296th Rifle Division

296th Rifle Division
Active	1st formation: July 1941 – August 1942; 2nd formation: July 1943 – 1946;
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Rifle division
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Alexander Ryzhov

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 296th Rifle Division (Russian : 296-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, formed twice. Its first formation was formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed during Case Blue, the German summer offensive in the North Caucasus, in 1942. Reformed in the summer of 1943 in Georgia, the division's second formation never saw combat and was disbanded in 1946.

Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although, nowadays, nearly three decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia, the rise of state-specific varieties of this language tends to be strongly denied in Russia, in line with the Russian World ideology.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 30 December 1922 to 26 December 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk.

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, frequently shortened to Red Army was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and, after 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established immediately after the 1917 October Revolution. The Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; taking the official name of "Soviet Army", until its dissolution in December 1991.

History

First Formation

The division began forming on 2 July 1941 in the Odessa Military District. Its basic order of battle included the 962nd, 964th, and the 966th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 813th Artillery Regiment. By 20 August, the division had been assigned to the Southern Front's 9th Army. In October, the 296th was transferred to the 18th Army, and in February 1942 it was moved into the front reserve. The division was sent to the front with the 37th Army a month later. With the 37th Army, the 296th escaped the disaster in the Second Battle of Kharkov. The division was soon transferred back to the 9th Army, with which it retreated into the Caucasus after the start of the German summer offensive, Case Blue, in June. The 296th suffered heavy losses during the retreat, and on 5 August was disbanded. Its remnants were used to reinforce the 242nd Rifle Division.^[1]

The Odessa Military District was a military administrative division of the Imperial Russian military, the Soviet Armed Forces and the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was known under such name from around 1862 to 1998. It was reorganized as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Military of Moldova in 1992. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operational Command (Ukraine).

The Southern Front was a Front – a roughly Army group sized formation – of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. The Southern Front directed military operations during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940, and then was formed twice after the June 1941 German invasion, Operation Barbarossa.

The 9th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was a Soviet field army, active from 1939 – 43.

Second Formation

The division was reformed on 16 July 1943 from training units in Georgia, part of the Transcaucasian Military District, and never saw combat. The division spent the rest of the war as part of the 12th Rifle Corps or the 13th Rifle Corps, under which it guarded the Turkish and Iranian borders.^[2] In May 1945, the 296th was part of the 12th Rifle Corps.^[3] In September, when the corps became part of the Tbilisi Military District, the 296th was stationed at Poti.^[4] The division was disbanded there by 1946.^[5]

The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Group of Forces in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union collapse. The military district formed as a basis of the modern day armed forces of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The 13th Rifle Corps was an infantry formation of the Red Army, first formed in 1922.

Poti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis and deriving its name from the same, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also home to a main naval base and the headquarters of the Georgian navy. Adjacent to the Poti port area is the RAKIA owned Free Industrial Zone. Inaugurated in April 2008, it has registered a number of businesses, including those from Iranian businesspeople trying to evade sanctions against Iran.

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References

Citations

↑ Sharp 1996a, pp. 66–67.
↑ Sharp 1996b, p. 110.
↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 522.
↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 525.
↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 526.

Bibliography

Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской[The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
Sharp, Charles C. (1996a). The Soviet Order of Battle World War II: An Organizational History of the Major Combat Units of the Soviet Army. 9. West Chester, Ohio: George F. Nafziger. OCLC 258366685.
Sharp, Charles C. (1996b). The Soviet Order of Battle World War II: An Organizational History of the Major Combat Units of the Soviet Army. 10. West Chester, Ohio: George F. Nafziger. OCLC 39214254.

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[FOOTNOTESharp1996a66–67-1] Sharp 1996a, pp. 66–67.

[FOOTNOTESharp1996b110-2] Sharp 1996b, p. 110.

[FOOTNOTEFeskov_et_al2013522-3] Feskov et al 2013, p. 522.

[FOOTNOTEFeskov_et_al2013525-4] Feskov et al 2013, p. 525.

[FOOTNOTEFeskov_et_al2013526-5] Feskov et al 2013, p. 526.

296th Rifle Division
Active	1st formation: July 1941 – August 1942 2nd formation: July 1943 – 1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Rifle division
Engagements	World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Alexander Ryzhov