When in 1993 the 7th Guards Airborne Division redeployed from the Lithuanian Kaunas to Novorossiysk, the officers, of course, understood that they were going to a bare place - do not expect apartments in the near future. And what kind of landing service at sea? .. True, soon everything fell into place. Instead of a sea, the paratroopers got mountains, instead of a beach - a war ... In Chechnya, guys in vests from the 7th airborne division took cities and towns, acted as helicopter landings, and fought surrounded more than once. During the first Chechen campaign, the “seven”, fighting for a year and a half with a reinforced battalion of 700 people, lost 28 of them. In August 1999, the division will suffer almost the same losses in a month of fighting in Dagestan. Then the battalion of the 7th Airborne Division essentially took upon itself the entire blow of the gangs of Basaev and Khattab that invaded mountainous Dagestan. From the first to the last day, the Novorossiysk paratroopers will pass along the roads of the second Chechen campaign, and will honorably fulfill the task of forcing Georgia to peace in August 2008.
Don't die, but win
When the situation in the North Caucasus sharply escalated at the end of 1994, the combat readiness of the airborne division, which had just begun to settle down in the Black Sea region, left much to be desired: the shortage of conscripts, the almost complete lack of combat training. The regiments did not recruit even three gunners who could shoot. The main task was to survive: the barracks - and those were completed by themselves. Everything changed dramatically with the aggravation of the situation in Chechnya. “It will hardly manage without us,” the division headquarters immediately decided. A full-blooded battalion was assembled from the entire formation, reinforced with reconnaissance, artillery and other "specialists" necessary in the war. An intensive process of combat training began under the guidance of Deputy Divisional Commander Colonel Alexander Protchenko. All the fuel of the division was sent to the disposal of the battalion. Three weeks of unprecedented training were interrupted by the signal "Gather!"
On January 13, a train with a reinforced Novorossiysk battalion arrived in Grozny. Before they had time to unload, Protchenko was called to the headquarters, they “cut” a piece of the city and drew a line: “So that they take it by morning!”
The colonel objected: until he did reconnaissance, until they did everything that was supposed to be according to the Combat Charter, his paratroopers would not budge.
The next morning, having chosen two dilapidated buildings on the outskirts of the city, they began to work out the capture of houses and the battle in the city in the curriculum. Only on the third day, having finally made sure that the actions to seize the buildings had gained clarity and coherence, Alexander Ivanovich gave the command: “Forward!” Two people were lost by the Novorossiysk people in those hellish days of January 1995. And how much could!
On March 7, Protchenko was replaced by the division's chief of staff, Colonel Vladimir Shamanov. About a month of relative calm - mainly artillery and reconnaissance fought - was again devoted to intensive combat training. The result affected the first major military operation. At first, the task assigned to the battalion seemed impossible. The road to the mountains, like a blind gate, was locked by a huge cement plant. In front of him is a river and a village. The approaches to the complex, uncovered by the river, were well mined. Motorized riflemen have already tried twice to take over the plant. Both assaults brought only losses. The Novorossiysk paratroopers took the plant in four hours without losing a single man.
In the mountains and in the surroundings
May 1995 The war stepped into the mountains. Novorossiysk soldiers are thrown under Serzhen-Yurt - to help the advancing motorized riflemen and marines. The militants, realizing that help would definitely come to ours, were waiting for her in ambushes on the roads. The paratroopers went through the forest mountains. They hit suddenly. In the midst of the battle, the fighting vehicles also opened fire. The Dudaevites fled.
Undermining and cutting down trees, dragging equipment for more than a day along the impassable mountain "green" - probably only paratroopers could come up with this.
Then, the Novorossiysk soldiers, who proved themselves in mountain battles, began to be used as helicopter assault forces.
During one of these operations, having saddled their hill, the group of Major Sergei Kharchuk took up defense. And soon she found herself on the road along which help to Shatoi reached out from Bamut. For three days, about two hundred Dudayevites attacked the trenches of the paratroopers from one side or the other. Three dozen of ours fought to the death. When the parties exhausted themselves in battle, a verbal squabble began. Then the shooting resumed again. Squeezing the encirclement, the militants were getting closer. The paratroopers, they understood, would finally run out of ammunition. And they really were already running out. When, in front of the paratroopers, the militants shot down a helicopter that had arrived with ammunition, it was just right to despair. But the landing force continued to fight, refuting the axiom of military science, which assigns the role of the doomed to the encircled. And in the meantime, for the second day in the mountains, an armored group was going to help. When the twice wounded Major Yevgeny Rodionov finally brought the combat vehicles to the battlefield and the paratroopers united, the bandits had to save themselves.
It was the Novorossiysk paratroopers, landed from helicopters, led by Lieutenant Colonel Arkady Yegorov and Major Alexei Romanov, who also took the main mountain stronghold of the separatists - Shatoy.
When the landing is bitter
January 1996 The battalion of Ulyanovsk paratroopers was moving along the mountain road towards Shatoi. Ahead are three infantry fighting vehicles of Novorossiysk scouts - they knew these places well and undertook to lead the Ulyanovsk. The cover that one of the motorized rifle regiments was supposed to provide, as it turned out later, was not there. But there was an ambush, ready to shoot the battalion. The road that ran along the slope of the summit turned sharply uphill. On the left - a slope covered with greenery, on the right - a cliff. On the first car - the commander of the reconnaissance company, Senior Lieutenant Viktor Gnyp. On the second - a hundred meters behind - the head of intelligence of the combined battalion of the 7th airborne division, Major Yevgeny Rodionov. Feeling something was wrong, Rodionov stopped the car and approached Gnyp on foot. At that moment, the militants opened fire. For six hours, two dozen paratroopers courageously fought against the bandits who were on the dominant height and numerically superior to them. Rodionov will die immediately, Gnyp, wounded in the head, throwing off his bloody helmet, will direct the battle for another half an hour and give target designations to the gunner-operator of his BMD directly from the tower under heavy fire. Having made two attempts to pass by a cliff to Rodionov, Senior Lieutenant Mirzatoev, who is on the third BMD, will be shell-shocked, but still he will carry out the body of his comrade. These will be the worst losses of the 7th division in the first Chechen war - four killed in one battle.
