Maj. Gen. Nikolai Nikolaevich Korzhenevskii Maj. Gen. Grigorii Ivanovich Chernov Maj. Gen. Ivan Moiseevich Tretyak
Military unit
The 26th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the
Berezina River for which it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. It continued to advance through Lithuania to the border with East Prussia later that year. As part of the East Prussian Offensive the 26th Guards entered that heavily fortified region in the winter of 1945 and helped gradually break the German resistance there, particularly at Insterburg and Königsberg, winning the Order of Suvorov for its part in the battle for the former place. The division ended the war at Pillau. The 26th Guards remained in the Kaliningrad Oblast well after the war, becoming the 26th Guards Motorized Rifle Division
in 1957 and not finally disbanded until 1989.
Formation
As the 93rd the division had been originally formed on August 14, 1936, at Chita in the Siberian Military District, based on the 106th Siberian Rifle Regiment, in October of that year it was named the "East Siberian" division, a name that it continued to carry throughout the war.[1] The division was officially raised to Guards status on April 20, 1942, in recognition of its leading role in driving in the south flank of German 4th Army during the counteroffensive in front of Moscow and the liberation of Maloyaroslavets and Yukhnov. As the 93rd the division had the standard prewar howitzer regiment (the 128th) in addition to the light artillery regiment, but this had been removed earlier in the month to become a separate army-level support unit. After the subunits received their redesignations on May 19 the division's order of battle was as follows:
Col. Nikolai Nikolaevich Korzhenevskii remained in command of the division after redesignation; he would be promoted to the rank of major general on November 27. At this time the division was under command of the 43rd Army. In May it was withdrawn to the reserves of Western Front, providing the command cadre for the new 8th Guards Rifle Corps; as with all Guards rifle corps in this period it consisted of one Guards division with a number of rifle brigades, in this case the 129th, 140th, 150th and the 153rd. In June the Corps was assigned to the 20th Army, still in Western Front.[3]
Battles of Rzhev
At the beginning of July, following a discussion with Stalin, Army Gen.
20th Army intended to liberate Sychyovka on August 7 but by now the German High Command was reacting with alarm and the offensive began drawing German reserves. 8th Guards Corps ran into elements of the 1st Panzer Division as it continued to advance and on August 9 and 10 the roughly 800 tanks under Western Front met counterattacks by about 700 panzers; the Soviet armor lacked adequate signals equipment and command facilities which limited its effectiveness. As an example the 11th Tank Brigade lost contact with its headquarters and wandered into the sector of 8th Guards Corps against orders. The counterattack was eventually repulsed but the Soviet forces in turn were unable to make much headway. On August 23 the Corps, in cooperation with elements of 5th Army, broke through the German grouping at Karmanovo and liberated that town. Although this date is given as the official end of the offensive in Soviet histories, in fact 20th Army persisted in efforts to penetrate the German front and attack Gzhatsk from the west before going over to the defense on September 8. In total during the period from August 4 to September 10 the 20th Army suffered a total of 60,453 personnel killed, wounded and missing-in-action.[5]
Operation Mars
In the buildup to the new Soviet offensive around the Rzhev salient in the autumn the 26th Guards, with its Corps, was alerted by Western Front Directive No. 0289/OP on October 1 as follows:
"The commander of the 20th [Army] Grouping, consisting of the... 26th Guards... Rifle Division[s]... will attack towards Sychyovka, in the front's sector from Vasilki to Pechora. The immediate mission is to penetrate the enemy's front and secure Sychyovka and the railroad line in the
6th Tank Corps and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. 8th Guards Corps was supported by the 11th and 18th Tank Brigades. In the first echelon the Army had five divisions, including the 247th and 331st on the front line along the Vazuza about 20 km northeast of Sychyovka. The German XXXIX Panzer Corps was holding the sector with the 14th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division backed by the two panzergrenadier regiments of 5th Panzer Division. In the operational plan the two rifle divisions were to make a headlong advance over the mostly-frozen river following a massive artillery preparation and punch through the forward German defenses. 8th Guards Corps was to follow the advancing first echelon by the end of the first day, mop up bypassed German resistance, expand the south flank of the penetration towards Sychyovka and follow and support the exploiting mobile group.[8]
