Kiev Military District

Kiev Military District in 1911–1915

The Kiev Military District was an imperial military district, a territorial division type utilised to provide more efficient management of army units, their training and other operations activities related to combat readiness. The district originally covered the Kiev Governorate, Podolia Governorate (less Balta County), and Volhynia Governorate.

Assigned formations included the 10th Army.

In 1888, the Kharkov Military District was merged into the Kiev Military District.

With the start of World War I the district was transformed into the 3rd Army. In April 1917, Poltava and Kursk governorates were transferred under the administration of the Moscow Military District.

After the October Revolution in Petrograd, the district came under jurisdiction of the Ukrainian People's Republic and existed until the early February 1918 advance of the Petrograd-Moscow Russian Red Guards forces of the Antonov's Task Force that was charged by Vladimir Lenin to "fight counter-revolution in the Southern Russia", but was in fact invading Ukraine in what would become known as the Ukrainian–Soviet War.

The district was not reinstated during the brief Bolshevik period in 1918 nor after the establishment of the independent Ukrainian State.

The district was reinstated on March 12, 1919, and then again disbanded on August 23, 1919, with the advance of Denikin's forces.

The Kiev Military Region (oblast) was formed by Denikin's forces on August 31, 1919, but already on December 14, 1919, its forces were retrieved and merged with the Forces of Novorossiysk Region. Commander of the military district was Abram Dragomirov.

The District was formed again in January 1920[2] as part of the Russian SFSR Armed Forces stationed in Ukraine.

In the early 1920s, the District included the following divisions:[3]

• 3rd Crimea Rifle Division
• 7th Chernigov Rifle Division
• 15th Sivashsk Division
• 24th Samaro-Simbirsk Iron Rifle Division
• 25th Chapaev Rifle Division
• 30th Irkutsk Rifle Division
• 44th Kiev Mountain Rifle Division
• 45th Volhynia Rifle Division
• 51st Perekop Rifle Division

In April 1922 the Kiev Military District was merged with the Kharkov Military District into the South-Western Military District. In June 1922 it was renamed Ukrainian Military District.

The 6th Rifle Corps was formed on the orders of the Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea number 627/162 from May 23, 1922, in Kiev, part of Kiev and Kharkov Military District.

On May 17, 1935 the Ukrainian Military District was split between the Kharkov Military District and the Kiev Military District.

13th Rifle Corps was reformed in the district by a District order of December 1936, and its headquarters was established at Bila Tserkva.

On July 26, 1939, the district was renamed into the Kiev Special Military District.

On February 20, 1941, the district formed the 22nd Mechanized Corps (which had 527 tanks) in the 5th Army (Soviet Union), the 16th Mechanized Corps (which had 372 tanks) in the 12th Army, and the 9th mechanized Corps (had 94 tanks), the 24th mechanized Corps (which had 56 tanks), the 15th mechanized Corps (which had 707 tanks), and the 19th Mechanized Corps (had 274 tanks ) in the reserve of the district.[4][5] Air-defence forces within the District included the 36th Fighter Aviation Division of the PVO located at Vasylkiv.

When the German Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, on the basis of the Kiev Special Military District was created the Soviet Southwestern Front that completely integrated the district on September 10, 1941.

The District was formed again on 25 October 1943, with the Headquarters in Kiev.[6] In June 1946, seven oblasts of the disbanded Kharkov Military District were added to the Kiev Military District. The district now included the oblasts (provinces) of Kiev, Cherkasy, Uman, Voroshilovgrad (historically and now Luhansk), Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), Poltava, Stalino (now Donetsk), Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv.

Units stationed in the District were the 1st Guards Army and 6th Guards Tank Army. 69th Air Army was active from the early 1950s to at least 1964 in the district (see ru:Колесник, Василий Артёмович). In 1959, the 17th Air Army was relocated to the District from Mongolia to provide air support. The 60th Corps of the 8th Air Defense Army provided air defence for the District.[7]

The 43rd Rocket Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces was formed at Vinnytsia within the District's boundaries in 1960. It comprised the 19th Rocket Division (Khmelnytskyi), 37th Guards Rocket Division (Lutsk), 43rd Rocket Division (Kremenchuk), 44th Rocket Division (Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, disbanded 31 March 1990. Previously 73rd Engineer Brigade RVGK at Kamyshin.),[8] and the 46th Rocket Division (Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast). The 43rd Rocket Army's last commander was Colonel-General Vladimir Alekseevich Mikhtyuk, who served from 10 January 1991 to 8 May 1996,[9] when it was finally disbanded.

Also in the district in 1988 was the 72nd Central Artillery Weapons Base (Центральная артиллерийская база вооружения (средств управления)) at Krasnograd.[10]

In 1991 the district included the 6th Guards Tank Army (at Dnipropetrovsk), 1st Guards Army (Chernihiv), 36th Motor Rifle Division (Artemivsk [Bakhmut]), 48th Motor Rifle Division (Chuhuiv), 48th Guards Tank Training Division (Desna), 9th independent Special Forces Brigade GRU (activated 15 October 1962 in Kirovohrad [Kropyvnytsnkyi], formed up 31 December 1962, remaining in Ukraine in 1992), 17th Air Army, and the 60th Air Defence Corps of the 8th Air Defence Army (Soviet Air Defence Forces). Among the district's air force units were the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots at Chernihiv.

Also located within the district's boundaries but responsible to HQ South-Western Strategic Direction was the 23rd independent Landing-Assault Brigade (effectively an airmobile brigade), at Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast.[11]

In 1991, Colonel General Viktor S. Chechevatov was dismissed as District commander for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to Ukraine.[12] The District was disbanded after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by 1 November 1992,[13] and its structure utilized as the basis for the new Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and General Staff.[14]

• Operational Command North, Ukraine

• The Red Kiev. Studies in the History of the Red Banner Kiev Military District (1919-1979). Second edition, revised and expanded. Kiev, Ukraine Political Literature Publishing House. 1979.