231st Rifle Division

Last updated
231st Rifle Division (February 1942 - November 2, 1942)
231st Rifle Division (July 1, 1943 - September 1945)
Active1942–1945
CountryFlag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army flag.svg Red Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
Engagements Battle of Stalingrad
Kotluban Offensives
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Battle of Mutanchiang
Decorations Order of Red Banner.svg   Order of the Red Banner (2nd Formation)
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Col. Fyodor Maksimovich Rukhlenko
Col. Gavriil Efremovich Odaryuk
Maj. Gen. Yakov Efimovich Timoshenko

The 231st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed out-of-sequence in the Ural Military District in February 1942. It continued training and forming until late May when it was assigned to 8th Reserve Army and began moving toward the Stalingrad area. By the end of August it had reached the fighting front as part of 66th Army in Stalingrad Front and was almost immediately committed to the first of the Kotluban offensives, attempting to cut off the XIV Panzer Corps that had penetrated to the Volga River north of Stalingrad about a week earlier. The division suffered heavy casualties from the outset of these efforts, attacking across flat and open terrain against well dug-in opposition. Devastated in these attacks the 231st was soon relegated to second-echelon duties until, with only about 600 infantry and sappers still on strength, it was officially disbanded on November 2.

Contents

A new 231st was formed from a reserve rifle regiment on July 1, 1943 in Primorsky Krai of the Soviet far east. It did not see combat during the next two years but remained in this area, mostly as part of the 87th Rifle Corps of 1st Red Banner Army, observing the border with Japanese-occupied Manchuria. It joined the offensive against Japan on August 9 as part of 59th Rifle Corps, still in 1st Army. The campaign was as much against the terrain as the Japanese forces, but after helping to lead the Corps and its supporting armor through trackless forests it broke into the clear and by the end of the campaign less than two weeks later it had reached Harbin. It was recognized for this accomplishment with the award of the Order of the Red Banner, but was disbanded shortly thereafter.

1st Formation

A division numbered as the 231st began forming in March 1941 in the Moscow Military District but in May it was disbanded to provide a cadre for the 8th Airborne Brigade of 4th Airborne Corps.

Another division numbered as the 231st began forming in February 1942 at Kungur in the Ural Military District. [1] Its first commander, Col. Fyodor Maksimovich Rukhlenko, was not officially appointed until April 16 and it remained in the District training and equipping its units until May. Once formed, its official order of battle, based on a version of the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of March 18, 1942, was as follows:

In late May it was assigned to the 8th Reserve Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command [3] and began moving southwestward in the direction of the Don and Volga Rivers.

Kotluban Offensives

At the start of July the 231st was still one of six rifle divisions in 8th Reserve. The German summer offensive was just beginning and the STAVKA was unclear if the planned objective was toward Moscow or the Caucasus. [4] On August 14 Colonel Rukhlenko left the division; he would later lead the 123rd Rifle Division and then serve as deputy commander of 30th Rifle Corps being promoted to the rank of major general on April 19, 1945. He was replaced the next day by Col. Gavriil Efremovich Odaryuk. This officer had been commandant of Belotserkovsk Infantry School and led the division for the duration of the 1st formation.

On August 21 the XIV Panzer Corps of German 6th Army struck eastward from a bridgehead over the Don River and by the 23rd had reached the Volga and the northern outskirts of Stalingrad in some strength. This seemingly vulnerable corridor, which passed near the village of Kotluban and its railway station, would attract Soviet counterattacks into November. At this time 8th Reserve was in the Kamyshin region roughly 150km north of Stalingrad and late the next day the STAVKA issued the following orders:

1. Form 66th Army, consisting of 231st, 120th, 99th, 49th, 299th, 316th, 207th, and 292nd RDs. 2. Transfer the command of 8th Reserve Army to form the command of 66th Army... 3. Appoint Lieutenant General S. A. Kalinin as the commander of 66th Army, relieving him of his duties as commander of the Volga Military District. Appoint Major General M. I. Kozlov as deputy commander of 66th Army.