The offensive began with the artillery at 0750 hours which continued for more than 90 minutes. However, fog and blowing snow hindered observation and the bombardment was not as effective as planned. Despite failures along the rest of 20th Army's front, the 247th Division, supported by 80th Tank Brigade, reached the far side of the Vazuza early in the assault and by noon had seized two fortified villages. At the same time the 331st also forced the river and captured the village of Prudy but was abruptly halted by heavy German fire from the town of Khlepen to the south. Although the 247th continued to advance in the afternoon to a depth of nearly 2 km, and the 331st also expanded the bridgehead, there wasn't enough space to deploy the 8th Guards Corps effectively. Instead, Col. Gen. I. S. Konev, the Western Front commander, chose to commit the 6th Tank Corps early the next day, assuming an additional armored blow would complete the breakthrough of the German front. Anticipating this breakthrough and realizing the need for infantry to consolidate the tanks' gains the 8th Guards Corps was ordered to advance over the river in tandem with and just to the south of the tank corps. The problem with this revised plan was that there were just two fragile roads running from the rear to the Vazuza which were not adequate to move such a mass of men and vehicles.[9]
The night of November 25/26 proved to be "a staff officer's nightmare." Despite their best efforts the marching troops and equipment became entangled and delayed. In the end neither the 8th Guards or 6th Tanks Corps completed their concentrations forward before mid-morning. Meanwhile, German counterattacks were regaining some ground in the bridgehead lost the previous day. By mid-afternoon the 148th and 150th Rifle Brigades were in action against hard-pressed elements of the 78th Infantry and 5th Panzer Divisions between Zherebtsovo and Khlepen while the XXXIX Corps anxiously awaited the arrival of the
9th Panzer Division. However, due to congestion at the crossings the 26th Guards remained on the east bank until just after midnight. A Soviet after action report noted:
"The responsible 20th Army staff officers, who were in charge of the crossing sites, had such a poor understanding of the situation that they continued to permit transport and rear service units to cross to the western bank at the same time that combat elements of the exploitation echelon remained on the river's eastern bank."[citation needed]
By now the entire offensive timetable was in a shambles. On November 27 the two rifle brigades reinforced their positions but their repeated attacks on the two strongpoints they faced made little headway. Late in the evening the division moved up and relieved the 3rd Guards and 20th Cavalry Divisions which had become exhausted in their struggle for the villages of Arestovo and Podosinovka.[10]
By this point in the battle the 6th Tank Corps had broken through the German front and cut the road from Sychyovka to Rzhev, but was nearly isolated and in need of support, which would come from the 2nd Guards Cavalry. Overnight the 26th Guards struck the position at Podosinovka with the goal of both providing passage for the cavalry and to carry on its own advance. While this attack diverted enough German firepower to allow the cavalry to break through with some losses, the village remained in German hands and the division suffered heavy casualties. By dawn on the 28th tanks of the 9th Panzer began to arrive but were forced over to the defense as the division renewed its attacks on Podosinovka backed by armor and cavalry. During fierce and confused fighting XXXIX Corps reported at 1000 hours that the village had fallen, but this turned out to be false. Throughout the day the efforts of 20th Army to expand the bridgehead proved futile.[11]
By the morning of November 29 the 8th Guards Corps had been reinforced with the 354th Rifle Division, which took up positions between the 148th and 150th Brigades. The Corps, which now manned the entire south flank of the bridgehead, was ordered to attack from Zherebtsovo to Khlepen in another attempt to get the offensive moving, but lost many men in futile attacks. At the end of the day 20th Army received orders to intensify its attacks against the same objectives the next day. From December 1–5 the 354th maintained its attempts against Khlepen, without success but at the cost of many casualties.[12] By this time the 8th Guards Corps was no longer combat effective; it had lost 6,068 men in just five days of fighting, most from the 26th Guards.[13] General Zhukov was still desperate to renew the offensive and on December 4 he sacked Maj. Gen. Nikolay Kiryukhin, commander of 20th Army, replacing him with Lt. Gen. M. S. Khozin. At about this time the 148th and 150th Brigades were pulled from the bridgehead for replenishment and the 415th Rifle Division took up positions near Podosinovka and the 26th Guards shifted to the Zherebtsovo sector. By December 11 the two brigades returned while the division had been removed from the front lines, thus avoiding the last spasm of fighting before Zhukov finally acknowledged his forces were spent on December 15. Altogether from November 25 until December 18 the 8th Guards Corps, not including the 354th Division, lost 2,311 men killed, 7,434 wounded and 360 missing-in-action, for a total of 10,105 casualties. On December 7 the division had reported that it had just over 400 "bayonets" (infantry and sappers) remaining on strength.[14]
Into Western Russia
