On November 27, the Russian Federation celebrates the Day of the Marine Corps. This is a professional holiday for all military personnel serving in the Marine Corps, as well as people who served in it before. Although the history of the Marine Corps goes back more than one century, this holiday is young. It was installed by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy No. 433 dated December 19, 1995. The date of November 27 was not chosen by chance. Exactly 310 years ago, on November 16 (27), 1705, Tsar Peter the First issued a decree on the creation of a "regiment of sea soldiers".
If we take world history, then the marines have existed practically from the same time as the ancient states had military flotillas. It is known that the first detachments of warriors on ships appeared even among the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks. In ancient Greece, the Marines were called "epibats". Strictly speaking, all people who were on the ship and did not belong to the ship's crew were counted among the epibates, but most often this word was used to designate the naval soldiers. In Athens, epibates were recruited from representatives of the fetas - the lowest social stratum of Athenian society. Epibaths fought on the decks of ships, and also disembarked from ships on land. In ancient Rome, the marines were called liburnarii and manipularia. They were recruited from among the freedmen, that is, as in ancient Greece, the military craft of a marine was not considered socially prestigious among the Romans. That being said, although the Liburnari were well armed and trained at the level of regular legionnaires, they received less pay.
The formation of the Marine Corps in its modern form - as a separate branch of the army - took place already in modern times. The first country to acquire its own regular marines was Britain. The presence of numerous overseas colonies and constant colonial wars and uprisings in the subject territories created the need for the formation and gradual improvement of special military units that could conduct military operations on land and at sea - during naval battles. In addition, an important function of the Marine Corps at the time was the provision of internal security on ships. The fact is that the sailors of warships were a very specific contingent, recruited not only voluntarily, but also by deception from representatives of the social lower classes. The conditions of service in the navy were very difficult and ship riots, with the subsequent murder of the captain and officers and the transition to pirates, were not uncommon. To suppress riots on ships and deployed detachments of naval soldiers. Large ships usually housed a 136-man Marine company, under the command of a Marine Captain, assisted by a lieutenant, a senior sergeant, and sergeants. The marines played the main role during boarding battles, and when landing on the coast were strengthened by the ship's sailors under the command of a naval officer. In this case, the Marine Corps officer served as the deputy commander of the expeditionary force.
"Sea soldiers" "company commander Peter Alekseev"
Although the decree on the creation of a regiment of naval soldiers was signed by Peter the Great in 1705, in reality, military units, which can be considered the prototype of the Russian marines, appeared much earlier. Back in the second half of the 16th century, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, a flotilla was created, the crews of which included special detachments of archers. When in 1669 the first Russian military sailing ship "Eagle" was built, its crew also included a team of 35 Nizhny Novgorod archers under the command of Ivan Domozhirov. The ship archers were assigned the tasks of carrying out guard duty and participating in boarding battles. However, besides the fact that the archers were serving on the ship, they were no different from the rest of the rifle units. However, the service of the ship "Eagle" was short-lived, and therefore the detachment of naval archers remained only an episode in the national naval history. The need for the formation of the marines as a special kind of troops was realized only by Peter the Great, who studied the European military experience. The need for the creation of the Marine Corps was explained by the struggle of Russia for access to the seas - the Azov and Baltic. Initially, detachments of specially seconded soldiers and officers of army infantry regiments - Ostrovsky, Tyrtov, Tolbukhin and Shnevetsov - began to serve on Russian ships. Almost immediately after the start of the combat use of "sea soldiers", their effectiveness in boarding battles was proved. Thanks to the actions of the soldiers, several victories were won over the large ships of the Swedish fleet. In May 1703, two Swedish ships were captured at the mouth of the Neva.
Peter the Great, who was a participant in the battle, was finally convinced of the need to form special military units that could operate in boarding and amphibious battles. In the fall of 1704, Peter the Great decided "to create regiments of naval soldiers (depending on the number of the fleet) and divide them into captains forever, to whom corporals and sergeants should be taken from the old soldiers for the sake of better training in order and order." Initially, soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments were used as marines on the ships of the Russian fleet. It was from among the soldiers and officers of these most combat-ready units of the Russian army that the formation of the Naval Regiment (regiment) began. After the decree on November 16 (27), 1705, Admiral Fyodor Golovin, to whom the tsar entrusted the formation of the regiment, gave the corresponding order to the Russian vice-admiral of Norwegian origin Cornelius Cruis: so that he was in 1200 soldiers, and what belongs to that, what is in the gun and in other things, if you please write to me and you need not leave others; and how many of them are in number or a great decrease has been composed, then we will sweat to find recruits”. Thus, in addition to Peter the Great, Fyodor Golovin and Cornelius Cruis stood at the origins of the creation of the Russian marines.
