The Taurida Military District was a military district of the Soviet Union. It was formed from the headquarters of 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 ...

and the 22nd Army in the summer of 1945. The military district controlled troops on the territory of the

Crimean 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 ...

Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...

and

Zaporizhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast ( uk, Запорі́зька о́бласть, translit=Zaporizka oblast), also referred to as Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запорі́жжя, links=no), is an oblast (province) of southeast Ukraine. Its capital is Zaporizhzhia. The ...

s. It was disbanded in 1956, being replaced by the

Odessa Military District The Odesa Military District (russian: Одесский военный округ, ОВО; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operat ...

History

The Taurida Military District was formed on 9 July 1945 from the headquarters of the Separate Coastal Army and the 22nd Army in

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...

. It controlled troops on the territory of the

Crimean Oblast During the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, different governments existed within the Crimean Peninsula. From 1921 to 1936, the government in the Crimean Peninsula was known as the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic; ...

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

and

, transferred from the

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

and

Kharkov Military District The Kharkov Military District () was a military district of the Russian Empire, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and the Soviet Union. Throughout its history, the district headquarters was located in the city of Kharkov in northeast ...

s. Separate Coastal Army commander Lieutenant General Kondrat Melnik took command of the district. In its early years, the district was tasked with demobilizing combat troops, reducing units to peacetime strength, rebuilding military bases,

demining Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contra ...

, and helping to rebuild the local economy. The 112th Rifle Corps, relocated from Estonia, was initially part of the district with headquarters at

. After its

44th Rifle Division The 44th ''Kievskaya'' of the Red Banner Rifle Division of Nikolay Shchors, or ''44th Kievskaya'' for short, was an elite military formation of the Soviet Union. Created during the beginnings of the Russian Civil War. It was destroyed during the W ...

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Zaporizhz ...

transferred to

Pavlohrad Pavlohrad (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in central east Ukraine, located within the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. It serves as the administrative center of Pavlohrad Raion. Its population is approximately . The rivers of Vovcha (runs through t ...

in the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

, the corps was left with only the

123rd Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

at Kherson. The corps headquarters and the 123rd Rifle Division were disbanded in April 1946. The Separate Coastal Army's 315th and 414th Rifle Divisions at

Kerch Kerch ( uk, Керч; russian: Керчь, ; Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ; Ancient Greek: , ''Pantikápaion''; Medieval Greek: ''Bosporos''; crh, , ; tr, Kerç) is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of t ...

and

Dzhankoy Dzhankoi or Jankoy is a town of regional significance in the northern part of Crimea, an internationally recognized ''de jure'' part of Ukraine, but since 2014 a ''de facto'' federal subject of the Russian Federation. It also serves as administrat ...

, respectively, were also part of the district. The 414th soon transferred to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. During the winter and spring of 1946, the

53rd Rifle Corps The 53rd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army. It was part of the 24th Army. It took part in the Great Patriotic War. After a brief period on occupation duty in Germany after the war ended, the 17th Rifle Division (III Formation) was r ...

arrived from Poland and established its headquarters at Simferopol. It included the 126th, 235th and 263rd Rifle Divisions, based at Simferopol,

Yevpatoriya Yevpatoria ( uk, Євпаторія, Yevpatoriia; russian: Евпатория, Yevpatoriya; crh, , , gr, Ευπατορία) is a city of regional significance in Western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrative ...

and

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 ...

, respectively. The corps headquarters and the 235th Rifle Division disbanded in July 1946. At the same time the

25th Guards Rifle Corps Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

, formerly 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 ...

, arrived with headquarters at

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zapor ...

from Czechoslovakia. Its

4th Guards Rifle Division The 4th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division on September 18, 1941, from the 1st formation of the 161st Rifle Division as one of the original Guards formations of the Red Army, in recognition of that division's partici ...

was based at Melitopol and disbanded in summer 1946. The

25th Guards Rifle Division The 25th Guards Rifle Division 'Chapayevskaya' was a division of the Soviet Red Army. The division was reorganised and reformed several times until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when it entered service in the Ukrainian Army as the 25th Mechanis ...

was based at Zaporizhia and soon moved to

Lubny Lubny ( uk, Лубни́, ), is a city in Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Lubny Raion (district), the city itself is administratively incorporated as a city of oblast significance and does n ...

, being replaced by the 188th Rifle Division from the

Southern Group of Forces Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. The 113th Guards Rifle Division was based at Yevpatoriya. In the fall of 1946 the corps headquarters disbanded. In 1946, the district was reorganized. The

126th Rifle Division 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

became the 28th Mechanized Division and four divisions became brigades, the rest being disbanded or transferred. By the spring of 1947, the district included the 28th Mechanized Division, the 7th Separate Rifle Brigade (former 315th Rifle Division), 19th Separate Rifle Brigade (former

263rd Rifle Division The 263rd Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. Formed in mid-1941, the division fought in the Continuation War against Finland in Karelia until the beginning of 1943, when it transferred to the Southwe ...

), 43rd Separate Guards Rifle Brigade (former 113th Guards Rifle Division) and 52nd Separate Rifle Brigade (former 188th Rifle Division). The 19th Separate Rifle Brigade was disbanded soon after. Following the end of the demobilizations of military units, the district began regular combat training for defense against an amphibious invasion and cooperation with the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

. Between 1950 and 1953 the divisions became brigades again. In 1955, the 188th was redesignated as the 20th and the 315th as the 52nd. By a directive of 19 April 1956 its territory was assigned to the Odessa Military District and the district was disbanded in a process completed by 1 July. Its headquarters was reformed as the 45th Rifle Corps on 4 April.

Commanders

The military district was commanded by the following officers: * Lieutenant General Kondrat Melnik (9 July 1945–3 June 1946) * Colonel General

Markian Popov Markian Mikhaylovich Popov (; 1902–1969) was a Soviet military commander, Army General (26 August 1943), and Hero of the Soviet Union (1965). Early life Markian Popov was born in 1902 in Ust-Medvediskaya in the Don Host Oblast (now Volgograd O ...

(4 June 1946–1 July 1954) * Lieutenant General Sergey Fomenko (2 July–1 September 1954) * Colonel General

Ivan Lyudnikov Ivan Ilyich Lyudnikov, (russian: Иван Ильич Людников; Krivaya Kosa (Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire), – Moscow 22 April 1976) was a Soviet Army Colonel General and Hero of the Soviet Union. Early life Ivan Lyudnikov was b ...

(2 September 1954–4 April 1956)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *{{Cite encyclopedia, title=Таври́ческий вое́нный о́круг, encyclopedia=Военная энциклопедия в 8 томах ilitary Encyclopedia in 8 volumespublisher=Voenizdat, location=Moscow, date=2003, editor-last=Ivanov, editor-first=Sergei, volume=7, language=ru, isbn=5-203-01874-X, trans-title=Taurida Military District Military districts of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1945 Military units and formations disestablished in 1956