The Army would also have three tank brigades, two Katyusha regiments, and a mixed aviation corps under command. The Army, subordinated to Stalingrad Front, was intended to prevent German forces from advancing northward from the Stalingrad region but the Front commander, Col. Gen. A. I. Yeryomenko, was aware that it would take several days to reach its designated assembly areas. [5] In the event the 231st did not join the fighting front until August 31.

By September 3 the Army had lost the 207th and 292nd Divisions but had gained a fourth tank brigade (10th, 69th, 148th and 246th Brigades). On this date the 231st was deployed southeast of Erzovka, facing the boundary between the 3rd Motorized and 16th Panzer Divisions. Late on September 4 the 66th and 24th Armies had still not completed their attack preparations but were ordered to attack regardless at 0900 hours the next day. The mission of 66th Army was to "cut off and destroy the enemy grouping which has penetrated to the Volga by an attack [southward] toward Orlovka." In the report on the first day's fighting the 231st was stated as having reached from the Motor Tractor Station (6km northeast of Orlovka) to Hill 111.2 (8km northeast of Orlovka) but this was one of the few minor successes the Army could record. Overall the offensive had already failed although fruitless efforts were made to revive it until September 13. [6]

A new offensive began on September 18 but this mainly involved the 24th and 1st Guards Armies farther to the west, with the 66th playing a supporting role. This supporting attack was made primarily by the 38th and 41st Guards and 116th Rifle Divisions on the Army's right (west) flank; the 231st was initially still deployed southeast of Erzovka. After failures to gain ground in the early days the boundaries between the armies were substantially altered and the division was moved to the right flank of 24th Army, coming under its command. [7] An effort to reinforce a success by 1st Guards Army on September 24 had little effect. While the offensive was still going on the STAVKA reordered command arrangements in the region, creating Don Front on September 28 and subordinating six armies to it, including the 24th and 66th. On October 2 the offensive was again suspended. [8]

Later in the month the 231st returned to 66th Army, [9] which now contained several heavily depleted divisions. At the start of the 4th Kotluban offensive on October 20 it was in the Army's second echelon, with roughly the equivalent of a battalion of infantry remaining. As a reflection of this weakness, at the end of the second day of the offensive it was reported as situated it its previous position. [10] At the end of the month the remaining personnel were transferred as replacements to the 116th Rifle Division and on November 2 the division was officially disbanded in Stalingrad Front. [11] Colonel Odaryuk was soon hospitalized but after his recovery in March 1943 he moved to a staff appointment and later to the training establishment, being promoted to the rank of major general in November of that year.

2nd Formation

A new 231st was formed on July 1, 1943, in the 1st Red Banner Army of Far Eastern Front, based on the 154th Reserve Rifle Regiment. [12] Its shtat was that of December 10, 1942 and its order of battle was very similar to that of the 1st formation:

Col. Yakov Efimovich Timoshenko was appointed to command on the day the division formed. This officer had previously led the 2nd and 252nd Rifle Brigades; he would be promoted to the rank of major general on February 22, 1944 and would lead the 2nd formation for its entire existence.

At the start of August the 231st was serving as a separate division in 1st Army but by the start of September it had been assigned the 87th Rifle Corps with the 300th Rifle Division. Later in the month the Corps came under direct command of the Front but in October it returned to 1st Army. [14] In December the Corps was moved to the Primorsk Group of Forces, coming under direct command of the Group, which was still part of Far Eastern Front. In May 1944 the division and its Corps rejoined 1st Army, which was also part of the Primorsk Group, but in June they returned to direct Group command. These arrangements prevailed into November although the 300th was replaced by the 390th Rifle Division in 87th Corps, joining the 231st and the 113th Rifle Brigade. [15]

