24th Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

The 24th Mechanized Brigade (Ukrainian: 24-та окрема механізована бригада, abbreviated 24 ОМБр) is a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based at Yavoriv in the west of Ukraine.

The brigade, the oldest in continuous service within the Ground Forces, was originally formed as the 1st Simbirsk Infantry Division of Soviet Russia in 1918 during the Russian Civil War. The unit was soon renamed the 24th Rifle Division. It fought in the Winter War and World War II, during which it was destroyed during Operation Barbarossa.

Reformed without inheriting the lineage of the first formation, the second formation of the 24th gained the Berdychiv honorific for its actions during the Zhytomyr–Berdychiv offensive in late 1943, and was given the battle flag and traditions of the first formation in early 1944 to preserve historical continuity.

The division became a motor rifle division in 1957. The full name of the division was the 24th Samaro-Ulyanovsk Motor Rifle Berdychivska, Iron, Order of the October Revolution, Thrice Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Bohdan Khmelnytsky Division. In 1992, it was taken over by Ukraine and became the 24th Mechanized Division. In 2003, it was downsized to a brigade.

The brigade saw its first combat in almost 70 years during the war in Donbas from 2014. Its Soviet honorifics were progressively removed and replaced with the King Daniel of Galicia honorific following the beginning of the war in Donbas.

The division was formed on the order of the Revolutionary Military Council of Soviet Russia on July 26, 1918, from voluntary groups under the name 1st Simbirsk Infantry Division. In November 1918 it was renamed as the 24th Simbirsk Rifle Division. It actively participated in the Russian Civil War in the Volga region, in the Southern Urals Mountains, and in Polissya and Volhynia. At this time one of its regimental commanders was a future Army General Maksim Purkayev.

In 1922 it was renamed as the 24th Samaro-Simbirsk Iron Rifle Division. In 1924 it was again renamed as the 24th Samaro-Ulyanovsk Iron Rifle Division. In 1939–1940, during the Russo-Finnish War the division distinguished itself during the breaking of the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian isthmus.

The division participated in fighting from the first days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The division staff showed mass heroism when the German opponents arrived in the Lidy area. It also took part in the Kyiv defensive operation, and as part of the 21st Rifle Corps and 13th Army, was involved in heavy defensive fighting in Belarus.