Maj. Gen. Nikolai Pavlovich Pukhov Col. Serafim Petrovich Merkulov Col. Mikhail Maksimovich Muzikin
Military unit
The 304th Rifle Division had its roots in the 109th Mechanized Division, which served before the Great Patriotic War as a mixed armor and infantry formation. Soon after the German invasion it was reorganized as a standard rifle division and renumbered as the 304th. It served in the southwestern part of the Soviet-German front for more than a year and a half, fighting under difficult conditions, including the German summer offensive of 1942. The division did not distinguish itself until Operation Uranus in late 1942 and the subsequent Operation Ring, in which it helped defeat the encircled German Sixth Army. In recognition of these successes, even before the German surrender at Stalingrad, it was raised to Guards status as the 67th Guards Rifle Division. A second 304th was raised six months later, based on a pair of rifle brigades, facing the German 17th Army in the Kuban. After helping to liberate this region the division continued in combat through Ukraine and Poland, winning its own distinctions at Zhitomir and an Order of the Red Banner, before ending the war near Prague.
After losing most of its trucks and tanks in its first battles near Kiev, the 109th Mechanized Division[1] of 5th Mechanized Corps began moving back to Zolotonosha, east of the Dniepr River, to reform as the 304th Rifle Division on 12 July 1941.[2] Its order of battle was revised to the following:
807th Rifle Regiment - newly formed from reserves and added to replace the 16th Tank Regiment
809th Rifle Regiment - from 381st Motorized Rifle Regiment
812th Rifle Regiment - from 602nd Motorized Rifle Regiment
560th Artillery Regiment - from 404th Motorized Artillery Regiment[3]
378th Antitank Battalion
602nd Sapper Battalion
635th Signal Battalion
318th Reconnaissance Company
The first commander of the new division was Col. Timofei Ilich Sidorenko, but he was replaced after about six weeks by Maj. Gen. Nikolai Pavlovich Pukhov.
After several weeks in Southwestern Front reserves, the 304th was assigned to the 38th Army in early August, just as that Army was itself forming up. The division remained in that Army until July 1942. It was able to avoid encirclement near Kiev as it was located just east of the point where 1st Panzer Group broke through the Soviet front, and was able to retreat through Poltava.[4] In late January 1942, Maj. Gen. Pukhov was reassigned to command of 13th Army, and was replaced by Col. Ivan Vasilievich Khazov. The division also managed to stay clear of the debacle at Kharkov in May 1942.[5]
In early June the 304th was facing the difficult task of helping to defend the sector from the Northern Donets River east of Chuguev southwards 60km to the west of Izium; the division itself was holding the area near Balakleia. As a preliminary to its summer offensive, on 22 June German Army Group South launched Operation Fridericus II to gain control of Izium and Kupiansk, and also to encircle and destroy as much as possible of the Soviet 38th and 9th Armies. The German advance on the latter city was held up by a strenuous defense by 9th Guards Rifle Division, which allowed the 304th and three other divisions to escape encirclement and join 38th Army's new line behind the Oskol without serious losses. It was in these positions when Operation Blue began.[6]
Operation Blue
38th Army was directly in the path when the second phase of this offensive began on 7 July, and by the 9th was in deep trouble. Maj. Gen. Kirill Moskalenko, the Army's commander, sent urgent messages to the STAVKA requesting permission to withdraw well east of the Aidar River to prevent his forces being entirely cut off. When no reply was forthcoming, he ordered the retreat on his own authority. While the 304th suffered significant casualties in this retreat, and German intelligence counted it as one of the divisions that had been "bagged", Moskalenko's order saved enough to allow it to be rebuilt.[7]
On 31 July, Col. Serafim Petrovich Merkulov took command of the division, and would hold it for the remainder of the 1st Formation's existence. Shortly before this the 304th was moved to the 21st Army, under the newly formed Stalingrad Front. In August, as the defense of Stalingrad was being planned, the division was assigned to hold part of its Army's 140km-wide sector from the mouth of the Khoper River as far as Melo-Kletsky.[8]
