Postwar and Service in Georgia
Until 1957, the Division remained the 89th Rifle Division, when it became the 145th Mountain Rifle Division; 1965 145th Mtn Rifle Div; 1989 145th MRD. It was based in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia, for most of the postwar period as part of the Transcaucasian Military District's 9th Army. It comprised the 35th, 87th, 90th, 1358th MRRs and 114th Independent Tank Battalion in 1989-90.
The division's installations lined the main roads of Khelvachauri, with at least two barracks blocks, military family housing, and what appears to be a vehicle park or ammunition storage facility which has been hollowed out of gently rolling terrain and camouflaged. There is also a military training area on the coast at Akhalsopeli just south of the Batumi airport.
It was renamed the 12th Military Base on May 15, 1992 according to the Collective Security Treaty. In late 1999, the base had 1,790 personnel and included the 35th (Batumi) and the 90th (Khelvachauri) motor rifle regiments; the 809th artillery regiment (Batumi); the 122nd communications battalion (Medjinistzqali); the 61st artillery detachment (Batumi); and the 773rd reconnaissance battalion (Medjinistzqali). An unnamed Russian Defence Ministry official, speaking to Iter-Tass on 29 March 2004, said that the two bases had reduced their personnel – ‘if there were over 2,000 servicemen at each Russian base at the beginning of 2003, now there are at least 1,000 servicemen.’ The reorganization had also meant the disbandment of units at the bases that did not carry out direct combat missions.
Following several years of tense negotiations, Russia agreed, in March 2005, to complete the withdrawal of the base from Batumi before the end of 2008. However, the base was officially handed over to Georgia on 13 November 2007, ahead of planned schedule.
Honorifics included Tamanskaya Krasnozamennaya, of Order of Kutuzov and Order of the Red Star.
Read more about this topic: 89th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
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