40th Army established on 12

Soviet 40^th Army in the Afghanistan Campaign 1979-1985

v.1.0 October 14, 2001

Constantine Pehlivanov

40^th Army established on 12 – 13. 12. 1979, incorporating 4 MRDs 1 Independent MRR, 1 Artillery brigade, 1 SAM brigade, communication, engineering and supply units. 50 thousand people and 8 thousand vehicles were mobilized.

Soviet Forces in Afghanistan (officially Limited Contingency of Soviet Forces) also included 34 Composite Air Corps, 1 ABD, 1 Spetznaz battalion (often nicknamed “Muslim”), “Grom’ and “Zenith” KGB special warfare units.

Thereafter 40^th Army included:

5 MRD, 108 MRD, 201 MRD

66 Independent MR Brigade – Jelalabad

70 Independent MR Brigade – Kandahar

56 Independent Air Assault Brigade

353 Guard Artillery Brigade

55 Independent Guard Artillery Regiment

Soviet Forces also included:

103 Guard ABD

Marine regiment (since 1985)

15 Spetznaz Brigade – Jelalabad

22 Spetznaz Brigade – Lashkargah

173 Spetznaz unit of Caucasus Military District since

Former Muslim Battalion, in 1982 all the staff became Slavic

“Kaskad” joint KGB special warfare group (united Grom and Zenith)

Vega special warfare unit – unidentified one, possibly GRU 149 Guard MRR

24 Guard Armored Regiment

303 Independent Government Communication Battalion of KGB

122 MRR – Tash-kurgan

860 MRR – Faizabad

350 Independent Anti-Armor Battalion – Kunduz

682 MRR – Ruha

180 MRR

103 Independent Communication Regiment

191 Independent MRR

254 Independent Missile Regiment – Kabul

12 Guard MRR

149 Guard MRR

177 MRR

208 MRR

Air Forces in mid-1980s – 34 air Corps disbanded, units became subordinate to 40^th Army; that was the only Army with air component

378 Independent Attack Air Regiment with Su-25

3 fighter squadrons – until 1984 MiG-21bis of 927 Fighter Regiment, then MiG- 23ML of 905 FR

2 Fighter-Bomber squadrons with Su-17M3

263 Independent Recce squadron with Su-17M3R

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