The reestablished district was responsible for the Estonian SSR, Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod Oblasts. Initially the district controlled two combined arms armies: the
10th Guards in Estonia and the 23rd on the
Karelian Isthmus. The 10th Guards Army was reduced to the 4th Guards Rifle Corps in April 1948, and that of the 23rd Army disbanded as a result of the postwar demobilization. The district was thus left with the 4th Guards Rifle Corps, the
30th Guards Rifle Corps, the
2nd Guards Tank Division, and the 1st and 2nd Machine Gun Artillery Divisions. Control of forces in the Estonian SSR, which included the
4th Guards Rifle Corps with three divisions, was transferred to the
Baltic Military District on 27 January 1956. By 1946 the
2nd Guards Artillery Division had arrived at
Pushkin, which would be its headquarters for nearly the next fifty years. The
13th Air Army was the district air force component and was redesignated as the
76th Air Army in 1949. General-Colonel of Aviation
Fyodor Polynin was the first commander of the 76th Air Army. Apart from a brief period when the air army was redesignated the Air Forces of the Leningrad Military District from 1980 to 1988, the 76th Air Army would be active in the region until 1998. In Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast, the 44th Special Rifle Corps was activated on 22 June 1956 from HQ
Arkhangelsk Military District. The 2nd Guards Tank Division was transferred to the district from the Estonian SSR in 1958, based at
Garbolovo and
Vladimirsky Lager. In June 1957 44th Special Rifle Corps was renamed the 44th Special Army Corps. Three years later it comprised the 69th and 77th Motor Rifle Divisions. In August 1961, it was renamed the 44th Army Corps. In May 1960 the Northern Military District, controlling forces in the Karelian and Komi ASSRs, and Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Vologda Oblasts, was subsumed into the Leningrad Military District. Accordingly, Headquarters Northern Military District became Headquarters
6th Combined Arms Army. That year, the
37th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the 30th Guards Army Corps was reorganized as the district's motor rifle training division, returning to its wartime designation as the 63rd Guards in 1964. In the late 1960s the 14th Separate Machine Gun Artillery Regiment of the 30th Guards Army Corps was used to create the mobilization 37th Motor Rifle Division. In 1962 the troops of the district participated in
Operation Anadyr, the Soviet military deployment to Cuba that resulted in the
Cuban Missile Crisis. As a result of
tensions with China in the late 1960s, the headquarters of the
44th Army Corps, 2nd Guards Tank Division, the 279th Motor Rifle Regiment of the
54th Motor Rifle Division and other units were sent to the Far East. In 1967 the 44th Army Corps was moved to the
Transbaikal Military District and established its headquarters at
Ulan Ude. New units were formed to replace them, with the 26th Army Corps headquarters replacing the 44th, and a reshuffling of units to replace the 279th Regiment: the 221st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 77th Guards Motor Rifle Division replaced the 279th in the 54th Motor Rifle Division. In turn the new 481st Motor Rifle Regiment was formed to complete the 77th Guards. During the 1970s and 1980s the 6th Combined Arms Army and the 30th Guards and 26th Army Corps were based in the territory of the district. General, later Marshal,
Sergei Sokolov assumed command in 1965. Marshal Sokolov later became the Minister of Defence in 1984. On 22 February 1968, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Army and for its successes in combat and in political training, the District was awarded the
Order of Lenin. On 3 June 1968 the District was placed on alert. The
Norwegian Army raised its alert levels in response. Within a couple of days the mobilized forces in the Leningrad region reached 11,000 soldiers, 4,000 naval infantry, 210 tanks, 500 troop transports, 265 self-propelled cannons, 1,300 logistics transports, 50 helicopters and 20
Antonov An-12 transport aircraft, all of which were staged in the Petchenga-Murmansk area near Norway. On the evening of 7 June, the Norwegian
Garnisonen i Sør-Varanger garrison heard the noise of powerful engines coming from the manoeuvres along the entire Soviet front of the Norwegian-Soviet border. Actual observations were not possible over the border in the dark. On that same night the GSV commanding officer ordered all GSV reserve forces to report to their emergency muster locations. The Soviet demonstration of strength lasted until 10 June, when the Soviet forces stood down. the 26th Army Corps at
Arkhangelsk, formed in 1967, with the
69th (
Vologda) and
77th Guards Motor Rifle Divisions (
Arkhangelsk), the 258th Separate Helicopter Squadron at
Luostari/Pechenga airfield near
Luostari, and other smaller units; the
30th Guards Leningrad Red Banner Army Corps at
Vyborg, with the
45th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the
64th Guards Motor Rifle Division, and the
37th Motor Rifle Division (a mobilisation division, the double of the 63 MRTD) at
Chernaya Rechka; and the 63rd Guards Training Motor Rifle Division, and the
76th Guards Airborne Division, under district control. At
Garbolovo ([60 20 14N, 30 29 55E]) there was the
36th Air Assault Brigade (effectively an airmobile brigade), which had been activated in autumn 1979. By 1990 the district included 60,000 servicemen, 822 tanks, 2,000 armored fighting vehicles, 1,100 guns, mortars and MLRS systems, and 100 helicopters.
