August 2 - Airborne Forces Day
To begin with - the official data on the structure of the Airborne Forces. Today, the Airborne Forces, commanded by Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov, are represented by the 7 Guards Airborne Assault (Mining) Red Banner Order of the Kutuzov 2 13th Division, the 76 Guards Paratrooper-Assault Chernigov Red Aid Combat Assault Unit. - the Svir Red Banner Order of the Kutuzov Order of the 98 degree by the division, the 2 Guards Red Banner Order of the Kutuzov Order of the 106 degree by the Airborne Division. As part of the Airborne Forces - 2 airborne assault brigade: 4-I, 11-I, 31-I and 56-I. Plus, the 83 th separate Guards Order of Kutuzov, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, a special task regiment. The 45 of the OPSN is, by the way, the youngest military unit of the Airborne Forces, the formation of which began in 45. The support structure is the 1994-th separate Guards regiment of communications of the Airborne Forces.
Honor, valor, self-confidence, readiness for self-sacrifice, readiness to crush the enemy for decades determined and define the essence of the Airborne Forces today, that is why the Airborne Forces are not just a kind of troops, this is a whole army planet, clearly paying special attention to themselves.
The first commander of the Airborne Forces was a native of the Saratov Region, Vasily Afanasyevich Glazunov. Vasily Afanasyevich passed a big army way from the ordinary army of the Russian Empire to the general-lieutenant, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. The command of troops, Vasily Glazunov, began in the most difficult period - in August 1941, when the Nazis continued to occupy more and more Soviet territories, inflicting major defeats on the Red Army. However, even then, the Airborne Forces fighters were able to distinguish themselves by successful operations behind enemy lines, when the garrisons of the German fascist troops were crushed as a result of lightning-fast raids by Soviet winged infantry.
Under the command of Vasily Glazunov, at the beginning of 1942, the Vyazemsky airborne operation was prepared and conducted, during which more than 15 thousands of fighters were parachuted to the enemy’s rear. Despite the extremely unfortunate outcome of the entire Rzhev-Vyazma offensive operation of the Red Army, the actions of the Glazunov paratroopers in the rear of the enemy were quite successful. According to one of the German officers who took part in the battles of Vyazma and Rzhev, “the Russian troops in our rear felt at home, imposing exhausting battles.”
In the years of the Great Patriotic War, the Airborne Forces fighters took part in hundreds of operations on various fronts and directions from Stalingrad to Budapest, from Moscow to Königsberg and Berlin. However, the Soviet winged infantry began to show itself even before the start of the big war. One of these "pre-war" operations is the airborne operation in Bessarabia, which by that time was occupied by Romania.
On June 28, 1940, through the commander of the 209th heavy air brigade, the 204th airborne brigade of Colonel Joseph Gubarevich received an assignment for ejection. At 4:00, the brigade personnel were concentrated on the runway, and at around 9:00 the loading of aircraft began. The command then took a serious risk, because before the start of the operation, reconnaissance of the landing area was not carried out, and transport aircraft were not covered by a fighter aviation. By 9.30 a.m., 99 TB-3 planes with 1422 armed paratroopers on board took off, and at about 14:30 p.m. paratroopers landed 10 km north of Bolgrad.
After the Bessarabian airborne operation, the command made conclusions from the mistakes and omissions made, which served as the beginning of the formation of a special tactics and strategy for the landing of troops to the rear of the enemy.
And after the Great Patriotic War, virtually no armed conflict was complete without the participation of winged infantry. These are the fighting in Afghanistan, the Chechen campaigns, the operation to force Georgia to peace. One of the striking examples of lightning and successful actions of Russian paratroopers was the famous march of airborne troops on Pristina (Kosovo, Serbia) in 1999 year. The actions of the paratroopers allowed to seize the Pristina airport Slatina, ahead of the NATO military, who tried to take control of the entire territory of the republic in the course of military operations against Belgrade.
Unfortunately, the then authorities of the country could not take full advantage of the tremendous success of the airborne troops to protect the interests of Russia in the Balkans, but, as they say, this is a completely different story, and I don’t want to think about politics on a holiday.
Another episode from the history of the new Russia, emphasizing the courage and heroism of the Airborne Forces fighters - this is a battle at the height of 776 in February-March of 2000. This is a battle with the militant group of Khattab near Ulus-Kert in the Shatoy district of Chechnya of the legendary 6 Company of the 2 Battalion of the 104 Guards Parachute-Regiment of the 76-th Guards Airborne Division under the command of the airborne division under the command of the air force, under the control of the air force, under the control of the air force, under the command of
90 Russian paratroopers then resisted about 2,5 thousands of terrorists. During the battles 84 of the paratrooper were killed, the losses of the militants were at least 400 "man." The feat of the Pskov paratroopers under Ulus-Kert is the personification of courage and resilience. On this day, I would like to honor the memory of the fallen airborne fighters and express admiration for their heroism and courage.
All active military servicemen and veterans of the Airborne Forces “Military Review” congratulate with the holiday, which itself managed to become a real event in the festive calendar of the Fatherland!
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