In mid-August, after German 6th Army had cleared the great bend of the Don River and was clearly preparing for an advance on Stalingrad, Col. Gen. Andrey Yeryomenko conceived a plan to distract the German forces from this objective. On 19 August he issued an attack order to 21st and 63rd Armies to cross the Don southwards in the 30km sector west of Serafimovich. Most of this sector had been taken up by elements of the Italian 8th Army within the past week, although they still had some backup from the Germans. The 304th, along with the 96th Rifle Division, were to play 21st Army's part in this offensive, attacking on a 15km sector from Serafimovich to the Khoper. In the event, the 96th had no success against the German forces in Serafimovich itself in the early going, but the 304th managed to establish a small bridgehead, and over the following days pushed forwards 7km and began digging in on 27 August, while the 96th liberated Serafimovich. The gains made by 63rd Army were more extensive, and together these created one of the bridgeheads across the Don which would play an important role in Operation Uranus.[9] The division, in company with the 124th Rifle Division, launched a heavy diversionary attack against the 79th Infantry Division on 4 September with the objective of tying down German forces in the region.[10]
Operation Uranus
In October the division was reassigned to 65th Army in Don Front as that Army was being organized.[11] In Maj. Gen. P.I. Batov's plan for the offensive in November, the 304th formed half of the Army's shock group, alongside the 27th Guards Rifle Division, on a 6km-wide sector on the south bank of the Don between Kletskaia and Melo-Kletskii. This bridgehead had been won from the Germans by the 1st Guards Army in August. The attack began on the morning of 19 November with a massive artillery barrage. Between 0848 and 0850 hrs. Moscow time, riflemen and sappers of the leading battalions, bolstered by 49 tanks of the 91st Tank Brigade, commenced the assault, aimed at the boundary between 1st Romanian Cavalry and the German 376th Infantry Divisions. The immediate objective was to smash the Romanian cavalry, then attack southeastward to turn the flank of 6th Army's XI Corps and protect the left flank of 21st Army's mobile group as it exploited southwards. General Batov recorded:
"The first two trench lines on the high ground on the [southern] bank were taken immediately. Fighting then developed on the nearby heights... The guardsmen [27th Guards] on the right, which were pressed up against the neighboring 76th Division, advanced well. In the center it was worse: Merkulov [304th Rifle Division] was forced to the ground in front of Melo-Kletskaia."
The 304th had encountered skillfully fortified strongpoints manned by German troops that they could not overcome. Further, they faced nearly constant counterattacks from 376th Infantry, supported later in the day by elements of 14th Panzer Division.[12]
One of these strongpoints was the village of Orekhovsky, which was attacked repeatedly through the day with tank support with only minimal success. However, a single battalion of the 807th Rifle Regiment, commanded by Major Chebotaev, managed to capture Marker 202.2 on the high ground just 2km west of the village's center. Overnight, Batov and his staff worked out a new plan to exploit this limited success. A mobile group was formed, made up of about 45 T-34 and KV tanks from 91st Brigade, with submachine gunners riding on their decks, accompanied by motorized infantry and artillery. This force came under the command of Col. G.I. Anisimov on the morning of 20 November and was ready to advance in the early afternoon, following the rifle forces that were developing the 807th Regiment's penetration. Diversionary attacks were made by 65th Army's left-flank forces, while the 304th continued its assault on Orekhovsky and another strongpoint at Logovsky. This would be assisted by the fresh 252nd Rifle Division entering the battle at the boundary between the 304th and the 27th Guards. During the morning these two divisions pushed deeply into the Romanian defenses, after which the 252nd created a breach which Anisimov's mobile group entered and began its exploitation, advancing 23km into XI Corps' left rear by nightfall, sowing panic and helping convince the German Corps that its position was becoming untenable. Meanwhile, the three rifle divisions advanced 2 to 4km to the southeast, and on the following day completed the liberation of Orekhovsky, as well as Logovsky and Osinki.[13]
