64th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Soviet Union)

The 64th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Russian: 64-я зенитная артиллерийская дивизия) was an anti-aircraft artillery division of the Soviet Union's Red Army (later the Soviet Army) during World War II and the early postwar period.

64th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division
Active	October 1943–c. late 1940s
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army (later Soviet Army)
Type	Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Engagements	World War II
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours	Praga Brandenburg

Formed in late 1943 in the Moscow Military District, the division spent the next several months conducting training. In the northern hemisphere spring of 1944 it was sent into combat, serving with the 47th Army and then the 33rd Army. The division ended the war in the Berlin Offensive, and received the honorifics Praga and Brandenburg for its actions, as well as the Order of the Red Banner. It was disbanded by the end of the 1950s.

World War II

A 37 mm AA gun of the type used by the division during World War II

The division was formed on or around 1 October 1943, when Colonel Semyon Dzemeshkevich was appointed commander.[1] Part of the Moscow Military District, it included the 1979th, 1983rd, 1987th, and the 1991st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments.[2] The division conducted combat training, during which Dzemeshkevich was relieved of command on 24 January 1944 due to what superiors considered leadership failures, involving the loss of weapons and secret documents, among other issues.[3] He was replaced by Colonel (promoted to Major General on 2 November) Mikhail Rodichev, who led the division for the rest of the war.[1] In March it was sent into combat, covering troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front's 47th Army.[4] In April the army was transferred to the 1st Belorussian Front, fighting in battles at Kovel. For his "skilled leadership" in the fighting, Rodichev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 3 September. Subsequently, the 64th provided air defense for river crossings over the Turija River, the Western Bug, the advance into Poland, and the capture of Włodawa, Międzyrzec Podlaski, Łuków, Stoczek, Siedlce, Kałuszyn, Demblin, Wołomin, Praga, and Jabłonna.[5]

For its actions, one of the division's regiments received the honorific Demblin, and on 31 October it received the honorific Praga. Between January and May 1945 the division supported the 33rd Army of the 1st Belorussian Front.[6] It fought in the breakout from the Puławy bridgehead during the Vistula–Oder Offensive, advancing against Kazimierz, and the subsequent pursuit to the Oder. For his leadership Rodichev was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd class. In the final weeks of the war, the 64th fought in the advance from the Oder to the Elbe, part of the Berlin Offensive. For its actions the division received the honorific Brandenburg[7] and the Order of the Red Banner.[5]

Postwar

Rodichev commanded the division until November.[5] The division was among those anti-aircraft artillery divisions disbanded without being converted into another unit by the end of the 1950s.[7]

References

Citations

1. Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1964, p. 392.
2. Gurkin et al. 1972, p. 265.
3. Golotyuk & Tsapayev 2012, p. 168.
4. Gurkin et al. 1988, p. 103.
5. Golotyuk & Tsapayev 2012, pp. 336–337.
6. Gurkin et al. 1990, p. 49.
7. Feskov et al 2013, p. 288.

Bibliography

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• Golotyuk, Vasily; Tsapayev, Dmitry (2012). Командный состав Войск ПВО Красной Армии в годы Великой Отечественной и советско-японской войн 1941-1945 гг [Command structure of the Red Army Air Defense Troops in the years of the Great Patriotic and Soviet-Japanese wars of 1941-1945] (in Russian). Moscow: ARTKRAS. ISBN 978-5-9903475-2-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1972). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть III (Январь — декабрь 1943 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part III (January–December 1943)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1988). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть IV (Январь — декабрь 1944 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part IV (January–December 1944)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1990). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть V (Январь—сентябрь 1945 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part V (January–September 1945)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941 – 1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)