73rd Rifle Division

Last updated
73rd Rifle Division
Active1st Formation
2nd Formation
3rd Formation Oct 1942 – 1993
Country Soviet Union
Branch Red Army flag.svg Red Army (1942-1946)
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Army (1946-1991)
Flag of the Russian ground forces.svg  Russian Ground Forces (1991-1993)
Type Infantry
Engagements Operation Kutuzov
Battle of the Dnieper
Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive
Operation Bagration
Bobruysk Offensive
East Prussian Offensive
Battle honours Order of the Red Banner
Order of Lenin
Order of Suvorov

The 73rd Rifle Division was a formation of the Great Patriotic War Soviet Army. The division began assigned to the 20th Army at the beginning of the war and was destroyed and rebuilt twice before the war ended.

Contents

According to research in the Soviet archives published by Michael Avanzini and Craig Crofoot, the division was formed five times from 1930 to the late 1940s. [1] Its first formation was established at Omsk in the Siberian Military District in 1930, and reformed a second time in September 1939 after serving as the cadre for the 109th Rifle Division and the 194th Rifle Division. Disbanded for unknown reasons in October 1939.

Third Formation

Established Omsk in Jul 1940. Assigned to the newly formed 20th Army formed in June 1941 in the Orel Military District, under the command of Colonel Alexander Akimov. Wiped out in October 1941 near Vyazma during the opening stages of the Battle of Moscow.

Fourth Formation

Rebuilt in February 1942 at Ordzhonikidze, Ukraine. Destroyed sometime prior to October 1942.

Fifth Formation

Formed on 15 October 1942 from the 122nd Rifle Brigade in the city of Livny, Orel Oblast.

In January–February 1943 the division participated in the Voronezh-Kastornoye and Maloarkhangelsk Offensive operations. In early April 1943 the division took up defensive positions on the right flank of the 48th Army.

On 20 July 1943 the division participated in the counteroffensive after the Battle of Kursk. The division participated in the Liberation of Novozybkov. By October 1943 the division was located southwest of Gomel. On 11 November 1943 the division participated in the Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive and by the end of the month was in defensive position 10 km south of Zhlobin. By the end of December 1943 the division had advanced to the right bank of the Berezina River south of Parichi and repelled enemy counterattacks.

The division spent the next several months in defensive positions south of Parichi.

On 23 June 1944 as part of Operation Bagration the division deployed to the western bank of the Berezina River and reached the approaches of Babruysk and later participated in the capture of the city. The division then advanced in the general direction of Warsaw.

In September 1944 the division was in the 2nd echelon of the 48th Army protecting the army's right flank during its advance. The division entered battle between the 217th Rifle Division and 399th Rifle Division, 42nd Rifle Corps and captured a bridgehead over the Narew River. The bridgehead was gradually expanded through October 1944.

From January 1945 until the end of the war, the division participated in the Mlawa-Elbing Offensive and ended the war on the Baltic Coast at Frisches Haff.

Gained the honorifics 'Novozybkov Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov'.

Postwar, the 73rd Rifle Division was relocated to the Kuban Military District with the 29th Rifle Corps and was based at Novorossiysk. [2] It became the 39th Rifle Brigade and was redesignated the 73rd Mountain Rifle Division on 23 July 1949. [3] In 1954 it became a rifle division again. [4] On 10 June 1957 it became the 73rd Motor Rifle Division. [5] In June 1968 the division transferred to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and became part of the 15th Army. [6] On 29 October 1989 it became the 5505th Weapons and Equipment Storage Base. [7] The base was disbanded in 1993. [6]

Subordinate Units

Commanders

Notes

  1. ↑ Michael Avanzini and Craig Crofoot, 'Armies of the Bear,' Vol I, Part 3.
  2. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 516
  3. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 149
  4. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 518
  5. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 151
  6. 1 2 Holm, Michael. "73rd Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
  7. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 592

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">19th Motor Rifle Division</span> Russian Ground Forces formation

The 19th Voronezh-Shumlinskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Red Banner of Labor Motor Rifle Division, is a division of the Russian Ground Forces. It appears to have been formed originally in July 1922 at Tambov in the Moscow Military District as a territorial formation. In 1923 it was awarded the 'Tambov' placename and renamed the 19th Voronezh Rifle Division. The division was downsized to a brigade in 2009 and reestablished as a division in 2020.