During the early months of 1945 the division received the 466th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion of 12 SU-76s (plus one T-70 command tank) to supplement its mobile firepower in anticipation of operations in the difficult terrain of Manchuria. In December the Primorsk Group had been abolished and the 300th Division had returned to 87th Corps. As preparations continued, in April 1945 the Primorsk Group was re-established and 1st Army, with 87th Corps, left Far Eastern Front and came under its command. By the beginning of August the 231st and 300th Divisions had been split up, with the former going to 59th Rifle Corps and the latter to 26th Rifle Corps, still in 1st Army. [16]

Soviet Invasion of Manchuria

Manchurian Operation. Note initial position of 1st Army (I GE) on right. Manchuria Operation map-es.svg
Manchurian Operation. Note initial position of 1st Army (I GE) on right.

Just prior to the start of the Manchurian Operation on August 9 the Primorsk Group was redesignated as 1st Far Eastern Front. [17] 1st Army, commanded by Col. Gen. A. P. Beloborodov, deployed in the area of the Tigra River and Lake Khanka facing border units and elements of the 135th Infantry Division of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Beloborodov concentrated his 59th and 26th Corps in a 16km sector on the left half of the Army's zone. The mission of the shock group was to penetrate the 10-15km, heavily forested, hilly region immediately facing the Army's sector and continue the attack along two axes across relatively open country to secure Pamientung and Lishuchen on the Muling River. The Army would then continue the attack southwest toward Mudanjiang and northwest to Linkou. Eventually 1st Army would unite with 5th Army units at Mutanchiang and with 35th Army units at Mishan and Linkou. [18]

The 1st Red Banner Army's chief obstacle was the heavily wooded terrain, now wet from heavy rains. The advancing rifle divisions would have to build roads through the forest as they advanced, requiring heavy engineer support and a carefully organized march column formation. 59th Corps was led by the 231st and 39th Rifle Divisions, each followed by a tank brigade to take the lead once the heavy terrain had been penetrated. Despite the cancellation of an artillery preparation due to heavy rain the forward detachment of the 231st led the attack at 0100 hours. By nightfall the lead battalions were up to 6km deep into Manchuria, had crossed the Shitouho River, and half of the forested belt. During the night the division's main forces closed up to the advance and the tank brigades prepared to move ahead. By the next morning the road building continued and near noon all forces had broken through to open country. At 2100 hours Pamientung was partly occupied by lead elements of 26th Corps and a bridge over the Muling had been seized. [19]

On August 11 the campaign entered the pursuit phase with Japanese defensive positions being overrun before they could be manned. Lishuchen was also secured and on the 13th the 59th Corps captured Linkou as remnants of the 135th Infantry withdrew south toward Chihsing and Mudanjiang. The battle for the latter city raged for two days until it was cleared by 1st Army on the evening of August 16. From here the advance continued toward Harbin which was reached on August 20, linking up with air-landed forces and amphibious forces of 15th Army. On the same day most Japanese resistance ended. [20]

Postwar

On September 19 the 231st was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in recognition of its part in the crossing of the Ussuri River and the capture of Mishan, Jilin, Yanji and Harbin. [21] Before the end of the month it had been disbanded. [22]

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The 315th Rifle Division was a standard Red Army rifle division formed for the first time on February 12, 1942, in the Siberian Military District before being sent to the vicinity of Stalingrad, where it was engaged in the futile efforts to break through to the besieged city from the north near Kotluban. After rebuilding, it was part of the southern thrust of Operation Uranus in November, helping to encircle the German 6th Army and also to hold off its would-be rescuers. During 1943 and early 1944 the division advanced through the southern Donbas and into Ukraine, where it was honored for its role in the liberation of Melitopol, before taking part in the liberation of the Crimea in April and May 1944. The men and women of the 315th ended their war on an anticlimactic note, serving for the last year as part of the garrison of the Crimea. However, the unit, and its successors, continued to serve well into the postwar era.

