The Sokolnicheskiy Fighter Battalion of the 5th Moscow Rifle Division of the People’s Militia was Formed in This Building
By July 12, 1941, 25 fighter battalions were created by the NKVD departments of Moscow and the Moscow Region from persons who were not subject to conscription for various reasons. The commanding staff in the battalions was recruited from regular military personnel and employees of the NKVD system of the USSR. All fighter regiments of the 3rd combat section by order of the Commander of the Moscow Military District № 0021 dated October 28, 1941 were consolidated into the 2nd rifle brigade of Moscow workers, and by order of the commander of the Moscow Military District on November 14 1941, № 0047, it was reorganized into the 5th Moscow Rifle Division, which received three rifle regiments (7th, 8th and 9th), artillery units, as well as full-fledged combat support and rear units. During the Great Patriotic War, the landscape reserve «Teply Stan» served as the last line of the defence of Moscow. Here, in 1941, the south-western sector of the main line of the Moscow defence zone passed and it was from here that the 5th Moscow Rifle Division began its journey to Berlin. The new unit was headed by the former command of the 3rd combat section of the Moscow Defensive Line of the Moscow Defence Forces. Colonel S.E. Isaev was appointed as commander of the division. The headquarters and political department of the division were located in the building of the Institute of Physical Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In November, units of the division occupied the Kuntsevo – Lyubertsy line with the centre of the defence of the village of Semenovskoye – state farm «Vorontsovo». At the same time, their personnel were ordered to carry out the guard service during the curfew in Maloyaroslavets, Kiev and Naro-Fominsk highways. Later, when the enemy reached the outskirts of Moscow in some directions, the division turned around on the defensive line, prepared in advance for it by the formations of the NKVD and NKOS of the USSR. On the right side it was bounded by the Kiev Railway Station – Ochakovo – Peredelkino – Izvarino lane, on the left side by the Cheryomushki – Derevlevo – Teply Stan – Gorodishche lane. Pillboxes, armored pillboxes and other fortifications were built of concrete and steel here.
Address: Moscow, Oleniy Val str., 22
