69th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Soviet Union)

69th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division
Active	October 1943–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army (later Soviet Army)
Type	Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Engagements	World War II
Decorations	Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class
Battle honours	Dresden

The 69th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Russian: 69-я зенитная артиллерийская дивизия) was an anti-aircraft artillery division of the Soviet Union's Red Army (later the Soviet Army) during World War II and the early postwar period.

Formed in the Volga Military District in late 1943, the division fought with the 3rd Guards Army from May 1944 to the end of the war. Postwar, it was reduced to a brigade which eventually became the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. The 2nd Brigade served in the Turkestan Military District during the Cold War and was transferred to Turkmenistan after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The division began forming around 14 October 1943, when Lieutenant Colonel (promoted to Colonel 17 November) Ivan Palshin was appointed commander; he would command the division for the rest of the war.^[1] It was part of the Volga Military District, and included the 1996th, 2000th, 2004th, and 2008th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments.^[2]

Until April 1944, the division formed in Penza. In May, it was transferred to the 1st Ukrainian Front's 3rd Guards Army, with which it served for the rest of the war.^[3] As part of the army,^[4] it fought in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive, the Lower Silesian Offensive, the Berlin Offensive, and the Prague Offensive.^[5] For helping to capture Dresden during the Prague Offensive on 8 May 1945, the division received the city's name as an honorific.^[6] For its actions in the Berlin Offensive, the division was awarded the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 2nd class, on 4 June.^[7]

In September 1945, Colonel Grigory Svet took command of the division. In July 1946 he took command of the 229th Dresden Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade of the Odessa Military District in Sarata. Svet continued to command the brigade until January 1947.^[8][9]

Feskov et al 2013 states that the brigade became the 229th Anti-Aircraft Brigade in 1946 and was subsequently renumbered as the 2nd. It later became part of the Turkestan Military District and, as the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (equipped with Surface-to-air missiles), included the 1091st, 1092nd, and 1093rd Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalions.^[10] According to Michael Holm's data, the 229th became the 502nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment in 1960 and was stationed at Bikrova in Ashgabat before being redesignated as the 2nd Brigade in 1971. Between December 1979 and 1 March 1980 it was deployed in Kabul during the Soviet–Afghan War. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the unit was taken over by Turkmenistan. It was equipped with the S-75 Dvina until 1971 and the 2K11 Krug after 1971.^[11]

• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть II. 1945 - 1966 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part II. 1945–1966] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2018-01-27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Dudarenko, M.L.; Perechnyov, Yu. G.; Yeliseyev, V.T. (1985). Освобождение городов: Справочник по освобождению городов в период Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 [Liberation of the Cities: A Handbook of the Liberation of Cities during the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
• 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.
• Golotyuk, Vasily; Tsapayev, Dmitry (2012). Командный состав Войск ПВО Красной Армии в годы Великой Отечественной и советско-японской войн 1941-1945 гг [Command structure of the Red Army Air Defense Troops in the years of the Great Patriotic and Soviet-Japanese wars of 1941-1945] (in Russian). Moscow: ARTKRAS. ISBN 978-5-9903475-2-6.
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1972). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть III (Январь — декабрь 1943 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part III (January–December 1943)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1988). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть IV (Январь — декабрь 1944 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part IV (January–December 1944)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
• Gurkin, V.V.; et al. (1990). Боевой состав Советской армии: Часть V (Январь—сентябрь 1945 г.) [Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, Part V (January–September 1945)] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat.
• Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941 – 1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy.
• Tsapayev, D.A.; et al. (2014). Goremykin, Viktor (ed.). Великая Отечественная: Комдивы. Военный биографический словарь [The Great Patriotic War: Division Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 978-5-9950-0341-0.