User:Mrg3105/Transcaucasus MD

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

(Russian: Воронежский Фронт)

Contents

[edit] Transcaucasus Military District

After World War II the Transcaucasus Front reverted to being a part of the Headquarters Transcaucasus Military District (ZakVO), in Tbilisi. In 1979 Scott and Scott reported the District' HQ address as Tbilisi-4, Ulitsa Dzneladze, Dom 46. The District became part of the Southern Direction, headquartered in Baku and including the North Caucasus and Turkestan Military Districts, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[1]

[edit] Commanders 1945-91

  • Генерал армии ИИ Масленников (05 1946-01 1947)
  • Маршал Советского Союза ФИ Толбухин (01 1947-101949)
  • Army General А И Антонов (12 1949-04 1954)
  • Army General И И Федюнинский (04 1954-1957)
  • Marshal of the Soviet Union, Маршал Советского Союза (19 10 1957-31 12 1957)
  • Army General К Н Галицкий (01011958-1961)
  • Army General АТ Стученко (1961-041968)
  • General Colonel СК Куркоткин (041968-091971)
  • General Colonel ПВ Мельников (10 197 1-1978)
  • General Colonel О Ф Кулишев (1978-08 1983)
  • General Colonel В М Архипов (08 1983-071985)
  • Army General К А Кочетов (07 1985-05 1988)
  • Colonel General Igor Rodionov commanded the District from May 1988 to August 89 before being removed after the April 1989 massacre in Tbilisi.
  • General Colonel В А Патрикеев (с 08 1989)

[edit] Forces in the late 1980s

In the late 1980s dispositions within the District were as follows:[2]

  • Fourth Army, HQ Baku, Azerbaijan SSR
    • 23rd Motor Rifle Division, Gyandzha
    • 60th Motor Rifle Division, Lenkoran
    • 216th Motor Rifle Division
    • 295th Motor Rifle Division, Baku

[edit] Russian Transcaucasus Group of Forces

Following the fall of the USSR, the District became the Group of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus (Russian Группа российских войск в Закавказье - ГРВЗ; GRVZ). After many of the divisions listed above had dissolved or become part of the former republics' armed forces, in the mid 1990s the GRVZ's dispositions were:

General Major Aleksander Studenikin, former deputy commander of the Moscow Military District's 20th Army, commanded the Group in 2004 with General (Major?) Andrei Popov as his deputy.[3] The Russian base at Vaziani was withdrawn in the late 1990s and an agreement over the withdrawal of the 12th and 62nd Bases by 2008-09 was made in 2005.

Russia had maintained two Russian military bases in Georgia (the 62nd Base in Akhalkalaki and the 12th in Batumi), remnants of the Soviet era, but the bases are in the process of being withdrawn. The Akhalkalaki 62nd base was officially transferred ahead of schedule to Georgia on June 27, 2007.[4] The 12th Military Base in Batumi was also transferred early; scheduled for 2008, it was actually transferred on November 13, 2007. The ‘Zvezda’ command post (probably the former District war headquarters) in the town of Mtskheta, just north of Tblisi, was handed over by early September 2005. [5] Due to the espionage conflict between Russia and Georgia, the Transcaucasus Group of Forces headquarters in Tbilisi was closed down ahead of schedule: 287 Russian servicemen left Georgia by December 31, 2006.[6]

Even after the GRVZ is totally withdrawn, Russian troops will remain in peacekeeping roles in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, de-jure parts of Georgia. There is about 1,600 men on the Abkhazian-Georgian boundary (serving alongside UNOMIG) and a battalion in South Ossetia. According to the Russian authorities, the Gudauta military base is also now used by the peacekeeping forces, but no international monitoring has ever been allowed there.

Russian military stub This Russian military article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[[Category:Military districts of Russia and the Soviet Union]] [[Category:History of Caucasus]]