4th Guards Airborne Division
| 242nd Training Centre (1987–present) 44th Training Airborne Division (1960–1987) |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Active | September 1960 – present |
| Country | Soviet Union/Russian Federation |
| Branch |
 Soviet, later Russian Airborne Troops
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| Type | Division |
| Role | Airborne force |
| Part of | Russian Airborne Troops |
| Garrison/HQ | Omsk |
| Anniversaries | 17 September |
| Engagements | (has inherited battle honours of 4th Guards Airborne Division, World War II) |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Colonel Arkady Furdeyev |
The 242nd Training Centre of the Airborne Forces (242 TC VDV) is a brigade-sized training formation of the Russian Airborne Troops.
To prepare sergeants and junior specialists for airborne units in accordance with a directive of the Commander Soviet Ground Forces, the 44th Training Airborne Division was formed in July–October 1960 in Ostrov and Cheryokha, in Pskov Oblast. The Deputy Commander of the Airborne Troops, Lieutenant-General Vasily Margelov, supervised the division's formation. The formation's birthday is 17 September, when the formation of the division was completed and Major General N.G. Zharenogo assumed command. The division was formed from the 17th Airborne Training Centre at Dyatkovo, the 78th Separate Self-Propelled Artillery Training Battalion at Kaunas, and the 11th School for Junior Specialists of the Medical Service at Ostrov.
The vast majority of officers had experience in training units of the regimental schools, which had been disbanded at the same time. Among the officers selected to staff the training centre were 131 veterans of the Great Patriotic War.
The division consisted of three training Airborne Regiments; 301st and 304th Training Airborne Regiments - Ostrov, 302 - Cheryokha, a training artillery regiment (1120th, Ostrov) and other units.
The division's regiments were the heirs of the regiments with the corresponding World War II numbers: 301st and 304th were part of the 100th Guards Airborne Division/Rifle Division, and the 302nd had been part of the 98th Guards Airborne Division/Rifle Division. However, for unclear reasons, the division was soon renamed the 44th. Also the regiment numbering changed: instead of, respectively, the 302nd and 304th, the 226th and 285th regiments appeared (no longer associated historically with the VDV).
While it was not clear whether the division was formed as a Guards formation, when it became the 44th, it was not just not a Guards formation, but the only non-Guards formation in the Soviet Airborne Forces. The regiments were not Guards units either.
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Wikipedia