The 381st Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. It was formed in August of 1941 in the Urals Military District. It first served in the fighting around the Rzhev salient, and came close to being completely destroyed in July of 1942. The division's survivors were moved north, away from the front for a major rebuilding. It returned to the front in October, joining the 3rd Shock Army for the battle and siege of Velikiye Luki. The division remained in this general area in western Russia until March, 1944, when it was moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and then to 21st Army north of Leningrad in April. It served in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive, winning a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner in the process, before being transferred back to Belarus. As part of the 2nd Shock Army of the 2nd Belorussian Front, the 381st advanced across Poland and Pomerania during the winter of 1945, then joined its Front's advance across the Oder River into Germany in late April, ending the war on the Baltic coast. In the summer of 1945, the division was disbanded.
Formation The 381st began forming in August, 1941 in the Urals Military DistrictWalter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p. 79 at Zlatoust in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, based on the first wartime shtat (table of organization and equipment) for rifle divisions. Its order of battle was as follows: 1259th Rifle Regiment 1261st Rifle Regiment 1263rd Rifle Regiment 935th Artillery RegimentCharles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p. 103. Sharp misspells the city's name as "Slatousk". 248th Antitank Battalion 197th Machine-gun Battalion (August 9, 1942 until February 26, 1943) 434th Reconnaissance Company 441st Sapper Battalion (after September 7, 1942, 652nd Sapper Battalion) 823rd Signal Battalion (later 257th Signal Company) 457th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 450th Chemical Protection (Anti-gas) Company 487th Motor Transport Company 226th Field Bakery 795th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1446th Field Postal Station 1249th Field Office of the State Bank (later 745th) Col. Arkhip Ivanovich Tolstov was assigned to command of the division on September 17, and he would remain in command until March 1, 1942. In November it was assigned to 39th Army in the reserve of the Supreme High Command and began moving towards the front. 39th Army was assigned to Kalinin Front and the division first saw action under these commands in January, 1942.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 103
Battles for Rzhev Beginning on January 8, 1942, the Army took part in the Sychyovka-Vyasma Offensive Operation, which was planned "to encircle, and then capture or destroy the enemy's entire Mozhaisk - Gzhatsk - Vyasma grouping", that is, what later became known as the Rzhev salient. Kalinin Front's shock group of the 39th and 29th Armies and 11th Cavalry Corps was intended to envelop the forces of German 9th Army from the west. The 39th breached the German defenses west of the town of Rzhev then drove southward through their rear areas. During this advance the headquarters reported back to the Front:By the third week of the month, having advanced 80 km into enemy territory, the Army's forces were engaged in savage fighting for Sychyovka, a linchpin of the German supply network. While the Soviet troops managed to seize the railroad station, they were unable to take the town. By the end of January the successful stage of the Soviet counteroffensive had mostly come to an end, in part because most of the rifle regiments had been reduced to 80 - 120 men each.Svetlana Gerasimova, The Rzhev Slaughterhouse, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2013, pp. 21, 26-28, 37-38
In early February the 9th Army began counterattacking, and of February 5 cut off 29th Army from 39th and encircled the former. The Front commander, Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev, ordered 29th Army to move southwest towards the 39th. Small formations began to trickle out of the pocket on the night of February 17/18 and continued for the next several days. On February 19 Konev issued new orders intended to isolate and destroy the German forces in and around Olenino; 39th Army was to link up with 30th Army on February 23, but in the event, due to supply shortages, could not even begin its attack until the 25th. This effort made almost no progress at all.Gerasimova, Rzhev Slaughterhouse, pp. 39-40, 43
On March 1 Colonel Tolstov left his command, which was taken over by Lt. Col. Vasilii Pavlovich Shulga. He was in turn replaced by Col. Boris Semyonovich Maslov on May 24. As summer began 9th Army was determined to clear out the Soviet forces in its rear. Operation Seydlitz began on July 2, focusing on the gap between the Bely and Olenino areas. The Soviet troops put up fierce resistance, beating the Germans back with heavy casualties on some sectors. 9th Army brought up reinforcements backed by air strikes on July 4. On July 5 (German accounts) or July 6 (Soviet accounts) the German pincers met at Pushkari, north of Bely. 39th Army, 11th Cavalry Corps, and elements of 41st and 22nd Armies were now encircled. 39th Army quickly decided to withdraw, beginning to retreat on July 5 to the Obsha River. Efforts to cross the river failed, so the remaining troops were led to a forested area to the southeast. Near midnight on July 9 radio contact with Front headquarters was lost. On July 12, 9th Army reported Operation Seydlitz complete, although thousands of Soviet soldiers remained behind their lines. On July 17 a group of about 8,000 men, including the Army commander, Lt. Gen. I. I. Maslennikov, his deputy commander, artillery chief and other commanders managed a crossing of the Obsha and escaped. In all, 39th Army lost 22,749 in missing alone.Gerasimova, Rzhev Slaughterhouse, pp. 60-61, 63-65, 69 The command of the 381st managed to get out as well, so instead of being disbanded what little remained of the division was sent all the way back to the Arkhangelsk Military District for a complete rebuilding.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 104
