for German aircraft, directly subordinated to the headquarters of the 2nd Air Army, now part of the 1st Ukrainian Front. For its courage in the recapture of Proskurov, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Chortkiv, Husiatyn, and Zalishchyky, the 19th IAP received the Proskurov honorific on 3 April. Transferred to the 16th Air Army of the 1st Belorussian Front on 6 June, it became the first Red Army Air Forces regiment to receive the Lavochkin La-7 fighter in that month. The 19th was transferred to the 6th Air Army of the front between 7 July and 19 August, when it returned to the 16th Air Army. After receiving the Order of Alexander Nevsky on 9 August for its courage in the breakthrough of German defenses west of Kovel, the regiment was converted into the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment on 17 August in recognition of its "courage and heroism" during the war. In January 1945 it was operationally subordinated to the command of the army's 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps. After the end of the war on 9 May, the 176th Guards were awarded the Order of Kutuzov, 3rd class, on 11 June for their "exemplary performance of combat missions" during the Battle of Berlin. Postwar On 1 December 1951, over Sunchon, at least twenty MiG 15's from the 176th attacked a formation of fourteen Royal Australian Air Force No. 77 Squadron Meteors. Three Meteors were shot down. The 176th Guards were finally renamed as 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO in February 1952. Aircraft operated Citations References External links Photos of the 176 GIAP planes Fighter regiments of the Soviet Air Defence Forces Military units and formations established in 1938 Military units and formations disestablished in 1960 1938 establishments in the Soviet Union 1960 establishments in the Soviet Union