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The 343rd Rifle Division was first formed in late August, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Stavropol, in the Caucasus region. Its first major operation was in the liberation of Rostov in December, 1941. Following this, it was nearly caught up in the debacle near Kharkov in May, 1942, but managed to evade the German spearheads during Operation Blue to join the forces defending the Stalingrad region during the summer and fall. Following the German surrender at Stalingrad, on May 4, 1943, it was re-designated as the 97th Guards Rifle Division. Over a year later, a new 343rd Rifle Division was formed, based on the personnel and equipment of a Fortified Region, just after the start of Operation Bagration, the destruction of German Army Group Center. This new division went on to distinguish itself by helping to liberate the Polish city of Białystok, and ended the war in East Prussia, near Königsberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">346th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)</span> Military unit

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">352nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)</span> Military unit

The 352nd Rifle Division started forming in August 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Bugulma in Tatarstan. When it entered the fighting it was assigned to the Western Front before Moscow, and it would remain in that Front for most of the war; when Western Front was dissolved the division went to one of its successor Fronts and served there until the last few weeks. It took part in the first Soviet winter counteroffensive, then played peripheral roles in the battles around the Rhzev salient, before advancing in the offensive that liberated Smolensk in the summer of 1943. After a series of frustrating attempts during the autumn and winter of 1943-44, the city of Orsha was finally liberated in the opening days of Operation Bagration, and the 352nd was recognized for its role in the battle. Soon after it was further decorated for its part in the liberation of Grodno. In the winter of 1945 the 352nd took part in the invasion of East Prussia and the capture of Königsberg, but in April it finally was swung off its very straightforward combat path when it and its 31st Army were transferred to 1st Ukrainian Front advancing into Czechoslovakia. Soon after the German surrender the division was slated as one of those to be disbanded in place in central Europe.

The 384th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served twice during the Great Patriotic War in that role. It was first formed on August 10 in the Siberian Military District. It joined the fighting front in February, 1942 with the 11th Army in the fighting north of the German force that was encircled at Demyansk. The division continued to take part in several savage battles in this area into the summer and autumn of that year, gradually being worn down in this attritional struggle on a secondary front until it was disbanded in December to provide replacements for other units. In the buildup to the Soviet invasion of Manchuria a new 384th was formed in the Far Eastern Front in late 1944. The new division fought with enough distinction that it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and continued to serve briefly into the postwar period.

The 397th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, active twice during 1941-45, fighting the German Operation Barbarossa.

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The 119th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in September 1943, based on the 11th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade and the 15th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade and was one of a small series of Guards divisions formed on a similar basis. Although the two brigades had distinguished themselves in the fighting south of Stalingrad as part of 64th Army they were moved to Northwestern Front in the spring of 1943 before being reorganized. After serving briefly in 22nd Army the division was moved to reinforce the 3rd Shock Army within the large salient that Army had created behind German lines after a breakthrough at Nevel in October. In the following months it fought both to expand the salient and defend it against German counterattacks in a highly complex situation. In January 1944 it was transferred to the 7th Guards Rifle Corps of 10th Guards Army, still in the Nevel region, after which it advanced toward the Panther Line south of Lake Peipus. During operations in the Baltic states that summer and autumn the 119th Guards was awarded both a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner for its operations in Latvia. In March 1945 it joined the Kurland Group of Forces of Leningrad Front on the Baltic coast containing the German forces encircled in northwest Latvia. Following the German surrender it was moved to Estonia where it was disbanded in 1946.

