The 119th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed three times. It was first formed in the Siberian Military District Krasnoyarsk in 1939 as a motorized rifle division until the following year when it was reorganized as a standard Red Army rifle division, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of September 1939. It saw very limited service in the Winter War against Finland. At the time of the German invasion in 1941 it was part of 24th Army and began moving toward the front by rail. This movement continued until late July and after reaching Western Front it was eventually assigned to 31st Army of Reserve Front in August. With the launch of the German Operation Typhoon, the division was involved in a number of confused movements and heavy fighting west of Rzhev in the first week of October. It was reassigned to 29th Army as it evaded encirclement and retreated toward Kalinin, joining the Front of that name, and then returning to the 31st by the start of November. It was under this command through the winter counteroffensive, driving deep behind the northern flank of German 9th Army and helping to form the Rzhev salient. It was under 22nd Army in March 1942 when it was redesignated as the 17th Guards Rifle Division.
A new 119th was formed in April 1942 in the Moscow Military District, based on a rifle brigade. Once formed it joined the 3rd Tank Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command before moving to 5th Tank Army it August, seeing limited action in Bryansk Front. It was soon moved south toward Stalingrad, joining Southwestern Front, and attacked from the Serafimovich bridgehead across the Don River at the outset of Operation Uranus. I assisted in breaking through and encircling elements of Romanian 3rd Army before advancing south with 5th Tanks. In the three-week battle along the Chir River the 119th was involved in a see-saw struggle for the town of Surovikino, finally taking the place in mid-December. For this victory and its other successes in the campaign it was redesignated as the 54th Guards Rifle Division.
The division was formed for a third time in early 1943, again based on a rifle brigade in the Moscow Military District. It saw its first combat in the campaign to liberate Smolensk as part of Western Front's 21st Army, before moving north to join 4th Shock Army in 1st Baltic Front. and served for the duration of the war in the north-central sectors of the front. It played an important role in the surprise victory at Nevel in October before taking part in the attritional fighting north of Vitebsk through the winter. During the summer of 1944 the 119th took part in the offensives that drove German forces out of the Baltic states and won a decoration for the liberation of Riga in October. For most of the rest of the war it was involved in the containment of Army Group North in Courland, coming under several Army commands in 2nd Baltic Front and ending under 22nd Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. The division was moved to the Odessa Military District soon after the end of the war, and was disbanded in the next few months.
1st Formation The division was first organized at Krasnoyarsk in the Siberian Military District on August 19, 1939, as a motor rifle division, as part of the pre-war expansion of the Red Army.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 60 It carried the name "Krasnoyarsk" as an honorific for the duration of this formation. Kombrig Aleksandr Dmitrievich Berezin took command on the day it formed. This officer had previously led the 94th Rifle Division, would have his rank modernized to major general on June 5, 1940, and would lead the 119th for the duration of its 1st formation. It was moved to the Finnish front from January to March 1940, but only its artillery took part in the fighting. After returning to the Siberian Military District it was reorganized as a regular rifle division in April. As of June 22, 1941, it comprised: 365th Rifle Regiment (until October 6, 1941) 421st Rifle Regiment 634th Rifle Regiment 349th Light Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Legions", p. 60 510th Howitzer Artillery Regiment (until September 21, 1941) 216th Antitank Battalion 75th Antiaircraft Battery (later 257th Antiaircraft Battalion) 143rd Reconnaissance Company 224th Sapper Battalion 151st Signal Battalion 137th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 129th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 155th Motor Transport Battalion 143rd Field Bakery (later 491st) 1006th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 493rd Field Postal Station (later 1609th) 360th Field Office of the State Bank (later 1654th) At the outset of Operation Barbarossa the division was in 52nd Rifle Corps of 24th Army, along with 91st and 166th Rifle Divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10 By July 10 it was detached from both Corps and Army, replaced by the 133rd Rifle Division, and was directly under the STAVKA Reserve, as it was still en route from Siberia. As it arrived west of Moscow it was assigned to the newly formed 30th Army, under command of Maj. Gen. V. A. Khomenko. Apart from the 119th his divisions were formed on cadres of NKVD troops fleshed out with reservists, and on August 5 he informed Western Front about the difficulties he was encountering in his mobilization due to numerous and constantly changing assembly orders, including the fact that the 119th was soon removed from his Army.David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2010, Kindle ed., chs. 2, 4