The regiment's officer corps was formed from among the non-commissioned officers of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Life Guards regiments who had combat experience in the Northern War. It is noteworthy that Peter the Great himself was the commander of the 4th company of the Naval Regiment under the name of Peter Alekseev. The regiment served in the Baltic Sea and included two battalions of five companies in each. The regiment numbered 45 officers, 70 non-commissioned officers and 1250 privates. The first Russian marines were armed with rifles with baguettes (a prototype bayonet), hatchets and sabers. Soon after its creation, the Naval Regiment took part in the Northern War, during which it was used primarily for boarding and landing operations. Already in 1706, the Naval Regiment received its first baptism of fire. Captain Bakhtiyarov's team managed to capture the Swedish Espern boat in a boarding battle.
In 1712, it was decided to form five separate battalions instead of the Naval Regiment. The decision to switch to a battalion structure was made on the basis of an analysis of the experience of the combat use of the Naval Regiment during the Northern War. The regimental organization seemed too cumbersome, making it difficult to use the marines in combat conditions. Therefore, it was decided to form the Naval Regiment, and on its basis to create five naval battalions. The battalion of the admiral served on the ships of the center of the squadron, the battalion of the vice admiral was stationed on boarding-landing ships, the battalion of the rear-admiral - on the ships of the rearguard of the squadron, the galley battalion - on the battle galleys, the admiralty battalion served for the protection of naval bases, the admiralty and coastal institutions of the Russian fleet. Each such battalion included 22 officers and 660 non-commissioned officers and privates. The shipborne landing teams, led by their own commanders, were under the operational subordination of the ship commanders, but in day-to-day service and training they were subordinate to the chief of the marine corps squadron, whose position was usually assigned to the commander of the battalion of the marine corps. After participating in naval campaigns and battles, the ship's boarding and landing teams served to protect naval bases and were engaged in combat training at the location of their battalions. The ship's crew consisted of 80 to 200 soldiers, that is, approximately a Marine Corps company. In the galley fleet, naval soldiers made up 80-90% of the crew members of ships, being, at the same time, rowers of galleys. The scampway served 150 people, of which only 9 were sailors, and the rest were marines. The scampaway was also commanded by an officer of the Marine Corps. In addition to the actual marines, an amphibious corps of 18-26 thousand troops was formed. In 1713, the number of this unit reached 29,860 people, united in 18 infantry regiments and a separate infantry battalion. In 1714 the Marines took part in the Battle of Gangut. It was attended by two guards, two grenadier, eleven infantry regiments and a galley battalion of the marines - about 3433 Russian army personnel in total. An important part of the Northern War was the conduct of amphibious operations against Sweden, in which the marines played the main role. So, only in 1719 the landing corps, which was then commanded by General-Admiral Apraksin, conducted 16 landing operations in the area from Stockholm to Norrköping. Another 14 operations were carried out between Stockholm and Gefle.
From the Great Northern War to the First World War
After the end of the Northern War, the marines were already an integral part of the Russian army and navy. The next campaign, in which the Russian marines participated, was the Persian campaign of 1721-1723. It was attended by 80 companies of the Marine Corps, which later became part of 10 regiments, 2 battalions in each regiment. It was thanks to the marines that the Russian positions on the Caspian Sea were strengthened. Later, from among the marines who took part in the campaign, two naval regiments were formed in the Baltic Fleet.
Since the Great Northern War, Russian naval soldiers have fought in virtually all major wars fought by the Russian Empire. They were used to conduct amphibious assault operations to seize coastal fortresses, conduct reconnaissance and organize sabotage, boarding battles. Often the marines were also thrown onto land to reinforce the ground infantry regiments. On account of the Russian marines - the Seven Years War, the Russian-Turkish wars. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. the combined battalion of the marines, numbering 2,145 soldiers and officers recruited from two Baltic naval regiments, took part in the siege and capture of the Azov fortress. During the Seven Years' War 1756-1763. the marines successfully operated during the assault on the Prussian fortress of Kolberg. It was taken by a detachment of marines and sailors under the command of Captain 1st Rank G. A. Spiridova. The marines also proved themselves well during the Archipelago expedition of 1769-1774, when the Russian fleet blockaded the Dardanelles, and landing troops were landed on the Archipelago islands, the Greek and Turkish coasts. In total, during the campaign, more than 60 airborne detachments, formed from among the soldiers and officers of the Baltic Fleet marines, were disembarked from the ships of the Russian fleet. Five squadrons with 8,000 soldiers and officers of the Marine Corps on board were transferred from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to the marine regiments of the Baltic Fleet, servicemen of the guards and army infantry regiments - the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky, Keksgolmsky, Shlisselburgsky, Ryazansky, Tobolsky, Vyatsky and Pskovs, were also included in the landing detachments.