Spring. Mountain campaign, the capture of Bamut - the last bastion of militants. Surrounding this village turned into a fortress from the mountains, the new commander of the grouping of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Vladimir Shamanov, “through an acquaintance” outlined the most distant and difficult route for him. The paratroopers will not be left without work even after. Landing from helicopters, they will comb the mountains in search of hidden bases of the Dudaevites. The war was inevitably drawing to a close. The tragedy will happen in early August 1996. Leaking into Grozny, guarded by the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the surviving militants, having gathered in exactly the last gang, will almost completely take over the city in two days. Of the army units in Grozny at that time there will be only one - a company of the 7th Airborne Division, which has recently arrived to replace soldiers.
The militants will try to seize the government building one of the first. The Novorossiysk soldiers guarding him entered their first battle in their lives and fought back. At night, the Dudaevites repeated the attack, but only covered the approaches to the building with their bodies. 4-5 assaults were beaten off every day. The night of August 7-8 was especially difficult, when the militants brought two captured tanks to direct fire. Taking grenade launchers, Kilchenko with soldiers under fire made his way to the roof of a neighboring building and destroyed the tanks. Only when on the fourth day, using flamethrowers, the militants set fire to the building, Kilchenko will make a breakthrough. And he will bring out the company, for all the time without losing a single person. For this battle and commanding feat, Captain Sergei Kilchenko will be presented with the title of Hero of Russia. The presentation will be delayed. Then it will be repeated a few more times. But they will forget about the officer ... Apparently, it will seem unethical to give a Hero for a lost war. Although Captain Kilchenko did not lose the war. He won in his fight. He survived and kept all his soldiers alive. Only now the courage of the paratroopers did not save the country from a common tragedy.
Novorossiysk left Chechnya with a bitter feeling. It was hard to understand why the army was not allowed to destroy the bandits in Grozny then.
The Caucasus did not let them go 
During the first Chechen campaign, the 7th Airborne Division decided to add firepower by adding an anti-aircraft missile regiment, a tank battalion and a division of BM-21 multiple rocket launchers to the standard composition of the formation. "Seven" was supposed to be the first, let's say, heavy airborne division. Having accepted the 345th regiment stationed in Abkhazia, the division became a three-regiment, the artillery regiment received the promised 18 Grads. We were about to receive a tank battalion. But after the end of hostilities in Chechnya, the reform of the 7th airborne division, unexpectedly for the paratroopers, went in a completely different direction. By the directive of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, the "seven" turned into a brigade and was withdrawn from the Airborne Forces! Then there was the military council of the Airborne Forces, strong arguments in support of the "seven".
As a result, it was decided at the top that the 7th would remain an airborne division. But at the same time, according to the directive, she lost the already almost received tank battalion, all the Grad installations (which the paratroopers had already managed to master), and even two parachute regiments. True, the air assault regiment located in Stavropol (the former dshbr) was introduced into the division. And then Chechnya again reminded of the role of the G7.
In December 1997, Khattab's militants made a sensational sortie to Buynaksk, carrying out a fire raid on the park of the 136th motorized rifle brigade. The situation in the North Caucasus was clearly out of control.
In January 1998, executing a special decree of the President of Russia, the military maneuver group of the 7th division - about 600 paratroopers - moved to confront Khattab, in the Botlikh area.
For six months, from January to June 1998, the confrontation lasted, a kind of "cold war" between Novorossiysk and Khattab, located across the hill - 10 kilometers away. The task of the paratroopers is to cover the posts of the Dagestan police located on the border with Chechnya. Twice a week - training with the departure of armored groups to the border and deployment in battle formation, in front of Khattab's militants, so accustomed to the role of undivided masters of the district in the post-war 1997. The militants then did not dare to measure their strength.
On the heights near Botlikh
On August 2, when the Novorossiysk people, being in Kaspiysk, like all the "blue berets", celebrated the day of the "winged infantry", one and a half thousand militants under the command of Basayev and Khattab invaded the territory of Dagestan. The situation was becoming critical.
The capture of the regional center of Botlikh by militants could become a critical mass for an explosion of separatism in the republic. In fact, Russia was saved from a big war in Dagestan by a battalion of Novorossiysk paratroopers sent to Botlikh by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Having covered more than 200 kilometers of difficult mountain roads in a day, the military maneuver group (VMG) of the 7th airborne division goes to Botlikh, seven hours ahead of the Chechen fighters. At the regional center, the serenely marching terrorists were met by a dug-in battalion under the command of Major Sergei Kostin. When planning the invasion of Dagestan, the leaders of the terrorists obviously did not take into account the training of the Novorossiysk paratroopers.
Having taken up defense along the mountain heights, the militants seemed to have calculated everything: the rocky ground would protect against combat helicopters and artillery, the mountains of loaded mines would be demolished from the heights of the attackers, which were previously shot by mortars. But even this plan did not provide for the main thing - the courage of the paratroopers and their commanders. For several days, battles will go on for the key height Donkey Ear, which changes hands, on which battalion commander Sergey Kostin will die heroically.
Led by Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Rybalko, who will be seriously wounded, the paratroopers will take the height, opening their account of the second Chechen war with a hundred killed "spirits".
Heavy fighting will unfold on August 22, when scouts Captain Igor Khomenko and Sergeant Yuri Chumak will accomplish their feat. Acting under the guise of militants, the officer's group obtained valuable information about the positions and forces of the separatists, passing them on to the group's headquarters, but was discovered. Seeing that there was a threat of a complete encirclement, Captain Khomenko and Sergeant Chumak took the fight together, detaining the bandits and letting the group leave. The paratroopers held out to the last.
Majors Eduard Tseev and Sergey Kostin, captain Igor Khomenko and sergeant Yuri Chumak for those August battles will be awarded the high title of Hero of Russia. The last three are posthumous.
If the enemy does not surrender 
Others entered Chechnya - the Stavropol battalions of the 7th airborne division, advancing through the Kizlyar along the Nogai steppes. To the village of Shelkovskaya, the regimental tactical group under the command of the regimental commander Colonel Yuri Em came out with a quick sudden maneuver. In a panic that was well felt on the air, the militants hurried to leave for the Terek.
Knowing the area well, the bandits always preferred ambush actions to head-on collisions. On October 14, returning from reconnaissance in the Terek region, the paratroopers heard on the radio that they had been ambushed and accepted the battle by special forces performing their tasks nearby. Stavropol immediately deployed combat vehicles and rushed to the sounds of battle. The bandits obviously did not expect an attack on the move. Under the cover of the paratroopers of Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Minenkov, the special forces managed to escape from the ambush, evacuating the wounded from the battlefield. The officer who acted competently and selflessly in that battle, who was seriously wounded, covering the special forces, will also later become a Hero of Russia.
