17th Rifle Division

Last updated
17th Rifle Division
ActiveI Formation: 1918–1941 II Formation: 1941–1945
CountryFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army flag.svg Red Army
SizeDivision
Engagements Russian Civil War
Polish–Soviet War
Winter War

World War II

Decorations Order of Red Banner.svg   Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours Moscow
Rezkaja
Bobruysk
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Georgy Sofronov (1922—1923, 1924—1930)
Pyotr Filatov (1923-1924)
Georgy Bondar (1932—1937)
Terenty Batsanov (1938–1941)

The 17th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II.

Contents

First Formation

The division was first formed on 23 October 1918 from the 1st Vitebsk Rifle Division and 2nd Smolensk Rifle Division by the order of the Military council of the Smolensk Defensive Region. The division participated in the Russian Civil War in Lithuania, Ukraine and Belorussia. After the civil war the division participated in the Polish–Soviet War. The division was stationed along the Brezina River in 1920. The division was garrisoned at Nizhny Novgorod (renamed Gorky in 1932) from 1920 to 1939. In 1939 the division was broken up and used to form three divisions, the new 17th, 136th and the 137th Rifle Divisions. [1] [2] The new 17th Rifle Division, formed from the 49th Rifle Regiment, continued the traditions of the original 17th. [3]

Composition

The division was maintained on a reduced status until December 1939 when the division was brought to full strength for the Winter War with Finland. The division returned to Gorky in April 1940. In June 1940 the division was moved to the Lithuanian border and assigned to the Belorussian Military District. [1]

Assigned to 21st Rifle Corps, 10th Army when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 and located in the Vitebsk and Polotsk area. By the end of June the division was surrounded in the area east of Minsk. Though the division was destroyed in late June 1941 it was not officially disbanded until 19 September 1941. [2]

Composition

Second Formation

Reformed from the 17th Moscow People's Militia Rifle Division on 26 October 1941. Assigned to the 33rd Army, Reserve Front. In November 1941 it was assigned to the 43rd Army, Western Front where it participated in the Moscow Counteroffensive. The division remained in the Western Front until the summer of 1943. In late July 1943 the division participated in the Orel Strategic Counter-offensive Operation and in late August was transferred to the Bryansk Front. Reassigned to the 53rd Rifle Corps, 48th Army, 1st Belorussian Front in February 1944. The division stayed with this Corps and Army until the end of the war. In June 1944 the division took part in Operation Bagration and the liberation of Bobruisk, Belorussia. From February to April 1945 the division participated in the East Prussian Offensive ending the war there as part of the occupation forces assigned to the Northern Group of Forces. [2]

After a brief period on occupation duty the division was returned to the Soviet Union in the Volga Military District at Yoshkar-Ola where it was reorganized as the 1st Rifle Brigade as part of the 53rd Rifle Corps. It was disbanded in March 1947. [4]

Composition

Commanders

See also

Related Research Articles

The 1st Red Banner Army was a Red Army field army of World War II that served in the Soviet Far East.

The 4th Army was a Soviet field army of World War II that served on the Eastern front of World War II and in the Caucasus during the Cold War. It was disbanded after the fall of the Soviet Union, with its divisions being withdrawn to Russia and disbanded.

The 52nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, the interwar period, World War II, and the Cold War, formed once during the Russian Civil War and three times during the existence of the Soviet Union.

The 21st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and then the Soviet Union's Red Army, active between 1918 and 1945.

The 87th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, active before, during the Second World War and afterwards.

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 31st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the interwar period and World War II.

The 24th Cavalry Division was a cavalry division of the Red Army during the interwar period and World War II. It was a prewar division assigned to the Transcaucasus Military District on 22 June 1941. The division was assigned there after participating in the Winter War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortified district</span> WWII Soviet defensive construction

A fortified district or fortified region in the military terminology of the Soviet Union, is a territory within which a complex system of defense fortifications was engineered.

The 29th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army.

The 33rd Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army and Soviet Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 at Samara and moved to Belarus in the next year. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 and in the Occupation of Lithuania in June 1940. After Operation Barbarossa, the division fought in the Baltic Operation and Leningrad Strategic Defensive. In January 1942, it fought in the Toropets–Kholm Offensive. The division participated in the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive, the Pskov-Ostrov Offensive, the Tartu Offensive and the Riga Offensive. In 1945, the division fought in the East Pomeranian Offensive and the Battle of Berlin. The division remained in Germany postwar with the Soviet occupation forces and disbanded in 1947. In 1955, it was reformed from the 215th Rifle Division in the Far East and inherited that division's honorifics, but was disbanded in 1956.

The 34th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during and before World War II. The division was formed in 1923. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. Postwar, it became the 11th Machine Gun Artillery Division.

The 35th Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army that fought in the Russian Civil War and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

The 36th Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army and then the Soviet Army. The division was formed in 1919 as the 36th Rifle Division and fought in the Russian Civil War and the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929. In 1937 it became the 36th Motorized Division. The division fought in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. It was converted into a motor rifle division in 1940 and fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in World War II. Postwar, it became a rifle division again before its disbandment in 1956. The division spent almost its entire service in the Soviet Far East.

The 62nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed four times and active during World War II and the postwar period. The division was formed in 1936 and fought in the Winter War and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. It was destroyed during the Battle of Kiev in summer 1941. The division was reformed in November 1941. It fought in the defense against the German offensive Case Blue during the summer of 1942. After suffering heavy losses, it was withdrawn from combat but was sent back to fight in the Battle of Stalingrad in November. The division suffered heavy losses and was disbanded on 2 November. The division was reformed a third time from a rifle brigade in April 1943. It fought in Operation Suvorov, Operation Bagration, the East Prussian Offensive and the Prague Offensive. It was disbanded in the summer of 1945. The 62nd was reformed a fourth time by renaming the 360th Rifle Division, but became the 108th Motor Rifle Division in 1957.

The 295th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and later the Soviet Army, formed twice.

The 15th Rifle Corps was a rifle corps of the Red Army, formed five times; each formation was a distinct unit unrelated to the others. It was part of the 5th Army. It took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.

The 82nd Rifle Corps was a rifle corps of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">68th Mountain Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 68th Mountain Rifle Division was a mountain infantry division of the Red Army before and during World War II.

The 64th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army which existed between 1942 and 1945.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Conner, Albert (1985). Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War. Novato, CA: Presidio Press. ISBN   0-89141-237-9.
  2. 1 2 3 Crofoot, Craig. Armies of the Bear, Vol 1. Part 1.
  3. Dvoinykh, Kariaeva & Stegantsev 1993, pp. 80–81.
  4. Feskov et al 2013, p. 148

Bibliography