249th Missile Regiment

249-й ракетный полк

Military Unit: 23463

Activated 21.8.59 in Polotsk, Vitebsk Oblast, as the 259th Engineer Regiment, under the 50th Air Army.

1.7.60 renamed 249th Missile Regiment, and came under the 32nd Missile Division.

Organisation:

• 1st battalion with 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads - alert duty from 1.10.60 (one R-12 pad, no warhead until April 1961), 1.1.61 (one R-12 pad) and 25.9.61 (the remaining two R-12 pads)
• 2nd battalion with 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads - alert duty from 25.9.61 (two R-12 pads) and 10.12.61 (the remaining two pads)
• 3rd battalion with 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads - alert duty from 1.10.62 (two R-12 pads) and 1.1.63 (the remaining two R-12 pads)

All three battalions stood down 10.2.79.

The regiment went on alert duty 12.9.80 with 9 RSD-10 Pioner-K (15P645K) (SS-20) missiles.

The regiment stood down 1986 and converted to the 15P656 Gorn (SS-20 command missile) from March 1986 - alert duty from 26.12.86 with 9 missiles.

The regiment stood down 1989, and was disbanded (1989).

US designation 1960-1980: Polotsk MRBM complex (Polotsk launch sites 1 and 2). Type II (pad) sites

US designation 1960-1980: Disna MRBM complex (Zelki launch site). Type I (pad) site. The US mistakenly believed that the Zelki launch site belonged to the Disna MRBM launch site, which would have been logical when looking at a map (the site is much closer to the Disna complex).

Regimental coordinates:

• Polotsk MRBM Regimental HQ Radio Receiver Bunker (55 24 43N, 28 33 49E)

Polotsk launch site 1 with 4 R-12 pads (55 22 22N, 28 44 17E):

Polotsk launch site 2 with 4 R-12 pads (55 24 13N, 28 33 42E):

Zelki launch site with R-12 pads (55 35 49N, 28 24 32E):

Two alternative fixed field sites for the pad launchers, were set up at Plissa (Plissa 1: 55 12 46N, 28 02 21E and Plissa 2: 55 11 41N, 27 54 37E) - the last site was still active 1967.

Polotsk Mobile IRBM Base 2 (1980-1989 RSD-10 missiles) (55 22 22N, 28 44 17E):