Medical Battalion and the Special Units of the 5th Division of the People’s Militia of the Frunzenskiy District of Moscow Were Formed in This Building in 1941
The 5th Moscow Rifle Division of the People’s Militia of the Frunzenskiy district was formed from July 3 to July 6, 1941. Its commander was Major General I.A. Presnyakov (July 2, 1941 – September 26, 1941), military commissar – A.N. Antropov. The honorary name of the division is Lower Dniester Red Banner. The division was formed in early July 1941 from among the volunteer residents and workers of the Frunzenskiy district of Moscow and Krasnokholmskiy district of the Kalinin region. The division was formed at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages (address: 38, Metrostroevskaya str.) from among the volunteers – workers, engineers, employees of the Kauchuk plants, the Electrosvet, the Sverdlov silk-making factory, the Krasnaya Roza silk-weaving combine, the People’s Commissariat of Construction, the Construction Department of the Palace of Soviets and other organizations. A large group consisted of teachers and students of Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, the 1st and 2nd Moscow State Medical Institutes, the Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technologies, the Institute of Public Catering Engineers, several technical schools. On the first day of the draft, over 4,500 applications were submitted in the Frunzenskiy district. Among other volunteers was the sculptor Evgeny Vuchetich, who became a machine gunner. The structure of the 5th division of the People’s militia also included a medical battalion and a special unit. On July 9, 1941, the division marched from Moscow along Starokaluzhskoye Highway to the Katuary – Tolstopaltsevo – Vnukovo area, 30 km from the capital. On July 30, 1941, the division became a part of the 33rd Army of the Reserve Front. From the Rzhev-Vyazma direction, the division was relocated through Medyn and Yukhnov to the area of the village of Bolshaya Bobrovka. By August 2, the division had occupied the Luzhki–Duki line in the area of Spas-Demensk. On August 12-13, the division and its regiments were awarded battle flags. By September 3, 1941, the division’s personnel, initially numbering 5,685 ordinary soldiers, was replenished with recruits from the Moscow Military District in the amount of 3,490 people. There is a memorial plaque in memory of the formation of the medical battalion and the special forces of the 5th Division of the People’s Militia of the Frunzenskiy district of Moscow.
Address: Moscow, Plushykha str., 39
