The Group was re-created for a second time with its staff in Budapest seemingly during September 1955 (though former Soviet sources disagree; Feskov et al. say it was created on November 24, 1956). Lenskii says that it was re-created in 1955 to control the Soviet troops in Hungary following the disbandment of the former Central Group of Forces which had controlled troops in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955, and the Soviet withdrawal from Austria. Under its command were the 2nd Guards 'Nikolayevsk-Budapest' Mechanised Division, the 17th Guards 'Yenakievskiy-Danube' Mechanised Division, two air divisions, and other troops. Lenskii says their function was 'to cover the boundary with neutral Austria and to guarantee communications in the case of the advancement of troops from the USSR'.
On October 24, 1956 the 33rd Guards Kherson Mechanized Division, previously stationed in Romania near the Romanian-Hungarian border, and two divisions from the Carpathian Military District, the 11th Guards 'Rovenskaya' Mechanized and 128th Guards Rifle Division, entered Hungary under the control of a Rifle Corps. The forces already in Hungary and those entering totalled 31,500 men. The 33rd Guards Mechanised Division took the lead role in suppressing the Hungarian Revolution in Budapest, and lost, according to Soviet sources, 14 tanks and assault guns as well as 9 armoured personnel carriers. Seven months afterward, on May 28, 1957, an agreement on the status of Soviet troops, comprising the Southern Group of Forces, was made between the USSR and Hungary.
The 11th Guards Mechanised and 128th Guards Rifle Divisions returned to the Carpathian Military District and were replaced by the 21st Guards 'Poltava' Tank Division and the 27th 'Cherkassy' Motor Rifle Division, both under the command of the Carpathian Military District's 38th Army. 2nd Guards Mechanised Division was re-formed into the 19th Guards Tank Division, and the 17th Guards Mechanised Division was re-formed into the 17th Guard Motor Rifle Division and withdrawn to the USSR. The 33rd Guards Mechanised Division was then replaced by the 35th Guards 'Kharkov' Mechanised Division.
Smaller units included the 327th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (327 ZRP), headquartered at Szolnok and tasked with airfield defence.[4] In 1967, the 22nd Missile Brigade became part of the Southern Group of Forces at Dombóvár.[5]
Soviet tanks leaving Hungary, 1990
The removal of Soviet troops from Hungary began during May 1989, with the withdrawal and disbandment of 13th Guards Tank Division. Later the 19th Guards Tank Division was withdrawn to the Belarusian Military District and the 254th Motor Rifle Division to the Kiev Military District. The 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division was withdrawn in early 1991 to the Kiev Military District and the Group finally disbanded on 16 June 1991.
The division was stationed at Veszprem until September 1949. It came under command of the 78th Guards Fighter Aviation Corps in January 1949. On 20 February 1949 it was renamed 195th Guards Dnepropetrovsk Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Fighter Aviation Division.[9] In 1950 the division comprised the 1st, 5th, and 106th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiments at Tokol and Papa flying MiG-15s. In 1956 it was involved in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and in 1968 in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The 106th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was disbanded in mid-1961, and was replaced by the 14th 'Leningradskiy' Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The 1st Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment became separate of the division, reporting directly to 36th Air Army, in mid 1963, and from July 1960 to 22 April 1991 with two short breaks was stationed at Kunmadaras.
The 195th Guards Fighter Aviation Dnepropetrovsk Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division was renamed by the Directive of the General Staff in April 1968 into the 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Dnepropetrovsk Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division.
14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (Kiskunlacháza, Hungary) with MiG-21
515th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Tököl, Hungary) with MiG-21
The 14th GvIAP was based in 1981 at Kiskunlachaza air base in Hungary. The 14th acquired MiG-23Ms in 1975 and in 1979 also received MLs. The MiG-23s were replaced by MiG-29s in 1986. Elements of the regiment took part in the Warsaw Pact Exercise Zapad-81 in East Germany in late 1981.
The 515th Fighter Aviation Regiment was disbanded at Tokol in August 1989. The 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was disbanded in October 1990, with aircraft and crews being withdrawn to Biaroza, Brest Oblast, in the Byelorussian SSR.[10][7]
Following these disbandments, the structure of the 36th Air Army on 1 January 1991 was:[11]
HQ 36th Air Army, Budapest (Southern Group of Forces)
18th Separate Communications Regiment (Piliscsaba)
201st OSAE (Tököl) with 10 Mi-8 and a few transport aircraft
1st Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment (Kunmadaras) with MiG-27 and MiG-23
328th Guards ORAP (Kunmadaras) with 12 Su-24 and 15 Su-17 – withdrawn to Ukraine and disbanded, April 1991
Separate Helicopter Squadron for Electronic Warfare
11th Guards "Dnepropetrovsk" IAD (Tököl)
14th Guards "Leningrad" IAP (Kiskunlacháza) with 34 MiG-29 and 9 MiG-23
Two regiments of the 36th Air Army were returned to the Soviet Union in April 1991. On 21 April the 14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment moved back to Zherdevka, Tambov Oblast, in the Moscow Military District. The next day (22 April 1991) the 1st Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment was transferred back to the Soviet Union, being moved back to LebyazhyeinVolgograd Oblast.
The 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Division was disbanded in June 1991.[7]
Kozhevnikov M.N. (1977). Command and Headquarters of the Air Force of the Soviet Army in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Москва: Наука. p. 288. Circulation 70,000.
A.G. Lenskii, M.M. Tsybin, The Soviet Ground Forces in the last years of the USSR, St Petersburg, 1991
Feskov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Golikov, V.I.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской (часть 1: Сухопутные войска) [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II, from the Red Army to the Soviet (Part 1: Land Forces).]. Tomsk.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[1] Improved version of 2004 work with many inaccuracies corrected.
V.I. Feskov et al., The Soviet Army in the years of the Cold War 1945-1991, Tomsk University Press, 2004
Перечень No. 4 управлений корпусов, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941—1945 гг. Vol. Приложение к директиве Генерального штаба 1956 г. No. 168780. Москва: Министерство обороны СССР. Военно-научное управление Генерального Штаба; Voenizdat. 1956. p. 151.
Перечень No. 6 Cavalry, Tank, Airborne дивизий и управлений артиллерийских, зенитно-артиллерийских, миномётных, авиационных и истребительных дивизий, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941—1945 гг. Vol. Приложение к директиве Генерального штаба 1956 г. No. 168780. Москва: Министерство обороны СССР. Военно-научное управление Генерального Штаба; Воениздат. 1956. p. 77.
Перечень No. 12 Aviation regiments of the Air Forces of the Red Army, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941—1945 гг. Vol. Приложение к директиве Генерального штаба от 18 января 1960 г. No. 170023. Moscow: Министерство обороны СССР. Военно-научное управление Генерального Штаба; Voenizdat. 1960. p. 96.
