189th Rifle Division (March 14, 1941 - September 19, 1941) 189th Rifle Division (September 23, 1941 - 1946) | |
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Active | 1941–1946 |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Red Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Division |
Engagements | Operation Barbarossa Battle of Uman Leningrad strategic defensive Siege of Leningrad Operation Iskra Leningrad–Novgorod offensive Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive Kingisepp–Gdov offensive Battle of Narva (1944) Baltic offensive Tartu offensive Riga offensive (1944) |
Decorations | Order of the Red Banner (2nd formation) |
Battle honours | Kingisepp (2nd formation) |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Kombrig Aleksandr Semyonovich Chichkanov Col. Konstantin Akimovich Antonov Col. Aleksandr Dmitrievich Kornilov Col. Pavel Karpovich Loskutov Maj. Gen. Pavel Andreevich Potapov Col. Nikolai Vasilevich Simonov |
The 189th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as part of the prewar buildup of forces, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of September 13, 1939. It began forming just months before the German invasion in the Kiev Special Military District, where it was soon assigned to the 55th Rifle Corps in the reserves of Southwestern Front. It soon left this Corps, first coming under direct command of Southern Front, and then joining 17th Rifle Corps in 18th Army. As the retreat continued through western Ukraine in July the 189th was again reassigned, now to the ill-fated 6th Army. In early August it was encircled near Uman and destroyed.
A second 189th was created on September 23, with the redesignation of the 6th Leningrad Militia Division in 42nd Army. It would mostly remain in this Army into early 1944, defending the southern suburbs of Leningrad on a heavily fortified and largely static front. Beginning of January 15 it took part in the breakthrough of the thick defenses, and as Leningrad Front's forces advanced westward it was transferred to 2nd Shock Army, being awarded a battle honor at the start of February while under this command. After reaching Narva it forced a river crossing, but operations on this sector soon bogged down and the 189th remained on the defensive until early August. At this point it joined in the offensive into Estonia, winning the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the fighting for Tartu, and then being moved to 67th Army for the duration of the war. After the fall of Riga it was largely engaged in coastal watch on the east shore of the Gulf of Riga for the duration of the war. It was disbanded in early 1946.
The division began forming on March 14, 1941, in the Kiev Special Military District. As of June 22 it had the following order of battle:
Kombrig Aleksandr Semyonovich Chichkanov took command of the division on the day it began forming. This officer had recently served as an adviser to the Mongolian People's Republic and as an instructor at the Frunze Military Academy, but for an unknown reason his rank had not been modernized. Although still far from complete on June 22, it concentrated at Shpykiv the next day. [2] 55th Rifle Corps was in the reserves of Southwestern Front (as the Kiev District had been redesignated) and also contained the 130th and 169th Rifle Divisions. [3] In a STAVKA directive dated June 24 the Corps was transferred to Southern Front, and by the start of July it was under command of 18th Army, although the 189th had been detached to Front reserves. As of July 10 it was part of 17th Rifle Corps, also in 18th Army. [4]
By this time, 17th Corps was falling back in front of Hungarian 8th Army Corps in the vicinity of Kamianets-Podilskyi, attempting to form a defense along the Dniestr River. As of around July 14 the Corps was located some 40km northwest of Mohyliv-Podilskyi. While the retreat continued the 189th was detached from the Corps and directed northeast in the general direction of Lypovets. [5] In the process it was again transferred, now to 6th Army, in Southwestern Front, although as the situation deteriorated it would be moved to Southern Front. [6] Operating under direct Army command it was assigned a sector southeast of Pohrebyshche, facing the German 68th Infantry Division by July 23. [7]
The German encirclement operation, which would eventually trap both the 6th and 12th Armies, was now underway. The 189th, which was very deep in the pocket, had no realistic chance of escape, and by about August 11 it had been destroyed, although it was not officially removed from the Red Army order of battle until September 19. [8]
The further career of Kombrig Chichkanov was unusual. He evaded capture, and lived behind enemy lines until March 1943. At this time he was arrested by the Soviet authorities, and would remain in prison until August 21, 1952. On this date he was finally officially condemned to a further sentence of 10 years. However, on July 23, 1953, following Stalin's death, he was released, and within weeks he had been rehabilitated and reinstated in the Soviet Army with the rank of colonel. He retired on September 29, 1959.
