52nd Rocket Division

23rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (15 January 1943–1 September 1955) 97th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (1 September 1955–1960) 52nd Rocket Division (30 May 1961–1 December 2002)
Emblem of the 52nd Rocket Division
Active	1943–1960 1961–2002
Land	Soviet Union Russland
Branch	Red Army (Soviet Army from 1946) Strategic Rocket Forces (from 1961)
Typ	Division
Role	Air defense (1943–1960) Intercontinental ballistic missile (1961–2001)
Part of	31st Rocket Army (1970–2002)
Garrison/HQ	Zvyozdny (Bershet) (1961–2002)
Anniversaries	27 June (formation)
Engagements	World War II
Decorations	Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class  Order of the Red Star
Battle honours	Ternopol Berlin

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 in the Staraya Russa area 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.

In early August, with the 27th Army, the division advanced towards Grayvoron. It fought in fierce fighting in the crossing of the Vorskla River. Graivoron was captured on 7 August; during the battles in the area the 23rd claimed twelve enemy aircraft and 60 of its men were decorated. For most of the rest of the month, the division fought in stubborn fighting for the Vorskla crossings near Akhtyrka; the crossings changed hands multiple times. During these actions the men of the 23rd often had to use their guns in direct fire mode against German tanks and infantry. In the Akhtyrka fighting the division claimed 29 German aircraft and 72 of its men were decorated.

Strategic Rocket Forces

In June 1960, the 206th Rocket Brigade was activated at Bershet, Perm Oblast, from the 98th "Ternopil-Berlin" Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division RVGK. It was initially placed under command of the 24th Artilley Range Administration, but from 10 May 1961 it joined the 5th Independent Rocket Corps. The division was awarded the Order of Boghdan Khmelnitsky and the Order of the Red Star.

The 52nd Rocket Division joined the 31st Army in 1970 and was disbanded in 2002. The disbandment of units started in February 2002, after a long history in which the division had consistently received the latest intercontinental ballistic missile systems available. In 1988 it began to receive rail-mobile ICBMs. One of the 52nd's four regiments was taken off alert duty and the first section of its BZhRKs were sent to be scrapped. The division's last commander, Major General Boris Sinenko, expressed his colleagues' misgivings at the time, wondering whether the "decision was timely."

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)