|
The 354th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as a standard Red Army rifle division, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. The division distinguished itself in at least three battles. It was credited with the liberation of the town of Kalinkovichi on 14 January 1944, and shared credit with other formations for the liberation of Bobruisk during Operation Bagration. It also played the leading role in the defense of 65th Army's bridgehead over the Narev River in Oct., 1944. == Formation == The division was organized at Penzensk in the Russian SFSR starting on 11 August 1941 until the end of October, when it began moving to the front. It comprised: * 1199th Rifle Regiment * 1201st Rifle Regiment * 1203rd Rifle Regiment * 921st Artillery Regiment * 476th Sapper Battalion * 645th Antiaircraft Battalion * 809th Signal Battalion * 443rd Medical Battalion * 420th Reconnaissance Company * 473rd Truck Company * 436th Chemical Defense Company〔Charles C. Sharp, ''"Red Tide", Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX'', Nafziger, 1996, p 90〕 Col. Dmitrii Fyodorovich Alekseev was named divisional commander on 1 September. Alekseev had the advantage of starting with an unusually strong cadre for this period of the war; 35 percent of his officers were active-duty, and he received a large number of high-morale, experienced Communist Party members from the Penzensk party organization.〔Sharp, p 90〕 On 26 November the 354th was assigned to 16th Army, under command of K.K. Rokossovski, part of Western Front defending before Moscow. In early Dec. the 16th Army joined in the Soviet counteroffensive against German Army Group Center. The division first went on the offensive on the morning of Dec. 3, reaching the southern outskirts of Matushkino by late afternoon.〔Dr. Boris Sokolov, ''Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky'', trans. and edited by Stuart Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, p 143〕 Later that month the 354th was reinforced with the 274th Antitank Battalion (12 45mm guns, 27 PTRD antitank rifles); in addition, each rifle regiment had its own company of 27 PTRDs, giving the division a very strong antitank defense for a rifle division of this period. At the same time, however, the 645th AA Battalion was replaced with the 307th AA Battery, with just 4 37mm guns. In early 1942 the 354th was further reinforced with the 516th Mortar Battalion.〔Sharp, p 90〕 The division pushed on in the counteroffensive, taking the villages of Terekhovo, Kniazhevo, and Ignatkovo on Jan. 20, 1942,〔Sokolov, p 153〕 but by now was down to the strength of an oversize battalion. 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「354th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|