Maj. Gen. Nikolai Matveevich Makovchuk Maj. Gen. Gelb Nikolaevich Korchikov
Military unit
The 48th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the
Belorussian Military District
. The division was converted to the 38th Guards Rifle Brigade in 1946, but reformed as a new 48th Guards Rifle Division in 1949.
Formation
The 48th Guards officially received its Guards title on October 20. It would receive its banner on December 17 from the commander of 3rd Tank Army, Major General Pavel Rybalko, and its subunits would be redesignated on December 26; at this point the division's order of battle was as follows:[citation needed]
53rd Guards Antitank Battalion (53rd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion as of May 9, 1944)
67th Guards Antiaircraft Battery (until April 25, 1943)
58th Guards Machine Gun Battalion (until July 1, 1943)
Separate rifle training company (as of May 28, 1944)
47th Guards Reconnaissance Company
53rd Guards Sapper Battalion
74th Guards Signal Battalion
54th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion
50th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company
52nd Guards Motor Transport Company
49th Guards Field Bakery
46th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital
1630th Field Postal Station
1620th Field Office of the State Bank
Col. Nikolai Matveevich Makovchuk remained in command of the division after redesignation; he had commanded the 264th throughout its 2nd formation and would be promoted to the rank of major general on November 10. The redesignation took place when 3rd Tank Army was in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command after having been removed from the south flank of
XXIV Panzer Corps. The advance made good progress and the Front commander, Col. Gen. N. F. Vatutin, reported that 3rd Tank had captured the Valuyki and Urazovo regions in Belgorod Oblast by January 19. On February 8 the Front's 60th Army liberated Kursk and the German 2nd Army appeared to be in full retreat. 3rd Tank, currently south of Kharkov, was ordered on February 16 to exploit towards Poltava. However, on February 19 Field Marshal E. von Manstein launched his counteroffensive towards the former city and had soon thrown the forces of Voronezh Front into confusion.[4] On the last day of the month the Army was transferred to Southwestern Front,[5] and was ordered to swing 90 degrees from the Poltava axis to counterattack the SS Panzer Corps. After more than a month of near constant fighting 3rd Tank was woefully under-strength, suffering from shortages of equipment, fuel and ammunition and had a total of fewer than 80 operational tanks. On March 1 the Army advanced south into the Kegichevka region and soon encountered three converging panzer divisions, with predictable results. Between March 3–5 the SS Corps and the arriving XXXXVIII Panzer Corps "completely demolished" the two tank corps and the supporting rifle divisions of 3rd Tank, forced the survivors back towards Kharkov and advanced to within 32 km of the city, which fell by March 16.[6]
Shortly after taking Belgorod on the 17th the German offensive ground to a halt in part due to the spring rasputitsa, giving the Red Army survivors a respite to regroup and rebuild. As of the beginning of April the 48th Guards was still in 3rd Tank Army in Southwestern Front, east of the Donets, but later that month it was reassigned to the new 27th Guards Rifle Corps of 57th Army, still in the same Front. It would remain under these commands into July.[7] On May 27 General Makovchuk took command of the 34th Guards Rifle Corps and three days later he handed command of the division to Col. Leonid Ivanovich Vagin. As it replenished its forces the division was noted in June as having 80 percent of its personnel of various Asian nationalities, but a month later the breakdown was reported as 40 percent Russian, 30 percent Ukrainian, and 30 percent Turkmen.[8]
Into Ukraine
On July 2 Colonel Vagin gave over his command to Col. Gelb Nikolaevich Korchikov. Vagin would go on to command the
6th Army, still in Southwestern Front, at the start of the second Donbass Strategic Offensive. This began on August 13, following the German defeat at Kursk, and the 48th Guards took part in forcing the Donets and assisting Steppe Front in the final liberation of Kharkov. Later that month the division was reassigned to the 76th Rifle Corps, which was in the Steppe Front's reserves.[9] Meanwhile, on August 7 the 98th Guards Artillery Regiment had been recognized for its service with the award of the Order of the Red Banner.[10]
At the beginning of September the 48th Guards was again marching towards Poltava, but on the 6th the STAVKA redirected Steppe Front's main thrust in the direction of Kremenchug on the Dniepr.[11] During the summer offensive Sen. Sgt. Vasilii Yakovlevich Petrov, commander of the reconnaissance platoon of the 146th Guards Rifle Regiment, distinguished himself. Under his leadership the platoon staged a series of raids behind German lines which gained 20 prisoners for interrogation, killed or wounded as many as 100 German soldiers and officers and gained much valuable information. On December 20 Petrov would be made a Hero of the Soviet Union; he would later be killed in action at Gumbinnen on November 25, 1944.[12] As the Front approached the Dniepr the division returned to 57th Army although it was not immediately assigned to a corps.[13]
Battle for the Dniepr