This division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye formed in the period from September 4-16, 1941, [9] [10] based on the Worker's Battalion militia of the Oktyabirskaya and Leningradskoi Districts of Leningrad. It was under the command of Col. Konstantin Akimovich Antonov. Its rudimentary order of battle was as follows:
On September 14 the division had 8,189 men assigned, including 654 Communist Party members and 286 Komsomols. Since Army Group North was pushing toward the last-ditch positions of 42nd Army behind Pulkovo, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov, the commander of Leningrad's defense, ordered Antonov to occupy that defensive line by 0900 hours on September 17, threatening that if his division was not there on time he would stand the officers responsible "against the wall of the Smolny and shoot them there as traitors." Antonov and his men got there on time, and on September 23 the 6th Militia was redesignated as the 189th Rifle Division. [11]
Once it was redesignated the new 189th had much the same order of battle as the previous formation:
Colonel Antonov remained in command. The 189th would largely remain in the lines in the Pulkovo area into January 1944, [13] forming a linchpin of the Soviet defenses on the city's southern outskirts. As of October 1, the 42nd Army, under command of Maj. Gen. I. I. Fedyuninskii, was defending a 17km-wide sector from Ligovo to Pulkovo with five rifle divisions and two brigades, supported by the Baltic Fleet. [14] By November 1, the division had taken up a position from the church in Pulkovo to the intersection of the Vitebskaya and Kolpinskaya railroads. It was under command of Komdiv Vasilii Grigorevich Klementov from October 18 to November 28, 1941, when he was replaced by Col. Aleksandr Dmitrievich Kornilov. This officer would remain in command until July 6, 1943.
By late November 1942, the pending defeat of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad led the STAVKA to exploit the victory by breaking the siege of Leningrad. Operation Iskra (Spark) was in planning from late November with the objective of forcing a corridor across the Shlisselburg – Sinyavino bottleneck east of the city by linking up the 67th Army from the west with the 2nd Shock Army from the east. [15] The 189th was accordingly reassigned to the 67th in January 1943. [16] The offensive began early on January 12, with a massive two-and-a-half hour artillery preparation against positions held by elements of German 18th Army. The Soviet armies eventually linked up south of Lake Ladoga on January 18, restoring land communications to Leningrad. [17] It is unclear if the 189th played any combat role in the fighting. It remained in 67th Army into March, and was then moved to 55th Army, before returning to its previous role and positions in 42nd Army in April. [18]
Col. Pavel Karpovich Loskutov took over command of the division on July 7. It remained in 42nd Army into January 1944, at which time it joined the 109th Rifle Corps, under command of Maj. Gen. I. P. Alferov. Prior to the start of the winter offensive the division had organized its own ski battalion. [19]
The offensive which finally drove Army Group away from Leningrad began with a powerful artillery preparation at 0935 hours on January 14. The heaviest fire from 42nd Army came from Pulkovo, but this was mainly intended to tie down the defenders. The next morning an even heavier bombardment, totalling of more than 220,000 shells, also began at 0935. The infantry assault stepped off at 1100 against three divisions of the German L Army Corps. On this second day the 30th Guards Rifle Corps in the center penetrated to a depth of 4km on a 5km front, but the 109th and 110th Rifle Corps on its flanks were less successful, gaining only about 1.5km, gnawing their way through heavy defenses in costly successive assaults. [20] Colonel Loskutov was wounded, and he was replaced the next day by Col. Pavel Andreevich Potapov. This officer had previously led the 267th, 191st, and 128th Rifle Divisions and would be promoted to the rank of major general on June 3.