On 21 November the advance of the division and its neighbors became more difficult as the 376th Infantry consolidated its positions and was gradually reinforced. Despite the slow progress on this sector, over the next two days Southwestern and Stalingrad Fronts completed the encirclement of German 6th Army, and the mission of Don Front changed to that of liquidating the enemy pocket. 65th Army resumed its advance early on 25 November. XI Corps, reinforced with elements of XIV Panzer Corps, began to pull back southeast across the Don, giving up its bridgehead in the Great Bend, which was untenable. Batov began a slow pursuit with his 24th, 304th and 252nd Rifle Divisions; the 304th advanced from Rodionov to Kubantseva Balka, with the support of 91st Tank Brigade. By the end of the day the area of the German bridgehead had been reduced by roughly half. The next day the pursuit continued, and the division reached the northern slope of Hill 204.0, 2km south of Biriuchkov, before being stopped by heavy fire from the hill. Overnight on 26/27 November the last German forces were withdrawn. Batov wrote:
"The 304th Rifle Division's... forward detachments rushed up to the crossings at Petrovatka and, during the day on 27 November, the division's main forces captured Luchenskii, and the forward units on the eastern bank abruptly turned toward the northeast and joined battle on the approaches to Vertiachii. The shock group of 65th Army (with its regimental artillery) was already on that side of the Don."
This shock group was led by two battalions of the 812th Rifle Regiment, which made a night crossing of the ice-covered river under protective fire from 91st Tank Brigade. It was a risky move because the ice was not as firm as Batov would have liked, but with the help of the 14th Engineer Brigade the rest of the 304th made it across safely, and the sappers soon erected a bridge. Within 24 hours Vertiachii was taken, as the German forces continued to withdraw to the defensive line designated by 6th Army command several days earlier. Batov then withdrew the division into 65th Army's reserves.[14]
Operation Ring
The 304th re-entered the battle at 0700 hrs. on 2 December. A reconnaissance group of 27th Guards had found a small gap in the German lines the day before, and the two divisions were tasked to exploit it. The attack, supported by 12 tanks plus antitank guns of the 52nd Tank Destroyer Regiment, against the German 131st Regiment of 44th Infantry Division defending Hill 124.5 (Chernyi Kurgan), advanced several hundred metres after a full day of intense fighting, but fell short of taking the hill. 24th Rifle Division took the lead in a further attack on 4 December. The 304th was to support and protect its right flank as it drove on Hill 113.6 and the village of Baburkin, 3km beyond. Despite significant artillery support the assault made only limited gains. Chernyi Kurgan was taken, and would be a thorn in the side of 44th Division through the coming weeks, but nearly all other gains were erased by German counterattacks. On 6 December, in an effort to restore its main battle line, German VIII Army Corps launched several counterattacks against the hill, which 24th Division had turned into a virtual fortress, as well as the Golaia ravine, defended by the 27th Guards and 304th. In fighting that went on into 8 December, these gains were held.[15]
Through most of the rest of the month the lines surrounding 6th Army became relatively quiet as the Soviet Fronts prepared for Operation Ring. One exception to this pattern occurred on 28/29 December, when five divisions of 21st and 65th Armies, including the 304th, launched assault groups against the much-reduced 44th and 376th Infantry Divisions. The former lost 177 men over the two days, while the latter lost 130 men on the 28th and 392 in counterattacks the following day.[16]
When Ring formally began on 10 January 1943, the division was one of ten in the first echelon of 21st, 65th and 24th Armies that would make Don Front's main attack, facing 44th Infantry and 29th Motorized Divisions. The 304th and 173rd Rifle Divisions, on the right wing of 65th Army, had a long-range artillery group of three army-level regiments, firing in their direct support. After a 55-minute opening barrage the infantry assault began at 0900 hrs., supported by over 100 tanks, and soon overwhelmed the enemy defenses. The 304th and 24th Divisions, led by the KV tanks of the 5th and 14th Guards Tank Regiments,[17] overran the three weak battalions of 44th Infantry's 134th and 132nd Regiments, plus the battalion-sized Group Weller of 29th Motorized along a 4km-wide sector. The two Soviet divisions advanced 2km, shattered all four enemy battalions, and opened a 2km-wide breach of the German line by day's end.[18]
