The 284th Rifle Division began service as a standard Red Army rifle division shortly after the German invasion. Moved to the front soon after, it helped defend the Soviet lines west of the Ukrainian capital for more than a month, but was then destroyed in the encirclement of Kiev. A new division was formed in early 1942. It served in the early fighting against the German summer offensive of 1942 until its losses forced it to be withdrawn for rebuilding. In September it was redeployed, and played a leading role in defending the northern part of the central city and Mamayev Kurgan hill in the Battle of Stalingrad, and later in the reduction of the trapped German 6th Army during Operation Ring, for which it was raised to Guards status as the 79th Guards Rifle Division shortly after the battle ended. A third 284th was raised a few months later. It served on the quiet fronts of the Far East for most of the rest of the war before fighting briefly against the Japanese in Manchuria in August, 1945. The unit continued to serve well into the postwar period under other designations.
First formation The division began forming on July 10, 1941, at Romny in the Kharkov Military District.Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p. 77. The commanding officer, Col. Gennady Petrovich Pankov, was appointed the same day; he would lead the division throughout its 1st Formation. Its basic order of battle was as follows: 1043rd Rifle Regiment 1045th Rifle Regiment 1047th Rifle Regiment 338th Separate Medical Battalion 334th Separate Anti-Tank Battalion 353rd Separate Reconnaissance Company 589th Separate Engineer Battalion 754th Separate Communications Battalion 387th Separate Chemical Defense Company 724th Motor Transport Company 430th Field Bakery 895th Veterinary Hospital 1691st Field Postal Station 614th Field Cash Desk of the Grosbank 820th Artillery Regiment.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December, 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, 1996, p. 61
Just three weeks after forming the 284th was railed to the Kiev Defense Sector. By August 12 it was assigned to 37th Army of Southwestern Front, and helped to defend the direct approaches to Kiev for the next month,David Stahel, Kiev 1941, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, map on p. 210 but this left it hopelessly trapped when the German forces linked up far east of Kiev in September. The division was effectively destroyed later that month, although it was not officially removed from the Soviet order of battle until December 27.Sharp, Red Tide, p. 61
Second formation On December 15 a new rifle division, the 443rd, began forming at Tomsk in the Siberian Military District. Kombrig Sergei Aleksandrovich Ostroumov was given command on that date. On January 27, 1942 it was re-designated as the new 284th Rifle Division.Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys, p. 99 With most of its personnel of Siberian origin, it became known unofficially as the "Tomsk" division, although there were also large numbers of men from Novosibirsk and Kemerovo as well.Jochen Hellbeck, Stalingrad, trans. C. Tauchen & D. Bonfiglio, Perseus Books Group, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, p. 331 Its order of battle remained the same as the 1st Formation.
Operation Blue The unit spent about three months in training in Siberia before being sent to the front. On February 27, Col. Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk took command, which he would hold for the remainder of the 2nd Formation. The division was assigned to the new 48th Army in Bryansk Front. When Operation Blue began on June 28 it had not yet arrived in that Army, and was under direct command of the Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 125 In the first two days of the offensive a gap about 40 km wide and 35–40 km deep was torn in the Front's defenses by the 4th Panzer Army. As a fresh unit, the 284th was ordered into the gap, along with the 1st Destroyer (Antitank) Division, to set up an all-around defense at Kastornoye. By June 30 the two divisions were defending the town with "exceptional stubbornness". On July 3 they came under further attack from 9th Panzer Division, which elected to bypass to the south of the position, forcing the Soviet units to withdraw northeastwards to avoid encirclement. However, even with more antitank assets on hand than usual, the 284th took considerable losses during its retreat. By July 14 it regained the Soviet lines northwest of Voronezh. Within days it was subordinated to Operational Group Chibisov, which was formed from assets of Bryansk Front under command of the Front's deputy commander, Maj. Gen. Nikandr Evlampievich Chibisov. The plan was for this Group to attack the German 2nd Army in a salient west of Voronezh. It was intended to begin on July 17 but in the event was put back to the 21st.David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 111, 132, 135, 143-44, 253-55
The division was in a very poor condition to support this offensive. On July 20 division commissar Tkachenko reported its state as follows: The commissar went on to urgently request vehicles (including ambulances, of which there were none), small arms and support weapons, draught horses, and a closer supply base. After the first day of fighting Tkachenko further reported that the lack of high-explosive shells forced the artillery to fire armor-piercing rounds at enemy firing points and troops; there were no cartridges for the submachine guns; many of the men's uniforms and footwear were worn out; and it was impossible to commit the replacements into the fighting because of the lack of weapons.Igor Sdvizhkov, Confronting Case Blue, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, p. 26
