Kiev Military District
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| Kiev Military District | |
|---|---|
 Boundaries of the Kiev Military District (in red) on 1 January 1989 | |
| Active | 1862–1992 |
| Country |  Russian Empire(1862–1917)Russian Republic(1917) Ukrainian People's Republic(1918–1919) Russian SFSR(1918–1919) Soviet Union(1939–1941), (1944–1991) Ukraine(1991–1992) |
| Type | Military district |
| Headquarters | Kiev |
| Engagements | Invasion of Poland,Invasion of Romania,World War II |
TheKiev Military District(Russian:Киевский военный округ (КВО),romanized:Kiyevskiy voyennyy okrug (KVO);Ukrainian:Червонопрапорний Київський військовий округ,romanized:Chervonoprapornyi Kyivskyi viiskovyi okruh,lit. 'Red Banner Kyiv Military District', abbreviatedКВО,KVO) was amilitary districtof theImperial Russian Armyand subsequently of theRed ArmyandSoviet Armed Forces.It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its existence.
Imperial Russian Army formation
[edit]
The Kiev Military District was animperial military district,a territorial division type utilised to provide more efficient management of army units, their training and other operations activities related tocombat readiness.The district originally covered theKiev Governorate,Podolia Governorate(less Balta County), andVolhynia Governorate.
Assigned formations included the10th Army.
In 1888, theKharkov Military Districtwas merged into the Kiev Military District.
With the start ofWorld War Ithe district was transformed into the3rd Army.In April 1917, Poltava and Kursk governorates were transferred under the administration of theMoscow Military District.
After theOctober RevolutioninPetrograd,the district came under jurisdiction of theUkrainian People's Republicand existed until the early February 1918 advance of the Petrograd-Moscow Russian Red Guards forces of the Antonov's Task Force that was charged byVladimir Leninto "fight counter-revolution in the Southern Russia", but was in fact invading Ukraine in what would become known as theUkrainian–Soviet War.
The district was not reinstated during the brief Bolshevik period in 1918 nor after the establishment of the independentUkrainian State.
Commanders in the Russian Empire
[edit]- Lieutenant GeneralPrinceIllarion Vasilchikov(July 6, 1862 – November 12, 1862*)
- Lieutenant GeneralCountAdam Rzhevusky(temporary in November 1862)
- Colonel GeneralNicholas Annenkov(December 1862? – January 19, 1865)
- Colonel GeneralAleksandr Bezak(January 19, 1865 – December 30, 1868*)
- Lieutenant GeneralNikolai Kozlyaninov(January 6, 1869 – May 1, 1872)
- Lieutenant GeneralPrinceAleksandr Dondukov-Korsakov(temporary January – April 1877)
- Lieutenant GeneralMikhail Chertkov(temporary September 13, 1877 – April 15, 1878)
- Lieutenant GeneralMikhail Chertkov(September 15, 1878 – January 13, 1881)
- Colonel GeneralAlexander Drenteln(January 13, 1881 – July 15, 1888*)
- Colonel GeneralFyodor Radetsky(October 31, 1888? – 1889)
- Colonel GeneralMikhail Dragomirov(January 1, 1889 – December 24, 1903)
- Lieutenant GeneralNikolai Kleigels(December 24, 1903 – October 19, 1905)
- Lieutenant GeneralVladimir Sukhomlinov(October 19, 1905 – December 2, 1908; Colonel General from 1906)
- Colonel GeneralNikolay Ivanov(December 2, 1908 – July 19, 1914)
- Lieutenant GeneralNikolai Khodorovich (April 16, 1916 – 1917)
Commanders under the Provisional Government
[edit]- ColonelKonstantin Oberuchev(commissar of Provisional Government, March – May 1917)
- Major GeneralKonstantin Oberuchev(May 1917 – October 17, 1917)
- Lieutenant GeneralMikhail Kvetsinsky(October 17, 1917 – November 7, 1917)
Major conflicts
[edit]- January Uprising(pro-Polish insurgency)
- Revolution of 1905
- World War I(1914–1917)
First Ukrainian Army formation
[edit]Commanders
[edit]- Lieutenant ColonelViktor Pavlenko(November 14, 1917 – December 13, 1917)
- CaptainMykola Shynkar(December 13, 1917 – 1918)[1]
Major conflicts
[edit]- Bolshevik insurgency (1917)
- Ukrainian–Soviet War(1917–1918)
First Red Army formation
[edit]The district was reinstated on March 12, 1919, and then again disbanded on August 23, 1919, with the advance of Denikin's forces.