On 11 January, Batov exploited this gap by ordering his 23rd Rifle Division straight into it from second echelon and over that day it advanced, along with the 304th, about 3km, reaching to within 1km of the Rossoshka valley and, in the process, rendering VIII Corps' defenses west of the Rossoshka completely untenable. In the course of the next day's fighting the division managed to win a 1- to 2km- wide bridgehead across this river. On the 13th, the 304th, with two other divisions, continued to attack the remaining defenses of 44th Infantry, but made limited gains. The next day the division, in concert with the 23rd, enveloped the 44th's forces defending Novo-Alekseevsky but failed to capture the town; they were later reinforced by 273rd Rifle Division. From 15 to 17 January the pace of the Soviet advance slowed, and Rokossovsky finally called a halt for rest and replenishment.[19]
Before the offensive was officially set to resume, on 21 January, 65th Army went back to the attack with four divisions, including the 304th, backed again by 91st Tank Brigade, striking eastward, and penetrating the defenses of VIII Corps' 76th Infantry Division. These attacks finished off the 44th Infantry and did severe damage to the 76th, and also created a 6km-wide gap in 6th Army's western front, bringing divisional artillery within range of Gumrak airfield. In recognition of the accomplishments of the division, late in the day the 304th Rifle Division was re-designated as the 67th Guards Rifle Division.[20][21]
The second formation of this brigade took place in August 1942, in the reserves of Transcaucasus Front by mobilizing training units in the Transcaucasus Military District. Early in October it was assigned to the 58th Army in the Northern Group of its Front. 58th Army was acting as a reserve backing the Terek River line, blocking the German advance on Baku and the Caspian oil fields. At the end of the month the 43rd advanced into the 9th Rifle Corps' positions in 44th Army along the Terek. On 22 November, the brigade consisted of:
The lack of artillery and other heavy weapons was typical of the units formed in the region during the crisis of July to September. As the front began to move north and west towards the Kuban the brigade was reassigned to 9th Army in the North Caucasus Front and served there facing the German 17th Army from February to July 1943, until it was disbanded.[24]
256th Rifle Brigade
This brigade was formed in February - March 1942, in the Moscow Military District.[25] It was in the Moscow Defense Zone from April to August, when it was railed south to the Transcaucasus Military District. When it arrived it consisted of:
The brigade was commanded by Col. V.S. Antonov. It was quickly assigned to 44th Army, then in September to 9th Army along the Terek River defense line. In November, during the last gasps of the German offensive, the 256th became part of 9th Rifle Corps back in 44th Army, and remained there while the enemy retreat began. In January 1943, that Corps moved to 9th Army in North Caucasus Front, and the brigade served the next six months facing the German positions on the Taman Peninsula until it was disbanded.[26]
The order of battle of the new 304th Rifle Division remained as previous.[27] The first commander assigned was Col. Timofeiy Ustinovich Grinchenko. After just over one month of forming up, the division was assigned to the 11th Rifle Corps of 9th Army.
Advance
On 19 September the 304th began operations in the Taman as part of the final offensive to drive German forces from their last foothold in the Kuban. It formed part of a strike group attacking the village of Kurchanskaya, which was taken. On the 25th, in concert with the 316th Rifle Division and following a powerful artillery and air attack, it stormed the city of Temryuk, which was taken two days later after heavy street fighting. The surviving Germans fled to the village of Golubitskaya; the 304th, crossing the Kuban River using improvised means, pursued. On 9 October the entire peninsula was cleared of Axis troops. Two weeks later Colonel Grinchenko was replaced in command by Col. Mikhail Maksimovich Muzikin.
