52nd Rocket Division

The 52nd Rocket Division (Russian: 52-я ракетная дивизия) was a division of the Soviet and Russian Strategic Rocket Forces, active from 1961 to 2002. 

The division traced its lineage to the formation of the Red Army's 23rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division during World War II in January 1943. 

World War II

The 23rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK) began forming on 15 January 1943 in Moscow at the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Training Center. It was formed from personnel of the Sevastopol Anti-Aircraft Artillery School and VNOS (Air Warning, Observation, and Communications) troops, and was commanded by Colonel Nikolay Sitnikov. Writer Sergey Smirnov served with the division from its formation. The 23rd completed its formation on 21 February, and included the 1064th, 1336th, 1342nd, and the 1348th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments. Two days later it joined the Northwestern Front, and was transported by rail to Kresttsy station, arriving there on 26 February. The division was tasked with providing air defense for 27th Army's supply stations and the airfields of the 6th Air Army in the areas of Zhernovka, Vypolzovo, Kresttsy, and Guzatino. It was spread out along 110 kilometers of railway line and up to 120 kilometers in the rear area, creating considerable command and control problems.

German aviation became more active from 1 March, and He 111 and Ju 88 bombers, as well as Bf 109 and Fw 190 fighters overflew locations defended by the 23rd multiple times a day at an altitude of five to six kilometers. The newly formed units of the division, which had previously conducted training, began combat operations. On 5 March the 2nd and 3rd Batteries of the 1064th Regiment repulsed multiple air attacks in the Parfino area. During April, the division repulsed seventeen German air raids, of which seven included several aircraft and ten of lone aircraft. Later that month the 23rd was transferred from the Northwestern Front to the RVGK and relocated to Voronezh Oblast. On 25 May it became part of the Steppe Front, providing air defense to the 27th Army, which had also relocated from the Northwestern Front.

References

Bibliography

• Feoktistov, Yu. N. (2001). Borzenkov, A.S. (ed.). Оренбургская стратегическая [Orenburg Strategic] (in Russian). Perm: Perm Book Publishing House. ISBN 5-93683-001-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• 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.
• 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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• 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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)