During January 16 the 42nd Army painfully advanced another 3-4km, mainly on the sector of the 30th Guards Corps. By the end of the next day the German forces were being threatened with encirclement as only about 18km separated 42nd Army from 2nd Shock Army attacking from the Oranienbaum Bridgehead west of Leningrad. [21] In the evening of January 19 the two Armies linked up at Russko-Vysotskoye after capturing Krasnoye Selo and Ropsha respectively. The next day the 189th was engaged in fighting right back at the foot of Pulkovo Heights near Ligovo Station. [22] Within days 109th Corps was transferred to 2nd Shock Army. [23]
By January 23 the westward offensive toward Kingisepp was developing across a broad front. The commander of Army Group North was desperately asking for permission to withdraw at least to the Luga Defense Line, but this was denied. During January 25-26 the 109th Corps, in cooperation with 43rd Rifle Corps, advanced up to 16km. After reaching the Kingisepp– Krasnogvardeysk railroad on January 27, 2nd Shock wheeled to the west and began pursuing XXVI Army Corps toward Kingisepp. [24] When the town was liberated the 189th was rewarded by receiving its name as an honorific:
KINGISEPP... 189th Rifle Division (Colonel Potapov, Pavel Andreevich)... The troops that participated in the liberation of Kingisepp, by the order of the Supreme High Command on 1 February 1944, and by a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns. [25]
The offensive continued to develop in the direction of the city of Narva. On February 10 the 189th came under command of 30th Guards Corps. It forced a crossing of the Narva River in the region of Krivaya Luka and then took up a firm defense on the left flank of 2nd Shock. Within days it occupied temporary defenses in the Sirgala and Putki sectors. On February 18 it was shifted to the 122nd Rifle Corps of 59th Army. During its operations along the Kingisepp–Narva axis the division was credited with killing 1,200 enemy troops and wounding 2,700, while also taking 230 prisoners. At the same time it captured 96 guns and mortars, 104 machine guns, and 265 vehicles. [26]
All this was accomplished at considerable cost. By late winter the division's front-line strength was down to about 50 percent of authorization. As an example, in March the 864th Rifle Regiment had only 1,203 personnel total, in three rifle battalions of three 60-man companies, one heavy machine gun company, one mortar company, and one platoon of antitank rifles. The regiment itself still had its support elements, with batteries of 45mm antitank and 76mm regimental guns, 120mm mortars, a company each of submachine gunners and antitank riflemen, plus reconnaissance and sapper platoons. [27] To replace its losses, in the period from January 21 and June 14 the 189th received 10,589 enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers as replacements. Until the latter date it remained on the defensive, [28] In March it moved with 122nd Corps to 8th Army, where it remained into July, when it returned to 2nd Shock. [29]
By August 5 the 189th had been shifted to the Pskov area, prior to a new offensive to defeat the German forces occupying the Panther Line. Following the breakthrough the division entered Estonia, advancing on Tartu, when it came under counterattack from German panzer forces on August 24 west of Lake Peipus. At 0830 hours a panzer regiment attacked and penetrated the division's defenses in an effort to encircle the western part of 122nd Corps and reach the rear area of 116th Rifle Corps and then exploit to the southeast in the direction of Lake Pakedi-Iarb. In the course of an eight-hour battle the division inflicted significant losses on the German force, held its positions, and the next morning captured the town of Elva. The divisional staff played a leading role in the repulse of this counterattack. Command and control remained effective despite extraordinarily difficult conditions. The staff formed special mobile groups and detachments to combat the penetrating tanks and infantry, which often led to hand-to-hand combat. In the course of one such fight against panzers on August 24, General Potapov was killed in action. During the failed counterattack the division accounted for 20 tanks and armored personnel carriers and up to 200 German soldiers killed. [30] Potapov would be temporarily buried at Tartu before being moved to the Preobrazhensky Cemetery in Moscow. He was replaced by Maj. Gen. Dmitrii Akimovich Lukyanov from August 25-29, who was in turn replaced by Maj. Gen. Nester Dmitrievich Kozin. Tartu was taken on August 25, and for its role the 189th would be awarded the Order of the Red Banner on September 7. [31] Before the end of August the division, along with 122nd Corps, would be transferred to 67th Army, now in 3rd Baltic Front. [32] The 189th would remain in this Army into the postwar. [33]
By the second week of September the division was located near Antsla in southern Estonia, [34] On September 24, General Kozin left the division, being replaced by Col. Nikolai Vasilevich Simonov; this officer would remain in command for the duration. At about the same time the division was transferred to the 112th Rifle Corps. [35] By the first week of October the Army had reached the Gulf of Riga in the vicinity of Salacgrīva, Latvia, [36] before moving south toward the Latvian capital. After Riga fell on October 13, the 3rd Baltic was disbanded and 67th Army returned to Leningrad Front, while the 189th was moved to 111th Rifle Corps, joining the 196th Rifle Division. [37] It remained in this Corps for the duration of the war, doing coastal watch along the east coast of the Gulf in the unlikely event of the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket making some sort of landing attempt.