The 5th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed twice. The division was formed in 1918, initially as the 2nd Penza Infantry Division. After becoming the 5th Rifle Division a month later, it fought in the Counteroffensive of Eastern Front in spring 1919 and later operations in Siberia. In the spring of 1920, the division was relocated west and fought in the Polish–Soviet War, participating in the Battle of Warsaw. The division was awarded the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner for its actions during the wars in 1929. In September 1939, it fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland and was then sent to Lithuania under the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty. After Operation Barbarossa, the division fought in the Baltic Operation and the Leningrad Strategic Defensive. During the winter of 1941-1942, it participated in the Battle of Moscow, fighting in the Kalinin (Tver) area. During the summer of 1942, the division fought in the Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and became the 44th Guards Rifle Division for its actions there on 5 October.

A rifle corps was a Soviet corps-level military formation during the mid-twentieth century. Rifle corps were made up of a varying number of rifle divisions, although the allocation of three rifle divisions to a rifle corps was common during the latter part of World War II.

The 4th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed three times. It was first formed in 1919 from the remnants of the Lithuanian Rifle Division and fought in the Defence of Petrograd during the Russian Civil War. The division then fought in the Polish–Soviet War. In 1939, the division fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland. It fought in the Winter War from December 1939 and suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Kelja. After Operation Barbarossa, the division fought in the Barvinkove-Losowaja Operation and the 1942 Battle of Voronezh. It suffered heavy losses at Voronezh and was disbanded in November 1942. The division reformed in 1943 and fought in the Bryansk Offensive, Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive, Lublin–Brest Offensive, Warsaw-Poznan Offensive and Berlin Offensive. It was disbanded in the summer of 1945. The division was reformed a third time from the 160th Rifle Division and inherited that division's honorifics and awards. It became the 4th Motor Rifle Division in 1957 and disbanded in 1959.

The 7th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">308th Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 308th Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Soviet Red Army during World War II. The division was formed three separate times during the course of the war.

The 17th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th Rifle Division</span> Military unit

The 18th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Russian Civil War, Polish–Soviet War, Winter War and World War II. The division was formed a total of five times during this period.

The 26th Rifle Division was a rifle division in the Soviet Red Army during the Russian Civil War, World War II and the Cold War. The division was formed on 3 November 1918 on the Eastern Front, sent to the Soviet-German Front in August 1941. Ended the war in Poland, where it was assigned to the Northern Group of Forces. It was disbanded in 1952.

The 37th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II.

The 42nd Rifle Division was a unit of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The division, first formed in 1940, was nearly destroyed in the opening days of the Operation Barbarossa defending the Brest Fortress. Disbanded in late December 1941 and immediately reformed in the Volga Military District. The division then served on the front until disbanded at the end of the war.

The 11th Guards Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. It was disbanded in 1946.

The 69th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army, formed twice.

The 34th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during and before World War II. The division was formed in 1923. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945. Postwar, it became the 11th Machine Gun Artillery Division.

The 307th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as a standard Red Army rifle division, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. The division distinguished itself in the intense defensive fighting around the village of Ponyri during the Battle of Kursk. It was credited with the liberation of the town of Novozybkov on September 25, 1943. After battling its way through eastern Belarus during the autumn and winter of 1943–44, and then helping complete its liberation during Operation Bagration, it was moved to East Prussia, where it took part in the Battle of Königsberg in the spring of 1945, ending the war on the Baltic coast near the Zemland Peninsula. In the course of these campaigns the 307th compiled a battle record to rival a Guards unit but was nevertheless disbanded on the second-last day of 1945.

The 5th Guards Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army in World War II. It fought at Kaluga, Orel, Moscow, Bryansk, Gorodok, and in Belorussia, East Prussia, and Kurland.

The 49th Rifle Division was a Soviet Army infantry division, formed three times. First formed as a territorial division in 1931, the 49th Rifle Division's first formation became a regular division by 1939 and fought in the Winter War. For its actions during the war, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. However, the 49th Rifle Division was wiped out during the first ten days of Operation Barbarossa. Its second formation occurred in December 1941 and fought at Stalingrad, Kursk, the Vistula-Oder Offensive and the Battle of Berlin. The second formation was disbanded in 1946. The division was reformed in 1955 by renaming the 295th Rifle Division and became the 49th Motor Rifle Division in 1957.

The 50th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army from 1936 to 1946. The division took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland and the Winter War. After Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the 50th fought in the Battle of Moscow, the Battles of Rzhev, the Donbass Strategic Offensive, the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, the First and Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the Berlin Offensive.

The 260th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II, formed twice.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.