| 9th Rifle Division (1918–1921; 1943–1946; 1954–1957) 1st Caucasian Rifle Division (1922–1931) 1st Caucasian Mountain Rifle Division (1931–1936) 8th Rifle Brigade (1946–1949) 9th Mountain Rifle Division (1936–1943; 1949–1954) 80th Motor Rifle Division (1957–1964) 9th Motor Rifle Division (1964–1992) 131st Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (1992–2009) 7th Military Base (2009–present) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1918–2009 |
| Country |  Soviet Union (1918–1992) Russia (1992–2009) |
| Branch | Soviet Army (1918–1991) Russian Ground Forces (1991–2009) |
| Type | Motorized Infantry |
| Garrison/HQ | Maykop |
| Engagements | Russian Civil War East Prigorodny Conflict |
| Decorations |
|
| Battle honours |
|
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | |
The 131st Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (Russian: 131-я отдельная мотострелковая бригада) was a motorised infantry unit of the Soviet Army and of the Russian Ground Forces.
The division traced its lineage back to the formation of the 1st Kursk Infantry Division in 1918 during the Russian Civil War. The division was redesignated as the 9th Rifle Division in October of that year, and fought as part of the Southern Front against the White Armed Forces of South Russia from late 1918 to early 1920. In late 1920 it fought in the Perekop–Chongar Operation, completing the defeat of the remaining White forces in Crimea, after which it participated in the Red Army invasion of Georgia in early 1921. The division was stationed in Georgia after the end of the campaign, guarding a sector of the Soviet border with Turkey. In late 1921 it was broken up into two separate rifle brigades, which were combined into the 1st Caucasian Rifle Division in 1922. The division was converted into a mountain unit in 1931, and was renumbered as the 9th Mountain Rifle Division in 1936.
Following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, the division remained in its positions on the Turkish border, although elements of the 9th fought in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula and the early stages of the Battle of the Caucasus. In late 1942 the entire division was relocated north to the front, fighting in the offensive that forced the withdrawal of German troops from the North Caucasus in early 1943, before spending most of the year fighting to capture the Kuban bridgehead. Reorganized as the 9th Rifle Division in September, the division transferred to Ukraine in early 1944, after which it fought in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, Vistula–Oder Offensive, and Prague Offensive before the end of the war in May 1945.
Postwar, the division was relocated to Krasnodar in the North Caucasus and was reduced to a rifle brigade until 1949, when it became the 9th Mountain Rifle Division again. After moving to Maykop in 1950, the 9th became a regular rifle division again in 1954, and converted into the 80th Motor Rifle Division in 1957. In 1964 its historic World War II designation was restored, and the division spent the rest of the Cold War in Maykop. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the 9th transferred to the Russian Ground Forces and reorganized as the 131st Separate Motor Rifle Brigade in late 1992. The brigade fought in the Battle of Grozny during the First Chechen War, and elements of it served in the Second Chechen War. In 2009, after the Russo-Georgian War, it was relocated to Gudauta in the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and was redesignated the 7th Military Base.