345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment

345th Guards Red Banner Order of Suvorov IIIrd Degree 70th anniversary of Lenin Komsomol Airborne Regiment

345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment Motto
Active 1944-1 May 1998
Country Soviet Union (until 1991)
Russian Federation
Branch Soviet Army
Size regiment
Garrison/HQ Kostroma, Fergana, Uzbek SSR (1960 - December 1979), Bagram, Afghanistan (December 1979 - February 1989), Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR (February 1989 - August 1992), Gudauta, Abkhazia (August 1992 - May 1998)
Motto Strength and honour! / Сила и честь!
Engagements Vienna Offensive (1945), Soviet war in Afghanistan, Abkhazia
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Valery Vostrotin

The 345th Guards Airborne Regiment (345th PPD) of the Soviet Airborne Troops was active from 1944 to 1998. It was formed on 30 December 1944 at Lapichi, Osipovichi district, Mogilev Oblast, in the Byelorussian SSR. In 1979, after the disbandment of 105-th Guards Airborne Division it received a Separate Regiment designation (345th OPPD).

Originally, the regiment was a part of 105th Guards Rifle Division, which then became 105th Guards Airborne Division stationed at Fergana in the Uzbek SSR.

The regiment was attached to 40th Army (Soviet Union) headquartered in Kabul, serving in Afghanistan from the earliest days of the conflict, arriving on 14 December 1979. The Regiment was based in Bagram (its 2nd Battalion in Bamiam (Bamian?), and later - Anab). During the Regiment's deployment in Afghanistan, its original 1st Battalion remained on station in Fergana, Uzbek SSR, and in 1982 became the base for formation of the 387th Separate Training Regiment. A Separate Airborne Battalion, which arrived in Afghanistan in July 1979 under the command of Guards Lieutenant Colonel Lomakin, was integrated into the 345th regiment as its new 1st Battalion. In October 1979, an incident resulting in death of KGB officer Captain Chepurnoy had occurred in this battalion, leading to transfer of command to Guards Major Pustovit. The 345th Airborne Regiment had participated in most major operations of the conflict, including the Battle for Hill 3234, which became the basis for the script of the movie "9th Company". On or about 11 February 1989 the regiment withdrew from Afghanistan making it one of the very last detachments to exit the country. After the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the regiment became part of 104th Guards Airborne Division. The Regiment was later relocated to Gudauta in the Abkhaz ASSR of the Georgian SSR. It took part in the April 9, 1989, crack-down on demonstrators in the centre of Tbilisi. Since August 1992 it was stationed in Gudauta Abkhaz ASSR to participate in the Abkhaz war. It was subsequently renamed the 50th Military Base and then the 10th Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment.

Famous quotes containing the words independent, guards and/or regiment:

    There are two kinds of timidity—timidity of mind, and timidity of the nerves; physical timidity, and moral timidity. Each is independent of the other. The body may be frightened and quake while the mind remains calm and bold, and vice versë. This is the key to many eccentricities of conduct. When both kinds meet in the same man he will be good for nothing all his life.
    Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)

    The book borrower of real stature whom we envisage here proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures and by the deaf ear which he turns to all reminders from the everyday world of legality as by his failure to read these books.
    Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    Christians would show sense if they dispatched these argumentative Scotists and pigheaded Ockhamists and undefeated Albertists along with the whole regiment of Sophists to fight the Turks and Saracens instead of sending those armies of dull-witted soldiers with whom they’ve long been carrying on war with no result.
    Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)