Then there will be blocking and liberation of the second largest city in Chechnya - Gudermes. The militants of the field commanders of the Yamadayev brothers will surrender without a fight. And the point, of course, will be not only in their disagreements with the Wahhabis Basayev and Khattab. Thanks to the competent tactical decision of Colonel Yuri Em, a gang of fifty bayonets will be destroyed in the Dzhalka area. Combing the forest, the paratroopers will go completely from the direction where the militants were prepared to meet them. Moreover, it is clearly not shepherds who will oppose them, but mercenaries experienced in their field. Then there will be Argun and Shali. The militants will also get hard under Vedeno in February. Acting as part of a helicopter landing, the Stavropol residents will wear down the detected militants, successfully aiming aircraft and artillery at the enemy. And then, having taken advantageous positions, they will completely destroy the separatists who were trying to escape from the fire bag in close combat. For skillful leadership of subordinates, competent planning of operations and personal courage shown, Colonel Yuri Em will be awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
In the spring, the time will come again to fight another regimental tactical group - Novorossiysk under the command of Colonel Vladimir Tretiak. The paratroopers will remember the mountains for a long time, where they blockaded militants in the areas adjacent to the Argun Gorge in unbearably difficult conditions. Making their way through a meter layer of snow, two battalions under the command of lieutenant colonels Alexei Osinovsky and Petr Kalyn will saddle the Dargenduk ridge. There you will have to fight not only with the enemy, frost, snow, but often with hunger. Due to non-flying weather, helicopters sometimes could not drop food for many days in a row. But no matter how difficult it was, there were no such heights that did not submit to the landing. Leading an active defense, they hunted down the militants. By directing artillery and aircraft, the Novorossiysk exterminated the irreconcilable. And by finding and blowing up their bases, they took away from the surviving militants the last hope with the onset of summer to start a large-scale guerrilla war. One day, more than 70 exhausted and wounded militants entered the regiment's area of responsibility and surrendered. Their spirit was broken by the landing will.
The battalion tactical grouping of the division, among the last units of the Ministry of Defense, left the territory of the Chechen Republic after the end of the active phase of hostilities. The Novorossiysk paratroopers went home not with a sense of revenge for the first Chechen war, but with the satisfaction of real men who did their job well. They put a full stop after the word "war".
If you want peace, prepare for war
Peaceful life was dumbfounded by silence and lack of tension from a constant sense of danger. But the heady joy of the end of the war quickly gave way to sober calculation - service in the Caucasus did not promise a long peaceful life. Therefore, the main attention was paid to the creation of a material base that allows soldiers to be taught everything that is needed in a war, not on the fingers, but in conditions as close as possible to combat. With such tasks in conjunction, they approached the reconstruction of the training ground. At first, the work was carried out on their own, then the reconstruction became an organized and stably funded process at the expense of the Federal Target Program. Done. Suffice it to say that the range at the disposal of the formation is currently the only one in the Airborne Forces that allows you to perform control firing exercises, including from the armament of combat vehicles, in mountainous terrain. This is not the first year that the training ground of the 7th division has known no downtime. From morning to evening everything rattles and shoots in Raevsky. Puffs of smoke and explosions do not frighten drivers passing by the landfill for a long time.
Thanks to the reconstruction of old and newly created elements of the rear zone, the capacity of the combined arms shooting range has increased. More than 20 different training places are equipped here, which allow you to work out the standards, solve fire problems, study and improve the basics and rules of shooting. The creation of a closed training cycle from theory to practice made it possible to increase the capacity of the shooting range by several times due to the use of internal reserves in the same area.
To work out the initial course of firing, a shooting range was built right at the point of permanent deployment. Now, in order to instill primary skills in shooting, you do not need to go 15 km to the training ground. Time began to be spent exclusively on shooting.
The commissioning of a simulator class for the training of gunners-operators of combat vehicles made it possible to bring the training of these specialists to a qualitatively new level. In conditions as close as possible to combat, intensive work is underway to improve the training of personnel in actions in armament without using the engine life of equipment and ammunition. This point is also important in the training of other crew members to achieve interchangeability.
They reconstructed (practically rebuilt) the tankodrome and the autodrome, equipped the waterdrome. Moreover, all these works were carried out without a decrease, but on the contrary, with an increase in the volume of training as new facilities were commissioned. So, for more than a year, the formation has been practically 100 percent getting the skills to drive combat vehicles afloat by mechanics-drivers and officers of units that have combat vehicles in service. But even five years ago, such classes were held only theoretically or in the category of educational and demonstration.
The improvement of the educational and material base and the polygon economy coincided with an increase in the intensity of training of units. Not so long ago, for the connection, the priority task was the preparation of battalion tactical groups to replace each other on the territory of the Chechen Republic. With the transition to peaceful combat training, everything changed radically. Since 2003, field exits have been practiced for all units and divisions of the compound. This applies not only to airborne and airborne assault battalions, but also to support units. So, for example, the repair and restoration battalion under the command of Denis Chefonov twice a year, right on the training ground, deploys an assembly point for damaged equipment during field trips and organizes its repair.
Intensive combat training at the high-quality base of the Raevskoye training ground could not fail to bring the expected results. The paratroopers of the unit participate in the large-scale exercises "Kavkaz-2006", "Kavkaz-2007" and for their training they receive the highest rating from the command of the North Caucasus Military District and the command of the Airborne Forces.
But the service in the Caucasus again prepared the most important exam for combat maturity for the paratroopers of the "seven". The exam of a new war... It was August 2008.
Five days and nights
The Caucasus has long been considered “their” region in the 7th Dshd. Of course, the operation to force Georgia to peace was not without it either. The air assault regiments stationed in Novorossiysk and Stavropol formed the basis of the grouping of Russian troops operating in the Abkhaz direction, commanded by Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov.
The first units of the division went to Abkhazia in early April. Positioned near the Georgian border, the battalion tactical group of the 108th Regiment became the reserve of the command of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces. And on the morning of August 8, the commander of the guard division, Colonel Vladimir Kochetkov, received the task of preparing three more of the same armored personnel carriers for dispatch. But in the afternoon a new order came - to start loading the first of them onto large landing ships for transfer to Abkhazia by sea.
On the night of August 11, the first to cross the border and marched to our peacekeeping battalion stationed in Georgia was the battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Vishnivetsky. In the morning, Lieutenant Colonel Rybalko's battalion, armored personnel carrier of the 31st brigade and artillery went along his route. Well, after Shamanov presented an ultimatum to the enemy, Vishnivetsky's battalion moved to Senaki.