Kiev Military Region
[edit]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 wasAbram Dragomirov.
Soviet Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea formation
[edit]The District was formed again in January 1920[2]as part of theRussian SFSRArmed 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
Ukrainian Military District
[edit]In April 1922 the Kiev Military District was merged with theKharkov Military Districtinto the South-Western Military District. In June 1922 it was renamed Ukrainian Military District.
The6th Rifle Corpswas 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.
Commanders
[edit]- Mikhail Frunze(1922–1924)
- Alexander Yegorov(1924–1925)
- Iona Yakir(1925–1935)
Second Red Army formation
[edit]On May 17, 1935 the Ukrainian Military District was split between theKharkov Military Districtand the Kiev Military District.
13th Rifle Corpswas reformed in the district by a District order of December 1936, and its headquarters was established atBila Tserkva.
On July 26, 1939, the district was renamed into the Kiev Special Military District.
On February 20, 1941, the district formed the22nd Mechanized Corps(which had 527 tanks) in the5th Army (Soviet Union),the16th Mechanized Corps(which had 372 tanks) in the12th Army,and the9th mechanized Corps(had 94 tanks), the24th mechanized Corps(which had 56 tanks), the15th mechanized Corps(which had 707 tanks), and the19th 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 atVasylkiv.
When the GermanOperation Barbarossabegan on 22 June 1941, on the basis of the Kiev Special Military District was created theSoviet Southwestern Frontthat completely integrated the district on September 10, 1941.
Commanders
[edit]- Komandarm 1st rankIona Yakir(1935–1937)
- Komandarm 1st rankIvan Fedko(1937–1938)
- Komandarm 2nd rankSemyon Timoshenko(1938–1940)
- General of the ArmyGeorgy Zhukov(1940–1941)
- Colonel GeneralMikhail Kirponos(1941)
- Lieutenant GeneralVsevolod Yakovlev(1941)
Soviet Army formation
[edit]| Kiev Military District | |
|---|---|
| Active | 25 October 1943 - 1 November 1992 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Size | 150,000 (1990) |
| Part of | South-Western Strategic Direction |
| HQ | Kiev |
| Tanks APCs Artillery Helicopters | 1,500 1,500 700 100 |
| Engagements | World War II |
The District was formed again on 25 October 1943, with the Headquarters inKiev.[6]In June 1946, sevenoblastsof the disbandedKharkov Military Districtwere added to the Kiev Military District. The district now included theoblasts(provinces) ofKiev,Cherkasy,Uman,Voroshilovgrad (historically and now Luhansk),Dnipropetrovsk(nowDnipro),Poltava,Stalino (now Donetsk),Sumy,KharkivandChernihiv.