The division was moved to 31st Army in the new Reserve Front on August 14, 1941. The Army, with its headquarters at Rzhev, was assigned a sector south from the Moscow Sea.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 8 Unlike the newer divisions being formed at that time, the 119th had the pre-war organization and as of September 20 was actually over strength, with 1,142 officers, 14,804 NCOs and men, 13 tankettes, four armored cars, 166 heavy machine guns, 408 light machine guns, 54 45mm antitank guns, 85 artillery pieces, 109 mortars and four antiaircraft guns.Jack Radey & Charles Sharp, The Defense of Moscow 1941 - The Northern Flank, Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley, UK, 2012, p. 17
Operation Typhoon On October 1 the military council of 31st Army reported on the general condition of the defenses of the RzhevVyazma line. This extended for 265-270km, at its strongest from Ostashkov to Valutino. Altogether 1,277 fortifications had been built, of which 317 were occupied by troops at the time; in general each rifle regiment had one battalion deployed to the first echelon. The depth of the defense was no more than 4-6km, and at least two more divisions were required. The 119th was attempting to cover 55km, which was one of the shorter sectors. The report noted ominously that German forces could easily occupy the empty bunkers and pillboxes in the event of an offensive, which had already begun to the south the previous day.Lev Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe, 1941, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2013, Kindle ed., part 3
The southern grouping of Army Group Center (2nd Panzer Group, 2nd Army) launched their attack on September 30, while its main forces (3rd and 4th Panzer Groups, 4th and 9th Armies) began their part in the offensive on October 2, and broke through the Soviet front in several places within hours. In a prearranged move, the seven divisions of 49th Army were already preparing to entrain in the Rzhev area in response to the southern attack, unaware that the main blow would be coming two days later. The 110th Rifle Division was moving toward the rail lines, away from the 247th Rifle Division's sector, which left the boundary with the 119th, headquartered at Stepankovo, only partly covered. On October 5 the headquarters of Reserve Front reported to the STAVKA that:The report also emphasized that the Front could not hold against the offensive with its own resources.Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe, 1941, Kindle ed., part 3
For this move Berezin only had wheeled transport for his personnel, plus the regimental guns and antitank guns. The 349th Artillery Regiment and the divisional rear services would have to move by rail, with loading beginning at 1600 hours. German air attacks disrupted this plan, with the railroad itself soon cut by ground troops, forcing a change to the plan. 31st Army was now transferred to Western Front, and was to defend a line running to Pena.Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe, 1941, Kindle ed., part 4 On October 6 the 365th Rifle Regiment was transferred to the 18th Rifle Division, which had escaped from encirclement with significant casualties. In exchange the 119th received the 920th Rifle Regiment from the 247th, one of the units made up from a cadre of NKVD troops.Radey & Sharp, Defense of Moscow, p. 17 The plan of withdrawal was to begin overnight on October 6/7 in order to reach the defense line two days later, at which time the 119th and 247th would be transferred to 29th Army on a line from Eraevo to Khmelevka to Olenino Station. In the event, by October 9 the 119th was still preparing to move by vehicle to the Gzhatsk area. On the afternoon of October 11 the XXXXI Motorized Corps was advancing with difficulty toward Staritsa and Kalinin. At this point the new commander of the Front, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov, decided to pull back the 29th Army to the line of the Volga as far as Zubtsov, requiring the divisions to cover up to 70km per day.Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe, 1941, Kindle ed., parts 4, 6
On October 19 Kalinin Front was formed, with 29th Army under its command, but by the end of the month the 119th was back in a very small 31st Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 62 By late November, even after this heavy fighting, the division still had a strength of 7,200 men, higher than average for Kalinin and Western Fronts at this time.
The men and women of the division fought well during the rest of the Battle of Moscow, and in the following counteroffensive. Beginning on January 8, 1942, 31st Army took part in the Sychevka-Vyasma Offensive Operation, which was planned "to encircle, and then capture or destroy the enemy's entire Mozhaisk - Gzhatsk - Vyasma grouping",Svetlana Gerasimova, The Rzhev Slaughterhouse, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2013, pp. 26-27 that is, what later became known as the Rzhev salient. The 119th was one of the spearheads of this thrust behind the German lines, reaching the area near Bely by mid-January. During that month it was transferred to 22nd Army, also in Kalinin Front, and was still under this commandCombat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 26, 44 on March 17 when it was recognized for its achievements in the counteroffensive by being redesignated as the 17th Guards Rifle Division.
2nd Formation A new 119th Rifle Division was formed on April 21, 1942, in the Kalinin Oblast of the Moscow Military District, based on the 51st Rifle Brigade.Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 44 51st Rifle Brigade