Russian 126th Coastal Defence Brigade

126th Separate Guards Gorlovskaya Twice Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Coastal Defence Brigade
Sleeve patch of the Brigade
Active	December 1, 2014[1] - present
Country	Russia
Role	Coastal Troops
Size	~2000 (2017)[2]
Part of	22nd Army Corps, Black Sea Fleet
Garrison/HQ	Perevalne, Republic of Crimea[3]
Equipment	T-72 main battle tank
Engagements	Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) Southern Ukraine campaign Battles of Voznesensk 2022 Kherson counteroffensive Liberation of Kherson 2022–2023 Dnieper campaign
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant Colonel Gasparyan Andranik Sarkisovich
Insignia
Identification symbol	Gorlovskaya" Guards unit (Soviet Union), Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov

The 126th Separate Guards Gorlovskaya Twice Red Banner, Order of the Suvorov Coastal Defense Brigade (126 guards. parbo) is a formation of the Coastal Defence Troops of the Russian Navy. Its Military Unit Number is 12676. It was granted the "Guards" honorific after suffering heavy losses in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Voznesensk, southern Ukraine, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The brigade is part of the 22nd Army Corps, Coastal Forces of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.^[4] The brigade's garrison is located in Perevalne, in the Simferopol region of the Russian-occupied Republic of Crimea.^[3]

The current brigade inherited the awards, military glory, and titles of the 126th Rifle Division (2nd formation) that took part in World War II. The division began to form on September 1, 1941, at Muchnaya station, Primorsky Krai, as the Voroshilov Rifle Division of the 25th Army of the Far Eastern Front.^{[citation needed]} In January 1942, it was renamed the 126th Rifle Division (2nd Formation).^{[citation needed]} After February 1942, it was part of the 39th Rifle Corps of the same army. On July 11, 1942, the division was transferred to the west. The division was part of the "operational army" at the fighting front from July 28, 1942, to May 19, 1944, and from July 8, 1944, to May 9, 1945. It took part in the Battle of Stalingrad and fought at Melitopol, in Ukraine, and in the seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 1944. In Crimea, it fought as part of the 54th Rifle Corps, 2nd Guards Army, 4th Ukrainian Front.^[5] It was part of the 43rd Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front in May 1945.

In 1957, it became a motor rifle division. In March 1967, due to the departure of the headquarters of the 45th Army Corps, the 126th Motorized Rifle Division (military unit 19756) was transferred to the 32nd Army Corps of the Odessa Military District.^[6][7] It comprised the 257th Tank Regiment (Perevalne) (which became 126th Tank Battalion around 1990), the 361st Motor Rifle Regiment (Yevpatoria), the 98th and 100th Motor Rifle Regiments (both Simferopol), the 816th Artillery Regiment, and the 1096th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Mezhgorye, Crimea [uk]).

"The division was maintained as a Not Ready Division – Low-Strength Cadre." (Holm)

On December 1, 1989, the division was transferred to the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet and reformed into the 283rd Gorlovka Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov Coastal Defense Division.^[8] The transfer was accompanied by an increase in the division's arsenal. On January 3, 1990, the division's number 126 was restored.^[9] In 1996 the division was disbanded.

In 2003, the 36th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Navy, military unit A2320, was formed from units of the 32nd Army Corps. In early 2014, the brigade's barracks in Crimea were surrounded for several weeks by masked Russian special forces soldiers during the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. On March 21, 2014, servicemen loyal to their oaths to Ukraine were allowed to leave Crimea for unoccupied Ukraine; the remainder were given the option of quitting or renouncing their oaths to Ukraine and swearing a new oath to the Russian Federation. According to Colonel S. I. Storozhenko, the brigade commander, 199 servicemen, of 1,200, left and 300 quit; the remainder swore allegiance to the Russian Federation.^[10] Thereafter, it was reported that the brigade and its commander entered the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a separate coastal defense brigade of the Black Sea Fleet.^[10] On December 1, 2014, the 126th Separate Coastal Defence Brigade was formed on the basis of this formation.^[11]

On March 2, 2022, as part of the Southern Ukraine offensive during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, units of the brigade advanced from Mykolaiv towards the city of Voznesensk, in an attempt to find a crossing over the Southern Bug river. The column consisted of 400 men and 43 vehicles.^[12][13] The unit failed to find a crossing due to preparations taken by the city's mayor and civilian population; there were numerous roadblocks, a bridge over the Mertvovod River [uk] was destroyed, and the shoreline of the river had been dug out. So, Russian vehicles could not ford it.^[13]

The defense of the city was mostly mustered by the Ukrainian 80th Air Assault Brigade, local civilian militias, Territorial Defense Forces, and Ukrainian Special Operations Forces. The Ukrainian paratroopers rendered the 126th's artillery ineffective, and the 126th was forced to withdraw from the city after sustaining heavy losses. A total of 100 Russian soldiers died, 10 were captured, and 30 of the unit's 43 armoured vehicles were either destroyed or abandoned in one day; Ukrainian forces were able to salvage 15 of these into working order.^[14]

On March 28, 2022, over three weeks after being defeated at Voznesensk, it was announced that the brigade would be granted a Guards title without a change in its numerical designation. The Guards title is awarded to units that demonstrate "mass heroism and courage during combat operations".^[15]

After the beginning of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson in September 2022, Telegram reports appeared saying the brigade had suffered very heavy losses.^[16] On October 5, 2022, messages appeared saying that "126 is no more. the remnants of the brigade are attached to our [76 GAAD] operational subordination."^[17]

On October 15, 2022, the Institute for the Study of War wrote in their daily "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment":

"A video posted to social media on October 13 shows servicemen of the 126th Coastal Defence Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet in an unspecified location in Kherson Oblast complaining that they have been fighting in the area since the beginning of the war without breaks or troop rotation. The servicemen asserted that they are being "crushed" by Ukrainian forces and emphasized that they have one BTR (armored personnel carrier) for 80 people, which is greatly restricting their maneuverability. After the video circulated, a Wagner Group–affiliated Telegram channel announced on October 14 that Wagner Group leadership decided to transfer four off-road vehicles to the 126th Coastal Defence Battalion [sic: Brigade] in support of their efforts to hold the frontline in Kherson Oblast.

Since at least November 2022, the 126th brigade has been stationed on Ostriv Velykyi Potomkin, the scene of continued skirmishes, as part of the 2022–2023 Dnieper campaign. Since the liberation of Kherson, the island has been re-occupied several times.^[18] It had initially been liberated by Ukrainian forces on December 7 but was re-occupied by Russian forces on December 9.^{[19][20][21][22]} Ukrainian and Russian forces both maintain a presence on the island and have contested the island since January 2, 2023.^[23][24] The 126th brigade claimed to have repelled an assault on March 7, while Ukrainian forces claimed to have killed 13 Russians and destroyed 6 armored vehicles and a tank during an air strike on April 16 April.^[25][26] On August 25, 2023, Ukraine attacked the brigade in Perevalne, Crimea.^[27]

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.