During the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, the amphibious assault took part in the assault and capture of the Turkish fortress of Izmail. An amphibious flotilla under the command of Major General Osip Deribas, a Russian officer of Spanish origin, who was actually named José de Ribas, was sent to storm Izmail. The landing force, commanded by his brother Colonel Emmanuel de Ribas, included the Cossacks of the Black Sea Cossack army, battalions of Kherson grenadiers and Livonian rangers, who, after the landing, occupied the coastal fortifications. The marines of the Black Sea Fleet originated from the assault on Izmail. In 1798-1800. the marines took part in the Mediterranean campaign of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, during which Russia managed to capture the Ionian Islands, occupy the island of Corfu, and land on the Italian coast. In the storming of the island of Corfu, battalions of the marines under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Skipor, Major Boissel and Brimmer took part. The actions of the marines were subsequently highly appreciated by Admiral Ushakov, who reported on the courage and combat readiness of the marines to Emperor Paul I.
It should be noted that the officers and soldiers of the Russian marines differed from their European colleagues primarily in moral qualities - they served their country and viewed it as their military duty, while the marines of European states were recruited from mercenaries - people of an adventurous warehouse, for whom remuneration for service remained the main value. The most important distinguishing characteristic of the Russian marines was their superior bayonet attack and aimed fire ability. The constant willingness to engage in face-to-face combat with the enemy remains a key skill for the Marines to this day. That is why the enemies, even in the wars of the twentieth century, were afraid of the marines, calling them both "black death" and "sea devils".
In 1803, another organizational transformation of the Russian marines took place. On the basis of separate battalions, four naval regiments were formed, three of which were subordinate to the command of the Baltic Fleet and one was part of the Black Sea Fleet. The Marines participated in the second Archipelago Expedition of Vice Admiral Senyavin in 1805-1807., The Hanoverian Expedition of 1805 in 1811 created the 25th Infantry Division, which included two brigades formed from marines. This division fought well on the land fronts of the Patriotic War of 1812. A monument to the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment and the sailors of the Guards Naval Crew has been erected on the Borodino field. It was the Marines who performed the tasks of building bridges and crossings for the movement of the Russian army and the subsequent destruction of bridges and crossings when French troops approached. Detachment of warrant officer M. N. Lermontov, out of thirty marines, was supposed to destroy the bridge over the Kolocha River and, in the event of the French approach, prevent the crossing of the river. When the French attacked the village of Borodino on August 26, the Russian huntsmen, after fierce resistance, were still forced to retreat. After that, the Marines set fire to the bridge, but the French rushed directly to the burning bridge and the Marines had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the French. Barclay de Tolly sent two jaeger regiments to the aid of thirty marines, after which, with joint efforts, they managed to destroy the advancing French regiment. Warrant officer Lermontov received the Order of St. Anna of the 3rd degree for this battle.
However, after the end of the Patriotic War of 1821, in 1813, the marines were transferred to the army department, after which the Russian marines ceased to exist for almost a century. Obviously, this was an unforgivable mistake of the Russian high military command and the emperor. This miscalculation resulted in numerous problems that the Russian army and navy faced in the wars of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. So, during the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855. there was an obvious need for marines. It was necessary to form 17 sea battalions from among the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, who went down in history with their indomitable courage and valor displayed during the defense of Sevastopol. Nevertheless, the situation could have developed differently, if there were regular regiments or, at least, marine battalions in the Black Sea Fleet at that time. However, the Russian authorities did not draw the appropriate conclusions from the Crimean War - the marines were never recreated. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. the need for marines was felt by Port Arthur, defending against the Japanese troops. It was defended by seven naval battalions formed from the personnel of the ships, a separate airborne detachment of sailors, three naval rifle companies and machine-gun teams.
