The precursor to the ODON was the 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the
VTsIK () which was created in February 1918. The detachment was tasked with guarding the members of the VTsIK and the
Sovnarkom and providing them with passenger cars. After the relocation of the government to
Moscow in March 1918, it was assigned to guarding the
Kremlin, along with the
Red Latvian Riflemen and later the "
Kremlin cadets" (). The detachment was renamed
1st Armored Car Detachment in 1919, and was transferred to
VChK in 1921. At the peak of its strength, the detachment had over 400 troops. In April 1921, VChK created the OSNAZ battalion which consisted of 1st Armored Car Detachment, three rifle platoons, a cavalry squadron, and various auxiliary units, with a total strength of some 1,100 men. VChK became OGPU in 1922, and the OSNAZ was renamed accordingly. On 17 June 1924, the OSNAZ battalion, an OGPU rifle battalion and an OGPU rifle regiments formed the Special-Purpose Division (DON) of the
OGPU Troops. The DON included 4 rifle regiments with an Armored Car detachment. In August 1926, the division was renamed
Special-Purpose Division of the OGPU Troops. Throughout 1926, one more regiment and five more battalions joined the DON, raising its total strength to some 4,500 troops. In 1929, the DON was reorganized as a full army division. In 1931, the Armoured Car detachment was reorganized into an armoured regiment. In 1934, OGPU was transferred to the
People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (the NKVD). The division fought on the front lines of the
Winter War against
Finland. With the onset of
World War II, parts of the division participated in the
Battle of Moscow; the remaining unit guarded particularly important installations of the capital, patrolled the streets, and were involved in efforts to liquidate enemy infiltrator groups near the front and in the city. Along with participation in hostilities, division elements in Moscow detained 485 enemy intelligence agents, 69,753 deserters, and over 320,000 offenders of the established regime. The division took part in the
1941 October Revolution Parade on Moscow's
Red Square. In the battle against German troops, the
snipers of the 4 Cavalry Regiment (later four motorized infantry) distinguished themselves. On the first deployment of the two sniper Regiments in 1942, they killed 853 German soldiers and officers. In total, in 1942 sniper division has killed 6,440 German soldiers and officers. The OMSDON units protected the Allied leaders during the
Yalta Conference. In preparation for the
1980 Moscow Olympics, an elite group of OMSDON troops was trained with special forces tactics; the core of this group later became the
Vytyaz unit. The final USSR designation of the division was
OMSDON (
Independent Special-Purpose Motorized Rifle Division of the Internal Troops of the MVD of the Soviet Union , ). ==Russian Federation==