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181st Rifle Division (181-я стрелковая дивизия) | |
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Active | August 1940-16 October 1941 (Disbanded, reorganized into 183rd Infantry Division) |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Red Army |
Type | Infantry |
Commanders | |
First commander | Major-General Jānis Liepiņš (1940-1941) |
Second commander | Colonel Peter Vasiliyevich Borisov (03.06.1941 — 17.07.1941) |
Third commander | Colonel Aleksey Stepanovich Frolov (18.07.1941 — 29.09.1941) |
The 181th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army during World War II that was active from 1940-1945.
It was formed in August–September 1940, after the forced annexation of Latvia to the USSR, based on the Kurzeme and Vidzeme Divisions of the Latvian Army. The division wore the old uniforms of the Latvian Army with Soviet insignia and were also equipped with weaponry of the former army, which made them stand out from other units of the Red Army. It became part of the 24th Rifle Corps. It was stationed in Riga.
It was part of the 'operational army' during World War II from 22 June 1941 to 16 October 1941.
On June 22, 1941, it was stationed at summer camps in the Gulbene area in an abbreviated format. Here until July 29, the division was expanded to full wartime strength.[ citation needed ]
From the beginning of the war desertion of Latvians began, and from June 29, 1941, according to some sources, they began their demobilization. More precisely, Latvians were simply released from house to house, previously disarmed - all more than 2,000 people (mostly from old time required). The division was completed with personnel of the interior regions of the USSR.[ citation needed ] The main body (about 30% of the total force) came from the central and southern areas of the current Pskov Oblast. However, the core personnel were Latvian. The combat training level of the Latvian Riflemen was quite high - many of them received awards and honors from the commanders in the war, including for their period of stay in the 181st Division.
The division was wiped out at Staraya Russa in September 1941.
The division was formally disbanded after defeats during Operation Barbarossa on 16 October 1941.
It was briefly recreated at Stalingrad, wiped out at Kalach in August 1942. [1]
Created again at Chelyabinsk from the 10th Rifle Division NKVD in February 1943, fought at Demyansk, Korosten, and in Poland and Germany. Later the division was assigned to the 6th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front in May 1945.
Organization of the division in 1941: [2]
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The 59th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army and briefly of the Soviet Army.
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.
The 396th Rifle Division was created in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army and was activated twice during the Great Patriotic War. The division followed a very similar combat path to that of the 398th Rifle Division in its 1st formation. It was first formed in August in the Transcaucasus Military District. In January 1942 it was moved to the Crimea where it joined first the 47th and then the 44th Armies in Crimean Front. On 8 May it came under attack by the German 11th Army as part of Operation Trappenjagd and by the end of the month it was destroyed in the Kerch peninsula, being officially disbanded on 14 June. In the buildup to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria a new 396th was formed in the Far Eastern Front in early 1945. The new division was one of only three formed in 1945 and served with the 2nd Red Banner Army, crossing the Amur River on 11 August and helping to reduce a Japanese fortified zone while also marching towards central Manchuria. Its rifle regiments were all decorated for their achievements and the division was disbanded before the end of the year.
The 398th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served briefly during the Second World War in that role. The division followed a very similar combat path to that of the 396th Rifle Division in that unit's 1st formation. It was first formed in August in the Transcaucasus Military District. In January, 1942 it was moved to the Crimea where it joined the 44th Army in Crimean Front. On May 8, now in the 51st Army, it came under attack by the German 11th Army as part of Operation Trappenjagd and within days it was destroyed in the Kerch peninsula, being officially disbanded on May 19 after one of the briefest careers of any Soviet division. The 398th was never reformed.
The 400th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and fought the German invasion - Operation Barbarossa - in 1941–42. The division followed a very similar combat path to that of the 398th Rifle Division through its existence. It was first formed in August in the Transcaucasus Military District. In January, 1942 it was moved to the Crimea where it joined the 47th Army in Crimean Front. On May 8, now in the 51st Army, it came under attack by the German 11th Army as part of Operation Trappenjagd and within weeks it was destroyed in the Kerch peninsula, being officially disbanded on June 14 after one of the briefest careers of any Soviet division. The 400th was never reformed.
The 406th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served throughout the Second World War in that role, but saw relatively little combat. It was raised as a Georgian National division in the Transcaucasus Military District, where it remained until the forces of German Army Group A began its drive on the oil fields there as part of Operation Blue. In August 1942 it joined the Northern Group in the Transcaucasus Front, in the 46th Army, defending the high passes through the High Caucasus Mountains west of Mount Elbrus. Once the German threat receded, the 406th returned to guard duties along the borders with Turkey and Iran for the duration of the war.
The 1941 formation of the 186th Rifle Division was based on the 1st Polar (Polyarnaya) Militia Division that had been formed in the Murmansk area early in September 1941. 1st Polar distinguished itself as part of 14th Army during the last stage of the offensive by Mountain Corps Norway toward Murmansk. As this came to an end the division was reformed as a regular Red Army rifle division and was designated as the 186th despite the existence of another division of the same number at that time. It continued to serve in Karelian Front through 1942 and into mid-1943, seeing little combat on this mostly static front apart from a partly successful offensive near Kestenga as part of 26th Army in April/May 1942. It remained in this Army until it was redesignated as the 2nd formation of the 205th Rifle Division in late June 1943.