25th Cavalry Division

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25th Cavalry Division (9 July 1941 – 15 July 1942)
Active1941–1942
CountryFlag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army flag.svg Red Army
TypeDivision
RoleCavalry
Engagements Leningrad Strategic Defensive
Siege of Leningrad
Lyuban Offensive Operation
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Maj. Gen. Nikolai Ivanovich Gusev
Lt. Col. David Markovich Barinov Hero of the Soviet Union medal.png

The 25th Cavalry Division was a mounted division of the Red Army that served for just over a year in the Great Patriotic War. It was formed in the summer of 1941 and served in the region south and west of Leningrad during the following months against the advance of Army Group North during Operation Barbarossa. It survived a German armored counterattack before being pulled back into the reserves in September. In January 1942, it was assigned to the Mobile Group of 2nd Shock Army to take part in the Lyuban Offensive Operation. This offensive aimed to encircle and destroy the German forces besieging Leningrad; in the event, 2nd Shock was itself encircled and forced to break out as individuals and small groups from May into July. The 25th Cavalry was disbanded, and its survivors were used to help rebuild the badly depleted 19th Guards Rifle Division, while the 25th's commanding officer took over the latter division.

Contents

Formation

The 25th Cavalry Division began forming on 9 July 1941 at Pskov in the Leningrad Military District. It was given the number of a pre-war cavalry division that had been disbanded in the same District in 1940. When formed, its basic order of battle was as follows:

The division was commanded by Kombrig Nikolai Ivanovich Gusev. This officer would have his rank modernized as Major General on 9 November and would remain in command until 20 January 1942. Gusev would go on to command several Soviet armies during the remainder of the War, rising to the rank of Colonel General on 5 May 1945.

The 25th was almost immediately assigned to the 34th (Reserve) Army. [1] When Army Group North paused in its advance on Leningrad in early August, Northwestern Front was ordered by the STAVKA to mount a counterstroke to retake the city of Staraya Russa which would be led primarily by 34th Army. The orders included the following:

"6. Simultaneously with the 34th Army's assault from the Lovat River line, dispatch the 25th Cavalry Division along the Dedovichi and Dno axis to operate in separate squadrons against the enemy rear area."

This attack was planned for 12 August, but was preempted by the renewal of the German drive on 10 August, and so achieved mixed results. The 25th, operating in a mobile group with the 163rd and 202nd Motorized Divisions, advanced 40 km westward through the German defenses and reached the Dno - Staraya Russa rail line by 14 August. This enveloped the German X Army Corps in the latter city and threatened the rear of the panzer group advancing on Novgorod. 16th Army was forced to intervene with the LVI Panzer Corps, which by 25 August had driven 34th Army back to the Lovat line with 30 percent losses. However, this also delayed the German advance on Leningrad by ten days. [2]

Later Service and Disbandment

In September the division was moved to the reserves of Northwestern Front for rebuilding, where it would remain into December. [3] In that month it was briefly assigned to 52nd Army in Volkhov Front. [4] On 20 January 1942, General Gusev was assigned to take command of 2nd Shock Army's 13th Cavalry Corps, [5] to which the 25th was soon subordinated. Lt. Col. David Markovich Barinov, Gusev's chief of staff, took command of the division the next day, and he would remain in this post until it was disbanded.

Meanwhile, Volkhov Front began its Lyuban Offensive across the Volkhov River on 6 January, before its full forces, most importantly its artillery, was fully in place. As a result, the attackers were slow to make gains, at heavy cost. It was not until the night of 23–24 January that the Front commander, Gen. K. A. Meretskov, was able to convince himself that 2nd Shock Army had torn enough of a hole in the German defenses that he could commit the 13th Corps, plus a rifle division of 59th Army, into the gap. German counterattacks at once began trying to close it, and while on the one hand the mobile group was in a position to do harm in the German rear, its 30,000 troops also represented a target for destruction should the gap be closed. [6]

Over the following weeks more Soviet forces were fed into the pocket, but a counterattack by German 18th Army succeeded in closing the gap on 20 March. A week later a new gap was opened near the village of Miasnoi Bor, but it was only 3–5 km wide. The Red Army forces in the salient continued to operate under these circumstances through April and into May. On 12 May, Soviet intelligence indicated that 18th Army was about to attack again to cut the corridor. In light of this, orders came from the STAVKA to begin a phased withdrawal from the salient on 14 May; when this proved impossible due to the depleted state of its forces, a full breakout and withdrawal was ordered on 21 May. [7] During June and July individual men and small parties of the 25th Cavalry, by now entirely dismounted, made their way through the thinly-held German lines. The division was officially disbanded on 15 July, and its survivors were combined with those of the 19th Guards Rifle Division to begin that division's rebuilding. [1] On 27 July, Lt. Col. Barinov was promoted to colonel and took command of 19th Guards, whose commander had been officially listed as missing in action two days earlier.

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">377th Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 377th 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 Urals Military District. It followed a very similar combat path to that of the 374th and 376th Rifle Divisions. It joined the fighting front in December with the 4th Army, and then briefly came under command of 2nd Shock Army, but soon moved to the 59th Army along the Volkhov River, and continued to serve in this Army's battles near Leningrad until early 1944. The division took very heavy casualties during the Lyuban Offensive in several attempts to relieve the beleaguered 2nd Shock Army. After rebuilding the division held the Army's bridgehead over the Volkhov during 1943, and finally advanced during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive in January 1944, taking part in the assault that liberated Novgorod. During the spring the division saw heavy fighting in the battles for Narva before moving south for the summer offensive into the Baltic states. In September it won a battle honor in the liberation of Valga, and in October also received the Order of 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 disbanded later in 1945.

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 10 August 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 225th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed in December 1941 from the remnants of the pre-war 3rd Tank Division and based on the shtat of July 29, 1941. The 3rd Tank's single rifle regiment was joined by two reserve rifle regiments, and its howitzer regiment was converted to a standard artillery regiment. As part of 52nd Army in Volkhov Front it took part in largely local fighting in the Novgorod area, seeing combat in several abortive attempts to retake the city until it finally played a main role in its liberation in January 1944 and received its name as a battle honor.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Sharp, Charles C. (1995). "Red Sabers", Soviet Cavalry Corps, Divisions, and Brigades 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II. Vol. V. p. 46.
  2. David M. Glantz, The Battle for Leningrad 1941 - 1944, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2002, pp. 54-57
  3. Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 50, 61, 72
  4. Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 8
  5. Glantz, Leningrad, p. xviii
  6. Glantz, Leningrad, pp. 158-58, 165
  7. Glantz, Leningrad, pp. 176-79, 196-99

Bibliography