26th Artillery Brigade (Ukraine)

117th Guards Rifle Division 32nd Guards Mechanized Division (? – 4 Jun 1957) 41st Guards Tank Division (4 Jun 1957 – 1 Nov 1965) 117th Guards Tank Division (1 Nov 1965 – 11 Jan 1968) 117th Guards Tank Training Division (11 Jan 1968 – 1 Sep 1987) 119th Guards District Training Center (1 Sep 1987 – 2000 (?)) 62nd Mechanized Brigade (2000–2004) 26th Artillery Brigade
Active	1942–present
Country	Ukraine (from 1992)
Branch	Ukrainian Ground Forces
Type	Artillery
Size	Brigade
Part of	Operational Command North
Garrison/HQ	Berdychiv
Engagements	War in Donbas Russian Invasion of Ukraine Battle of Bakhmut Battle of Chasiv Yar
Decorations	For Courage and Bravery
Commanders
Current commander	Lt Col Andranyk Hasparyan[1]

The 26th Artillery Brigade is an artillery formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based in Berdychiv. It traces its history to the 117th Guards Rifle Division of the Second World War.^[2]

After the war, and several redesignations, the 117th Guards Rifle Division became the 117th Guards Tank Training Division. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 117th Guards Tank Training Division was succeeded by the 62nd Mechanized Brigade, which, in turn, was created 26th Artillery Brigade (based on the Directive of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from 18.06.2004 № 312/1/014).

The brigade is operating Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers gifted by Germany and the Netherlands during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, artillery used in the Battle of Bakhmut.^[3]

In 1945, the 117th Guards Rifle Division became the 32nd Guards Mechanized Division. It moved to Berdichev and later became part of the 8th Mechanized Army.^[4]

On 4 June 1957, the division was converted into the 41st Guards Tank Division and the army became the 8th Tank Army. The 76th Separate Tank Training Battalion was disbanded in 1960. On 19 February 1962, the 685th Separate Missile Battalion and 437th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion were activated.

On 11 January 1965, the division was renamed the 117th Guards Tank Division, restoring its World War II number. In 1968, the 129th Separate Guards Sapper Battalion became an engineer-sapper unit. On 1 November of that year, the division became a training tank division and was directly subordinated to the Carpathian Military District. On 1 September 1987, it became the 119th Guards District Training Center.^[5]

On 1 December 2000, the training center was disbanded, and its units used to form the 62nd Mechanized Brigade. In 2004, the brigade was converted into the 26th Artillery Brigade.^[6]

As of 2017 the brigade's structure is as follows:

• Michael Holm, 117th Guards Tank Division, 2015.

CorpsStrategic GroupsBrigades

Army Aviation	11 12 16 18
Infantry1	Presidential 3rd Assault 5th Assault 10th Mountain Assault 11th Motorized 13th Jaeger 14 15 21 22 23 24 28 30 31 32 33 41 42 43 44 47 53 54 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 65 66 67 68th Jaeger 72 88 92nd Assault 93 100 110 115 116 117 118 128th Mountain Assault 141st Infantry 142nd Infantry 143rd Infantry 144th Infantry 150 151 152 153 154 155 Infantry 156 Infantry 157 Infantry 158 Infantry 159 Infantry
Artillery	26 38 40 43 44 45 47 48 49 55 Reconnaissance 15 Missile 19 Rocket 27 107
Tank	1 3 4 5 14 17
Engineering	47th 48th 49th Assault Engineering 704th CBRN Protection

Regiments

Tank	300th Training
Mechanized	354 Training 355 Training
Anti-Aircraft Missile	38 39 1039 1121 1129
Artillery	356 Training
Engineering	Operational Support 12 16 70 91 703 Maintenance 31 50 145 146 532 Pontoon bridge 210 808
Signal	5 7 55 121

Battalions

Motorized Infantry	1st Assault 1 2 3 3rd Mechanized 4 6 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24th Assault 25 25th Assault 33rd Assault 34 40 42 43rd Territorial Defense 46th Assault 48th Assault 49th Assault 97th Mechanized 108th Assault 117th Assault 214th OPFOR 225th Assault 425th Assault
Tank	12
Mountain	8 15 108 109
Reconnaissance	54 74 120 129 130 131 143
Rifle	1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 16 17 19 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 29 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 44 45 46 48 50 51 52 (Airmobile) 53 54 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 64 65 66 67 68 70 210th Special Purpose 211th Special Purpose 403 405 407 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 451 Infantry 452 Infantry 453 Infantry 454 Infantry 455 Infantry 456 Infantry 457 Infantry 459 460 468
Engineering	308 309 310 311 321 507 534 Pontoon bridge 11
Electronic Warfare	20 520
Others	78 181 182 183 224 225 226 227 307 718

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