Central Group of Forces

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Soviet officers in Libavá training center, winter 1985

The Central Group of Forces was a Soviet military formation used to control Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945-55 and troops stationed in Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring of 1968.

After the end of the Second World War, Soviet High Command reorganized its troops on the territories it liberated from the Nazi occupation and now occupied. The directive nr 11097 on 10 June 1945 created several new formations, known as Groups of Forces, equivalent to military district but located outside the Soviet Union. Such groups were stationed in Germany (Western Group of Forces), Poland (Northern Group of Forces), and Balkan region (Southern Group of Forces in Romania and Hungary).

The Central Group of Forces was created around that time to control troops in Austria and Hungary, and did so from 1945 until 1955, when Soviet troops were withdrawn from Austria after the Austrian State Treaty was agreed. On its creation it consisted of the 4th, 5th, and 7th Guards Armies though many formations were quickly withdrawn.

The Central Group of Forces was reformed as a legacy of the 1968 Prague Spring events; until that event, Czechoslovakia had had no Soviet troops stationed permanently within its borders. The Central Group of forces had a total strength was about 85,000 and comprised two tank divisions, three mechanized infantry divisions, three missile brigades, an artillery brigade, and an airborne assault brigade. Four of the five Soviet ground divisions in Czechoslovakia were stationed in the Czech lands (15th Guards Tank Division at Milovice, 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Mladá Boleslav, 48th MRD at Vysoké Mýto, and 31st Tank Division at Bruntál), while one was headquartered in Slovakia (the 30th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Zvolen). Group headquarters was located in Milovice (northwest of Prague).

Following the end of the Cold War, the divisions were withdrawn as follows:

15th Guards Tank Division to the Volga-Ural Military District
18th Guards Motor Rifle Division to Kaliningrad
30th Guards MRD to Belarus, and reduced to a storage base
31st Tank Division to the Moscow Military District and
48th Motor Rifle Division - 1996 Jane's Intelligence Review information indicated the Division had been moved to Smolensk in the Moscow Military District where it was later disbanded. Russian forum information ([1] and following) indicates that it was actually withdrawn to Chuguev in Ukraine with 265 гв., 1335 мсп, 353 оучб, 31 орб, 813 обс, 88 орвб, 409 обмо, 34 омедб, 99 оиср, 348 орхз, and then later became part of the National Guard of the Ukraine)