52nd Rifle Division

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52nd Rifle Division
Active
  • RSFSR formation: 1918–1919
  • 1st formation: 1935–1941
  • 2nd formation: 1942–1946
  • 3rd formation: 1955–1957
Country
Branch
East Prussian Offensive
Battle of Berlin
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Stanisław Bobiński
Stefan Żbikowski
Col. A. Ia. Maksimov

The 52nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, the interwar period, World War II, and the Cold War, formed once during the Russian Civil War and three times during the existence of the Soviet Union.

The Western Rifle Division (

10th Guards Rifle Division during World War II in late December 1941, a second formation of the division fought on for the duration in several Fronts. The second formation was disbanded in 1946 after the end of the war. A third formation of the division was formed by renumbering the 315th Rifle Division in 1955 during the Cold War
, becoming a motor rifle division in 1957.

Russian Civil War

The Western Division was formed in August 1918 in the area of

Polish communist regiment, the Revolutionary Red Warsaw Regiment [pl] made up its cadre, and in the beginning it was mostly composed of Polish volunteers.[3]
According to its order of battle (below) each of its brigades consisted of two battalions of infantry and one battalion of cavalry.

During the

Baranowicze against forces of Gen. Stanisław Szeptycki (part of the Polish Vilna offensive).[3]

Following these losses, in June 1919 the division was heavily reinforced with

Lepel in November.[6]

In November, the 52nd was transferred south to join the

Sivash and helping to capture the Ishun fortified position. The operation concluded with the final defeat and evacuation of the White Army in Crimea.[6]

In December, the 52nd protected the

Bug. On 13 December it received the honorific Yekaterinburg. In early 1921, the division participated in the suppression of anarchist leader Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine in the Nikolayev area. In accordance with orders of the Kharkov Military District of 23 April and 11 June and a 6th Army order of 29 April, the 52nd was reorganized as the 52nd Separate Rifle Brigade, directly subordinated to the district headquarters. It was soon renumbered as the 136th and by a district order of 12 October was used to form the 1st Brigade of the 25th Rifle Division.[6]

First formation

In accordance with a Moscow Military District directive of 11 April 1935, the division was formed at

invasion of Poland in 1939 and the Winter War with Finland[8] from November 1939 to March 1940. It became part of the Leningrad Military District for the latter.[9]

At the outbreak of the

10th Guards Rifle Division on Dec. 26. The division remained in that region until late 1944, when it was transferred to 2nd Belorussian Front and took part in the invasion of Germany.[10]

Second Formation

A new 52nd Rifle Division formed on Mar. 1, 1942 at Kolomna in the Moscow Military District.

The division was completed in about three months. It arrived at the front in late July 1942, as part of

2nd and 16th Guards Rifle Divisions, was able to liberate the key village of Polunino and advance 6 km to the outskirts of the town during the following months.[12]

After rebuilding, on the last day of 1942 the 52nd began moving south to

Donets River.[14]

In August 1943, the division moved with 57th Army to

Krasnograd.[16] At the end of November it joined 64th Rifle Corps.[17]

The 52nd entered and helped expand the Soviet

a new offensive was launched, and the 52nd played a role in the destruction of the German and Romanian forces in this southern sector. After the capture of Belgrade on Oct. 20, due to losses the division again went into reserves in the town of Ruma, rebuilding to a strength of 6,000 men by the end of December.[19] The division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in recognition of its "courage and valor" in the capture of Belgrade on 14 November.[20]

In January 1945, 52nd was transferred to 4th Guards Army, and later that same month to 46th Army, which was shifted to 2nd Ukrainian Front in March.[21] In April the division was given part of the credit for the capture of Vienna and got that city's name as an honorific. On 1 May 1945 the division was with 18th Guards Rifle Corps, 53rd Army, in 2nd Ukrainian Front, alongside 109th Guards Rifle Division and 317th Rifle Division.[22] It ended the war with Germany fighting near Prague.[23]

Along with its Army, the division was railed across Siberia to take part in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. On 9 August 1945 the 52nd Rifle Division was with 57th Rifle Corps, in the 53rd Army, Transbaikal Front.[24] It saw little combat with Japanese forces and ended the war in southern Manchuria.[25] It carried the official title of 52nd Rifle, Shumlinskaya-Vienna, Twice Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Division. (Russian: 52-я стрелковая Шумлинская-Венская дважды Краснознамённая ордена Суворова дивизия)

After the war, the division relocated with the 66th Rifle Corps to the Odessa Military District at Haivoron. It became the 43rd Rifle Brigade there and disbanded in December 1946.[26]

Third Formation

In 1955, it was reformed from the

52nd Motor Rifle Division on 17 May 1957.[27][28]

References

Citations

  1. ^
    M. K. Dziewanowski, The Foundation of the Communist Party of Poland, American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 11, No. 2. (April 1952), pp. 106-122. p.115 JSTOR
  2. ^ Polskie formacje wojskowe podczas I wojny światowej Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Last accessed on 9 April 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d (in Polish) Zachodnia Dywizja Strzelców Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine. WIEM Encyklopedia. Last accessed on 9 April 2007
  4. ^ "KAWALERIA POLSKA - zawartosc". 2007-09-27. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  5. ISBN 83-7012-045-8
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Dvoinykh, Kariaeva, Stegantsev, eds. 1993, pp. 152–153.
  7. ^ "Чапенко А. А, Титовская оборонительная операция, с. 67". Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  8. ^ Poirer and Connor, Red Army Order of Battle
  9. ^ Dvoinykh, Kariaeva, Stegantsev, eds. 1993, pp. 153–154.
  10. ^ Charles C. Sharp, Red Guards: Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Nafziger, 1995, p 46
  11. ^ Charles C. Sharp, Red Swarm, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p 19
  12. ^ Petr Mikhin, Guns Against the Reich, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley, UK, 2010, pp 47-48
  13. ^ Mikhin, p 48
  14. ^ Mikhin, p 66
  15. ^ [1] Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine, p 44
  16. ^ a b Mikhin, p 85
  17. ^ a b Sharp, Red Swarm, p 19.
  18. ^ Mikhin, p 100
  19. ^ Mikhin, p 162
  20. ^ Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1967, p. 551.
  21. ^ Sharp, Red Swarm, p 20.
  22. ^ BSSA via tashv.nm.ru
  23. ^ Mikhin, p 208
  24. ^ [2]
  25. ^ Mikhin, p 209
  26. ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 149
  27. ^ Feskov et al 2013, p. 151
  28. ^ Holm, Michael. "52nd Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-03-21.

Bibliography

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