Soviet Army 48th Motor Rifle Division (1991)

ITN News report from November 1991 detailing the 48th Motor Rifle Division. The division took part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and remained in the country as part of the Central Group of Forces until June 1990, when it was transferred to the KGB and relocated to Klugino-Bashkirovka, Kharkov Oblast. In September of 1991, it was returned to the USSR Ministry of Defense and joined 6th Guards Tank Army. In January 1992, it was taken over by the Ukrainian National Guard and renamed the 6th Division NG. In 1999, it was reassigned to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and renamed 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade.

[@CaveDog420]

crazy how most of these vehicles and weapons were probably used in the current war

[@historyisthebestmyfans2094]

Ukraine-Russia both have a large stockpile of their equipment from the 1970s-1980s.

[@myvictory8294]

Everything has been updated years ago

[@CaveDog420]

@@myvictory8294 still likely alot of the same chassis

[@skylargray455]

A bit ironic when one realised the Soviet divisions never get a chance to clash with NATO units but instead their succesor formations go toe to toe with one another in Ukraine as we speak..

[@neilas1630]

yea plus Armenia and Azerbaijan
and tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

@@neilas1630 those are old ethnic conflicts not like the geopolitics in Ukraine.
The clashes on the kyrgiz-tajik boarder are not even from their governments but initiated by local soldiers on the boarder .. kyrgiz attacking Tajiks as the Tajiks try to settle land that they don't own.. but the older issue is the kyrgiz are nomads and robbed and enslaved the Tajiks for 1000snds of years so the Tajiks see it more as just settling land they always used.. it's like the uzbek-kazakh thing or the uyghur-kazakh or uyghur-kyrgiz thing...the Kazakh and kyrgiz have always raided and harassed the Oasis dwelling Uyghurs and Uzbeks but these traders from their fortified oasisis have always out bartered and befuddled the nomads in trade snaring them in debt for goods they need.. there is a deep age old conflict between these groups .. in the areas occupied now by china that the Uyghur live there is always clashes between the more aggressive nomads and the Uyghurs, if there is an unhappy trade the kazakhs will attack or if an Uyghur man marries a Kazakh woman there can be violence from the kazakhs, it's precisely why the kazakhs are not sympathetic to the poor Uyghurs who are being colonised by china .. in Kazakhstan the Uyghur population just like the Uzbeks frequently will come under mob attack due to trading practices or over Kazakh women or even school playground disputes.
The nomads, Kazakh, karakalpak, nogai, kalmyk,kyrgiz, tuvans, Mongols ECT seem to have this nature in them, good or bad they see these settled central Asian trading people as an opponent, an ancient opponent who they have always clashes with and in return those settled central Asians, Tajik, Uyghur, Uzbek, sarts, ECT see them as a threatening volatile and aggressive ethnicity who can never quite be trusted and who has "uncivil" roots, who is rude, crude and aggressive underneath no matter how they appear in the modern world.
It's some ancient cultural clash that the modern world doesn't quite understand and doesn't fit with modern nations boarders or systems.
The Armenian aziri thing is basically an extension extermination of Armenians by the ottomans that the aziris have picked up as their parent nation Iran never shared this hatred of Armenians.. the conflict dates to the late 19 century when aziris became less tied to Persia and more to the ottomans culturally while also being a Russian colony and having much power being always the favourite group of the two by both the Russian Empire and the USSR.. poor old Armenia copped it . (There was many generals in the Russian military that were aziris from the 19th century to WW2) this good relationship with the state allowed those boarders to appear, that artsakh/nagorno kharabakh situation is a result of this as it was originally the fiefdom of a powerful aziri bey who sided with the Russians against Persia and who's family went on to be general in many of Russia's wars in central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe . That area was 80-90% Armenian but settlers arrived during Soviet times to try to adjust the balance

[@bryf2787]

So this is the origin of the mighty 92nd Mech Brigade

[@MichaelAngloson]

This is insane coming across this video. I went to this base a year or two before the invasion for work. Can’t believe I’m seeing it how it was long before. From what I’ve heard sadly that base is now destroyed.

