[1] The 79th Rifle Division fought in the Invasion of South Sakhalin in 1945 and was based at Leonidovo for most of its career.

[2] The 79th traces its history back to the formation of the Sakhalin Rifle Division on 17 August 1938.

[3][4] During the battle for south Sakhalin, 179th Rifle Regiment Battalion commander Captain Leonid Smirnykh was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union after his battalion captured 5 bunkers and Smirnykh was killed by sniper fire.

[5] Sergeant Anton Buyukly was also made a Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously in 1965 for his sacrifice in blocking a bunker firing slit with his body.

On 22 February 1968, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on the Soviet Army's 50th anniversary.