In November, 9th Army was disbanded, and its forces were redeployed to other Fronts and Armies. 11th Rifle Corps was railed northwestward, joining 38th Army in 1st Ukrainian Front west of Kiev in December. The 304th would remain in this Front until the last few weeks of the war. During the Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, the division played an important role in the second liberation of Zhitomir on the last day of 1943, and was awarded the name of that city as an honorific:
"ZHITOMIR - ...304th Rifle Division (Colonel Muzikin, Mikhail Maksimovich)... By order of the Supreme High Command of 1 January 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, the troops who participated in the battles for the liberation of Zhitomir are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns."[28]
On 29 March 1944, Col. Ivan Mikhailovich Boldanov took command from Colonel Muzikin, but was in turn replaced by Col. Aleksandr Stepanovich Galtzev on 3 June. On 3 April, the division was recognized for its role in the liberation of Kamianets-Podilskyi and several other towns with the Order of the Red Banner.[30] On 21 July the 304th was shifted to 52nd Rifle Corps, back in 38th Army, and then in October to 106th Rifle Corps of 60th Army.[31] The division remained in that Corps and that Army for the duration. In a final change of command on 7 February 1945, Colonel Galtzev handed over to Col. Khaiyrbek Demirbekovich Zamanov. In the last weeks of the war the 60th Army was transferred to 4th Ukrainian Front, and the 304th ended hostilities in the vicinity of Prague.[32] The division ended the war with the official name: 304th Rifle, Zhitomir, Order of the Red Banner Division. (Russian: 304-я стрелковая Житомирская Краснознамённая дивизия.)
The 67th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 304th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially redesignated in the 65th Army of Don Front, in recognition of that division's leading role in reducing the German 6th Army during Operation Ring, the destruction of the encircled German and Romanian forces at Stalingrad. During the following months it was substantially rebuilt while moving north during the spring of the year. The division put up a very strong defense in the Battle of Kursk, facing some of the main elements of Army Group South, and then attacked through the western Ukraine after the German defeat. Along with the rest of 6th Guards Army it moved further north to join 2nd Baltic and later 1st Baltic Front in the buildup to the summer offensive against Army Group Center, winning a battle honor and shortly after the Order of the Red Banner in the process. During the rest of 1944 it advanced through the Baltic states and ended the war near the Baltic Sea, helping to besiege Army Group Courland in 1945. The 67th Guards was disbanded in 1946.
The Northwestern Operational Command (SZOK) is a command of the Belarus Ground Forces. It is headquartered at Borisov and is commanded by Major General Alexander Volfovich. The command includes a mechanized brigade and a mixed artillery brigade. It was formed in 2001 from the 65th Army Corps.
The 138th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the buildup of forces immediately after the start of World War II in Europe. The first formation was based on the shtat of 13 September 1939 and under this organization it took part in the Winter War against Finland, arriving at the front north of Leningrad in December and performing so capably in the battles in early 1940 that it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Following this it was converted to serve for two years as a mountain rifle division in the Caucasus region. Following Operation Barbarossa and the German invasion of the Crimea elements of the division were committed to amphibious landings behind enemy lines in early 1942 but these proved abortive. Soon after the 138th was converted back to a standard rifle division. Arriving on the southern approaches to Stalingrad in late July the division fought on the approaches to the city through August and into September before it was assigned to 62nd Army and shipped into the factory district in mid-October. Well into November it played a leading role in defending the Barricades (Barrikady) ordnance factory, eventually becoming isolated in a thin strip of land between the factory and the Volga which became known as "Lyudnikov's Island" after its commanding officer. Following the Soviet counteroffensive that encircled the German 6th Army and other Axis forces in and near Stalingrad the division restored contact with the rest of its Army and then helped eliminate its trapped foes, for which it was raised to Guards status as the 70th Guards Rifle Division.