[@joeclark1893]

It’s insane to think that in a few decades, this poorly equipped Soviet division would become a modern NATO-grade army

[@honoraresapientia7835]

@@joeclark1893 modern NATO-grade army??

[@reymiguelperez6643]

​@@honoraresapientia7835This same brigade and division in its different iterations became part of the current Ukrainian Army for context.

[@historyisawesome6399]

@@joeclark1893the averge soviet divison was just as well if not much better equiped then the averge nato one they ussaly had better acess to afv and AA units were much more common as was the concenntration of atgms

[@sanaecoachiya200]

Predecessor of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade

[@Ascaron1337]

Well, that aged well. 😃

[@padraigcurran3236]

Another brilliant video! Your videos like these are providing great information for the introduction part of my college dissertation on the First Chechen war!

[@scanrange3511]

Thanks. As a graduate student myself, the whole purpose of this channel was to centralize lots of footage scattered around the internet in one place to help folks like us in particular gain an additional (visual) layer of understanding on the military competition of the late Cold War period and the armed forces of Russia and the former USSR.

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

I knew a man from this devision, from magadan, russian far east , he ended up joining the ukrainian military as the option was better than potentially going back to an uncertain future in the collapsing ussr. .

[@myvictory8294]

How was joining Ukrainian army better than joining Russian army?? After the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia became the most developed country out of all former Soviet republics. The economy was stronger, more jobs, lower prices and higher wages than in Ukraine. That's why many Ukrainians migrated to Russia for good or just to work. Your friend made a mistake, obviously.

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

@@myvictory8294 in 1991 everything was uncertain, yes it was a mistake in a way.. but the USSR still exhausted in form and Ukraine was becoming independent, he was able to obtain a better position, higher rank, better pay and his owner accommodation. Yes in a year or so he was to regret it as Ukraine spiralled into a total economic collapse worse that the Russian or Kazakh SSRs causing them to sack many troops and half or withhold pay but how would you know exactly?.
When a new country forms generally there is opportunity he felt either keep living in a freezing filthy tent for 6 months without pay or have a chance to get something better. Remember back then Ukraine was heavily industrialized by the Soviet union so he figured it had all this military industry, ship building, aviation ,nuclear, automotive ECT industry and a relatively large concentrated population and that it should better stand a chance at becoming a capitalist state.. he was wrong but the point is his logic wasn't bad at the time given what people knew.
And yet Ukraine's GDP is 4 times less than Kazakhstan 😑....and it never recovered from the early 90 chaos...unlike Russia or Kazakhstan did

[@michealkelliher8428]

Why should the Soviet Union never have broken up in the first place, hence the problems we have today, and there would be no American hegemony as a result.

[@kaamos79]

The Soviet Union broke up because its constituent members were not made members by free choice, and when the Union became weak and brittle (ultimately because the communist system in the Soviet Union was no longer functional or fit for purpose), those involuntary members looked west and made their choice. American hegemony today is simply emblematic of the strength and desirability of the world order they lead.

[@michealkelliher8428]

@kaamos79 bullshit and bollocks, it broke up, simply because of the inafforadability of communism after the Afghanistan War in particular, and trying to pay for everything in Eastern Europe, free choice my ass, that's a bunch of fucking lies, if that were the case, why didn't it break up in the 1950s? 1960s? or the 1970s? It simply didn't, because up until then, the Soviets were not over extending themselves in wars and proving up other countries around conflict areas throughout, therefore, there was more money to spend on the other 14 republics besides Russia, remember, all 15 republics had equal rights within the union, as woukd be the mantra of communism anyway.
After the break up of the USSR, the Americans and the West plamaust the void left by setting a strategy of eastward expansion, that's well known.
Remember, James Baker said in February 1990 to Eduard Swevardnaze, his Soviet counterpart; " Not another inch eastward".
He lied, the Americans lied, the west lied, and broke that worded agreement.
But you know something, American hegemony is now fading and ending badly, like Nato and the West, Africa and the Middle East are prime examples, they are sick and tired of western lies, bullying and extortion of their resources.
That's a statement of fact. I'm from Ireland and I can see this.
Get used to it, the sun is rising in the East, Russia and China, and it's setting in the west, America and Nato. All empires end you see.

