Southern Group of Forces

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 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'.

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The 93rd Guards Motor Rifle Division was withdrawn in early 1991 to the Kiev Military District and the Group finally disbanded on 16 June 1991.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 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The 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was disbanded in October 1990, with aircraft and crews being withdrawn to Biaroza, Brest Oblast, in the Byelorussian SSR.

On 21 April the 14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment moved back to Zherdevka, Tambov Oblast, in the Moscow Military District.