The 119th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed three times.
The 252nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II.
The 300th Rifle Division began service as a standard Red Army rifle division shortly after the German invasion, and fought in the southwestern part of the Soviet-German front for nearly two years following. It was able to escape the encirclement east of Kiev in September 1941, and then fought to defend, and later to try to liberate, the city of Kharkov during 1941-42. After falling back under the weight of the German 1942 summer offensive, the division began distinguish itself during Operation Uranus in late 1942, when it helped defeat the German attempt to relieve Sixth Army and later in the pursuit of the defeated Axis forces and the second liberation of Rostov-na-Donu. In recognition of these successes it was raised to Guards status as the 87th Guards Rifle Division. A second 300th Rifle Division was raised a few months later and fought briefly but very successfully against the Japanese in Manchuria in August 1945. The second formation became the 3rd Tank Division in the Far East postwar and was redesignated as the 46th Tank Division in 1957 before disbanding in 1959.
The 4th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division on 18 September 1941, from the 1st formation of the 161st Rifle Division as one of the original Guards formations of the Red Army, in recognition of that division's participation in the successful counter-offensive that drove German forces out of their positions at Yelnya. The division then moved northwards to serve in the defense of Leningrad, as well as the early attempts to break that city's siege, but later was redeployed to the southern sector of the front as the crisis around Stalingrad developed. The 4th Guards took part in Operation Uranus which surrounded the German 6th Army in and around that city and then in the pursuit operations that drove the remaining German forces from the Caucasus steppes and the city of Rostov. The division remained in this sector for the duration of the war, fighting through the south of Ukraine through the summer of 1943 and winning the Order of the Red Banner in the process; it was further distinguished with the award of a battle honor in February 1944. During April and May its advance was halted during the battles along the Dniestr River, but resumed in the August offensive that carried it and its 31st Guards Rifle Corps into the Balkans. It served extensively in the fighting through Hungary and in the outer encirclement during the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944/45 and in mid-April was awarded a second battle honor for its part in the capture of Vienna. Despite this distinguished service the division was disbanded in 1946.
The 422nd Rifle Division was formed for the first time as a standard Red Army rifle division late in 1941, after the Soviet winter counteroffensive had begun, but was soon re-designated. A second formation began in March 1942, again in the far east of Siberia, until July, after which it was moved west to join the reserves of Stalingrad Front in August. It was the highest-numbered rifle division to see active service in the front lines during the Great Patriotic War. Over the course of the next six months, the division distinguished itself in both defensive and offensive fighting and earned its re-designation as the 81st Guards Rifle Division on the first day of March 1943. The 422nd was never reformed.
The 321st Rifle Division was formed in September 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, based on an existing division of militia. This formation had an extremely short career, coming under devastating attack in the north of the Crimea on the day of its redesignation and being officially disbanded just over a month later. A second division began forming in the Transbaikal in February 1942, and served in the defensive and offensive fighting around Stalingrad, eventually distinguishing itself sufficiently to be redesignated as the 82nd Guards Rifle Division. The world had not seen the last of the 321st, however, as a new division was formed from two existing rifle brigades in the spring of 1944, which gave very creditable service for the duration, completing its combat path in northeastern Germany, and serving into the postwar period.
The 333rd Rifle Division began forming in the North Caucasus Military District in August 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, as part of the massive mobilization of reserve forces very shortly after the German invasion. In 1942 it served in the late winter and early spring fighting near Kharkov, taking a beating both then and during the opening stages of the German summer offensive. Withdrawn into the reserves, the division was rebuilt in time to take part in the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad in November, and played an important role in driving the German forces out of the Caucasus region during the winter. In the autumn of 1943 the division shared credit with the 25th Guards Rifle Division for the liberation of Sinelnikovo in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, receiving that place name as an honorific. After battling through Ukraine and into the Balkan states, the 333rd completed its combat path on a relatively quiet note doing garrison duties in the Balkans.
