Tank Range Dobele - 2 (Gardene)

Gardene (formerly Dobele-2) is a settlement in Auri parish, Dobele region, next to the P97 road, 5 km from the center of Dobele, 86 km from Riga.

After World War II, in the early 1960s, a military town of the Soviet Army's Baltic Front was established in the Dobele district, where the 24th Tank Training Division (24 UTD - 54 Окружной Учебный Центр (ОУЦ) was based until 1992.

Next to the training ground, on the site of the present-day village of Gardene, there was a residential town for officers and support personnel, soldiers' barracks, equipment hangars, weapons and ammunition warehouses, a material and technical base, a sports complex and a cultural center. The tank training ground was located south of the P97 highway.

The military unit included the 177th Tank Regiment, the 193rd Tank Training Regiment (which included 44 T-72 tanks, 2 T-54 tanks, 2 P-145BM tanks, as well as the 84th Separate Training Signal Regiment, a Motor Battalion (40879), a medical battalion, a communications battalion, a repair battalion (10940) and an anti-aircraft artillery battalion.

During the shooting exercises, aircraft cannon barrels were inserted into the tanks' barrels, from which they fired 20 mm shells, simulating cannon fire.

Initially, until 1970, a heavy tank regiment was deployed, which deployed IS-2, IS-3 tanks, but in 1970 new T-62 medium tanks were brought from Barnaul, in 1975 new T-64s were sent to Dobele-1. In 1974, 100 T-62 tanks and 30 PT-76s were deployed at the training ground.

There were three tank farms at the Dobele training ground, the second of which was where mechanics were trained to drive the PT-76, where ponds were located.

The military unit is now partially demolished, partially used as production facilities. Part of the landfill is used as the Gardene hazardous waste dump. There is an elementary school in Gardene.