2nd Guards Motor Rifle Brigade

2nd Guards Motor Rifle Frunze Brigade
2-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая Краснознамённая бригада им. М. В. Фрунзе
Active	18 March 1918 – present
Country	Soviet Union (1918-1992) Kyrgyzstan (since 1992)
Branch	Soviet Union Army Kyrgyzstan Army
Type	Motor rifle
Role	Urban warfare
Size	Brigade (2,000)
Garrison/HQ	Koy-Tash
Nickname(s)	Frunze Guards
Anniversaries	18 March
Engagements	Russian Civil War Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Second World War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Major General Alexei Kosyakov (1985-1987)

The 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Frunze Brigade (Russian: 2-я отдельная гвардейская мотострелковая Краснознамённая бригада им. М. В. Фрунзе) officially known as Military Unit 73809 is a Kyrgyz military unit in the Ground Forces based in the city of Koy-Tash.

History

Early Soviet era and war years

The 1st Peasant Soviet Regiment was one of the first military units to be formed in the Red Army, being formed in 1918, in Gomel, a city in what is now Belarus. The first fighters were from the Gomel and Starodub partisan detachments. It first saw action during the Russian Civil War during which it fought against foreign occupation and anti-Soviet forces. It was labelled the 241st Peasant Regiment immediately after those battles. For its service in the battles of Minsk, Baranavichy, Rodimin, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On 9 June 1922, the regiment was renamed the 94th Peasant Rifle Regiment, and in recognition of its seevice it received the honorific Mikhail Frunze in 1927. In the 30s, the regiment took part in combat operations against the Imperial Japanese Army on Lake Khasan during the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts of the decade. In September 1939, the regiment was given the conventional name of the 17th Rifle Regiment.

War years

During the Great Patriotic War, the unit was deployed to operations in Belarus and the Baltic States. In 1941, near Naro-Fominsk, the infantrymen restrained the German Wehrmacht offensive for four days, after which they launched a counterattack. In 1942 it received the honorary title of Guards. During the war" it notably took part in the Battles of Rzhev. It was renamed 87th Guards Red Banner Regiment, which included four Heroes of the Soviet Union, and over two hundred order bearers. The guards war operations ended while serving in Estonia, with the last battle they took part in be located near the town of Tsipkuri under the command of regimental commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Ivan Tretyak.

Post-war

After the war, it had been renamed to the 113th Guards Mechanized Regiment (effective June 1946) and the 282th Guards Red Banner Motor Rifle Regiment named after Frunze (effective 30 April 1957), both of which under the 36th Guards Rifle Division. The regiment held the title of best in the Soviet Army for more than two decades and was awarded the Pennant of the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union "For courage and military valor". Later the 282nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment received a "permanent residence permit" in Kirghizia in 1967 after being relocated to the republic from the city of Rekver in the Estonian SSR. Organizationally, it became part of the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Panfilov Division with a deployment in the village of Koy-Tash near Frunze.

Independence

In May 1992, like many other military units deployed on the territory of the former Soviet republic, the regiment was included in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic. On 8 December 1997, it was transformed into the 1st Koy-Tash Motorized Rifle brigade. In November 2012, by order of Ministry of Defense Major General Taalaibek Omuraliev, it was given it's current name Members of the brigade took part in the quelling of the Batken Conflict in 1999, with 25 of it's fighters being killed in action. Units of the brigade is part of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. An anniversary pennant was handed over to personnel of the brigade on its 95th anniversary, during a ceremony held on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow. On its centennial in 2018, it received greetings from President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who described the unit as one that "continues to maintain and increase its glorious path". Previously, meetings of veterans of the regiment were held in 2008 and 2013.

See also

• Central Asian Military District