The 346th Rifle Division began forming in late August 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, in the Volga Military District. It was assigned to the 61st Army while both it and its Army continued to form up before moving to the front lines in December to take part in the winter counteroffensive south of Moscow. In September 1942, it became part of the 5th Tank Army, and joined the offensive that encircled German Sixth Army at Stalingrad during Operation Uranus. During 1943 and early 1944 it continued to serve in the southern part of the front, taking part in the liberation of Crimea, before being transferred to the Baltic States region, serving in Latvia and Lithuania until February 1945, when it was once again reassigned, this time to be part of the follow-on forces in the conquest of eastern Germany. The division ended the war with a distinguished service record, but was disbanded shortly after the German surrender.
The 14th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 96th Rifle Division, which was officially a mountain unit at the time, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was in Southern Front when it was redesignated and was soon assigned to the 57th Army. It was encircled during the German counterattack in the Second Battle of Kharkov in May and its first commander was made a prisoner of war, later dying in German captivity. A cadre of the division managed to escape and was sent to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding. In July it joined the 63rd Army and took part in the attacks against the Italian 8th Army that created the bridgehead south of the Don River near Serafimovich during August. In October, now in 21st Army of Don Front, it was active in two probing attacks against the Romanian forces now containing the bridgehead which inflicted severe casualties in advance of the Soviet winter counteroffensive. At the start of that offensive the division was in 5th Tank Army, but was soon transferred to 1st Guards Army and then to the 3rd Guards Army when that was formed. It was under this Army as it advanced into the Donbass in late winter before returning to 57th Army during most of 1943, fighting through east Ukraine and across the lower Dniepr by the end of the year. After being briefly assigned to 53rd Army in December it was moved to 5th Guards Army in February 1944 where it remained for the duration, mostly in the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps. It saw action in the Uman–Botoșani Offensive and won its first decoration, the Order of the Red Banner, as it advanced, before being involved in the frustrating battles along the Dniestr River on the Romanian border. In late spring, 1944 the division was redeployed north becoming part of 1st Ukrainian Front and taking part in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive into Poland. The 14th Guards made a spectacular advance across Poland during the Vistula-Oder Offensive and was awarded the Order of Lenin for its part in the liberation of Sandomierz. On 22 January 1945 its commander suffered mortal wounds in the fighting for a bridgehead over the Oder River. In the drive on Berlin in April the division and its regiments won further honors and decorations but despite these distinctions it was disbanded in August 1946.
The 15th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in February 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 136th Rifle Division, and served in that role until well after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The division had already distinguished itself during the Winter War with Finland in 1940 and had been decorated with the Order of Lenin; soon after its redesignation it also received its first Order of the Red Banner. It was in Southern Front as this time but was soon moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command where it was assigned to 7th Reserve Army in May, then to 28th Army in Southwestern Front in June, then to 57th Army in Stalingrad Front in July. It remained in that Army for the rest of the year, with one brief exception, until it was transferred to Don Front's 64th Army in January 1943 during the closing stages of the battle of Stalingrad. In March this Army became 7th Guards Army and was railed to the northwest, joining Voronezh Front south of the Kursk salient. In the battle that followed the 15th Guards assisted in the defeat of Army Detachment Kempf, then took part in the summer offensive into Ukraine, winning one of the first battle honors at Kharkov. It remained in either 7th Guards or 37th Army into the spring of 1944. It saw action in the Nikopol-Krivoi Rog Offensive and was awarded the Order of Suvorov before being involved in the frustrating battles along the Dniestr River on the Romanian border. In June the division became part of 34th Guards Rifle Corps in 5th Guards Army and was redeployed north becoming part of 1st Ukrainian Front and taking part in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive into Poland. The 15th Guards made a spectacular advance across Poland during the Vistula-Oder Offensive and was further decorated with the Order of Kutuzov for forcing a crossing of the Oder River. It then saw action in the drive on Berlin in April and the Prague Offensive in May, winning a further battle honor and an unusual second Order of the Red Banner in the process. After the war the division did garrison duty in Austria, then in Ukraine, followed by a move in late 1947 to Crimea and the Kuban where its personnel assisted in rebuilding the local economy and infrastructure for nearly 20 years. It September 1965 it was renumbered as the "51st" and became the 2nd formation of the 51st Guards Motor Rifle Division.