When the shooting stopped, the men and women of the 189th shared the full title of 189th Rifle, Kingisepp, Order of the Red Banner Division. (Russian: 189-я стрелковая Кингисеппская Краснознамённая дивизия.) In the summer of 1945 it was transported to the Voronezh Oblast. The next year it was transferred, along with the 196th Division, to the Kiev Military District, where it was disbanded. [38]
The 42nd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, created in 1941.
This is the order of battle for the Leningrad Strategic Defensive covering the period 10 July to 30 September 1941.
The 48th Army was a field army of the Soviet Red Army, active from 1941 to 1945. The army was first formed in August 1941 and fought in the Leningrad Strategic Defensive Operation. The army suffered heavy losses and was disbanded in early September. Its remnants were moved to the 54th Army. Reformed in April 1942 on the Bryansk Front, the army fought in the Maloarkhangelsk Offensive in the winter of 1943. It was sent to the Central Front in March and defended the northern face of the Kursk Bulge. During the summer, it fought in Operation Kutuzov and the Chernigov-Pripyat Offensive. From November, the army fought in the Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive. The army fought in Operation Bagration from June 1944. During the offensive, the army captured Zhlobin and Bobruisk and was on the Narew by early September. During early 1945, the army fought in the East Prussian Offensive and ended the war in East Prussia during May. The army was transferred to Poland in July 1945 and its headquarters was used to form the Kazan Military District in September.
The 109th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry division that was formed three times, briefly in 1939, during 1942, and again from 1942 to 1946. The first formation of the division was converted to a mechanized division after about nine months. Its second formation served for six months in 1942 in the defense of the fortress of Sevastopol, in the southern sector of the siege lines. After being destroyed there in July, a third division was formed by re-designating an existing rifle division near Leningrad in August, and it successfully held its positions for nearly a year and a half, in spite of shortages of food and supplies due to the German/Finnish siege. The 109th then participated in the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive that drove the Germans and Finns away from the city and lifted the siege in early 1944, helped drive Finland out of the war in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, and then joined the offensive along the Baltic coast towards Germany. This third formation compiled an admirable record of service, but was disbanded in 1946.
The 249th Rifle Division was the fifth of a group of 10 regular rifle divisions formed from cadres of NKVD border and internal troops as standard Red Army rifle divisions, very shortly after the German invasion, in the Moscow Military District. It was largely based on what would become the shtat of July 29, 1941, with several variations. It was initially assigned to 31st Army, which joined Reserve Front in July. By December it had been moved north to join 4th Shock Army in Northwestern Front. When that Front joined the winter counteroffensive in January 1942 the 249th played a leading role in the encirclement and destruction of a German infantry regiment that had just arrived by rail from France. It went on to help retake the German-held towns of Andreapol and Toropets, capturing significant supplies and deeply outflanking the German 9th Army. Later in the month it was transferred with 4th Shock to Kalinin Front and in early February made an abortive advance on Vitebsk. Despite this failure, on February 16 it was redesignated as the 16th Guards Rifle Division.