On the evening of August 11, everyone concentrated north of Senaki. And on August 12, the Novorossiysk troops immediately took possession of the air base and the town of the Georgian brigade. The 2nd battalion came out near Poti, where they took under guard the railway and automobile bridges. On August 13, the paratroopers receive a new task - to inspect the naval base. Nothing was known about the Georgians. They only knew that some special unit - "fur seals" - was stationed at the naval base. Only these "cats" fled before the appearance of the paratroopers.
But four light warships, armed with small-caliber guns and rocket launchers, were moored at the pier. They were destroyed. At this base, as on the previous day in Senaki, no one offered resistance to our paratroopers. They fled. Moreover, the Georgians fled in obvious haste. The paratroopers understood this when they entered the first building, where they found fresh bread, three uncorked boxes with MANPADS and two ATGMs ready for use. Then they also found an ammunition depot, in which there were more than 1,000 ATGMs "Shturm" alone.
And in the secret part of the brigade, the paratroopers found plans to capture Abkhazia. The 2nd and 3rd motorized infantry brigades of the Georgians were supposed to participate in the operation, and the forces of the 5th were supposed to occupy the Kodori Gorge. These are all regular units, for the capture of which Abkhazia was given no more than 42 hours. After that, it was planned to introduce a division from mobilized reservists into the Gali region. With the help of light landing craft, it was supposed to land troops in Sukhum and Gudauta. But these plans were not allowed to come true.
Well, the strongest impression that our paratroopers left after those events was the captured Buks, which, despite the fact that they were carefully hidden, were found at the air base in Senaki. Having plowed the runway of this air base with the help of explosives, the paratroopers blew up two combat helicopters and an attack aircraft abandoned by the Georgians. But the radar used not only in the military, but also for civilian purposes, was not touched. Moreover, so that Saakashvili would not say later that the Russians had broken him, our paratroopers left two Georgian specialists in the control room. By the way, as soon as this locator, used in the interests of the Georgian air defense, was turned off, they immediately yelled from Tbilisi on the phone: who turned off the radar there, on what basis? Taking the phone from the Georgian specialist, our fighter answered the question from Tbilisi: “The radar was turned off by Private Svidrigailo. Airborne Troops of Russia.
Keep gunpowder dry
The Novorossiysk paratroopers confirmed their high combat skills last year as well. During the Kavkaz-2009 exercise, their actions at the mountain range were observed by the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, General of the Army Nikolai Makarov. Summing up the results of the maneuvers, he praised the military work of the winged infantrymen. Well, the most important and memorable test of last year for the paratroopers was the visit of the Commander-in-Chief of the RF Armed Forces, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. Leaving the location of the air assault regiment, he stressed that the paratroopers would soon become the backbone of Russia's mobile forces. The president briefly expressed his impression of what he saw to the commander of the Airborne Forces: “Thank you for the courageous and professional actions of subordinates, competent leadership. I am pleased with the visit to the division."
After 17 years of service in the Black Sea region, most of which the paratroopers of the 7th Guards Airborne Assault Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov Division (mountain) performed tasks in the North Caucasus, here everyone understands well what is the difference between the concepts of "rest" and "serve" in Black Sea. But seriously, the Novorossiysk page of the history of the "seven" brought it to the number of the most combat formations of the Russian army.
,
Operation Danube,
"Black January",
First Chechen War,
Invasion of Dagestan,
Second Chechen War,
Operation in the Kodori Gorge (2008)
7th Guards Air Assault (Mountain) Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division- connection of the airborne troops of the Soviet Army of the USSR Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
History 1945-1991
The regiment received its baptism of fire near Lake Balaton (Hungary) in 1945 as part of the 9th Guards Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.
On April 26, 1945, for the exemplary performance of command assignments, the regiment was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree.
Division units were the first in the airborne troops to master landing from An-8, An-12, An-22, Il-76 aircraft, tested a number of new parachute systems (D-5 and D-6), all generations of BMD and the 2S9 artillery system "Nona". For the first time, the personnel of the formation made a practical landing after a flight at altitudes of 6,000 - 8,000 meters using oxygen devices.
In 1956, the unit participated in the suppression of the Hungarian uprising.
In 1968, the division participated in Operation Danube to suppress the Prague Spring.
The paratroopers of the formation were repeatedly involved in such major exercises and maneuvers as Shield-76, Neman, West-81, West-84, Dozor-86. The division was awarded the Pennant of the Minister of Defense of the USSR "For courage and military prowess" for the displayed combat skills during the "West-81" exercises. In the course of the last three exercises, the BMD was landed along with the crews.
In 1971 and 1972, the division was awarded the challenge Red Banner of the Airborne Forces.
On May 4, 1985, for success in combat training and in connection with the 40th anniversary of the Great Victory, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
In 1988-1989, parts of the division participated in the suppression of the political opposition of the Azerbaijan SSR in Baku. As a result of the events in Baku, known as Black January, more than a hundred citizens died.
Plane crash near Kaluga
On June 23, 1969, the 6th Airborne Company as part of the 2nd Battalion of the 108th Guards Airborne Regiment of the 7th Guards Airborne Division was tasked with flying from Kaunas to Ryazan. In Ryazan, the personnel of the company were to conduct demonstration exercises for the Minister of Defense of the USSR A. A. Grechko.
In 1993-1996, the personnel of the unit carried out peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia. From January 1995 to April 2004, parts of the division carried out combat missions in the North Caucasus region. In 1995, the division fought in Grozny, and during the mountainous stage of the campaign, in the Vedensky and Shatoisky regions of Chechnya. For their courage and heroism, 499 servicemen were awarded orders and medals. Irretrievable losses during the two Chechen campaigns amounted to 87 people.
In July 2001, the musical group "Sineva" was created in the division, which included paratroopers - participants in the hostilities. Major Bosenko Oleg Grigoryevich became the founder of the team. Since its founding, the group has become a laureate of many Military Patriotic Song Festivals.
In 2011, a book about the division was released.
On May 14, 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented the division with the Order of Suvorov.
