42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division

The division was formed in July 1940 in Vologda as the 111th Rifle Division based on the 29th Reserve Brigade of the Arkhangelsk Military District.

In the active army from June 22, 1941, to March 17, 1942. On July 16, 1940, the division was fully formed (which became the division's anniversary). Until March 1941, the 111th Rifle Division only held 3,000 personnel. According to the "Reference on the deployment of the Armed Forces of the USSR in the event of a war in the West", prepared by N.F. Vatutin on May 13, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was supposed to join the 28th Army. From June 10 to June 20, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was strengthened with 6,000 assigned personnel. The peacetime shtat (table of organization and equipment) No. 4/120 in the spring of 1941 was 5900 personnel. On June 22, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was in field camps at the Kushchuba training center, 50  km from Vologda. From June 24 to June 30, 1941, the 111th Rifle Division was included in the 41st Rifle Corps of the Moscow Military District. The division was redeployed through Yaroslavl and Leningrad and departed for the Northwestern Front. On June 30, 1941, the corps arrived in the region of the city of Ostrov, Pskov Oblast, to engage in defense in the Ostrov and Pskov fortified areas. Under enemy fire, elements of the division unloaded at the Pskov, Cherskaya, and Ostrov stations and moved directly from the railway into battle. On July 10, the first commander of the division, Colonel I. M. Ivanov, died.

1991 Structure of the 42nd Motor Rifle Division

On 14 September 1987, it became the 173rd Guards District Training Centre.[2] In 1991, it comprised the 70th, 71st, and 72nd Motor Rifle Regiments; the 392nd Tank Regiment at Shali; the 50th Guards Training Artillery Regiment; and the 1203rd Anti-aircraft Rocket Regiment. In November 1990, it had 219 tanks, 187 being T-55s.

From September to December 1991, part of the Training Centre's equipment and weapons were withdrawn from Chechnya by rail. In 1992, the Training Centre was disbanded. By Directive of the General Staff of the Armed Forces No. 314/3/0159 dated January 4, 1992, the 173rd Guards District Training Centre was to be separated,[2] and weapons and military equipment were to be removed. By a cipher telegram from the Minister of Defense of Russia, General of the Army P. S. Grachev, dated May 20, 1992, the commander of the North Caucasus Military District was allowed to transfer to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 50 percent of military equipment and weapons from the Training Centre. [21]

In early January, Major General P. Sokolov, the commander of the Training Centre, issued an order to issue personal weapons to officers and ensigns to protect them and other Soviet personnel from Chechen attacks.[22]

Through robbery and extortion, much of the Training Centre's armament and military equipment, and other military units passed into the hands of Chechen separatists. Only 400 thousand small arms fell into the hands of Dzhokhar Dudayev, which was in warehouses and bases. All armored vehicles remained entirely in the village of Shali, where the tank regiment was stationed. The separatists also received 42 tanks, 34 infantry fighting vehicles, 14 armored personnel carriers, 139 artillery systems, 101 anti-tank weapons, 27 anti-aircraft guns and installations, two helicopters, 27 wagons of ammunition, 3,050 tons of fuel and lubricants, 38 tons of clothing, 254 tons of food.[22]

1992 when the division was disbanded, the following were transferred to the Chechen Republic: 44 MT-LBs, 57,000 small arms, and 27 wagons of ammunition.

Following the beginning of the Second Chechen War, the division was designated in December 1999 as the permanent garrison force for Chechnya, and various military districts started raising their regiments separately in 2000.[23] The division was intended to have a strength of 15,500 men. Its headquarters was established at Khankala outside Groznyy, with the 71st Motor Rifle Regiment also at the same base; the 71st MRR was raised in the Volga Military District. 70th Motor Rifle Regiment was formed in the Urals MD and located at Shali. 72nd MRR, raised from the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District was established at Kalinovskaya, and 291st Motor Rifle Regiment, originating in the Leningrad Military District, was set up at Borzoy.[24]

On 1 July 2000, the Russian military leadership announced that a different place had been selected for stationing one of the regiments of the 42nd Division.[25] Deputy Defence Minister for the construction and quartering of troops, Colonel-General Aleksandr Kosovan (ru:Косован, Александр Давыдович) said that the MOD had decided on the area of the Borzoy settlement instead of the planned Itum-Kale for its motor rifle regiment. He also said that three of the regiments of the 42nd Division were going to be equipped "to the maximum" by the end of the year. The writer Michael Orr noted that the 291st Motor Rifle Regiment had been relocated 'when the tactical vulnerability of the position [originally Itum-Kale] was appreciated.'[26] The division was equipped with T-62 tanks, with at least one regiment having BMP-1 IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles).

The 42nd Division included two Chechen battalions, Vostok-Akhmat and Zapad-Akhmat, volunteer formations raised by Ramzan Kadyrov in late June 2022 and named after older Chechen Spetnz units from the Chechen wars, although the new units only relation to the older units is their name. Prior to being subordinated to the 42nd Division the units where part of Rosgvardiya.[27][28]

The division was reestablished in 2016, based on the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade and additional units.[29] In November 2021 units of the division were deployed to Crimea.[30] The division took part in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine with three of its Motor Rifle Regiments (70th, 71st, and 291st). The 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment suffered substantial losses in southeastern Ukraine.[31] As of July 2023 Colonel Roman Demurchiyev was division commander.[32]

During the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, the division was heavily engaged around Robotyne.[33]

• Orr, Michael (2000). "Russia's Chechen War Reaches Crisis Point". Jane's Intelligence Review. October 2000.
• Robinson, Colin (2005). "The Russian Ground Forces: A Structural Status Examination". Journal of Slavic Military Studies. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis, Inc. 18 (2). doi:10.1080/13518040590944421. ISSN 1351-8046. S2CID 145691472.