It was only in 1910 that the tsarist military leaders again started talking about the need to form the marines as a separate branch of the army within the navy. In 1911, the Main Naval Headquarters developed a project to create infantry units at the country's main naval bases. It was planned to create an infantry regiment as part of the Baltic Fleet, as well as the Black Sea and Vladivostok battalions. In August 1914, in Kronstadt, two battalions were formed from among the sailors of the Guards Naval Crew and one battalion from among the seamen of the 1st Baltic Fleet Crew. On August 1, 1914, the creation of naval battalions in the Black Sea Fleet began. The fleet commander signed the "Regulations on a temporary separate Kerch naval battalion." Two more battalions were sent to the command of the military commandant of the Batumi fortress. A separate company of marines was formed in the Caspian Sea, and a separate landing squad from among the marines of the Black Sea Fleet was stationed in Baku. In March 1915, already during the First World War, a separate naval battalion of the 2nd Baltic Fleet Crew was transformed into a Special Purpose Marine Regiment, which included rifle companies, a mine company, a machine-gun command, a communications team, regimental artillery, technical workshop, train, crews of the steamer "Ivan-Gorod" and boats. In 1916, the command of the fleet came to the conclusion that it was necessary to further develop and strengthen the forces of the marines, for which it was decided to form two divisions - the Baltic and the Black Sea. The Baltic division was created on the basis of a marine brigade, and the Black Sea division was formed as a result of the combination of sea battalions that existed since 1915. However, the final formation of the Baltic and Black Sea divisions of the marine corps was never destined to happen.
The first steps of the Soviet marines
As a result of the February Revolution, the divisions were disbanded. Nevertheless, the sailors played an important role in the events of both the revolution and the Civil War, acting primarily as units operating on land. We can say that it was the sailors, due to the spread of revolutionary views in the naval environment, who became the striking force of the revolutions of 1917. The directive of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs, dated January 1918, emphasized the need to include volunteers from a platoon of "comrades sailors" in each echelon formed. In the battles of the Civil War, about 75 thousand sailors fought on the land fronts. The most famous among them, of course, were Pavel Dybenko, Anatoly Zheleznyakov, Alexey (Foma) Mokrousov. In 1920, in Mariupol, for the defense of the coast of the Sea of Azov occupied by the Reds and for carrying out amphibious operations, the 1st Naval Expeditionary Division was formed, which was not officially called the Marine Corps Division, but in fact it was. The division consisted of four regiments of two battalions each, a cavalry regiment, an artillery brigade, and an engineer battalion. The number of the division reached 5 thousand people. It was the naval division that made an important contribution to the liberation of the Kuban from the "whites". After the end of the Civil War, the units that fought on the fronts, staffed by sailors, were disbanded. In the 1920s - 1930s. there were no marines in the fleets. The Soviet Navy before World War II did not have a single landing ship of special construction, since in the 1920s - 1930s. armies and navies of the world did not pay due attention to amphibious operations, but rather focused on the development of antiamphibious defense of coastal areas.
Only at the end of the 1930s, in connection with the growth of military-political tensions in the world, work began on the creation of the first Soviet regular marines. On June 17, 1939, the commander of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet ordered “in accordance with the instructions of the People's Commissar of the Navy to begin the formation of a separate special under the temporary peacetime states! a rifle brigade stationed in Kronstadt … . On December 11, 1939, the People's Commissar of the USSR Navy ordered that the special rifle brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet be considered a coastal defense formation and subordinated it to the Fleet Military Council. The special rifle brigade of the Baltic Fleet took an active part in the Soviet-Finnish war, landing as part of the landing forces on the islands of the Gulf of Finland. A special ski detachment of the marines and special-purpose battalions took part in the Soviet-Finnish war. On April 25, 1940, the People's Commissar of the USSR Navy signed an order to reorganize a separate special rifle brigade into the 1st Special Marine Brigade. Thus, it was the day of April 25, 1940 that can be considered the starting point in the history of the Soviet marines.
"Black Death" during the Second World War
However, until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet military and naval command did not treat the development of the marines without due attention. There was only one brigade of marines in the Baltic Fleet, although the other fleets, primarily the Black Sea Fleet, felt the need for such formations. The mistakes of the Soviet commanders and naval commanders began to be felt already in the first days of the war. Therefore, the formation of units and formations of the marine corps at the expense of naval crews began to be carried out at an accelerated pace in the first months of the war. At the very beginning of the war, the command began to form naval rifle brigades - they operated on land fronts and were recruited from the personnel of the navy and marine brigades - they participated in landing operations, the defense of naval bases and reconnaissance and sabotage operations.