Forces in 1990 The composition of the troops of the district was as follows: ;Formations and units of district subordination • District Headquarters – Leningrad •
2nd Guards Artillery Perekop Red Banner, Order of the Suvorov Division (HQ
Pushkin) • 229th Rear Guard Division (DOT) (
Garbolovo) • 250th Reserve Motor Rifle Division (
Vladimirsky Lager) • 36th Separate Air Assault Brigade (
Garbolovo) •
21st Rocket Brigade (
Oselki, Leningrad Oblast) •
131st Rocket Brigade (
Luga, Leningrad Oblast) • 186th Training Rocket Brigade (
Luga, Leningrad Oblast) • 195th Training Rocket Brigade (
Medved,
Novgorod Oblast (Arakcheevsky barracks) • 141st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (
Nenimyaki, Leningrad Oblast) • 289th High Power Artillery Brigade (
Meadows) • 451st separate anti-tank artillery battalion •
332nd Separate Guards Transport and Combat Helicopter Regiment (
Pribilovo) • 317th separate mixed aviation squadron (Taibola) • 33rd Engineer Regiment (
Kotly) • 170th Engineer Regiment •
7th Guards Pontoon-Bridge Kingisepp Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment (
Kerro) • 639th separate engineering road and bridge battalion •
95th Leningrad Red Banner Communications Brigade named after the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR (
Chernaya Rechka) • 97th Communications Brigade (
Agalatovo,
Vsevolozhsk District) • 192nd separate communications regiment • 1611th training separate communications battalion • 73rd Radio Engineering Brigade (
Toksovo) • 146th Separate Radio Engineering Red Banner Special Purpose Brigade (
Bugry, Vsevolozhsky District) • 164th Separate Electronic Warfare Regiment • 41st Chemical Protection Brigade (
Vologda) • 69th Logistics Brigade • 71st Logistics Brigade • 3rd Automobile Brigade • 34th Pipeline Brigade • 209th Medical Brigade • Repair enterprises of district subordination • 75th Automobile Repair Plant (
Petrozavodsk) • 775th Artillery Repair Plant • 521st Communications Repair Plant • Bases and warehouses of district subordination • 10th air base (helicopters) • 970th central base of reserve vehicles • 1873th Automobile Base • 2124th NRB • 3807th military equipment storage base (
Chernaya Rechka) (The disbanded 37th (146th?) Motor Rifle Division) • 5188th military equipment storage base (Ivanteevo) • training centers and spare parts •
56th Guards District Training Krasnoselsky Order of Lenin, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Junior Specialist Training Center (motorized rifle troops) (
Sertolovo) • 323rd, 391st, 406th, 731st, 987th training centers • 321st School of Ensigns (
Garbolovo) • 1494th Reserve Rocket and Artillery Regiment
30th Guards Army Corps • Office of the commander, headquarters and a separate company of protection and support (the city of
Vyborg); • 93rd Separate Helicopter Squadron (
Kasimovo Airfield); • Units directly under corps command •
45th Guards Motor Rifle Krasnoselskaya Order of Lenin, Red Banner Division (Kamenka); •
64th Guards Motor Rifle Krasnoselskaya Order of Lenin, Red Banner Division 26th Army Corps In December 1989, the
77th Guards Motor Rifle Division Moscow-Chernigov was transformed into a coastal defense division of the same name, and the 69th Sevsk Motor Rifle Division in Vologda was transformed into the 5189th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (Russian acronym VKhVT). Accordingly, in 1991, the 26th ("Arkhangelsk") Army Corps had more than a modest set of corps units and the 5189th BKhVT in Vologda. The 77th Guards Coastal Defence Division was then reorganised as a separate coastal defence brigade by 1 December 1994. • Corps Headquarters –
Arkhangelsk • 258th Separate Helicopter Squadron (
Luostari) • Collapsed divisions: • 14th Engineer Regiment • 293rd Engineer Regiment • 1068th separate communications battalion (
Arkhangelsk) • 55th Logistics Brigade • 709th separate repair and restoration battalion • 5189th military equipment storage base (
Vologda) In 1989 V.I. Feskov et al. reported that the 71st MRD became the 5186th VKhVT, the 115th Guards became a storage base, and the Motor Rifle Division at Chernaya Rechka (the 37th, it was apparent later) was reduced to become the 3807th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment. The 36th Landing-Assault Brigade was under district control until June 1990, when it was transferred to the
Soviet Airborne Troops. Becoming part of the
Russian Airborne Troops as the country dissolved, it was active until February 1997. In 1990 the 63rd Guards became the
56th Guards District Training Centre. In 1993 the 5189th Base for Storage of Weapons and Equipment was disbanded. ==Post-Cold War==