97th Guards Mechanized Brigade (Ukraine)

343rd Rifle Division (1941–43) 97th Guards Rifle Division (1943–57) 97th Guards Motor Rifle Division (1957–1992) 97th Mechanized Brigade (1992–2004)
Brigade Insignia
Active	August 1941 – November 2004
Country	Ukraine
Branch	Ukrainian Army
Type	Mechanized Brigade
Part of	13th Army Corps
Garrison/HQ	А-1766Slavuta,Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Equipment	T-64 BMP-2 ZSU-23-4 2S3 Akatsiya 2S1
Engagements	World War II
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky

The 97th Guards Mechanized Brigade was a rifle, and then a motor-rifle division of the Soviet Union's Army, before becoming a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based in Slavuta in western Ukraine.

The full name of the division was the "97th Guards Poltava Motor-Rifle Division, Red Banner, Suvorov's, Bogdan Khmelnitsky". After the division became part of Ukrainian Armed Forces it was known as the "97th Separate Mechanized Brigade".

The division was formed in August–September 1941 as the 343rd Rifle Division near the city of Stavropol. Over the next twelve months it was assigned to the 56th, 6th, 9th, 21st, and 24th Armies. The division took part in the defensive operations at Rostov, then in the Rostov and Barvenko-Lozovaia offensive operations. Later, it fought in the Second Battle of Kharkov, then fled eastward to take part in defensive operations near Stalingrad. On July 17, 1942, when the 21st Army joined the Stalingrad Front, the division had 2,795 men and fewer than 20 artillery pieces. After October, 1942, it was assigned to the 66th Army, which later became the 5th Guards Army.