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The 302nd Rifle Division began service as a specialized Red Army mountain rifle division, which was later converted to serve for the balance of the war as a standard rifle division. The division played a leading role in 51st Army's breakthrough south of Stalingrad in the opening stages of Operation Uranus, and then in the exploitation following this success. The division continued to turn in a creditable record of service in the southern sectors of the Soviet-German front for the duration, and was especially recognized for its role in the liberation of the city of Ternopol, for which it received that city's name as an honorific. == 1st Formation == The division originally began forming on July 18, 1941 at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District as a mountain rifle division with a specialized order of battle featuring rifle regiments made up of over-sized companies (no battalion structure), with supporting arms, capable of independent operations in difficult terrain and backed by light and mobile mountain artillery.〔Charles C. Sharp, ''"Red Death", Soviet Mountain, Naval, NKVD, and Allied Divisions and Brigades 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VII'', 1995, pp 3-4〕 Its order of battle was as follows: * 823rd Mountain Rifle Regiment * 825th Mountain Rifle Regiment * 827th Mountain Rifle Regiment * 831st Mountain Rifle Regiment * 865th Mountain Artillery Regiment〔Sharp, ''"Red Death"'', p 17〕 Note that as a mountain rifle division it had one more rifle regiment than a standard rifle division. The 302nd was the only mountain rifle division formed from reservists in the early months of the war, and spent until November forming up, an unusually long time in this period of crisis, probably due to lack of specialized training and/or equipment. Its reconnaissance unit included some BT-5 and T-26 light tanks which implies, at least, that it was being equipped with what was available rather than what was authorized. In November it was assigned to 51st Army, and crossed into Crimea and saw its first action at the very end of the year. During the lull after the first Soviet attempts to break out of the Kerch Peninsula, the 302nd was reorganized as a standard rifle division on Mar. 31, 1942.〔Sharp, ''"Red Death"'', p 17〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「302nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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