page_title: Central Group of Forces
section_title: Second formation
hierarchical_section_title: Central Group of Forces / History / Second formation
caption_attribution_description: English: Organization of Soviet Group of Forces Center as of 1988
context_page_description: The Central Group of Forces was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945-55 and troops stationed in Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring of 1968.
context_section_description: The Central Group of Forces was reinstituted as a legacy of the 1968 Prague Spring events. Until that time, no Soviet troops were permanently garrisoned within Czechoslovakian territory. The Central Group of forces had a total strength of about 85,000 and included 28th Army Corps headquarters (Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, 8.1968 - 7.1991), moved forward from Chernovtsy in the Carpathian Military District. Forces included two tank divisions, three mechanized infantry divisions, three missile brigades, an artillery brigade, and an airborne assault brigade. Four of the five Soviet ground divisions in Czechoslovakia were stationed in the Czech lands (15th Guards Tank Division at Milovice, 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Mladá Boleslav, 48th Motor Rifle Division at Vysoké Mýto, and 31st Tank Division at Bruntál), while one was headquartered in Slovakia (the 30th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Zvolen). Group headquarters was located in Milovice (38 km northeast of Prague). Also at Milovice was the 131st Mixed Aviation Division, which arrived from Ivano-Frankovsk in the Ukrainian SSR in August 1968.
  Following the end of the Cold War, the force was withdrawn as follows:
  28th Army Corps headquarters to Kemerovo, Siberian Military District
  15th Guards Tank Division to Chebakul, Volga-Ural Military District
  18th Guards Motor Rifle Division to Kaliningrad, Baltic Military District
  30th Guards Motor Rifle Division to the 5th Guards Tank Army/5th Guards Army Corps, Byelorussian Military District, and reduced to a storage base
  31st Tank Division to the Moscow Military District and later amalgamated with 47th Tank Division as 3rd Motor Rifle Division
  48th Motor Rifle Division - it remained in Czechoslovakia until 1990 when it was the first Division to depart (between February and May 1990). 1996 Jane's Intelligence Review information indicated the division had been moved to Smolensk in the Moscow Military District where it was later disbanded. Russian forum information ( and following) indicates that it was actually withdrawn to Chuguyev in Ukraine using the same garrison as the disbanded 75th Guards Tank Division. It appears that there wasn’t enough space for the entire Division, so the 210th MRR was attached to the 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division. The remainder of the division departed for Ukraine, with the last arriving by May 1991. By then, it had been decided that in order to avoid the restrictions on the CFE Treaty, certain elements of the Soviet Army would be transferred to other non-MOD armed forces. Whole units were transferred to the KGB. When the last of the 48th arrived in Chuguev, the entire Division was transferred to the Directorate of Instruction for Special Purposes KGB by June 1991. Regiments included the 265 гв., 1335 мсп, 353 оучб, 31 орб, 813 обс, 88 орвб, 409 обмо, 34 омедб, 99 оиср, 348 орхз. To replace the loss of the 210th MRR, the 255th Guards MRR was formed for the division, probably from what was left of the 75th GTD. From 1992 the government of Ukraine took command of the division, and they later redesignated it the 6th Division of the National Guard of Ukraine. It was eventually in the 1990s reorganised as a brigade.
  185th Guards Rocket Brigade moved to Balkanabat
  442nd Rocket Brigade was withdrawn from Hvězdov, Ralsko, Czechoslovakia, where it had been formed in September 1987, to Shuya in Russia, in May 1990.
  5th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade moved to Shuya
  238th Separate Helicopter Regiment moved to Kalyniv
  490th Separate Helicopter Regiment moved to Tula
  91st Engineer-Sapper Regiment moved to Okhtyrka
  233rd Separate Radio Engineering Regiment moved to Novosibirsk
  The Group was formally disbanded on 19 June 1991.
caption: Organization of Central Group of Forces as of 1988
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