10th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

Last updated
10th Rifle Division
Active1922–1946
CountryFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army flag.svg Red Army
Type Infantry
Size Division
Engagements Invasion of Poland
Baltic Operation
Siege of Leningrad
Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive
Decorations Order of the red Banner OBVERSE.jpg Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours On behalf of the Northern Krai
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Mikhail Dukhanov

The 10th Rifle Division was a military formation of the Red Army. It existed by 1920, but was formally created on 20 June 1922, based on the 29th Infantry Brigade. It was then recreated at Vladimir in September 1939, and fought in the Second World War.

Contents

Second World War

Around 1939, the division was stationed in the Leningrad Military District, Western Special Military District, and the Baltic Special Military District. It participated in the Polish campaign in 1939, and in the accession of Lithuania to the USSR in June 1940.

It was part of the 10th Rifle Corps, 8th Army on 22 June 1941. [1]

The division fought in northern Russia and the Baltic States. From April 1942 to December 1944 it was part of the 23rd Army, Leningrad Front, engaged in the siege of Leningrad. From June to August 1944 it took part in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive as part of 115th Rifle Corps.

It was engaged in operations (in Russian terms, part of the 'operational army') during the Eastern Front campaign against Germany, from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945.

The division was disbanded in spring 1946 with the 6th Rifle Corps in the Don Military District. [2]

Latvian battalion

In July 1940, the 1st and 2nd Latvian workers regiments (the last later changed to 76th Latvian Rifle Regiment) were formed in Estonia from Latvian workers guard battalions and other active duty soldiers, who at the beginning of German attack, fled from Latvia to Estonia. 1st Latvian Workers Regiment was formed on July 18, 1941. Their strength was about 900 men, and that was subordinate to 8th Army (Soviet Union), 10th Rifle Corps. In the beginning the regiment guarded the Corps rear lines and fought with Estonian and Latvian Destruction battalions, but later joined in battles against the Army Group North (until July 29). The regiment suffered heavy losses, and at the end of July transferred to Gogland Island and later to Kotlin Island (Kronstadt). From the left over regiment was later formed (3rd through September 7) Latvian Battalion (commander Žanis Grīva-Folkmanis), which was part of (Russian) 10th Rifle Division 62nd Regiment. The Latvian battalion had only 283 soldiers. By riflemen, Germans battalions destroyed them and the remaining part retreated to Leningrad, and Peterhof to be placed in 76th Latvian Riflemen Regiment. [3]

Related Research Articles

The 2nd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army that served from the Russian Civil War to the Second World War. Originally formed in 1919 from the 1st Ryazansk Rifle Division, the division was twice destroyed and reformed during the war. The division contained two or three rifle regiments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian 201st Military Base</span> Motor rifle division of the Soviet military

The Russian 201st Military Base is a Russian military base based in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, part of the Central Military District. It was originally raised twice in World War II as part of the Soviet Union's Red Army and is now part of the Russian Ground Forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leningrad Military District</span> Administrative-territorial grouping of the Soviet and Russian military

The Leningrad Military District is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. In December 2022, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu proposed to reestablish it along with the Moscow Military District, a decision confirmed in June 2023 by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yevgeny Burdinsky. On December 17, 2023 Vladimir Putin announced plans to recreate the Leningrad Military District as a reaction to Finland joining NATO. The district was formally reconstituted on February 26, 2024 by a Presidential Decree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltic Military District</span> Military unit

The Baltic Military District was a military district of the Soviet armed forces in the Baltic states, formed shortly before the German invasion during World War II. After the end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added to the District's control in 1946, and the territory of Estonia was transferred back to the Baltic Military District from the Leningrad Military District in 1956. The Baltic Military District was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and reorganised into the North Western Group of Forces, which ceased to exist following the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 1 September 1994.

A rifle corps was a Soviet corps-level military formation during the mid-twentieth century. Rifle corps were made up of a varying number of rifle divisions, although the allocation of three rifle divisions to a rifle corps was common during the latter part of World War II.

The 16th Rifle Division was a formation in the Red Army created during World War II. The division was formed twice, and was given the title 'Lithuanian' during its second formation.

The 7th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed twice.

The 1st Mechanized Corps was a mechanized corps of the Red Army during World War II that formed twice.

Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions were military formations of the Red Army during World War II created in 1941 and consisting primarily of ethnic Latvians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">308th Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 308th Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. The division was formed three separate times during the course of the war.

The 11th Rifle Division was a military formation of the Soviet Union's Red Army. Its personnel were involved in the protection of the demarcation line in Pskov, defensive battles against the Army of the Southern Front in Krasnov Novohopersk - Borisoglebsk, against the army and the forces of Estonia, Bulak Balakhovich in Marienburg in defense of Petrograd and as the offensive against Yudenich's troops in Pskov the Luga-Gdov, Yamburg, Narva, Dvina-Rezhitsk directions, the Polish-Soviet war of 1920, in the suppression of the Kronstadt uprising participated in the Soviet-Finnish War and World War II.

The 86th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the interwar period, World War II, and the early postwar period, formed twice.

The 42nd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, created in 1941.

The 1st Army Corps was an army corps of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was formed in 1957 and finally deactivated in 1991. It draws its history from the 1st Rifle Corps, formed in 1922. Troops of the 1st Rifle Corps participated in the Winter War and World War II.

The 49th Rifle Division was a Soviet Army infantry division, formed three times. First formed as a territorial division in 1931, the 49th Rifle Division's first formation became a regular division by 1939 and fought in the Winter War. For its actions during the war, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. However, the 49th Rifle Division was wiped out during the first ten days of Operation Barbarossa. Its second formation occurred in December 1941 and fought at Stalingrad, Kursk, the Vistula-Oder Offensive and the Battle of Berlin. The second formation was disbanded in 1946. The division was reformed in 1955 by renaming the 295th Rifle Division and became the 49th Motor Rifle Division in 1957.

The 11th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army, formed twice.

The 265th Motor Rifle Division was a motorized infantry division of the Soviet Army during the Cold War.

The 376th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. It began forming in August 1941 in the Siberian Military District. It followed a very similar combat path to that of the 374th Rifle Division. It joined the fighting front in December with the new 59th Army along the Volkhov River and it continued to serve in the battles near Leningrad until early 1944. The division took horrendous casualties in the combat to create and hold open a passage to the 2nd Shock Army during the Lyuban Offensive and was itself partly or fully encircled at several times during this dismal fighting. The division finally left this region as it advanced during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive in January 1944 and in July won a battle honor in the liberation of Pskov, while its 1250th Rifle Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In October the 376th as a whole would also receive the Red Banner for its part in the liberation of Riga. The division ended the war in Latvia, helping to contain and reduce the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket, and was reorganized as a rifle brigade shortly thereafter.

References

  1. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus
  2. Feskov et al 2013, p. 517
  3. Aviel Roshwald, Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires.