, image = Great emblem of the 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade.svg , dates = 1943–present , country = (1943–1991)
, branch = Great emblem of the Russian Airborne Troops

Great emblem of the Russian Airborne Troops

Airborne Troops Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in a ...

, type = Airborne forces , size = Brigade , garrison =

Feodosia uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe , official_name = () , settlement_type= , image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa , image_shield = Fe ...

, Crimea, Ukraine , battles =

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four m ...

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street f ...

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

First Chechen War

Second Chechen War The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from August 1999 ...

, decorations =

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisa ...

, 1st class , battle_honours =

Don Cossack Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...

, commander1 = , notable_commanders = Vitaly Raevsky The 56th Guards Air Assault Regiment is an airborne regiment of the

Russian Airborne Troops The Russian Airborne Forces (russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ, Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, VDV) are the airborne forces branch of the Russian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1992 from units ...

. Based at

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

, the regiment is part of the

7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division , image = Great emblem of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division.svg , image_size = 200 , caption = 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division great emblem , dates ...

. It was formed in 2021 from the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade, based at

Kamyshin Kamyshin (russian: Камы́шин) is a city in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volgograd Reservoir of the Volga River, in the estuary of the Kamyshinka River. Its population was Past populations for Kamyshin include ...

. The brigade was first formed in 1979 and fought in the

, the First Chechen War and the

History

The 56th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade was formed on 1 October 1979 in

Chirchiq Chirchiq, also spelled as Chirchik, ( uz, Chirchiq / Чирчиқ; russian: Чирчик) is a district-level city in Tashkent Region, Uzbekistan. It is about 32 km northeast of Tashkent, along the river Chirchiq. Chirchiq lies in the Chatk ...

from the disbanded 105th Guards Airborne Division's 351st Guards Airborne Regiment. The new brigade inherited battle honors from that unit. On 13 December, the brigade was transferred to

Termez Termez ( uz, Termiz/Термиз; fa, ترمذ ''Termez, Tirmiz''; ar, ترمذ ''Tirmidh''; russian: Термез; Ancient Greek: ''Tàrmita'', ''Thàrmis'', ) is the capital of Surxondaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan. Administratively, it i ...

in preparation for deployment to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. On 27 December, the brigade's 4th Airborne Battalion crossed the Afghan border and secured

Salang Pass The Salang Pass ( ps, د سالنګ لاره; prs, كتل سالنگ ''Kutal-i Salang'', el. ) is the primary mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan with Parwan Province, with onward connections to Kabul Province, southern Afghanistan, ...

. The 3rd Air Assault battalion was airlifted by helicopter into Afghanistan and captured Rabat-Mirza-Kushka Pass on the next day. Between 13 and 14 January 1980, the brigade crossed the border and concentrated at

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

. At the same time, the 3rd Air Assault Battalion moved to

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

. In February, the 4th Airborne Battalion was transferred to

Charikar Imam Abu Hanifa ( fa, امام ابو حنیفه), historically known as Charikar (Persian: چاریکار) but renamed by Talibans recently to Imam Abu Hanifa, is the main town of the Koh Daman Valley and the capital of Parwan Province in northe ...

but was moved back to Kunduz in the same year. The 2nd Air Assault Battalion was attached to the 70th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in March. In December 1981, the brigade was moved to

Gardez , settlement_type =City , image_skyline =gardez_paktya.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption =The Bala Hesar fortress in the center of Gardez City , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_sea ...

. The brigade was reequipped with the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development hist ...

infantry fighting vehicle in 1985. On 5 April, it was awarded the

1st class. It fought in

Operation Magistral Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

from December 1987 to January 1988. In June 1988, the brigade crossed the border back into

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

during the

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan The final and complete withdrawal of Soviet combatant forces from Afghanistan began on 15 May 1988 and ended on 15 February 1989 under the leadership of Colonel-General Boris Gromov. Planning for the withdrawal of the Soviet Union (USSR) from t ...

. After its return from Afghanistan, the brigade was based in

Ýolöten Ýolöten (russian: Ёлoтен, tk, یوْلؤتن Ёлөтен) is a city and capital of Ýolöten District, Mary Province, Turkmenistan. The city is located in the delta of the Murghab River, 55 kilometers southeast of Mary. It was granted the ...

The brigade became the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade in 1989. In January and February 1990, the brigade was deployed to Baku to patrol the border as a result of the Baku pogrom. On 1 June, the brigade was transferred to the

Soviet airborne The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed be ...

and renamed the 40th Separate Airborne Brigade. The newly renamed brigade was transferred to

Fergana Fergana ( uz, Fargʻona/Фарғона, ), or Ferghana, is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 420 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km west of Andijan, and less than 20 km fr ...

a week later to conduct security operations. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the brigade was moved to the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

Karachay-Cherkessia The Karachay-Cherkess Republic (russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, ''Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika''; krc, Къарачай-Черкес Республика, ''Qaraçay-Çerkes Respublika''; Cir ...

. The brigade was given the designation Don Cossack on 22 April 1994. Between December 1994 and October 1996, the brigade fought in the First Chechen War. In 1997, it was renamed the 56th Guards Airborne Regiment. In August 1999, a battalion sized task force of the regiment was deployed to fight in the

. After being withdrawn from Chechnya in November 2004, the regiment once again became the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade on 1 May 2009 and in July 2010 was designated as the 56th Guards Airborne Brigade (Light). In 2013, it became part of the

. In January 2016, VDV commander General Colonel

Vladimir Shamanov Vladimir Anatolyevich Shamanov (russian: Владимир Анатольевич Шаманов, born 15 February 1957) is a retired Colonel General of the Military of Russia, Russian Armed Forces who was Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Airborne ...

announced that a new range near Kamyshin would be built in the spring of that year due to the higher intensity of combat training. In 2021 it was indicated that the brigade would be redeployed to Crimea and reformed as a regiment. In mid-2021 it relocated from

Volgograd Oblast Volgograd Oblast (russian: Волгогра́дская о́бласть, ''Volgogradskaya oblast'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the Volga region of Southern Russia. Its administrative center is Volgograd. The populat ...

, Russia to

in Crimea. These circumstances explain a lot of the poor facilities, chaos, and undermanning described in Pavel Filatyev's memoir text. In November, 2021 it was confirmed that the new regiment would become a component of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division effective as of December 2021.

Component Units 2021

* Airborne battalion * 2nd Air assault battalion * 3rd Air assault battalion * Tank battalion * Reconnaissance battalion * Artillery battalion * Anti-aircraft battery * Anti-tank battery * Rifle (sniper) company * Electronic warfare company * Signals company * Engineer company * Landing support company * Medical company * Maintenance company * Material support company * RCB company * Brigade command company

Commanders

* Alexander Petrovich Plokhikh (1980–1981) * Mikhail Karpushkin (1981–1982) * Viktor Arsentevich Sukhin (1982–1983) * Viktor Matveevich Chizhikov (1983–1985) * Vitaly Raevsky (1985–1987) * Valery Evnevich (1987–1990) * Alexander Sotnik (1990–1995) * Sergei Mishanin (1995–1996) * Rustam Aliev Stepanenko (1996–1997) * Pavel Kirsi * Igor Timofeyev * Alexander Vitalievich Lebedev (2012–2014) * Alexander Valitov (August 2014–March 2018) * Colonel Yevgeny Nikolayevich Tonkikh (March 2018–March 2020) * Colonel Andrey Vladimirovich Kondrashkin (March 2020–present)

References

{{Russian Airborne Troops Regiments of the Russian Airborne Troops Military units and formations of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine