86th Guards Rifle Division
86th Guards Rifle Division | |
---|---|
Active | 1943–1957 |
Country | Vienna Offensive |
Decorations | Order of the Red Banner |
Battle honours | Nikolaev |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Col. Ivan Fedotovich Seryogin Maj. Gen. Vasilii Pavlovich Sokolovskii Maj. Gen. Leonid Aleksandrovich Kolobov |
The 86th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 98th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War and well into the postwar era.
It first saw action in July 1943 as part of the 2nd formation of the
Formation
At the beginning of March 1943 the 98th Rifle Division was part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps of 2nd Guards Army in Southern Front.
- 260th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 4th Rifle Regiment)
- 263rd Guards Rifle Regiment (from 166th Rifle Regiment)
- 265th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 308th Rifle Regiment)
- 191st Guards Artillery Regiment (from 153rd Artillery Regiment)[2]
- 93rd Guards Antitank Battalion
- 89th Guards Reconnaissance Company
- 99th Guards Sapper Battalion
- 165th Guards Signal Battalion (later 119th Guards Signal Company)
- 91st Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion
- 90th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company
- 92nd Guards Motor Transport Company
- 88th Guards Field Bakery
- 87th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital
- 1727th Field Postal Station
- 168th Field Office of the State Bank
Col. Ivan Fedotovich Seryogin, who had commanded the 98th since September 1942, remained in command until May 27. He was then replaced by Col. Vasilii Pavlovich Sokolovskii who would remain in command for the duration of the war, being promoted to the rank of major general on September 13, 1944. Through June and into July the division remained in 1st Guards Corps, which also the contained the
Into Ukraine
The new commander of Southern Front, Col. Gen. F. I. Tolbukhin, was directed to plan a new offensive to breach the German front along the Mius River which was held by the rebuilt but chronically understrength 6th Army. Tolbukhin chose to break the German defenses facing the center of his line with the 5th Shock and 28th Armies operating on a 16km-wide sector with the 2nd Guards Army in second echelon ready to exploit any initial success. The offensive opened on July 17, within days of the suspension of the German offensive at Kursk. The 28th and 5th Shock forced the river but were soon met by German armor from the southern wing of Army Group South which first contained the bridgehead and at the end of the month launched a powerful counterblow with four panzer divisions, a panzergrenadier division and two infantry divisions. On the evening of August 1 Tolbukhin reported the situation to the STAVKA and received permission to withdraw his forces to their old positions. While he attributed much of the failure on his premature commitment of 2nd Guards Army he was reassured by Marshal A. M. Vasilevskii that the offensive had successfully diverted German strength from more important axes.[4]
Southern Front returned to the offensive on August 18, this time finally smashing the Mius-Front with the fire of over 5,000 guns and mortars on the German defenses. By the end of the month Tolbukhin's armies had taken Taganrog and Hitler finally authorized 6th Army, "if necessary", to pull back to the Kalmius River.[5] During September the 86th and 24th Guards Divisions were transferred to the 55th Rifle Corps, still in 2nd Guards Army.[6] Through September and well into October Southern Front (as of October 20 4th Ukrainian Front) made slow progress against 6th Army from the Dniepr to the Sea of Azov with orders to destroy the German Melitopol grouping, seize crossings over the Dniepr and then shut the German 17th Army into the Crimea. The offensive made little progress until October 9 but by October 23, led by forces of the 51st Army, the Front finally ground its way into the city.[7] During the month both the 86th and 24th Guards returned to 1st Guards Corps.[8] In the first days of November the 51st and 28th Armies attempted to seize the Crimea from off the march but were narrowly unsuccessful.[9] This left the former containing 17th Army in the peninsula while by the start of January 1944 the 2nd Guards Army had advanced to the mouth of the Dniepr at Kherson.[10] In February the 86th Guards was transferred to the 28th Army as a separate division; this Army was now part of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.[11]
Into Western Ukraine
During the first days of February the German 6th Army began evacuating the bridgehead it held on the east bank of the Dniepr based on Nikopol. 28th Army had been facing the southern flank of this bridgehead near Bolshaya Lepatikha. The last German troops crossed the Dniepr on February 7 with the goal of forming a new line behind the Ingulets River. Due in part to an unusually mild winter the pace of operations on both sides remained slow through the rest of the month.[12]
The Front commander, Army Gen.
NIKOLAEV (Nikolaev Oblast)... 86th Guards Rifle Division (Col. Sokolovskii, Vasilii Pavlovich)... The troops who participated in the liberation of Nikolaev, by the order of the Supreme High Command of March 28, 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.[14]
Within days the division was transferred again, along with 10th Guards Corps, to 5th Shock Army; the Corps also contained the 109th Guards and the 320th Rifle Division.[15]
Odessa Offensive
Immediately following the victory at Nikolaev the left (south) wing of 3rd Ukrainian Front continued its advance on the city of Odessa, which was expected to be taken at the earliest around April 5. This was led by
On April 4 Pliyev's Group and the lead elements of 37th Army signalled the beginning of the final phase of the Odessa offensive by capturing the town of Razdelnaia, 60km northwest of the city, thus once again splitting German 6th Army into two distinct parts. Once this was accomplished Malinovskii ordered Pliyev to race south as fast as possible to cut the withdrawal routes of the German forces from the Odessa region. At the same time the three combined-arms armies were to move in to take the city. After heavy fighting on its northern and eastern approaches the forward detachments of 5th Shock entered its northern suburbs on the evening of April 9. Overnight the remaining Soviet forces approached Odessa's inner defenses from the northwest and west. With the trap closing shut the remainder of the defending LXXII Army Corps began breaking out to the west, allowing the Soviet forces to occupy the city's center at 1000 hours on April 10 after only minor fighting.[17] For its part in the liberation of Odessa, on April 20 the 86th Guards would be awarded the Order of the Red Banner.[18]
First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive
Following the battle for Odessa, the STAVKA ordered Malinovskii's Front to mount a concerted effort to force the Dniestr, capture Chișinău, and eventually occupy all of eastern Bessarabia. 5th Shock and 6th Armies were engaged in mopping up Odessa and were unable to join the pursuit for at least a week, when they were to reinforce the forward armies wherever required. The initial efforts to force the river were only partially successful, with a series of small and tenuous bridgeheads being seized. On the night of April 12/13 it was decided to reinforce 8th Guards Army with part of the 5th Shock's forces, but this would not take place until April 18-20 due to the state of the roads. The Army was expected to be required to overcome German strongpoints at Cioburciu and Talmaza before advancing westward.[19]
By April 19 the 10th Guards Corps had reached the Dniestr in the Cioburciu area but Malinovskii delayed the 5th Shock and 6th Armies' main offensives until the 25th largely due to the failures of the
Into the Balkans
The division, along with its 10th Guards Corps, remained in 5th Shock Army until early August, when it was transferred to the 46th Army in the buildup to the new offensive into Bessarabia.[21] 10th Guards Corps (49th, 86th and 109th Guards Divisions) served as the Front reserve.[22]
The offensive began on August 20 but the 86th Guards, along with its Corps, did not see any action in the first days. By 0800 hours on August 24 General Malinovskii had shifted the Corps to the boundary between the 37th and 46th Armies in the Leiptsig area and to the east. By the end of the next day the Corps was to arrive in the Comrat area; by this time the Axis Kishinev grouping had been encircled following the linkup of 3rd and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts. During the next days the 10th Guards Corps exploited to cross the Prut River while the remaining German forces were destroyed east of it.[23]
Operations in Hungary
On September 20, following the defections of Romania and Bulgaria from the Axis and as it advanced into the Balkan states, the 46th Army was subordinated to 2nd Ukrainian Front.[24] By the first week of October the 86th Guards had advanced to the east bank of the Tisza River just south of Hódmezővásárhely, forcing a crossing there shortly afterward. Near the end of the month it had reached a point west of Kiskunmajsa.[25]
On November 6, Guardsman Alexsandr Dmitrievich Artyomtsev lost his life in an action that would make him a Hero of the Soviet Union. Artyomtsev had participated in the defense of Odessa, his home city, in 1941, during which he was wounded and captured. After escaping from a transit camp he joined the partisans in the catacombs of the city and spent the next two and a half years in partisan operations. He joined the 263rd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 86th Guards when the city was liberated and during the advance into Hungary swam the Tisza with several other soldiers to help establish a bridgehead. At the village of Mate the division ran into a strong Axis position and went over to the defense. On November 6 the height his company occupied came under several counterattacks from German tanks and halftrack-mounted infantry. Artyomtsev destroyed one halftrack with an antitank grenade during the first attack; 30 minutes later, during a second attack he was wounded in the right arm, but carried two more grenades in his left hand to knock out a German tank from under its tracks. He received his Gold Star posthumously on March 24, 1945.[26]
Battles for Budapest
As of the beginning of December the 86th Guards was still in 10th Guards Corps,[27] and later that month 46th Army returned to 3rd Ukrainian Front.[28] In the planning for the offensive to break the "Margarita Line" and subsequently encircle Budapest, which was to begin on December 20, the division was allocated as the Army's combined-arms reserve.[29] It was located immediately south of the city on the east bank of the Danube, facing the northernmost part of the line on the opposite side of the river.[30]
The encirclement of Budapest was completed on December 26 and was almost immediately followed by Axis operations to relieve its garrison. During January 2-7, 1945 the 3rd Ukrainian Front's right-flank formations were involved in heavy defensive fighting during Operation Konrad I. Both the
When the siege ended one of the division's units was recognized with an honorific:
BUDAPEST... 263rd Guards Rifle Regiment (Lt. Col. Denisenko, Andrei Andreevich)... The troops who participated in the liberation of Budapest, by the order of the Supreme High Command of February 13, 1945, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.
The 10th Guards Rifle Corps (Lt. Gen.
Into Austria
At the beginning of February the 86th Guards was in 10th Guards Corps with the
Postwar
From July 1950 until October 1952 the division was under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Maj. Gen. Leonid Aleksandrovich Kolobov, who had led the 389th Rifle Division during the war.[39]
In 1955 the 86th Guards was still part of the 10th Guards Budapest Rifle Corps. The division was redesignated in 1957 as the 86th Guards Motor Rifle Division.[40] On 1 December 1989 the division was reduced to the 5381st Equipment Storage Base and its headquarters moved to Florești, Moldova.[41] There it was taken over by Moldova in early 1992.
References
Citations
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 66
- ^ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 79
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 140, 166
- ^ John Erickson, The Road to Berlin, George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Ltd., London, UK, 1983, pp. 115-16
- ^ Erickson, The Road to Berlin, p. 124
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 254
- ^ Erickson, The Road to Berlin, p. 139
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 282
- ^ Robert Forczyk, Where the Iron Crosses Grow, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2014, p. 245-46
- ^ Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, Center of Military History United States Army, Washington, DC, 1968, p. 239
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 78
- ^ Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, pp. 239, 242-44
- ^ Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, pp. 273-74, 277-78, 282-83
- ^ http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-4.html. In Russian. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 108
- ^ David M. Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2007, pp. 110, 114-15, 119
- ^ Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, pp. 120-22
- ^ Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1967a, p. 324.
- ^ Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, pp. 122-23, 142-44
- ^ Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, pp. 148, 153, 156-57
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, pp. 169, 199, 229, 262
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Iasi-Kishinev Operation, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, pp. 44, 46
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Iasi-Kishinev Operation, pp. 107, 124, 135, 269
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Iasi-Kishinev Operation, p. 15
- ^ The Gamers, Inc., Hungarian Rhapsody, Multi-Man Publishing, Inc., Millersville, MD, 2020, pp. 11, 18
- ^ http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=5402. In Russian, English translation available. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 350
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1945, p. 24
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Budapest Operation 1945, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, pp. 61, 237-40
- ^ The Gamers, Inc., Hungarian Rhapsody, p. 22
- ^ Soviet General Staff, The Budapest Operation 1945, pp. 73-74, 129
- ^ The Gamers, Inc., Hungarian Rhapsody, p. 31
- ^ https://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/4-hungary.html. In Russian. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ The Gamers, Inc., Hungarian Rhapsody, p. 42
- ^ http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/4-hungary.html. In Russian. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ^ Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union 1967b, p. 43.
- ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1945, pp. 59, 93
- ^ Sharp, "Red Guards", p. 80
- ^ http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=10649. In Russian, English translation available. Retrieved March 5, 2021
- ^ Holm, Michael. "86th Guards Motorised Rifle Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- ^ Feskov et al. 2013, p. 495.
Bibliography
- Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967a). 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 2020-08-22.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967b). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть II. 1945 – 1966 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 II. 1945–1966] (in Russian). Moscow.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - 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.
- Grylev, A. N. (1970). Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 192
- 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. pp. 148, 326
- Калашников К. А., Додонов И. Ю. Высший командный состав Вооружённых сил СССР в послевоенный период. Справочные материалы (1945—1975). Том 4. Командный состав Сухопутных войск (армейское и дивизионное звенья). Часть первая. — Усть-Каменогорск: «Медиа-Альянс», 2019. — 428 с. — ISBN 978-601-7887-31-5. — pp. 231-233