By October 1941, 25 marine brigades were formed. The Marines played a crucial role in the defense of Leningrad and Moscow, Stalingrad and Odessa, Sevastopol and the naval bases of the Arctic. But most actively the Marines fought on the Black Sea coast. The higher efficiency of the marines was noted in comparison with the rifle units and formations of the ground forces. But the losses of the marines were much more tangible, even in comparison with the infantry. During the war, the marines were not only used on land as ordinary infantry units, but also participated in amphibious, reconnaissance, sabotage operations on all fronts. The most active parts of the marines operated in the Black Sea region, on the Crimean and Caucasian coasts. In the battles near Sevastopol, only 1050 Nazi soldiers were destroyed by snipers of the marines. The Nazis feared the Marines like wildfire and called them "Black Death". During the war, one division, 19 brigades, 14 regiments and 36 battalions of marines, with a total strength of over 230 thousand soldiers, fought on different fronts and at different times. At the same time, the organizational and staff structure of the Marine Corps during the Great Patriotic War was characterized by a lack of orderliness. Firstly, three types of units and formations could be attributed to the marines: 1) naval rifle brigades operating on the land front; 2) the actual marine brigades, which performed the functions of amphibious assault and defense of naval bases and the coast; 3) rifle units and formations that did not have the official name "naval", but were recruited on the basis of the personnel of the navy and, in fact, were also the marines.
Secondly, a unified structure of such units has not been developed. Most often, the marines were reduced to brigades, and the regimental structure during the Second World War was not widespread. As historians emphasize - due to the lack of artillery and machine guns. So, the 384th Separate Nikolaevsky Red Banner Marine Corps Battalion of the Black Sea Fleet included two rifle, machine-gun companies, an anti-tank rifle company, a submachine gun company, a reconnaissance platoon, a sapper platoon, a communications platoon, a medical unit and an economic department. The battalion lacked artillery, which negatively affected the possibility of conducting independent combat operations in coastal areas. The battalion numbered 686 people - 53 officers, 265 petty officers and 367 privates.
However, there were also much better armed units of the marines. So, the 31st separate Petrozavodsk battalion of the marines of the Onega military flotilla consisted of three rifle companies, one machine-gun company, one machine gun company, one battery of 76-mm guns and one battery of 45-mm weapons, a mortar battery, reconnaissance, engineer and anti-aircraft machine gun platoons, a platoon of armored vehicles, a diving platoon, sanitary and utility platoons. With such a structure, the fulfillment of independent combat missions already seemed quite possible. During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet marines showed miracles of courage, courage and determination. Two hundred marines received the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the famous scout V. N. Leonov became the Hero of the Soviet Union twice. The Marine Corps units and formations played a large role in the Soviet-Japanese war in August 1945. It was thanks to the landing operations of the Pacific Fleet that the Soviet troops managed to rapidly occupy South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, fortify themselves in Korean ports and finish off the resisting Kwantung Army.
Post-war period. From disbandment to bloom
It would seem that the success of the marines during the Great Patriotic War, the heroism of the marines should have convinced the Soviet leadership and military command of the need for the existence of this unique type of troops. But in the post-war period, units and formations of the marines in the Soviet Union were again liquidated. To an important extent, this decision of the Soviet leadership was facilitated by the rapid development of nuclear missiles. In the mid-1950s. Nikita Khrushchev spoke openly about the uselessness of the Marine Corps in modern conditions. Units and formations of the Marine Corps were disbanded, and the officers were sent to the reserve - and this despite the presence of unique combat experience and excellent training. In 1958, the production of landing ships was discontinued in the Soviet Union. And this is against the background of global political events associated with the decolonization of Asia and Africa and the beginning of a number of local wars and conflicts. While the USSR abandoned the marines and paid little attention to the development of the navy as a whole, the United States and Great Britain developed their navies, improved the training and armament of marines. In the United States, the Marines have long become one of the most important tools for protecting American political interests outside the country, to some extent becoming a symbol of the American armed forces (it is no coincidence that the Marines are the ones who guard American embassies and missions abroad).
