2nd Training Motor Rifle Division "Alp Arslan"

357th Rifle Division (August 1941 – March 4, 1955)
209th District Training Centre
2nd Training Motor Rifle Division (2000s-onwards)
Active1941–1955
2000s-present
Country Soviet Union (1941-1991)
 Turkmenistan (since 2000s)
Branch Red Army (1941-1946)
 Soviet Army (1946-1991)
 Turkmen Ground Forces (since 2000s)
TypeDivision
RoleInfantry
Garrison/HQTejen, Ahal Region
EngagementsBattles of Rzhev
Operation Seydlitz
Battle of Velikiye Luki
Battle of Nevel (1943)
Operation Bagration
Riga Offensive (1944)
Courland Pocket
DecorationsOrder of Suvorov 2nd Class Order of Suvorov
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Colonel Dmitry Kirshev
Lieutenant Colonel Batyr Mollayev

The 2nd Training Motorized Rifle Division named after Alp Arslan is a division of the Turkmen Ground Forces.[1] Its headquarters is at Tejen in the Ahal Region.[2] It traces its history to the 357th Rifle Division formed in August 1941 in Sarapul in the then Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a standard Red Army rifle division. It notably served on the front lines of the 1st Baltic Front during the Second World War. Particularly, it helped lead the 3rd Shock Army in the battle and siege of Velikiye Luki. By late October 1945, the division had been transferred to the Turkmen SSR, where it was re-designated four times as Soviet Army unit. It remained in Turkmenistan even after the events of 1991 and serves as one of four units in its armed forces.

In the summer and autumn of 1944 the 357th took part in the Riga Offensive into the Baltic states, and won the Order of Suvorov for its part in the liberation of that city.

  1. ^ "Вооруженные силы Туркмении" [Army of Turkemenistan] (in Russian). Vad777. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Русские в туркменской армии. Вооруженные силы туркменистана". schkola4kotovo.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-26.; "Ашхабада в войсках артиллерии после. Армии мира". tugulympu.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-26.;"82nd Dagestan Infantry Regiment. Armies of the world. Armed Forces of Turkmenistan. Air Force and Air Defense Forces". homele.ru. Retrieved 2020-12-26.