The Red Army's 54th Army was a Soviet field army during the Second World War. It was first formed in the Leningrad Military District in August, 1941, and continued in service in the northern sector of the Soviet-German front until the end of 1944. It spent much of the war attempting to break the German siege of Leningrad, in which it helped to achieve partial success in January, 1943, and complete success one year later. During these operations the soldiers of the 54th served under five different commanders, most notably Col. Gen. Ivan Fedyuninsky in the winter of 1941–42. After helping to drive Army Group North away from Leningrad and into the Baltic states in the first nine months of 1944, the army was deemed surplus to requirements on the narrowing front, and was officially disbanded on the last day of the year.
The 64th Guards Rifle Division was created on January 19, 1943, from the 327th Rifle Division, in recognition of that division's distinguished combat record in the Second Siniavino Offensive and Operation Iskra. It was one of a relatively small number of formations raised to Guards status in the northern sector of the Soviet-German Front. As such, it was employed as an assault division in the subsequent fighting, particularly in the final defeat of the German forces before Leningrad, and the final offensive against Finland. The division ended the war in Lithuania, helping to contain the enemy forces trapped in the Courland Pocket, and went on to serve well into the postwar era, still in the Leningrad/St. Petersburg area.
The 314th Rifle Division was a standard Red Army rifle division formed on July 15, 1941 at Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, before being sent to the vicinity of Leningrad, in the 7th Separate Army east of Lake Ladoga, facing the Finnish Army in East Karelia for more than a year. In consequence the division saw relatively uneventful service on this mostly quiet front until the autumn of 1942, when it was moved south to face German Army Group North, and took a leading role in Operation Iskra, which finally drove a land corridor through to besieged Leningrad in January 1943; a year later it also served prominently in the offensive that broke the enemy siege for good. During the summer the division played a role in the offensive that drove Finland out of the war. Following this, the 314th spent a few months fighting in the Baltic States, before being reassigned southwards to 1st Ukrainian Front to take the fight into Poland and then into the German heartland in the winter and spring of 1945. It ended the war in Czechoslovakia with a distinguished record of service.
The 374th 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 joined the fighting front in December with the new 59th Army along the Volkhov River and it continued to serve in the fighting near Leningrad until early 1944. The dismal fighting on this front gave little opportunity for a unit to distinguish itself, and the division did not finally earn a battle honor until late January 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive. It continued to serve in the summer and autumn offensive through the Baltic States, becoming so reduced in strength that its remaining infantry was consolidated into a single understrength regiment which nevertheless won a battle honor in the liberation of Riga. The 374th ended the war in Latvia, helping to contain and reduce the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket, and was disbanded shortly thereafter.
The 111th Rifle Corps was an infantry corps of the Red Army during World War II.
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 382nd 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 on August 10 in the Siberian Military District. It joined the fighting front in December with the new 59th Army along the Volkhov River. Apart from a few weeks in 1944 the division served in either the Volkhov Front or the Leningrad Front for the entire war. It suffered horrendous casualties after being encircled in the swamps and forests near Lyuban and was severely understrength for many months afterwards while serving on a relatively quiet front. It remained in the line in the dismal fighting near Leningrad until early 1944 with little opportunity to distinguish itself, and the division did not finally earn a battle honor until late January, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive. Following this the division was moved to the Karelian Isthmus and entered the summer offensive against Finland in the reserves of Leningrad Front before being assigned to the 23rd Army. Following the Finnish surrender it was redeployed westward, helping to mop up pockets of enemy forces in the Baltic states in early 1945. The 382nd ended the war in Latvia, helping to contain and reduce the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket, and was officially disbanded in February, 1946.