On September 26 forces of Steppe Front made three assault crossings between Kermenchug and Dnepropetrovsk, which were merged over the next few days to form a single lodgement 50 km wide and up to 16 km deep.[14] In the bridgehead fighting that followed three more non-commissioned officers of the 48th Guards would become Heroes of the Soviet Union on December 20. Sen. Sgt. Pyotr Akimovich Kravets was the commander of a gun crew of the 98th Guards Artillery Regiment that made an assault crossing into the bridgehead north of Dnepropetrovsk on October 3. Three days later he directed the fire of his gun during a heavy German counterattack and accounted for four tanks, two assault guns and two machine guns. In total he and his crew destroyed seven tanks, three assault guns and several more machine guns and artillery pieces in the bridgehead.[15] Sen. Sgt. Nikolai Petrovich Pustyntsev was the director of intelligence of the 47th Guards Reconnaissance Company. During the summer offensive he had been responsible for the capture of four prisoners for interrogation. On October 17 he led a party into the German rear and discovered well-concealed artillery positions. He then contacted the divisional artillery by radio and called in accurate fire that destroyed 12 guns, seven mortars, two armored vehicles and a large number of personnel. Pustyntsev survived the war and went on to write his memoirs.[16] Sen. Sgt. Nikolai Kulba had volunteered for the Red Army in August 1942 after being convicted for robbery in 1941. By the spring of 1943 he was in the 146th Guards Rifle Regiment and was recognized as one of the division's best snipers, with 29 kills. In the early fighting for the bridgehead he took command of his company after its commander was wounded and led it in a successful attack on the Rogan height, despite his own wound. On October 27, in a battle for the Zhovtnevo farm, he destroyed a German machine gun position with grenades despite being wounded again in the process. He had been in hospital until sometime before his award was approved, but disappeared before it could be awarded. Kulba was not finally tracked down until 1958, due to his use of a different patronymic, and the Soviet Army authorities found he had been convicted of two more crimes, including rape. On July 1, 1959 Kulba was deprived of all ranks and awards.[17]
During October the division was assigned to the 64th Rifle Corps, still in 57th Army in the renamed 2nd Ukrainian Front.[18] On October 15 the Front had broken out of the larger of its bridgeheads with 12 rifle divisions and over the next few days the forces of three armies plus the 5th Guards Tank Army crossed the Dniepr and tore into the left flank of 1st Panzer Army. The important rail hub of Pyatikhatka was liberated on October 18 cutting the line from Dnepropetrovsk to Krivoi Rog and the latter city was the Front's next objective. On October 24 von Manstein transferred the XXXX Panzer Corps to 8th Army on the northern flank of the Soviet thrust but this was still deploying when 2nd Ukrainian's lead elements reached the outskirts of Krivoi Rog the next day. The German counterattack began on the 27th and over the course of three days caused significant destruction to the overstretched Soviet forces, driving them back some 30 km. Until mid-December they rebuilt while carrying on attritional warfare with the two German armies.[19] During November the 48th Guards returned to 27th Guards Corps, still in 57th Army.[20]
Nikopol-Krivoi Rog Offensive
In December the 27th Guards Corps was reassigned to 37th Army, still in 2nd Ukrainian Front, but in the new year this Army was transferred to 3rd Ukrainian Front while the division was moved to the 57th Rifle Corps.[21] The Front's first effort to renew the drive on Krivoi Rog began on January 10, led mainly by 46th Army, but made only modest gains at considerable cost and was halted on the 16th. The offensive was renewed on January 30 after a powerful artillery preparation against the positions of the German XXX Army Corps on the same sector of the line, but this was met with a counter-barrage that disrupted the attack. A new effort the next day, backed by even heavier artillery and air support, made progress but still did not penetrate the German line.[22]
On February 1 the XXX Corps line was pierced in several places and by nightfall the Soviet forces had torn a 9 km-wide gap in the line west of the
8th Guards Army reached Apostolovo on the 4th and over the next few days 46th Army began to attempt a sweep westward to envelop Krivoi Rog from the south. The dispersion of the Front's forces, combined with German reserves produced by the evacuation of the Nikopol bridgehead east of the Dniepr and indecision on the part of the German high command, produced "a peculiar sort of semiparalysis" on this part of the front during the second half of the month. During this period the 48th Guards was transferred to the 34th Rifle Corps of 46th Army. Finally, on February 21 elements of the 46th and 37th Armies broke into the outer defenses of Krivoi Rog. To avoid costly street fighting 6th Army was withdrawn west of the city, which was liberated the next day.[23] The division was given a battle honor for its part in this action:
"KRIVOI ROG... 48th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Korchikov, Gleb Nikolaevich)... The troops who participated in the liberation of Krivoi Rog, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 22 February 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns."[24]
Shortly after this victory, following eight months of continuous offensive across the Donbass, Ukraine, and the Dniepr River the division was withdrawn to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command to recover. While there it was assigned to the 28th Army and it would remain under that command for the duration of the war. In May it became one of the first Red Army divisions to have the 45mm antitank guns of its antitank battalion replaced with 12 SU-76 self-propelled guns.[25]