The 85th Leningrad-Pavlovsk Red Banner Motor Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army converted to a motorised formation in 1957. It was originally formed in 1941 as the 85th Rifle Division from the 2nd Guards People's Militia Division of the Leningrad People's Militia. The 85th Division was part of the Russian Ground Forces until it was reorganised as the 32nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade in 2009. In 2016, the 32nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade was reorganised as the 228th Motor Rifle Regiment of the 90th Guards Tank Division.
World War II
1st formation
The division was originally formed in 1931 in the Ural MD, seemingly at Chelyabinsk. It seems to have been sent to Belorussian Special Military District, soon to be the Western Special Military District, 1940. Assigned to 4th Rifle Corps, 3rd Army, Soviet Western Front on outbreak of war, under the command of Major General Aleksandr Bondovsky.
85th Rifle Division 2nd formation
After the division's first formation was destroyed, the division was reformed. In late 1941 it was reformed during the Leningrad Strategic Defensive from the 2nd Guard People's Militia Division.
In early 1945 the division was operating as part of 122nd Rifle Corps in the 2nd Baltic Front. On 10 March the division marched into the area of Baloži and Kreyli. It attacked between the 43rd and 46th Rifle Divisions on 22 March, capturing Slugi and Meiri, where it ran into strong German counterattacks and went on the defensive until 30 April, when it was relieved by the 43rd and 56th Rifle Divisions. The division transferred to a new defensive line between Mežvalde and Jaunmeži, relieving elements of the 11th Rifle Division.
By the end of the day on 7 May, the German troops began to retreat to the northwest. Units of the division pursued the retreating troops towards Lubenki, Rumbenieki, and Ezeri and by 17:00 on 8 May reached the line of Myzi Gayta, Yurdi, and Kauši, where at 18:00 they accepted the German surrender.
Commanders
Major General Ivan Lyubovtsev (23 September 1941–29 January 1942) Colonel Nikolay Ugryumov (25 October–December 1941, acting) Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Baderko (30 January–14 February 1942) Colonel Iosif Lebedinsky (15 February–23 July 1942) Colonel Konstantin Vvedensky (5 August 1942–19 May 1944) Colonel Aleksandr Ordanovsky (22 May–21 July 1944) Colonel Ivan Marchenko (23 July–18 August 1944) Colonel Aleksandr Golovanov (8 September–26 November 1944) Major General Dmitry Lukyanov (27 November 1944–28 February 1945) Colonel Yakov Kozhevnikov (3 March–31 October 1945)
Cold War
After fighting on the Eastern Front, the division's second formation was relocated to Siberia in 1945. In September 1945, the division, part of the 122nd Rifle Corps, arrived in the city of Novosibirsk in the Siberian Military District, and was given barracks in a military town on Bogatkova street. In 1946, the division was reorganized as the 24th Rifle Brigade. In 1953, the brigade was upgraded and redesignated as the 85th Pavlovsk Rifle Red Banner Division once again. From 1957 the division became the 85th Motorised Rifle Division. Furthermore, the division exchanged regiments with the 74th Motor Rifle Division – the 103rd Motor Rifle Regiment was disbanded and replaced by the 228th Sevastopol Order of Alexander Nevsky Motor Rifle Regiment.
On 27 March 1967, the division was given the honorary name of Leningrad and it became known as the 85th Motor Rifle Leningrad-Pavlovsk Red Banner Division. Around 1988 the division consisted of the 387th Tank Regiment, 141st, 59th, 228th MRRs, 167th Artillery Regiment, and the 1131st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment. In 1989 the 1131st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment was disbanded, and was replaced by the 927th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment from the Belorussian Military District.
Service in the Russian Ground Forces
In 1992, the 74th Guards Tank Valga Order of Lenin Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Regiment relocated from Schwerin in Germany and joined the division. The 74th had previously been assigned to the 94th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which, reduced in status to the 74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, had been relocated nearby to Yurga.