The 118th Rifle Division was thrice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. The first formation was based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. It was based at Kostroma through its early existence. After the German invasion in June 1941 it was rushed to the front as part of the 41st Rifle Corps and arrived at the Pskov Fortified Area between July 2–4. Under pressure from the 4th Panzer Group the division commander, Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailovich Glovatsky, requested permission on July 8 to retreat east across the Velikaya River. There is some question if he received written orders and in any case the retreat fell into chaos due to a prematurely-blown bridge. Glovatskii was arrested on July 19, sentenced to death a week later and shot on August 3. The battered division had by then moved north to Gdov and came under command of 8th Army but could not be rebuilt due to a lack of replacements and on September 27 it was disbanded.
The 224th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as one of the first reserve rifle divisions following the German invasion of the USSR. A large part of this first formation took part in amphibious landings near Kerch in late December 1941 but it was encircled and destroyed during the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula in May 1942.
The 239th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was reorganized in the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was based on the shtat of July 29, 1941, and remained forming up and training in Far Eastern Front until early November when the strategic situation west of Moscow required it to be moved by rail to Tula Oblast where it became encircled in the last throes of the German offensive and suffered losses in the following breakout. When Western Front went over to the counteroffensive in the first days of December the division was in the second echelon of 10th Army and took part in the drive to the west against the weakened 2nd Panzer Army. As the offensive continued it took part in the fighting for Belyov and Sukhinichi before being subordinated to the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps in January 1942 to provide infantry support. It then became involved in the complicated and costly battles around the Rzhev salient as part of 50th, 10th and 31st Armies until December. It was then moved north to Volkhov Front, and took part in several operations to break the siege of Leningrad, mostly as part of 2nd Shock and 8th Armies. As part of 59th Army it helped to drive Army Group North away from the city and was rewarded with the Order of the Red Banner in January 1944. During the following months it continued to advance through northwestern Russia but was halted by the defenses of the Panther Line in April. The division took part in the advance through the Baltic states in the summer of 1944 but in February 1945 it was transferred to 1st Ukrainian Front, rejoining 59th Army as part of 93rd Rifle Corps and fought in upper Silesia. In the last weeks of the war the 239th was advancing on Prague, but despite its distinguished record it was selected as one of the many divisions to be disbanded during the summer of 1945.
Dmitry Akimovich Lukyanov was a Soviet Army major general who held division command during World War II.
The 198th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was reorganized in the first months of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was based on the shtat of July 29, 1941, with several modifications. It entered combat as a rifle division during the Tikhvin Offensive in December 1941 as a reinforcement for 54th Army, helping to drive elements of Army Group North back to the Volkhov River from their earlier gains. It would remain near that river line into early 1944. During 1942 it took part in several abortive offensives in an effort to relieve the siege of Leningrad, suffering heavy losses in one of them. In 1943 it was mainly used for line-holding duties at a reduced establishment, in an area where German forces were strictly on the defensive. The 198th was brought back up to something approaching the current establishment by the start of 1944 and, during the offensive that finally drove Army Group North away from Leningrad, it helped to maintain the offensive's momentum following the initial breakthrough as part of 119th Rifle Corps. It was finally reassigned to 3rd Baltic Front's 67th Army in April after it was halted at the Panther Line near Pskov. In August it briefly returned to 54th Army during the advance through the Baltic States, and after the capture of Riga it remained in western Latvia for the duration of the war, serving under several commands, mostly the 42nd and 10th Guards Armies. It was one of the very few divisions that served throughout the war without receiving any battle honors or decorations. Despite this, the 198th continued its service, now in western Siberia, for another 10 years, before being redesignated as the 23rd Rifle Division.
The 196th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as part of the prewar buildup of forces, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. It began forming just months before the German invasion in the Odessa Military District. When the German invasion began it was in the 7th Rifle Corps, in the District reserves. The Corps was soon moved to the reserves of Southwestern Front, and by mid-July the division had joined 26th Army as a separate division. It took part in battles on both sides of the Dniepr River during August until it was finally encircled and destroyed in September, although it remained on the books of the Red Army until December.
