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.

The regiment consisted of three battalions with each 4 R-12 (SS-4) pads.

The first battalion went on alert duty 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). The second battalion went on alert duty 25.9.61 (two R-12 pads) and 10.12.61 (the remaining two pads). The third battalion went on alert duty 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.

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).

Polotsk launch site 1 (55 22 22N, 28 44 17E):

Polotsk launch site 2 (55 24 13N, 28 33 42E):

Zelki launch site (55 35 56N, 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 launch site 1 (1980-1989 RSD-10 missiles) (55 22 22N, 28 44 17E):