Since September 2015, he has been performing tasks to ensure the security of the Aviation Group of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria at the Khmeimim airbase during the air operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Formations
Heroes
During the existence of the division, 10 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 18 people were awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Of them:
Commander (period)
- Major General Polishchuk, Grigory Fedoseevich (1945-1952)
- Colonel Golofast Georgy Petrovich (1952-1955)
- Major General Rudakov, Alexey Pavlovich (1955-1956)
- Guards Colonel Antipov Petr Fedorovich (1956-1958)
- Guard Colonel Dudura Ivan Makarovich (1958-1961)
- Major General Chaplygin, Pyotr Vasilyevich (1961-1963)
- Major General Shkrudiev, Dmitry Grigorievich (1963-1966)
- Major General Gorelov, Lev Nikolaevich (1966-1970)
- Major General Kuleshov, Oleg Fedorovich (1970-1973)
- Major General Kalinin, Nikolai Vasilyevich (1973-1975)
- Major General Kraev, Vladimir Stepanovich (1975-1978)
- Major General Achalov Vladislav Alekseevich (1978-1982)
- Guard Colonel Yarygin, Yurantin Vasilyevich (1982-1984)
- Major General Toporov Vladimir Mikhailovich (1984-1987)
- Major General Sigutkin, Alexey Alekseevich (1987-1990)
- Major General Khatskevich, Valery Frantsovich (1990-1992)
- Major General Kalabukhov, Grigory Andreevich (1992-1994)
- Major General Solonin, Igor Vilyevich (1994-1997)
- Major General Krivosheev Yuri Mikhailovich (1997-2002)
- Major General Ignatov Nikolai Ivanovich (2002-2005)
- Major General Astapov, Viktor Borisovich (2005-2007)
- Guard Colonel Kochetkov Vladimir Anatolyevich (2008-2010)
- Major General Vyaznikov, Alexander Yurievich (2010-2012)
- Major General Solodchuk Valery Nikolaevich (2012-2014)
- Major General Roman Breus (2014-present)
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Notes
Links
- Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
- V. V. Kulakov. Dissertation of the candidate of historical sciences. Krasnodar, 2003.
- Magazine "Bratishka".
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An excerpt characterizing the 7th Guards Air Assault (Mountain) Division
“Petya, you are stupid,” said Natasha.“No stupider than you, mother,” said nine-year-old Petya, as if he were an old foreman.
The countess was prepared by Anna Mikhailovna's hints during dinner. Having gone to her room, she, sitting on an armchair, did not take her eyes off the miniature portrait of her son, fixed in a snuff box, and tears welled up in her eyes. Anna Mikhailovna, with the letter on tiptoe, went up to the countess's room and stopped.
“Don’t come in,” she said to the old count, who was following her, “after,” and she closed the door behind her.
The count put his ear to the lock and began to listen.
At first he heard the sounds of indifferent speeches, then one sound of Anna Mikhaylovna's voice speaking a long speech, then a cry, then silence, then again both voices spoke together with joyful intonations, and then footsteps, and Anna Mikhaylovna opened the door for him. On the face of Anna Mikhailovna there was a proud expression of a cameraman who had completed a difficult amputation and was leading the public in so that they could appreciate his art.
- C "est fait! [It's done!] - she said to the count, pointing solemnly at the countess, who held a snuffbox with a portrait in one hand, a letter in the other and pressed her lips first to one, then to the other.
Seeing the count, she stretched out her arms to him, hugged his bald head, and through the bald head again looked at the letter and portrait, and again, in order to press them to her lips, slightly pushed the bald head away. Vera, Natasha, Sonya and Petya entered the room and the reading began. The letter briefly described the campaign and two battles in which Nikolushka participated, the promotion to officers and it was said that he kisses the hands of maman and papa, asking for their blessings, and kisses Vera, Natasha, Petya. In addition, he bows to Mr. Sheling, and to mme Shos and the nurse, and, in addition, asks to kiss dear Sonya, whom he still loves and remembers in the same way. On hearing this, Sonya blushed so that tears came into her eyes. And, unable to endure the looks that turned on her, she ran into the hall, ran away, whirled, and, inflating her dress with a balloon, flushed and smiling, sat down on the floor. The Countess was crying.
“What are you crying about, maman?” Vera said. - Everything that he writes should be rejoicing, not crying.
It was perfectly fair, but the count, the countess, and Natasha all looked at her reproachfully. “And who did she turn out like that!” thought the countess.
Nikolushka's letter was read hundreds of times, and those who were considered worthy to listen to him had to come to the countess, who did not let go of him. Tutors, nannies, Mitenka, some acquaintances came, and the countess reread the letter each time with new pleasure and each time discovered new virtues in her Nikolushka from this letter. How strange, unusual, how joyful it was for her that her son was the son who, almost noticeably tiny members, moved in her 20 years ago, the son for whom she quarreled with the spoiled count, the son who had learned to say before: “ pear ”, and then“ woman ”, that this son is now there, in a foreign land, in a foreign environment, a courageous warrior, alone, without help and guidance, is doing some kind of masculine business there. The whole world age-old experience, indicating that children imperceptibly from the cradle become husbands, did not exist for the countess. The maturation of her son in every season of maturation was just as extraordinary for her, as if there had never been millions of millions of people who had matured in the same way. Just as she couldn’t believe 20 years ago that that little creature that lived somewhere under her heart would scream and begin to suckle her breast and begin to speak, so now she couldn’t believe that this same creature could be that strong, a brave man, a model of sons and people, which he was now, judging by this letter.
- What a calm, as he describes cute! she said, reading the descriptive part of the letter. And what a soul! Nothing about me… nothing! About some Denisov, but he himself, it’s true, is braver than all of them. He writes nothing about his sufferings. What a heart! How do I recognize him! And how I remembered everyone! Didn't forget anyone. I always, always said, even when he was like this, I always said ...
For more than a week they prepared, wrote brillons and wrote letters to Nikolushka from the whole house in a clean copy; under the supervision of the countess and the care of the count, the necessary gizmos and money were collected for the uniform and equipment of the newly promoted officer. Anna Mikhailovna, a practical woman, managed to arrange protection for herself and her son in the army, even for correspondence. She had the opportunity to send her letters to the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, who commanded the guard. The Rostovs assumed that the Russian guards abroad had a completely definitive address, and that if the letter reached the Grand Duke, who commanded the guards, then there was no reason that it should not reach the Pavlograd regiment, which should be nearby; and therefore it was decided to send letters and money through the courier of the Grand Duke to Boris, and Boris was already supposed to deliver them to Nikolushka. Letters were from the old count, from the countess, from Petya, from Vera, from Natasha, from Sonya and, finally, 6,000 money for uniforms and various things that the count sent to his son.
On November 12, the Kutuzov military army, camped near Olmutz, was preparing for the next day for a review of two emperors - Russian and Austrian. The guards, who had just arrived from Russia, spent the night 15 versts from Olmutz and the next day, right at the review, by 10 o'clock in the morning, entered the Olmutz field.