The 191st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as part of the prewar buildup of forces, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. It began forming just months before the German invasion at Leningrad. At the outbreak of the war it was still not complete and was briefly held in reserve before being sent south to take up positions as part of the Luga Operational Group. After defending along the Kingisepp axis it was forced to withdraw in late August as part of 8th Army, and helped to establish the Oranienbaum Bridgehead. In October it was ferried into Leningrad itself, but was soon airlifted to 4th Army, which was defending against a German drive on Tikhvin. Although the town fell in November, within a week a counterstroke was begun against the vastly overextended German force, which was forced to evacuate on December 8. As it pursued to the Volkhov River the 191st was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, one of the first divisions so honored during the war. During the Lyuban Offensive it penetrated deep into the German lines as part of 2nd Shock Army, but was cut off, and only fragments of the division emerged from the encirclement in early June, 1942. In September it was committed from reserve in an effort to sustain the Second Sinyavino Offensive, but this failed and the division was again encircled and forced to break out at considerable cost. During Operation Iskra in January, 1943 the 191st played a secondary role in reestablishing land communications with Leningrad, partially raising the siege. The division was relatively inactive as part of 59th Army along the Volkhov during the remainder of the year, but in January, 1944 it took part in the offensive that finally drove Army Group North away from Leningrad and received a battle honor for its role in the liberation of Novgorod. As the offensive continued the division advanced as far as Narva, where it was held up for several months. In late July, it staged an assault crossing of the river and helped take the city, for which one of its regiments also gained a battle honor. Following this victory the 191st advanced into Estonia, gradually moving toward the Latvian capital of Riga. Once this city was taken the division was moved south, and by the start of the Vistula–Oder offensive in January, 1945 it was part of 50th Army in 2nd Belorussian Front, but it was soon reassigned to 49th Army, where it remained for the duration. During the East Pomeranian operation it advanced on Gdańsk, and two of its regiments would later receive decorations for their roles in the campaign. During the final campaign into central Germany the 191st crossed the Oder River before pushing northwest into Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; several of its subunits would receive decorations as a result of this fighting in the final days. The division had a fine record of service that encompassed most of the struggle for Leningrad, but it would be disbanded in July.
The 177th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army south of Leningrad in March 1941, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. As Army Group North advanced on Leningrad the division, still incomplete, was rushed south to the Luga area. In mid-July it helped provide the initial resistance to the LVI Motorized Corps which set up the counterstroke at Soltsy, the first significant check of the German drive on Leningrad. In August the German offensive was intensified and the defenders of Luga were encircled and forced to escape northward, losing heavily in the process. A remnant of the 177th reached Leningrad, where it received enough replacements to again be marginally combat-effective. In October to was moved to the Neva River line as part of the Eastern Sector Operational Group. After briefly coming under command of 55th Army it was moved across Lake Ladoga to join 54th Army. It remained in this Army, as part of Volkhov Front, almost continuously until early 1944, serving west of the Volkhov River. It took part in the winter offensive that finally drove Army Group North away from Leningrad and earned a battle honor for the liberation of Lyuban, where part of it had been raised in 1941. Following this victory it was reassigned to 2nd Shock Army in Leningrad Front, and took part in the unsuccessful efforts to retake the city of Narva, before being removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in April for further rebuilding and replenishment. It returned to the fighting front at the beginning of May in 21st Army facing Finland. At the outset of the final offensive against Finland it was in 23rd Army in the Karelian Isthmus. During this operation it advanced through the central part of the isthmus against determined Finnish resistance. The division remained facing Finland until early 1945, when it was moved to Latvia and spent the remainder of the war containing the German forces trapped in Courland, eventually assisting in clearing the region after the German surrender in May. It was moved to the Gorkii Military District in August, and was disbanded there in April 1946.
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