The 72nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division () was an anti-aircraft artillery division of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

(later the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

) during

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 ...

and the early postwar period. Formed in late 1943 in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military Di ...

, the division provided air defense for

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

and then

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 ...

, without seeing combat. Postwar, it was transferred to Armenia and was disbanded by the end of the 1950s.

World War II

The division began forming at the Moscow Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Camp around 15 October 1943, when Lieutenant Colonel Abram Danilov was appointed temporary commander. It was part of the

, and included the 79th, 82nd, 250th, and 309th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments. On 26 October Colonel Andrey Krasavin took command of the division, and Danilov became the deputy commander. From 2 May 1944, Colonel Vladimir German served as division commander. During the month, the 79th, 82nd, and 250th Regiments were transferred to the 6th Air Defense Corps. They were replaced by the 253rd, 582nd, and 870th Regiments. The division did not see combat and provided air defense for

. From January 1945, the 72nd was part of a special group of air defense troops covering the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

. After the end of the conference, the division provided air defense for the

Separate Coastal Army The Separate Coastal Army (russian: Приморская армия), also translated to English as Independent Coastal Army, was an army-level unit in the Red Army that fought in World War II. It was established on July 18, 1941, by the order o ...

until the end of the war, as part of the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the '' Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK ( ru , РВГК)) comprises reserve military formations and units; the Sta ...

Postwar

Postwar, in January 1946, the division was relocated to the

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

, where it became part of the

7th Guards Army The 7th Guards Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II and of the Soviet Army during the Cold War. History The 7th Guards Army was formed from the 64th Army on April 16, 1943. 64th Army had originally been formed from 1s ...

in the cities of

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

and

Leninakan Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

. German continued to command the division until December 1947, when he was sent to study at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy. The division was among those anti-aircraft artillery divisions disbanded without being converted into another unit by the end of the 1950s.

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* * * * * * {{Soviet Union combat support divisions before 1945 Anti-Aircraft Artillery divisions of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in the 1940s