946-02 1948)
- General Colonel N P Pyhov (02 1948-1951),
- General Colonel K N Galitskiy (1951-1954),
- General Colonel A I Radzievskiy (1954-1959),
- General Colonel Hamazasp Babadzhanian (P H Babadjanyan) (1959-03 1967),
- General Colonel M V Lugovtsev (03 -12 1967)
- General Colonel A G Shyrypov (01 1968-1974)
- General Colonel I M Voloshin (1974-1982)
- General Colonel S A Elagin (1982-'»)
- General Colonel I S Morozov (?)
- General Lieutenant V G Radetskiy (?)
[edit] Forces in the 1980s
Towards the end of the 1980s, the District contained the following forces:
- 14th Guards Army
- 28th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Chornomorske/Yuzhne?)(became 28th Mechanized Brigade circa 2001)
- 59th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Tiraspol)(the former 59th Guards Rifle Division)
- 86th Guards Motor Rifle Division (Beltsy)
- 180th Motor Rifle Division
- 32nd Army Corps
- 126th Motor Rifle Division (Simferopol)
- 157th Motor Rifle Division (Feodosiya)
- District Troops
- 5th Air Army
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the 14th Guards Army became entangled in the later War of Transnistria (see 14th Army involvement in Transnistria). The 98th Guards Airborne Division was split between Russia and Ukraine; the Ukrainian half became the 1st Airmobile Division and the Russian part was withdrawn to Ivanovo in the Moscow Military District and became part of the Russian Airborne Troops.
The 5th Air Army was later redesignated the 5th Aviation Corps of the Ukrainian Air Force, while over the northern border, the Army was reformed in Russia's Volga-Urals Military District in 2001.
[edit] Sources
- Orbat.com/Niehorster, Administrative Order of Battle 22 June 1941
- Feskov et al, The Soviet Army during the period of the Cold War, 2004
- А. Г. Ленский, Сухопутные силы РККА в предвоенные годы. Справочник. — Санкт-Петербург Б&К, 2000
- see also Ru-lang http://samsv.narod.ru/Okr/odvo.html
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