353rd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
353rd Rifle Division (August 27, 1941 – June, 1946) | |
---|---|
Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive | |
Decorations | Order of the Red Banner |
Battle honours | Dneprodzerzhinsk |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Col. Grigory Panchenko Maj. Gen. Fyodor Samuilovich Kolchuk Col. Pavel Ionovich Kuznetsov Col. Yeremei Zakharovich Karamanov |
The 353rd Rifle Division formed on August 27, 1941, as a standard
Formation
The division began forming on August 27, 1941, at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District.[1] Its order of battle was as follows:
- 1145th Rifle Regiment
- 1147th Rifle Regiment
- 1149th Rifle Regiment
- 902nd Artillery Regiment[2]
Col. Grigory Panchenko was assigned to command of the division on the day it began forming, and he continued in command until May 7, 1942. The division was one of the first assigned to the 56th Army, which was itself forming east of Rostov, in Southern Front. It first went into battle in late November, taking part in the first liberation of Rostov, one of the key initial setbacks for the German invaders. In late December the division was transferred to 18th Army, in the same Front.[3]
Battle of the Caucasus
On May 8, 1942, Kombrig Fyodor Samuilovich Kolchuk took command of the 353rd. As his pre-war rank suggests, this officer had been caught up and "repressed" during the Great Purge of the Red Army in 1937-38. Kolchuk would be promoted to the rank of Major General on November 17, and would hold this command until May 30, 1944.
When the German summer offensive began in late June, the division was still in 18th Army of Southern Front. The attack on the southern sector began on July 7, and the 353rd was in the northern half of its Front's sector, in the first echelon along the east bank of the
On September 23, the German
Into Ukraine
In March, 1943, after the retreat of the Axis forces from the Caucasus mountains, the 353rd was shifted to the 37th Army, still in North Caucasus Front, and then into the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in 46th Army. It would remain in this Army until August, 1944, in Southwestern Front until October, 1943, and then its successor, the 3rd Ukrainian Front.[6] It took part in the Donbass Strategic Offensive and the following Battle of the Dniepr, and earned a battle honor for its part in the liberation of the west-bank city of Dneprodzerzhinsk:
"DNEPRODZERZHINSK - ...353rd Rifle Division (Major General Kolchuk, Fyodor Samuilovich)... By order of the Supreme High Command of 25 October 1943 and a commendation in Moscow, the troops who participated in the battles for the liberation of Dnepropetrovsk and Dneprodzerzhinsk are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns."[7]
At this time the division was in the 6th Guards Rifle Corps,[8] and was noted as being made up of about 40% Russians and 60% Uzbeks, Tajiks and Turkmens.[9]
On February 26, 1944, the 353rd was decorated for its role in the liberation of the Ukrainian city of
At the end of May, General Kolchuk was reassigned to command of the 37th Rifle Corps, which he would hold for the duration. Col. Aleksey Ivanovich Melnikov took command of the division on June 1, but held it for less than three weeks before being replaced by Col. Pavel Ionovich Kuznetzov on June 19, who would continue at this post until November 8.
Into the Balkans
From May through most of August the division remained in much the same positions while the
As the offensive continued, 34th Rifle Corps was temporarily transferred to 57th Army, before coming under direct command of 3rd Ukrainian Front from September to November as the advance into Romania and Hungary went on. On November 9 the division saw its final change of command with the appointment of Col. Yeremei Zakharovich Karamanov. In the same month the Corps was reassigned to 37th Army, and in December that Army became a separate army directly under command of the STAVKA, serving as a garrison for the southern Balkans for the duration of the war.[15]
Postwar
At the end of the war in Europe, the division carried the full title of 353rd Rifle, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Order of the Red Banner Division (
References
Citations
- ^ Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p. 79
- ^ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p. 89
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 12
- ^ David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 112, 177-78, 401, 414
- ^ Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 562-63, 572-73, 606
- ^ Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 90
- ^ "Освобождение городов". www.soldat.ru. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 281
- ^ Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2007, p. 594
- ^ Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1967, p. 338.
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 109
- ^ Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2007, pp. 113, 157
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 139
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Iasi-Kishinev Operation, ed. and trans. R.W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, pp. 83-84, 101, 107, 122
- ^ Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 90
- ^ Feskov et al 2013, pp. 422, 489.
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.
- 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. 275
- Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть I. 1920 - 1944 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part I. 1920–1944] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
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