Nikolai Rostov that day received a note from Boris informing him that the Izmailovsky regiment was spending the night 15 miles short of Olmutz, and that he was waiting for him to hand over a letter and money. Rostov especially needed money now, when, having returned from the campaign, the troops stopped near Olmutz, and well-equipped scribblers and Austrian Jews, offering all sorts of temptations, filled the camp. Pavlohrad residents had feasts after feasts, celebrations of the awards received for the campaign and trips to Olmutz to the newly arrived Karolina Vengerka, who opened a tavern with female servants there. Rostov recently celebrated his production of cornets, bought a Bedouin, Denisov's horse, and was indebted to his comrades and sutlers all around. Having received a note from Boris, Rostov and his friend went to Olmutz, dined there, drank a bottle of wine, and went alone to the guards camp in search of his childhood friend. Rostov has not had time to get dressed yet. He was wearing a worn cadet jacket with a soldier's cross, the same breeches lined with worn leather, and an officer's saber with a lanyard; the horse on which he rode was a Don one, bought on a campaign from a Cossack; the crumpled hussar cap was smartly put on back and to one side. Approaching the camp of the Izmailovsky regiment, he thought about how he would hit Boris and all his fellow guardsmen with his fired fighting hussar look.
The guards went through the whole campaign as if on a festivities, flaunting their cleanliness and discipline. The transitions were small, satchels were carried on carts, the Austrian authorities prepared excellent dinners for the officers at all the transitions. The regiments entered and left the cities with music, and the whole campaign (which the guardsmen were proud of), by order of the Grand Duke, people walked in step, and the officers walked in their places. Boris walked and stood with Berg, now a company commander, all the time of the campaign. Berg, having received a company during the campaign, managed to earn the trust of his superiors with his diligence and accuracy and arranged his economic affairs very profitably; During the campaign, Boris made many acquaintances with people who could be useful to him, and through a letter of recommendation he brought from Pierre, he met Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, through whom he hoped to get a place in the headquarters of the commander in chief. Berg and Boris, clean and neatly dressed, having rested after the last day's march, sat in the clean apartment allotted to them in front of a round table and played chess. Berg held a smoking pipe between his knees. Boris, with his usual accuracy, with his white thin hands placed the checkers like a pyramid, waiting for Berg's move, and looked at his partner's face, apparently thinking about the game, as he always thought only about what he was doing.
- Well, how will you get out of this? - he said.
“We will try,” answered Berg, touching the pawn and lowering his hand again.
At this time, the door opened.
“Here he is at last,” shouted Rostov. And Berg is here! Oh, petizanfan, ale kushe dormir, [Children, go to bed,] he shouted, repeating the words of the nanny, over which they once laughed with Boris.
- Fathers! how you have changed! - Boris stood up to meet Rostov, but, getting up, he did not forget to support and put the falling chess pieces in their place and wanted to hug his friend, but Nikolai moved away from him. With that special feeling of youth, which is afraid of beaten roads, wants, without imitating others, to express their feelings in a new way, in their own way, if only not in the way that the elders often express it feignedly, Nikolai wanted to do something special when meeting with a friend : he wanted to somehow pinch, push Boris, but just not kiss in any way, as everyone did. Boris, on the contrary, calmly and friendly embraced and kissed Rostov three times.
They had not seen each other for almost half a year; and at the age when young people take their first steps on the path of life, both found in each other great changes, completely new reflections of the societies in which they took their first steps in life. Both had changed a lot since their last meeting, and both wanted to quickly show each other the changes that had taken place in them.
“Oh, you damn floor polishers! Clean, fresh, as if from a walk, not like we are sinners, the army, ”said Rostov with baritone sounds new to Boris in his voice and army tricks, pointing to his breeches spattered with mud.
The German hostess leaned out of the door at the loud voice of Rostov.
- What, pretty? he said with a wink.
- Why are you screaming like that! You will scare them,” said Boris. “But I didn’t expect you today,” he added. - Yesterday, I just gave you a note through a friend of Kutuzovsky's adjutant - Bolkonsky. I did not think that he would deliver to you so soon ... Well, how are you? Already shot? Boris asked.
Rostov, without answering, shook the soldier's St. George's cross hanging on the laces of his uniform, and, pointing to his bandaged hand, smiling, looked at Berg.
“As you can see,” he said.
- That's how, yes, yes! - Boris said smiling, - and we also made a glorious campaign. After all, you know, his highness constantly rode with our regiment, so that we had all the conveniences and all the benefits. In Poland, what kind of receptions there were, what kind of dinners, balls - I can’t tell you. And the Tsarevich was very merciful to all our officers.
And both friends told each other - one about their hussar revels and military life, the other about the pleasantness and benefits of serving under the command of high-ranking officials, etc.
- O Guard! Rostov said. “Well, let’s go get some wine.”
Boris winced.
“If you really want to,” he said.
And, going up to the bed, he took out a purse from under the clean pillows and ordered to bring wine.
“Yes, and give you the money and the letter,” he added.
Rostov took the letter and, throwing money on the sofa, leaned his elbows on the table with both hands and began to read. He read a few lines and looked angrily at Berg. Meeting his gaze, Rostov covered his face with a letter.
“However, they sent you a decent amount of money,” Berg said, looking at the heavy purse pressed into the sofa. - Here we are with a salary, count, making our way. I'll tell you about myself...
“That’s what, my dear Berg,” said Rostov, “when you receive a letter from home and meet your man, whom you want to ask about everything, and I’ll be here, I’ll leave now so as not to disturb you. Listen, go away, please, somewhere, somewhere ... to hell! he shouted, and at once, grabbing him by the shoulder and looking affectionately into his face, apparently trying to soften the rudeness of his words, he added: “you know, don’t be angry; dear, my dear, I speak from the bottom of my heart, as to our old acquaintance.
“Ah, pardon me, Count, I understand very well,” said Berg, getting up and speaking to himself in a throaty voice.
- You go to the owners: they called you, - Boris added.
Berg put on a clean frock coat, without a spot or a speck, fluffed up the temples in front of the mirror, as Alexander Pavlovich wore, and, convinced by Rostov's look that his frock coat had been noticed, with a pleasant smile he left the room.
- Oh, what a beast I am, however! - said Rostov, reading the letter.
- And what?
- Oh, what a pig I am, however, that I never wrote and so scared them. Oh, what a pig I am,” he repeated, suddenly blushing. - Well, send Gavrila for wine! Okay, enough! - he said…
In the letters of the relatives, there was also a letter of recommendation to Prince Bagration, which, on the advice of Anna Mikhailovna, the old countess got through her acquaintances and sent to her son, asking him to take it down for its intended purpose and use it.