Units stationed in the District were the1st Guards Armyand6th Guards Tank Army.69th Air Army was active from the early 1950s to at least 1964 in the district (seeru:Колесник, Василий Артёмович). In 1959, the17th Air Armywas relocated to the District fromMongoliato provide air support. The 60th Corps of the 8th Air Defense Army providedair defencefor the District.[7]
The43rd Rocket Armyof theStrategic Rocket Forceswas formed atVinnytsiawithin 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),[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)) atKrasnograd.[10]
From 1980 to 1988 the 17th Air Army was known as the Air Forces of the Kyiv Military District (VVS KVO). Then-ColonelNikolay Antoshkinwas chief of staff of the VVS KVO at the time of theChernobyl disaster,and led helicopter operations to respond to the accident, dropping tonnes of sand and lead onto the exposed reactor core. He was quickly promoted togeneral-mayor(one star) rank, and awarded theHero of the Soviet Union.[11]
In 1991 the district included the6th Guards Tank Army(atDnipropetrovsk),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 the8th Air Defence Army(Soviet Air Defence Forces). Among the district's air force units were the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots atChernihiv.
Also located within the district's boundaries but responsible to HQ South-Western Strategic Direction was the23rd independent Landing-Assault Brigade(effectively an airmobile brigade), atKremenchuk,Poltava Oblast.[12]
In 1991, Colonel General Viktor S. Chechevatov was dismissed as District commander for refusing to take an oath of loyalty toUkraine.[13] The District was disbanded after thedissolution of the Soviet Union,by 1 November 1992,[14]and its structure utilized as the basis for the new UkrainianMinistry of DefenseandGeneral Staff.[15]
Commanders
[edit]- Lieutenant GeneralViktor Kosyakin(1943 – 1944)
- Lieutenant GeneralVasyl Herasymenko(1944 – 1945)
- Colonel GeneralAndrei Grechko(9 July 1945 – 25 May 1953)[16]
- Marshal of the Soviet UnionVasily Chuikov(26 May 1953 – April 1960)
- General of the ArmyPyotr Koshevoy(April 1960 – January 1965)
- General of the ArmyIvan Yakubovsky(January 1965 – April 1967)
- Colonel GeneralViktor Kulikov(April 1967 – 1969)
- Colonel GeneralGrigoriy Salmanov(April 1969 – 1975)
- Colonel GeneralIvan Gerasimov(1975 – 1984)
- Colonel GeneralVladimir Osipov(1984 – 1989)
- Colonel GeneralBoris Gromov(1989 – December 1990)
- Colonel GeneralViktor Chechevatov(January 1991 – 1992)
Second Ukrainian Army formation
[edit]Commanders
[edit]- Lieutenant GeneralValentyn Boryskin(1992)
See also
[edit]- Operational Command North,Ukraine
References
[edit]- ^Tynchenko, Ya.Conflict between the Central Council and the Soviet People's Commissariat.First Ukrainian-Bolshevik War (December 1917 - March 1918). Kiev: "Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies", 1996
- ^Trotsky, Leon."Leon Trotsky: 1921-1923 - How The Revolution Armed/Volume IV (The Case of Red Army Man Kozlov)".marxists.org.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^Lenskii 2001
- ^Meltyuhov MI Lost Chance of Stalin.
- ^Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, 1976.
- ^Kiev RedStar. M., 1974 pg431
- ^Feskov, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov; V.I. Golikov (2004).The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945-1991).Tomsk:Tomsk University Press. p. 8.ISBN5-7511-1819-7.
- ^"44th Missile Division".ww2.dk.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^"43rd Missile Army".ww2.dk.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^V.I. Feskov et al. 2004, 56.
- ^Osborn, Andrew (25 April 2011)."Chernobyl recovery officer criticises Japan's efforts at Fukushima".Telegraph.co.uk.Retrieved2016-04-14.
- ^"23rd independent Landing-Assault Brigade".ww2.dk.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^"Persons - NUPI".Archived fromthe originalon 20 March 2007.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^"Про розформування Київського військового округу - від 16.10.1992 № 497/92".zakon.rada.gov.ua.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^"ANALYSIS: Ukraine adopts program for military reform (03/02/97)".Archived fromthe originalon 18 November 2005.Retrieved14 August2017.
- ^Feskov et al., The Soviet Army during the period of the Cold War, Tomsk University,Tomsk,2004 pg 16
Further reading
[edit]- 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.