Only by the beginning of the 1960s. the Soviet leadership began to realize the need to revive the domestic marines. Moreover, the Soviet Union played an increasingly active role in world politics, including in remote regions - Tropical Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean. The need for special troops that could be deployed by sea and used for landing and reconnaissance and sabotage operations grew. In 1963, in accordance with the directive of the USSR Ministry of Defense dated June 7, 1963, the 336th Belostok Order of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky was formed, the Guards Separate Marine Regiment, stationed in the city of Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Region of the RSFSR. The first commander of the regiment was the guard Colonel P. T. Shapranov. Already in December 1963, the 390th separate marine regiment was created in the Pacific Fleet, stationed at the base in Slavyansk, six kilometers from the city of Vladivostok. In 1966, on the basis of the 61st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 131st Motorized Rifle Division of the Leningrad Military District, the 61st separate Red Banner Kirkenes Marine Regiment was formed, subordinate to the command of the Northern Fleet. On the Black Sea, the Marines were revived in November 1966. After the Baltic Marine Regiment took part in the joint Soviet-Romanian-Bulgarian exercises, one of its battalions remained in the region and was included in the Black Sea Fleet as the 309th Separate Battalion Marine Corps. In the next 1967, on its basis, the 810th separate regiment of the Black Sea Fleet marines was formed. Given the operational environment in East and Southeast Asia, the first Marine Corps unit was created in the Pacific Fleet. On the basis of the 390th Separate Marine Regiment, stationed near Vladivostok, the 55th Marine Division was created. A separate marine battalion was formed as part of the Caspian Flotilla. That is, by the beginning of the 1970s. the USSR Navy consisted of one division, three separate regiments and one separate marine battalion.
Since 1967, units of the USSR Marine Corps have regularly served in the ocean, taking part in a number of major military and political conflicts during the Cold War. Soviet marines have visited Egypt and Ethiopia, Angola and Vietnam, Yemen and Somalia, Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, Benin and the Seychelles. Perhaps it was the Marine Corps in the 1960s - 1970s. remained the most "belligerent" branch of the USSR. After all, the marines took part in numerous local conflicts abroad, defending the strategic interests of the Soviet Union. So, the Soviet marines had to provide assistance to the Egyptian army during the Egyptian-Israeli war. In Ethiopia, a Marine Corps company landed in the port of Massau and fought local separatists. In the Seychelles, Soviet marines under the command of Captain V. Oblogi prevented a pro-Western coup d'etat.
By the end of the 1970s. the Soviet leadership finally realized the importance and necessity of the existence of formations and units of the marines within the country's navy. In November 1979, separate marine regiments were reorganized into separate marine brigades, which led to a change in the status of the formations - from a tactical unit to a tactical formation. The battalions that are part of the brigades received the name of separate and the status of tactical units. In addition to the brigades created on the basis of the regiments, an additional 175th separate marine brigade was created as part of the Northern Fleet. Thus, by 1990, the Marine Corps, which was part of the Coastal Forces of the USSR Navy, included: 55th Mozyr Red Banner Marine Division (Pacific Fleet, Vladivostok), 61st Kirkinesky Red Banner Separate Marine Brigade (Northern Fleet, p.. Sputnik near Murmansk), 175th Separate Marine Brigade (Northern Fleet, Serebryanskoye near Murmansk), 336th Guards Bialystok Orders of Suvorov and Alexander Nevsky Separate Marine Brigade (Baltic Fleet, Baltiysk in Kaliningrad region), 810th Separate Marine Brigade (Black Sea Fleet, Kazachye near Sevastopol), a separate Marine battalion of the Caspian Flotilla. The number of marines of the USSR Navy in the specified period reached 12.6 thousand servicemen, in the case of mobilization, the number of marines could be increased by 2.5-3 times.
Marines of new Russia
The collapse of the Soviet Union did not affect the marines. All parts of the Marine Corps remained in the Russian armed forces. Currently, the Coastal Forces of the Russian Navy includes 4 separate brigades of marines and several separate regiments and battalions. The training of officers is carried out, first of all, at the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School in Blagoveshchensk and at the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School (since 2008). Russian marines honorably fulfilled their constitutional duty to combat terrorism in the Chechen Republic, participated in a number of other armed conflicts in the post-Soviet space, and are currently taking part in ensuring security in sea waters not only in Russia, but also abroad. - including in the Indian Ocean, where they conduct operations against Somali pirates. Currently, the marines remain a highly combat-capable branch of the military, service in which is very prestigious. The Marines have repeatedly confirmed their necessity and high importance for the Russian state and the protection of its interests. On the Day of the Marine Corps, it remains to congratulate all the Marines and veterans of the Marine Corps and wish them, first of all, victories and achievements and, most importantly, the absence of combat losses.
