History
The division was first formed in September 1918 at Vladimir in the Moscow Military District.
After reorganisation, probably as part of forming new divisions, the division was re-formed for the second time in August 1939 at Poltava in the Kiev Special Military District. In September–October, 1939 the division took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939) as part of the 6th Rifle Corps, 6th Army, Ukrainian Front. From the Kiev Special MD it was sent to Finland around the middle of January 1940 during the Soviet invasion in Finland. The division arrived in Perkjärvi around the end of January or the start of February and moved to lake Mikkilänjärvi. From 3 February 1940 it joined the 50th Rifle Corps, and advanced with the Corps from 13.02.1940 as part of the 7th Army. It was then shifted to the 10th Rifle Corps about 20 February 1940, on the Summa-Hotinen direction. It was then shifted again, to the 34th Rifle Corps in February–March and awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Returned to the Kiev Special Military District in April 1940, it participated in the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in June–July 1940. In August 1940 it was reformed as the 7th Motorized Division. During the Soviet-Finnish campaign the division consisted of the 27th, 257th, and 300th Rifle Regiments, the 23rd Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 405th Separate Tank Battalion. Fighting as part of the 8th Mechanized Corps, 26th Army, Southwestern Front, [1] from June 1941, the division was decimated in attempting to halt the German advance. It was engaged in the Lutsk-Rovno area soon after the German invasion began. [2] [3]
The division was reformed on 27 December 1941 for the third time from remnants of the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps. It was reformed at Sverdlovsk in the Ural MD in 1942, as an Estonian national formation, which later joined the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army. It took part in operations from 7 November 1942 as part of the 3rd, 1st Shock, 8th and 42nd Armies. Its first combat was the Battle of Velikiye Luki. On 1 December 1942 it was part of the 8th Rifle Corps, subordinated directly to the Kalinin Front alongside other Estonian formations. [4] On 22 September 1944 elements of the division, along with the 45th Estonian Tank Regiment and the 952nd SU Regiment (SU-76s), formed the forward detachment of 8th Rifle Corps and captured Tallinn, for which all three units received the name of that city as a battle honor. [5] The 7th Estonian Rifle Division was with 1st Shock Army of the Kurland Group (Leningrad Front) in May 1945. On 28.06.1945 it became the 118th Guards Rifle Division by NKO Order № 0126.
Feskov et al. 2013 does not, despite earlier publications, list the division among those reformed in the 1950s. [6]
The 289th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army, formed twice. The division was first formed in the summer of 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and was sent to the front and destroyed in the Battle of Kiev in September. The division was formed a second time in October 1941 from the 5th Rifle Brigade, a separate infantry brigade fighting in the Continuation War against Finnish and German troops in Karelia. The new division spent most of the war in Karelia and in the summer of 1944 fought in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which resulted in the end of the Continuation War in September. The division was stationed at Belomorsk in Karelia until its disbandment after the end of World War II in July 1946.
A tank corps was a type of Soviet armoured formation used during World War II.
A mechanised corps was a Soviet armoured formation used prior to the beginning of World War II and reintroduced during the war, in 1942.
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The 208th Rifle Division was a Soviet infantry division in the Red Army during World War II. It began Operation Barbarossa as the 208th Mechanized Division under Colonel V.I. Nichiporovich, with the 128th Tank Regiment and 752nd and 760th Motorized Rifle Regiments. The Division was part of the 13th Mechanized Corps, 10th Army, Soviet Western Front. Unusually, Colonel Nichiporovich managed to keep a large group of men together after the destruction of his division during the border battles, and kept on the fight as 'Detachment No.208,' one of the first units of the Soviet partisans in Belarus.
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The 29th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army.
The 103rd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed three times. It was first formed in 1939. It was converted into a motorized division and fought in the Yelnya Offensive. After being converted back to a rifle division it was destroyed in the Battle of Vyazma. The division reformed in early 1942 but was destroyed during the Second Battle of Kharkov. It was reformed a third time in the Far East in summer 1942 and participated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
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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 295th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army and later the Soviet Army, formed twice.
The 265th Motor Rifle Division was a motorized infantry division of the Soviet Army during the Cold War.
The 215th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II that continued to serve in the Soviet Army during the early years of the Cold War. It was the successor to a motorized division of that same number that was destroyed during the Battle of Kiev in September 1941.
Soviet Union 
Order of the Red Banner (2; 1st formation) (1; 2nd formation) 
Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1st formation)