Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Soviet Union)

rdf:langString Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Soviet Union)

rdf:langString An Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Russian: Зенитная артиллерийская дивизия (зенад), romanized: Zenitnaya artilleriyskaya diviziya (zenad)) was a type of Anti-aircraft unit of the Soviet Union's Red Army, Soviet Army, and the Soviet Air Defense Forces (PVO) during World War II and the early years of the Cold War. During the Interwar period, units that incorporated anti-aircraft guns, known as Air Defense Divisions, existed in the Soviet Air Defense Forces. However, specialized AA gun divisions were not formed in the Red Army until November 1942. These divisions provided anti-aircraft cover to frontline units and from 1944 were regularly assigned to specific armies. PVO divisions began to be formed in mid-1943, providing air defense for key locations in the rear as well as Moscow. Postwar, most of the anti-aircraft divisions were disbanded, but the small number that remained lasted until the late 1950s, when they were replaced by Surface-to-air missile-equipped brigades and regiments.