| 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division | |
|---|---|
 Shoulder Sleeve Patch | |
| Active |
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| Country | |
| Branch | .svg) Red Army (1922–1946) Soviet Army (1946–1991) Russian Ground Forces(1991–present) |
| Type | Mechanized infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Part of | 20th Combined Arms Army Moscow Military District |
| Garrison/HQ | Yelnya MUN 23060 |
| Nickname(s) | Yelnya |
| Engagements | |
| Decorations |
|
| Battle honours |  Guards |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Colonel Aleksey Alekseyevich Polyakov |
The144th Guards YelnyaRed BannerOrder of Suvorov Motor Rifle Division (Russian:144-я гвардейская мотострелковая Ельнинская Краснознамённая, ордена Суворова дивизия) is a motorized infantry division of theRussian Ground Forces, reestablished in 2016 with its headquarters atYelnya,Smolensk Oblast.
The division traces its lineage back to the32nd Rifle Division (First formation) of theSoviet Union'sRed Army, first formed in 1922 and converted into the29th Guards Rifle Division in 1942 for its actions in theBattle of Moscow duringWorld War II.
The 32nd Division's part in thebattle of Moscow did not escape the notice of theSoviet high command and it was given the title 29th Guards Rifle Division and the 17th Rifle Regiment received theOrder of the Red Banner. Its regiments were given newGuards unit numberings as the87th, 90th, and 93rd Guards Rifle Regiments. In October 1944 it was moved to theBaltic area and was the first Soviet division intoRiga. It ended the war as part of10th Guards Army still in the Baltic region.
Postwar, it was stationed in theEstonian SSR and redesignated as the36th Guards Mechanized Division in 1946 and the36th Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957.[4] Three years later, on 23 June 1960, the division was disbanded by being renamed the8th Guards Rezhitskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner order of Suvorov Motorised Rifle Division "Major-General I.V. Panfilov".[5] To perpetuate the lineage of the disbanded division, the 36th Guards was redesignated and adopted its history. By this time, the 87th Guards Rifle Regiment had become the 282nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment. When the 8th Guards Motor Rifle Division was transferred to Central Asia in 1967, it was dispatched to Kyrgyzstan with the division, and, many years later, eventually after thedissolution of the Soviet Union became a Kyrgyzmotor rifle brigade.
On 18 February 1967, the144th Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed inTallinn,Estonian SSR,Baltic Military District, replacing the8th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which was about to transfer to Frunze,Kyrgyz SSR.[6] Ten months later, on 23 December 1967, the division was given the traditions, honors and awards of the 36th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which had been disbanded in 1960. It was therefore renamed the 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division.
Holm 2015 and Feskov et al. 2013 list the regiments of the division in 1970 as follows:
Holm writes that the division was maintained as a Not Ready Division - Cadre Low Strength (US terms: Category III) - manning was 15% (2000 men).
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the Baltics following thedissolution of the Soviet Union, the division became part of theRussian Ground Forces and was sent toYelnya, Yelninsky District, Smolensk Oblast in theMoscow Military District and was reorganised as the 4944th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment in 1993. It was planned that in a crisis it would be capable of being brought back to up to full division strength. The 4944th Guards Weapons and Equipment Storage Base was disbanded in 2004.
As part of a Russian military buildup in the mid-2010s, the division was reformed as the 144th Motor Rifle Division in 2016 at Yelnya as part of the20th Guards Army, and redesignated as the 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division to become the official successor of the previous formation of the same name in 2018.[7] By a decree of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin on 30 June 2018, it inherited the lineage of the 29th Guards Rifle Division and its successors.[8]
When, on 24 February 2022, Russiainvaded Ukraine, the unit was deployed as part of the grouping detailed tocapture Ukraine's capitalKyiv by invading Ukraine from neighboringBelarus.[9] The unit reportedly suffered heavy losses in theKyiv campaign, and early April 2022 the campaign was disbanded altogether by Russia.[9] The unit retreated back across the Russian and Belarusian borders and was reinforced in order to return to the front.[9]
The488th Motor Rifle Regiment attackedKharkiv Oblast on 5 March 2022.[10] By July, the unit received the honorific 'Guards' status.
In the September2022 Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive the unit again suffered heavy losses.[9] The surviving members of the unit failed their objective to stop the Ukrainian army from crossing theOskil river.[9] It was reported on 23 September that the commander of the 144th division, Colonel Aleksey Alekseyevich Polyakov was wounded and evacuated inSvatove.[11] Polyakov returned to division command by January 2023.[12]
On 26 September 2022, the 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which had a prewar strength of over 12,000 troops, had been reported to have been largely destroyed and rendered combat ineffective as a result of heavy casualties sustained during the Kharkiv counteroffensive and thebattle of Bakhmut.[13]
The 283rd Motor Rifle Regiment was added to the order of battle in 2023.[14]
In August 2024 during the2024 Kursk offensive, TheSecurity Service of Ukraine reported that over 100 soldiers from the 488th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment surrendered at a large defensive complex.[15]
 Divisions of the Soviet Union 1945–1957 | |||||||||
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| Divisions of the Soviet Union 1957–1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Motor Rifle |
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Guards units marked inbold unless they are in a Guards section. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg) Divisions of theRussian Armed Forces | |||
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Guards units marked inbold. | |||