The 176th 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. The division completed its formation at Kryvyi Rih in the Odessa Military District and at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was in the same area, assigned to the 35th Rifle Corps. Being relatively far from the frontier it escaped the early disasters and retreated mostly in good order through southern Ukraine into the autumn as part of 9th Army. It then took part in the counteroffensive against the overextended German Army Group South that liberated Rostov-na-Donu for the first time in December. When Army Group A began its summer offensive in 1942 the 176th fell back into the Caucasus region, losing much of its strength in the process, but finally helping to take up a firm defense along the Terek River and finally in front of Ordzhonikidze. As a result of this fighting the division, along with its artillery regiment, were awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After the German 6th Army was surrounded at Stalingrad the 176th advanced into the western Caucasus and entered the so-called Malaya Zemlya bridgehead south of Novorossiysk in the spring of 1943 where it helped to defeat the German Operation Neptun in April and in the autumn took part in the liberation of the city, for which it was redesignated as the 129th Guards Rifle Division.

The 212th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was badly damaged and then redesignated about five weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

The 221st Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was redesignated about four weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. After several further redesignations the division, which had always been a rifle division for all intents and purposes, was destroyed during Operation Typhoon in October 1941.

The 226th 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. After being hastily organized it arrived at the front along the lower Dniepr River as part of 6th Army and in the wake of the German victory in the Kiev encirclement it fell back toward, and then past, Kharkiv and spent the winter fighting in this area. During the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942 it scored early successes but was soon forced back by counterattacking panzers and barely escaped destruction in the first phases of the German summer offensive. After rebuilding in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command the division returned to the front north of Stalingrad where it joined the 66th Army. It took heavy losses in one of the last efforts to break through to the city before Operation Uranus cut off the German 6th Army, but it still played an important role in the reduction of the pocket during Operation Ring and as a result was redesignated as the 95th Guards Rifle Division in May 1943.

The 227th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed in the months just before the start of the German invasion, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. It arrived at the front in July and was assigned to 26th Army along the Dniepr, but was fortunate to escape that Army's encirclement in September. During the next several months, the division fought as part of 40th Army in the Kursk region, operating toward Prokhorovka and Oboyan during the winter counteroffensive. It made noteworthy gains during the May 1942 offensive north of Kharkiv but these went for naught when the southern wing of the offensive collapsed. When the main German summer offensive began in late June, the division's 21st Army was directly in the path of the German 6th Army and the depleted 227th was soon destroyed on the open steppes.

The 233rd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed in the months just before the start of the German invasion, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. As part of 20th Army it was moved from the Moscow Military District to the front west of Orsha by July 2. Serving under Western Front the 20th was soon pocketed in the Smolensk region and although remnants of the 233rd were able to escape the division was no longer combat-effective and was broken up for replacements in early August.

The 244th Rifle Division was the second 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. Initially assigned to the 31st Army, it was soon reassigned to 30th Army in Western Front northeast of Smolensk; under this command it took part in the first Dukhovshchina offensive against German 9th Army before being transferred to 19th Army in the third week of August for the second attempt to take this objective. After this failed the division went over to the defense at the boundary between the 19th and 30th Armies, where it was overwhelmed by 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group at the outset of Operation Typhoon and soon destroyed.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 105
  2. ↑ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 92
  3. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 113
  4. ↑ David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 109, 115
  5. ↑ Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, pp. 339, 345-46, 352
  6. ↑ Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 34, 43, 47-50. Note on the map on p. 43 the division is misnumbered as the 213th.
  7. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 193
  8. ↑ Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, pp. 168, 170-73, 180, 272
  9. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 215
  10. ↑ Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, pp. 444, 446-47, 450-51
  11. ↑ Sharp, "Red Swarm", pp. 92-93
  12. ↑ Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, p. 133
  13. ↑ Sharp, "Red Swarm", p. 93
  14. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 210, 240, 269, 296
  15. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, pp. 33, 183, 212, 366
  16. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1945, pp. 38, 183, 196
  17. ↑ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1945, p. 201
  18. ↑ Glantz, August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive In Manchuria, Verdun Press, 2015, Kindle ed., ch. 8
  19. ↑ Glantz, August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive In Manchuria, Kindle ed., ch. 8
  20. ↑ Glantz, August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive In Manchuria, Kindle ed., ch. 8
  21. ↑ Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1967b, p. 420.
  22. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, pp. 577, 579.

Bibliography

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