[@bluedragontoybash2463]

The American hegemony would not be decaying and corrupt like now if the USSR still standing as enemy

[@Rokaize]

@@bluedragontoybash2463American hegemony isn’t declining or weak or whatever. It’s stilly by far, totally without equal military and economically. No nation is more influential and powerful than the US. It’s that simple and it isn’t going away anytime soon regardless of what jealous types like you claim

[@user-yw1ce2kh4c]

Сбылась мечта Капитализма, рухнула Красная Угроза.
-_-

[@gonozal8_962]

the dream of the oligarchs, correct.

[@me1sTerweeD]

A bit ironic when the Ukrainian Soviet division maintained their equipment better than Russia today.

[@Aleks-Milenkovic]

Lies

[@micuna5743]

yea as a member both of the soviet and the russian army ,you would know.
is it so hard not to spew out any stupid garbage that crosses your little mind?

[@me1sTerweeD]

@@micuna5743 googoo gaga, I got your copium. There are countless reports on the lack luster maintenance of the russian equipment. I am pretty sure most of the equipment would have seen better usage than today.

[@baileygregory9192]

Neither side looked after then Ukraine just has western aid

[@andresr.viguera9791]

See the trolls flooding en masse to attack you

[@GoRannization]

I think USSR had best people and very shitty government in that era, you will see these men are nothing but honest familiy folks who will selflessly serve their homeland and their families, no matter if they were Ukrainan, Kazaks, Russian, Belorus or what else. USSR had best military on the earth and very very shity currupt govrnment in that period. US army could not stand a chance to USSR army in 80s and 90 during disolution.

[@historyisawesome6399]

Yes but they absorbit spending is what bankrupted them they made 23-27x the amount of tanks as the us in the 70s its crazy they lasted as long as they did. 15% of gdp 50% of budget the us today soends 1.9-3% gdp 16% budget
I whould agree the warsaw pact was militaryly much stronger then nato ecspicaly if they fully molbized but the cold war was a economic conflict not a military one

[@nuriddincharyyev5607]

48 ROPSHİNSKAYA MOTOSTRELKOVAYA DİVİZİYA,İMENİ KALİNİNA

[@alexxwelder4713]

А одеты как в 41 году 🤦

[@alexmason6191]

Какая убогая форма была у тогдашних военных. Как-будто солдафоны с полей Первой Мировой случайно забрели в конец 20-го века. Даже войска союзников в конце Второй Мировой выглядели куда современней с их берцами, куртками и штанами с удобными карманами.

[@mikescshdj]

Зато выглядело довольно уродски. У Союза хоть опрятно, красиво, подтянуто выглядели. Со стилем.

[@alexmason6191]

@@mikescshdj дело вкуса. Достаточно посмотреть, к чему все в итоге пришли и у кого оно впервые появилось тогда. Офицерская или парадная форма конечно имела вид, но на солдат без слез было не глянуть, по крайней мере пока не придумали более-менее современную "афганку", но это уже был самый конец той эпохи.

[@majestikagler3027]

В чем не разбираешься не комментируй чтоб дураком не считали

[@alexmason6191]

@@majestikagler3027 видимо именно такие дуболомы как ты проектировали униформу для советской армии, если тебя это так задевает.

[@Crystal_G_1989]

If your country is a member of USSR you need to learn to speak Russian...

[@andresr.viguera9791]

Good thing there is no more USSR

[@Crystal_G_1989]

@@andresr.viguera9791 they are same with other Empire nations

[@andresr.viguera9791]

@@Crystal_G_1989 And guess what, they prefer to be under those "empires" you say

[@Peopleunder]

​@@andresr.viguera9791overthinking moment

[@andresr.viguera9791]

@@Peopleunder ???
Can you say something that makes sense?