3rd Shock Army - Service in Germany - Cold War Order of Battle

Cold War Order of Battle

For most of the 1970s and 1980s the Army was composed from the following major formations:

  • 10th Guards Uralsko-Lvovskaya Tank Division
  • 12th Guards Tank Division
  • 47th Guards Tank Division
  • 207th Motor Rifle Division (not a Guards unit according to Feskov et al.)

Late in the Cold War the Army was unique in having four tank divisions as part of its formation. It was located in Magdeburg, and its order of battle included:

  • 7 Guards tank Kiev-Berlin division (Roßlau) (disbanded 1990)
    • 55 Guards tank Vasilkovskiy regiment (Lutherstadt-Wittenberg)
    • 56 Guards tank Vasilkov Shepetovsk regiment (Zerbst)
    • 79 Guards tank Bobruiskiy regiment (Roßlau)
    • 40 motor-rifle Berlin regiment (Bernburg)
    • 670 Guards motorised artillery regiment (Cochstedt)
    • 287 Guards antiaircraft-missile regiment (Roßlau)
    • 4 Independent Reconnaissance Battalion (Quedlinburg-Quarmbeck)
    • 146 (?) independent signal battalion (Roßlau?)
    • 121 independent engineer battalion (Roßlau)
    • (?) independent battalion of chemical protection (Roßlau?)
    • 183 independent battalion of materiel supply (Roßlau)
    • 58 independent is repair-restoration battalion (Roßlau)
    • 89 independent medical-sanitary battalion (Dessau)
  • 10 Guards Tank Ural Volunteer Division in the name of Marshal of Soviet Union R. A. Malinovsky (Altengrabow) (now at Boguchar in the Moscow Military District)
    • 61 Guards tank Sverdlovsk regiment (Altengrabow)
    • 62 Guards tank Permian-Keletskiy regiment (Altengrabow)
    • 63 Guards tank Chelyabinsk-Petrokovskiy regiment (Altengrabow)
    • 248 Guards motor-rifle Unechskiy regiment (Schönebeck)
    • 744 Guards motorised artillery Ternopol' regiment (Altengrabow)
    • 359 Guards anti-aircraft missile L'vov regiment (Altengrabow)
    • 112 independent reconnaissance battalion (Khalershtadt) later Altengrabow
    • 152 independent signal battalion (Altengrabow)
    • 131 independent engineer battalion (Magdeburg)
    • 127 independent battalion of chemical protection (Altengrabow)
    • 1072 independent battalion of materiel supply (Altengrabow)
    • 60 independent is repair-restoration battalion (Altengrabow)
    • 188 independent medical-sanitary battalion (Altengrabow)
  • 12 Guards Tank Uman Division (Neuruppin) (disbanded 1991)
    • 48 Guards tank Vapnyarsko-Varshavsky regiment (Neuruppin)
    • 332 Guards tank Warsaw red banner of order A. Nevsky regiment (Neuruppin)
    • 353 Guards tank Vapnyarsko-Berlin regiment (Neuruppin)
    • 200 Guards motor-rifle Fastov regiment (Burg)
    • 117 self-propelled artillery regiment (Mahlwinkel)
    • 933 antiaircraft-missile Upper Dnieper regiment (Burg)
    • 18 independent Guards reconnaissance Demblin battalion (Mahlwinkel)
    • 490 independent signal battalion (Neuruppin)
    • 136 independent Guards Demblin engineer battalion (Neuruppin)
    • (?) individual company of chemical protection (Neuruppin)
    • 1074 independent battalion of materiel supply (Wulkow)
    • 64 independent is repair-restoration battalion (Neuruppin)
    • 208 independent medical-sanitary battalion (Neuruppin?)
  • 47 Guards tank Lower-Dnepr division (Hillersleben)(withdrawn to Moscow Military District, amalgamated in the mid-1990s with the 31st Tank Division as the 3rd Motor Rifle Division)
    • 26 tank Feodosiya regiment (Hillersleben)
    • 153 tank Smolensk Red Banner Order of Kutuzov regiment (Hillersleben)
    • 197 Guards tank Vapnyar-Warsaw regiment (Halberstadt)
    • 245 Guards motor-rifle Gneznenskiy Red Banner, Order of Suvorov regiment (Mahlwinkel)
    • 99 Guards motorised artillery Pomeranian regiment (Mahlwinkel)
    • 1009 antiaircraft-missile Order of Red Star regiment (Hillersleben)
    • 7 independent reconnaissance battalion (Hillersleben later Burg)
    • 73 independent signal battalion (Hillersleben)
    • 52 independent engineer battalion (Hillersleben)
    • 1077 independent battalion of materiel supply(Hillersleben)
    • 332 individual company of chemical protection (Mahlwinkel?)
    • 65 independent is repair-restoration battalion (Hillersleben?)
    • 63 independent medical-sanitary battalion (Hillersleben)

Formation and units subordinate to Army

  • 792 individual company of special purpose (SpetsNaz) (Cochstedt)
  • 115 individual tank regiment (Quedlinburg)
  • 899 independent landing-assault battalion (Burg)
  • 232 independent battalion of protection and security (Magdeburg)
  • 178 individual helicopter regiment (Borstel)
  • 440 individual helicopter regiment (Borstel)
  • 296 independent helicopter squadron (Mahlwinkel)
  • 36 missile brigade (Altengrabow)
  • 448 missile brigade (Born)
  • 49 antiaircraft-missile brigade (Planken)
  • 385 artillery brigade (Planken)
  • 451 individual anti-tank artillery battalion (Magdeburg)
  • 254 individual radio-technical regiment (Cochstedt)
  • 15 independent radio-technical battalion (Magdeburg)
  • 10 independent battalion radio-electronic combat (Stahnsdorf)
  • 105 independent communications regiment (Magdeburg)
  • 457 independent radio relay cable battalion (Magdeurg)
  • 323 independent engineer battalion (Magdeburg)
  • 36 Łódź engineer pontoon bridge regiment (Magdeburg)
  • 2 independent battalion of chemical protection (Burg)
  • 42 brigades of materiel supply (Magdeburg)
  • 298 independent equip. maint. and recovery battalion (Schönebeck)
  • 302 independent equip. maint. and recovery battalion (Schönebeck)
  • (?) military hospital (Magdeburg)

Read more about this topic:  3rd Shock Army, Service in Germany

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