323rd Demidovskiy Red Banner Missile Regiment

323-й ракетный Демидовский Краснознаменный полк

Military Unit: 43150

Activated 8.59 in Totskoye, Orenburg Oblast, as the 323rd Engineer Regiment RVGK - awards from the 270th Motorised Rifle Division.

10.59 transferred to Chernyshevskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast - subordinated to the 72nd Engineer Brigade RVGK.

1.7.60 renamed 323rd Missile Regiment, now attached to the 24th Guards Missile Division.

1.9.61 regiment HQ was transferred to Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast.

Organisation:

• 1st battalion with 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads - alert duty from 1.10.60 (one R-12 pad), 1.1.61 (one more R-12 pad) and 10.12.61 (the last two R-12 pads)
• 2nd battalion with 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads - alert duty from 1.1.62

The regiment did not have any warheads until April 1961.

The two battalions stood down in 1989, and the regiment was disbanded shortly thereafter (1989).

US designation: Gusev MRBM complex (Gusev launch sites 1 and 2). Type I (pad) sites.

Gusev launch site 1 with 4 R-12 pads (54 41 10N, 22 04 54E):

Gusev launch site 2 with 4 R-12 pads (54 43 58N, 22 03 26E):

One alternative fixed field site for the pad launchers, were set up at Tolmingkemsk (54 22 03N, 22 20 12E) - possibly still in use 1967.

Launch sites 1987: Gusev 1 and Gusev 2