The 33rd Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in May 1942, based on the 2nd formation of the 3rd Airborne Corps, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was the second of a series of ten Guards rifle divisions formed from airborne corps during the spring and summer of 1942. It was briefly assigned to the 47th Army in the North Caucasus Front but was soon moved to the Volga Military District and saw its first action as part of 62nd Army in the fighting on the approaches to Stalingrad. It was withdrawn east of the Volga in September, but returned to the front with the 2nd Guards Army in December, and it remained in this Army until early 1945. After helping to defeat Army Group Don's attempt to relieve the trapped 6th Army at Stalingrad the 33rd Guards joined in the pursuit across the southern Caucasus steppe until reaching the Mius River in early 1943. Through the rest of that year it fought through the southern sector of eastern Ukraine as part of Southern Front and in the spring of 1944 assisted in the liberation of the Crimea, earning a battle honor in the process. The Crimea was a strategic dead-end, so 2nd Guards Army was moved north to take part in the summer offensive through the Baltic states and to the border with Germany as part of 1st Baltic Front. During the offensive into East Prussia the division and its 13th Guards Rifle Corps was reassigned to 39th and the 43rd Armies before returning to 2nd Guards Army in April. For its part in the capture of the city-fortress of Königsberg the 33rd Guards would receive the Order of Suvorov. In mid-1946 it was converted to the 8th Separate Guards Rifle Brigade.
The 50th Guards Rifle Division was an elite infantry division of the Red Army during World War II that continued as part of the Soviet Army during the early period of the Cold War. Converted into the 50th Guards Motor Rifle Division in the late 1950s, the division was based in Brest, Belarus. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the division became part of the Belarusian Ground Forces and was reduced to a brigade and then a storage base before being disbanded in 2006.
The 204th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was destroyed in the first weeks of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The first formation was based on the shtat of 29 July 1941 and it then remained for nine months in the far east of Siberia training and organizing before it was finally sent by rail to the Stalingrad region in July 1942 where it joined the 64th Army southwest of the city. During the following months it took part in the defensive battles and later the offensive that cut off the German 6th Army in November. In the last days of the battle for the city it took the surrender of the remnants of a Romanian infantry division. Following the Axis defeat the division was recognized for its role when it was redesignated as the 78th Guards Rifle Division on 1 March 1943.
The 214th 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 was moved to the fighting front to join 22nd Army in late June and took part in the fighting between Vitebsk and Nevel in early July, escaping from encirclement in the process, and then played a significant role in the liberation of Velikiye Luki, the first Soviet city to be retaken from the invading armies. In October it was again encircled near Vyasma during Operation Typhoon and was soon destroyed.
The 219th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was redesignated about 10 weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Due to a chronic lack of vehicles, and especially tanks, the division had been effectively serving as a motorized rifle brigade since June 22, so the redesignation was a formality and it was soon destroyed in the encirclement battle east of Kiev.
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 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.
References
Citations
↑ Sharp designates this as a mechanized division, while Glantz designates it as motorized.
↑ Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 77
↑ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, 1996, p. 69
↑ David Stahel, Kiev 1941, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, map on pp. 262–63
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. ISBN9785895035306.
Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941 – 1945 гг[Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy. p.254
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