The 26th Guards remained in 8th Guards Corps and in 20th Army into February, 1943 when it was moved to the reserves of Western Front for much-needed rest and rebuilding. In March it was assigned to the
293rd Infantry Divisions. The Army commander, Lt. Gen. I. K. Bagramyan, committed his mobile forces in the afternoon and advanced about 10–12 km. Army Group Center hurriedly brought up the 5th Panzer Division to mount a counterattack in the evening, which was unsuccessful.[16] By mid-July the main forces of Western Front were preparing for its summer offensive, Operation Suvorov, the timing of which depended in part on the progress of 11th Guards Army in Kutuzov. Ideally the right flank of Army Group Center would be destabilized and in retreat after evacuating the Oryol salient, but in the event it consolidated along the Hagen line at its base.[17]
On July 30 the 11th Guards Army was transferred to
29th Rifle Divisions) in second echelon. In the event the STAVKA delayed the start of the offensive until November 26, but an unseasonal thaw forced a further delay into early December.[19]
Battle for Gorodok
The offensive was finally able to proceed on December 13. 8th Guards Corps attacked the northern tip of the German-held Ezerishche salient north of Vitebsk, on both sides of Lake Ezerishche, with the 26th Guards in second echelon. The initial objective was to cut off the northwestern portion of the salient in cooperation with 4th Shock Army and destroy the German grouping southwest of the lake. Subsequently, it was to develop the attack in the direction Mekhovoe and Gorodok before driving south to seize Vitebsk. 11th Guards Army faced the 129th Infantry and 6th Luftwaffe Field Divisions of German IX Army Corps.[20]
11th Guards Army kicked off after a two-hour artillery preparation but without air support due to poor flying weather. Little progress was made apart from on one sector, but even this was soon halted by German reserves. After an overnight regrouping the 83rd Guards Division broke through on this sector on the following morning with the help of the 159th Tank Brigade and another artillery preparation. This attack completely compromised the German defenses and soon cut the Gorodok-Nevel road in the rear of IX Corps. Early on December 15, despite counterattacks by the 20th Panzer Division, forward elements of the two Soviet armies had linked up, completely encircling the
31st Guards Divisions making the greatest progress, but even this amounted to just 5–7 km of ground gained. The fighting continued into early January, 1944 but was beginning to tail off by January 5 as both sides exhausted themselves. A last gasp effort began the next day when the 26th and 83rd Guards made a supporting attack in the sector north of Mashkina.[24] On January 9, while this fighting was continuing, General Korzhenevskii was killed when a German shell scored a direct hit on his divisional command post.[25] He was replaced the next day by Col. Grigorii Ivanovich Chernov, who was promoted to the rank of major general a week later. Chernov would lead the division for the duration of the war. By January 14 the 1st Baltic Front went over to the defense in front of Vitebsk.[26]
Vitebsk Offensive
Later that month the division was transferred to the
201st Security Divisions from Mashkina southward past Lake Zaronovskoe to Gorbachi. After an extensive artillery preparation the shock group quickly overcame the forward defenses of the 87th Infantry and in two days of fighting advanced up to 3.5 km. The 16th and 84th Guards Divisions reached the western outskirts of Kisliaki and captured the German strongpoint at Gorodishche on the north shore of Lake Zaronovskoe. The German LIII Army Corps withdrew the battered 87th Infantry and replaced it with the far stronger Group Breidenbach from 20th Panzer. By the end of February 3 the shock group had made enough progress that General Bagramyan released the 26th Guards from the Corps' second echelon, while 1st Tank Corps went into action the next morning. The tanks attacked along the Kozly and Mikhali axis at dawn and in two days of heavy fighting with the help of their supporting riflemen managed to advance another 4 km, taking Kozly and Novoselki before being halted by 20th Panzer. The attackers were now just 15 km northwest of downtown Vitebsk.[28]
By the end of February 5, although LIII Corps had lost considerable territory north of the Vitebsk-Sirotino road its defenses were firming up. To deal with this Bagramyan ordered Galitskiy to redirect 16th and 36th Guards Corps to the south. After a brief regrouping the attack began again on February 7 but 36th Corps made no notable progress before the offensive was halted on February 16. By now 1st Tank Corps had fewer than 10 tanks serviceable, the rifle divisions of 11th Guards Army numbered fewer than 3,000 personnel each due to nearly constant combat since mid-fall, and they had used up most of their ammunition. The next day Bagramyan was ordered to withdraw the Army for rest and refitting with the intention to commit it against Army Group North which was falling back from Leningrad.[29] In the event, after a period in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command it was reassigned to 3rd Belorussian Front in May, and the division returned to 8th Guards Corps in the same period,[30] where it would remain for the duration.