- That's nonsense! I really need it, - said Rostov, throwing the letter under the table.
- Why did you leave it? Boris asked.
- What a letter of recommendation, the devil is in my letter!
- What the hell is in the letter? - Boris said, raising and reading the inscription. This letter is very important for you.
“I don’t need anything, and I’m not going to be an adjutant to anyone.
- From what? Boris asked.
- Lackey position!
“You are still the same dreamer, I see,” said Boris, shaking his head.
“And you are still a diplomat. Well, that's not the point ... Well, what are you? Rostov asked.
- Yes, as you can see. So far so good; but I confess that I would very much like to become adjutant, and not remain in the front.
- What for?
- Because, having already once gone through the career of military service, one should try to make, if possible, a brilliant career.
- Yes, that's how! - said Rostov, apparently thinking of something else.
He looked intently and inquiringly into the eyes of his friend, apparently in vain looking for a solution to some question.
The 7th Guards Air Assault Mountain Division is also part of the Russian Federation. The unit was formed at the end of the Great Patriotic War, and received its full name 3 years later.
The division participated in many armed conflicts, a large number of personnel were awarded medals and orders.
Formation
The 7th Guards Air Assault Mountain Division was formed at the end of the winter of 1945. The regiment went west. The unit took up positions in Hungary, where it received its baptism of fire. While all fronts were rapidly advancing, in the area of Lake Balaton, the Red Army erected defensive fortifications for the first time in a long time and for the last time in the entire war. This was due to Hitler's order to push back the liberation troops from Vienna. No less significant than the city itself, for the Nazis, there was an oil well. And oil, as you know, is the fuel of war.
The 7th Guards Air Assault Mountain Division took up defense in depth. The plan was developed by the Headquarters of the commander in chief. It was based on the successful experience of the battle on
The beginning of a breakthrough
The Nazis planned to push through the defenses of the Soviet troops with a quick tank strike. March 6, before dawn, the Nazis launched an offensive. After heavy fighting, they captured the necessary, from a tactical point of view, areas.
The main blow fell between two lakes, where the 7th Guards Airborne Assault Mountain Division was located. There they advanced in close formation and suppressed the Red Army with their superiority in technology. After 2 days, howitzers and MLRS systems thundered. This meant that the main forces of the Reich would soon enter the battle. By 9 o'clock in the morning the SS began to advance.
But the Nazis underestimated the resilience of the Soviet soldiers, and the offensive bogged down, the defense survived. After an unsuccessful attempt at a counteroffensive, the Nazis were no longer able to organize serious pressure on their opponents. The Red Army liberated Vienna, and the road to Berlin was finally opened.
After World War II
The 7th Guards Air Assault Mountain Division ended its participation in the Great Patriotic War, having liberated Czechoslovakia, after which it was deployed in the Baltic states. She participated in the suppression of the attempt of Nazi revanchists to commit a putsch in Hungary. After that, the command sent a division to Czechoslovakia to participate in Operation Danube.
In 1968, the government of Czechoslovakia in the majority betrayed the ideas of socialism and wanted to ask for help from NATO. In response, countries decided to militarily suppress the coup attempt. The preparation and planning of the operation took place in the strictest secrecy. The commanders on the ground did not know about specific targets and combat missions until the last minute. On August 21, Allied troops crossed the border of Czechoslovakia and occupied key political and military installations. The operation was successful, with virtually no casualties or battles.
Chechen wars
During both Chechen campaigns, the 7th Guards Airborne Assault Mountain Division was assigned various tasks. The fighters fought in the hottest spots in the North Caucasus. In 1995, they stormed Grozny, where fierce battles were fought for every lane.
Also, the 7th Guards Airborne Assault Mountain Division carried out the tasks of cleaning up the Vedeno and Shatoi districts. This is a mountainous area where the infamous Argun Gorge is located. There, the militants of the Arab mercenary Khattab defeated a convoy of federal troops during the first campaign.
Also, the combat biography of the division includes peacekeeping operations in Abkhazia and the suppression of protests in Azerbaijan during the collapse of the USSR. The personnel of the military formation is five and a half thousand people. The main equipment is airborne combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The nickname of the 7th division is "Buffaloes".
Formed on 12/08/1942 on the basis of units of the 5th Airborne Corps. The division includes the 18th, 21st and 29th Guards Airborne, 10th Guards Artillery Regiments. On August 18, 1943, a grouping consisting of the Great Germany motorized division, the 10th motorized division, two separate battalions of Tiger tanks, four regiments of self-propelled artillery, as well as separate units and subunits of the 7th, 11th and 19th Panzer divisions attacked 27 th army. The impact of a significant part of the forces of this armored mass was the first to be taken over by the 166th Infantry Division. Two of her regiments immediately fell into an encirclement, from which they emerged only on the fourth day of fierce fighting. The enemy tank wedge entered obliquely into the body of the 27th Army and advanced through Akhtyrka to the southeast. The Soviet command knew about the plans of the Nazis. That is why it moved the 4th Guards Army into the threatened area in advance. The 20th Guards Corps, which included the division, was to be the first to enter the business. On August 18, instructions were received, according to which the entire corps, having the 8th and 7th Guards Airborne Division in the first echelon, and the 5th Guards in the second, was to occupy the line of defense. To the left and somewhat behind the corps, the 21st Guards Corps marched in a ledge. Thus, the entire 4th Guards Army entered into action. On 25/8/1943 at dawn, after a short artillery attack, the division went on the offensive. The guards immediately felt a sharp drop in the combat capability of the Nazis. During the day, parts of the division advanced 15 kilometers, freeing dozens of villages and farms. The offensive developed successfully. Three divisions of the 20th Guards Corps were rapidly advancing to the southwest - the Battle of Kursk, without any operational pause, developed into a battle for the Left-Bank Ukraine. There, to the gray Dnieper, the guardsmen of the division carried their battle flags. First of all, they had to take possession of Kotelva. The Nazis carefully fortified Kotelva. The fighting for her began on August 26 and ended only 14 days later. First, the 7th and 8th Guards Divisions and units of the 3rd Guards Corps were drawn into the battle for Kotelva. 