The 284th was the right-flank division of the Group; 340th Rifle Division was on its left. On July 21 the division, stretched over a wide sector and with no armor support, made no progress at all, and was accused by the commander of the 340th of failing to attack. On the following day, as the 340th began to make some progress southwards, it became more difficult to keep contact with the 284th. General Chibisov decided to solve the problem by committing his fresh reserve 237th Rifle Division, backed by the 201st Tank Brigade, into the gap. Beginning its attack on the morning of July 23, the commander of the 237th later complained of getting no support from its flanking units, and that some of the 284th had even pulled back. By the next day the Germans had brought in their backstop, the 9th Panzer Division, directly threatening the green 237th. Colonel Batyuk, watching the armor deploying from a distance, noted its openly intimidating nature, observing, "All of the enemy's actions were designed to affect morale." He further reported: Batyuk reported losses of 20 men killed, more than 150 wounded, and 16 missing in action, plus three guns damaged and under repair. He also reported around 14 knocked-out or burned-out German tanks in front of his positions.Sdvizhkov, Case Blue, pp. 118-20, 127, 155-56, 164-65, 170
Just after midnight on July 25 Batyuk was ordered to go on the attack once again at 0500, but this effort again made little impression. The division tried again on the 26th, and gained a little ground towards Spasskoe before being forced back to its start line. This was its last attempt; the division's ranks were extremely thin, although morale remained strong. On July 29 the offensive ended, and within days the 284th was pulled from the line,Sdvizhkov, Case Blue, pp. 177, 291-92 arriving in Sverdlovsk in early August for rebuilding.Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 108 A large number of the needed replacements were recruited locally, but the division also received several thousand sailors from the Pacific Fleet.Hellbeck, Stalingrad, p. 331
Defense of Stalingrad On August 31 the restored division was in 4th Reserve Army, located 250–350 km northwest of Stalingrad. Less than ten days earlier, the first forces of German 6th Army had reached the Volga River north of the city. On September 17 the division was assigned to 62nd Army and began arriving on the east bank, its first elements crossing the Volga in the early morning of the 21st. The 284th's initial assignment would be to fill the gap between the 95th Rifle Division, which had begun crossing the day before and was responsible for the defense of Mamayev Kurgan, and the 13th Guards Rifle Division, which had been desperately defending the city center over the past few days. Although the division was back up to a strength of about 10,000 men, it was still lacking weapons, and on arrival only the 1043rd Rifle Regiment was completely equipped, so it was the first to cross. It was briefly held in reserve, before moving forward to relieve the exhausted troops of the 112th Rifle Division from Mamayev Kurgan to the Krutoi Ravine. On September 22, two regiments of the German 295th Infantry Division pierced the defenses of the 112th and reached the west bank of the Volga at several points "after difficult fighting." Later in the day the now-armed 1047th and 1045th Rifle Regiments arrived in time to drive back these tenuous footholds.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 37, 136, 156, 199-201
It was the intention of Lt. Gen. Vasili Ivanovich Chuikov, commander of 62nd Army, to counterattack the German positions with his newly arrived forces, but these efforts came to very little. By the end of the day on September 25, the 284th reported a total strength of 7,648 men. It was deployed as follows: "1047th Rifle Regiment is along the northern bank of the Krutoi Ravine, with its right flank anchored on the line of the railroad to Artemovskaia Street. 1043rd Rifle Regiment is fighting along the (incl.) Artemovskaia Street line, with its left flank at the line of the railroad to the northern bank of the ravine (east of Nekrasovskaia Street). The 1045th Rifle Regiment is in the army's reserve." The division would remain in this general area, between the central city core and the main factory district, for the remainder of the battle.Glantz, Armageddon, pp. 209, 213, 244
6th Army renewed its offensive on September 27, now driving on the factory district, but also attempting to clear Mamayev Kurgan on the way. 95th Rifle Division was badly hit by the relatively fresh 100th Jäger Division and lost most of the hill. Meanwhile, the 100th Jäger's 369th Croatian Regiment joined with the 516th Regiment of the 295th Division to assault the defenses of the 1045th Regiment southeast of the hill, penetrate into the "Tennis Racquet" region and seize the Meat Combine (abattoir). The remaining regiments of the 295th were to attack eastwards along the Dolgii and Krutoi Ravines, crush the 1043rd and 1047th Regiments, and reach the Volga, cutting 62nd Army in half. Stiff and often fanatical resistance by all three regiments stopped these drives well short of their goals. The division lost about 300 men killed or wounded during the day.Glantz, Armageddon, pp. 254-55, 269