5th Guards the airborne division was unable to overcome the resistance of the units of the tank division "Dead Head", the fire of which it was stopped at the outskirts of Kotelva on the northern bank of the Kotelevka river, and fought a firefight. The enemy continuously brought up reinforcements, and soon the struggle took on a positional character. If in the early days the division's success was determined by the capture of a street or quarter, then later the fights, stubborn, fierce, were already for every house and yard. However, the command did not allow the guardsmen to get bogged down in a powerful enemy defense. The command of the corps castled the divisions to the right, along the front, struck a blow here and, bypassing Kotelva, created a threat of encirclement of the 7th German Panzer Division. This maneuver, with minimal losses, gave a major tactical gain. The Nazis were immediately forced to leave Kotelva. On the evening of September 3, units of the 5th Guards Airborne Division, which became part of the 21st Corps, completed their shift in Kotelva of the 7th and 8th divisions of the 20th Guards Army. Under the roar of guns lined up on both sides of the corridor, the 7th and 8th divisions left the "Kotelvinskaya horseshoe", marched along the front line and concentrated to strike at the flank of the enemy grouping. On the night of October 6, 1943, the leading detachments of the division began crossing the Dnieper. Throughout October, battles for bridgeheads were going on at the Dnieper borders. Neither side has achieved decisive success. The front commander took the 7th and 8th divisions from the corps and transferred them to the main sector. Only the 5th remained in the corps, which fought local battles. In the second decade of October, the 2nd Ukrainian Front dealt a strong blow from the bridgehead, which is southwest of Kremenchug. At the same time, north of Kyiv, the 1st Ukrainian Front also went on the offensive. These were not yet pincers, but under favorable circumstances they could become them and “bite off” the enemy grouping defending on the Dnieper. A regrouping began in the 4th Guards Army. The commander decided to try again to capture Novo-Georgievsky from the already existing bridgehead in the Lipovo, Kalaborok area. The 20th Guards was transferred here. rifle corps. By the evening of October 22, the 5th and 7th divisions took up their starting positions for the offensive. At the end of November, the 43rd division withstood very heavy fighting. Its 18th and 29th regiments reached the eastern outskirts of the city of Cherkasy, cutting off the enemy's retreat. Then the Nazis, in turn, surrounded ours with a counterattack of the tank and infantry divisions. The regiments of the division fought for five days surrounded. On February 11, 1944, the division is part of the 21st Guards. 4th Guards A squadron and by 12.2.1944 reached the Oktyabr-Lysyanka-Maidanovka-Zvenigorodka section, which made it possible to reliably ensure the junction of fronts from the enemy tank grouping to Lysyanka from the Rubanny Most, Rizino area. On March 5, 1944, at 6:54 a.m., the earth trembled, the air stirred up a huge volley of force, which then turned into a continuous roar of hundreds of barrels. The sharp sounds of "Katyushas" stood out. The artillery preparation lasted about an hour. At the general signal, the guards went on the attack. The battle developed unevenly. The greatest success was indicated in the left flank division, the 7th. She took possession of Olkhovets. 06/13/1945 was transformed into the 115th Guards. sd.
The 7th Guards Airborne Division (VDD) was formed on the basis of the 322nd Guards Airborne Order of Kutuzov Regiment of the 8th Guards Airborne Corps in the city of Polotsk, Belarusian Military District.
She received her baptism of fire near Lake Balaton (Hungary) in 1945 as part of the 9th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.
On April 26, 1945, for the exemplary performance of command assignments at the front, the unit was awarded the Order of Kutuzov II degree, 6 commendations from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief were announced to her, 2065 soldiers, sergeants and officers were awarded orders and medals of the USSR for battles. April 26, by order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, was established as the day of connection.
On October 14, 1948, the division was redeployed to the cities of Kaunas and Marijampol of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1956, the connection participated in the Hungarian events, and in 1968 - in the Czechoslovakia.
Division units were the first in the Airborne Forces (VDV) to master parachute jumps from AN-8, AN-12, AN-22, IL-76 aircraft, and tested a number of new parachute systems D-5, D-6. The personnel of the division for the first time made a practical landing after a flight at altitudes of 6-8 thousand meters using oxygen devices.
The paratroopers of the unit were repeatedly involved in such large exercises and maneuvers as "Shield-76", "Neman", "West-81", "West-84", "Dozor-86", etc. For the high combat skill shown during exercises "West-81" the division was awarded the Pennant of the Minister of Defense of the USSR "For courage and military prowess." In the course of the last three exercises, airborne combat vehicles were landed along with their crews.
May 4, 1985 for success in combat and political training and in connection with the 40th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Between 1979 and 1989 the vast majority of officers and ensigns of the division honorably fulfilled their international duty in the Republic of Afghanistan. Many of them have received state awards.
Since August 1993, the division has been deployed on the territory of the North Caucasian Military District. In 1993-1996 military units and divisions of the 7th Guards. Airborne Forces carried out peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia.
From January 1995 to April 2004, a separate consolidated airborne battalion of the division with reinforcements carried out the tasks of restoring constitutional order on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
From February 1998 to September 1999, the military maneuver group (VMG) of the 7th airborne division carried out tasks to combat terrorists in the Botlikh region of the river. Dagestan. In August 1999, the personnel of the VMG of the 7th Airborne Division were the first to take the blow from the detachments of Chechen fighters who invaded the territory of the Botlikh region.
From 1999 to April 2004, the personnel of the division took an active part in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.
More than 2,500 paratroopers of the division were awarded for their courage and heroism in carrying out combat missions during the counter-terrorist operation.
In August 2008, the paratroopers of the formation participated in the operation to force Georgia to peace.
In 2012, the division, in cooperation with units of the Southern Military District and federal power structures, took part in a counter-terrorist operation in the mountainous part of the Republic of Dagestan.
By Decree of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation No. 201 dated April 20, 2015, the division was awarded the Order of Suvorov.
On May 14, 2015, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, for his merits and exemplary service to the Fatherland, the Order of Suvorov. The division at that time became the fifth owner of the Order of Suvorov in the modern history of Russia.
Since the creation of the division, 10 people have been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 2 thousand paratroopers were awarded orders and medals. For the successful completion of combat missions, courage, bravery and heroism, 18 servicemen were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
In August 2016, the team of the 7th Guards Airborne Division (g) took 1st place in the International Army Games Airborne Platoon-2016, where representatives of the airborne troops from 6 countries such as China, Venezuela, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Egypt took part.
In 2017, the paratroopers took part in the International Army Games in the Airborne Platoon competition, which was held on the territory of the People's Republic of China.
At present, the airborne formation is equipped with the most modern weapons, military equipment, airborne and communications equipment.
Today, the paratroopers of the 7th Guards Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov, 2nd Class, Air Assault Division (Mountain) continue to improve their combat skills, and are ready to perform any assigned tasks!