Battle for Velikiye Luki In October the repaired and replenished division returned to Kalinin Front to join 3rd Shock Army,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 210 where it would remain for nearly a year.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 104 3rd Shock was in the westernmost sector of the Toropets salient, facing the rail hub of Velikiye Luki, defended primarily by a regiment of the German 83rd Infantry Division. In the plan for the offensive the 381st was to cross the Lovat River north of the city, penetrate the German outpost line, and link up with the 9th Guards and 357th Rifle Divisions of the 5th Guards Rifle Corps to form the inner line of encirclement around the enemy garrison.http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/beloborodov2/08.html. In Russian. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
The offensive began before dawn on November 24. Tank support for all the attacking rifle divisions fell behind by 6 – 9 hours due to the difficulty of crossing the partly-frozen Lovat. By the end of day on November 26 the 381st had nearly reached the Velikiye Luki - Novosokolniki railway and was within a few kilometres of linking up with 9th Guards and the 357th. Two days later the division joined hands with the 357th in the western outskirts of Velikiye Luki and the 9th Guards in the area of the Ostryan railway station, completing the inner encirclement as German outposts fell back into the city.http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/beloborodov2/08.html. In Russian. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
On December 2 and 3 the German Group "Chevallerie" of Army Group Center attempted to relieve its encircled forces. The 8th Panzer Division, which was much depleted in tank strength, was fended off by one regiment of the 381st and the 31st Rifle Brigade while the other two regiments with the 18th Mechanized Brigade tied down German units attacking from Novosokolniki. By the last days of December the German garrison in Velikiye Luki was reduced to holding just the railway station and the old fortress or Citadel. On the morning of January 4, 1943, Group "Chevallerie" launched its final attempt to relieve the city, which reached to within 3 km of its western outskirts before being forced to a standstill by January 12. Five days later Velikiye Luki was finally liberated. On January 27 Colonel Maslov was promoted to the rank of major general. During the next months 3rd Shock gradually advanced westward in the direction of Novosokolniki, which involved a seesaw battle over several weeks for a German stronghold on the Ptahinski Hill, which finally ended on July 6.http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/beloborodov2/09.html. In Russian. Retrieved May 11, 2019. In February the 381st came under the command of 5th Guards Corps, where it would remain until June.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 60, 82, 107, 132
Into Belarus On July 9 General Maslov was appointed to command of the 19th Guards Rifle Division and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Vasilevich Yakushov. The 381st remained as a separate division in 3rd Shock Army until September,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 158, 187, 216 when it was reassigned to the 4th Shock Army, still in Kalinin Front. As of October 1 it was assigned to the 83rd Rifle Corps. On October 6 the 3rd and 4th Shock Armies began the Nevel Offensive Operation, which began with a surprise success on the first day when 3rd Shock's 28th Rifle Division routed the 2nd Luftwaffe Field Division, creating a gap which was exploited by 21st Guards Rifle Division and 78th Tank Brigade driving 25 km deep behind German lines and taking Nevel off the march by the end of the day. Simultaneously, 4th Shock began a drive in the direction of Gorodok with the 2nd Guards Rifle Corps on the right, next to the breakthrough sector, and 83rd Corps on the left, with the 381st in second echelon. Although this attack penetrated German defenses to a depth of about 20 km, it faltered in the face of enemy reserves and by October 10 halted just short of the Nevel - Gorodok - Vitebsk railroad and highway.David M. Glantz, Battle for Belorussia, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence KS, 2016, pp. 26, 40-41
By the start of November, Kalinin Front had become 1st Baltic Front, and the 381st had been reassigned to 2nd Guards Corps.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 274 On November 2 a new offensive began in the direction of Vitebsk and Polotsk:In his memoirs, the commander of 2nd Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. A. P. Beloborodov, recounted:In addition the Front's 43rd and 39th Armies were also attacking Vitebsk from the east, along the road from Smolensk. On November 8, 20th Panzer and 87th Infantry Division of 3rd Panzer Army attacked north into the breakthrough area and gained nearly 8 km by the end of the day, then paused, awaiting a similar attack from Army Group North. While this was occurring, Beloborodov reported that the 381st was "[o]n the march and fulfilling its previously assigned mission". On the night of November 9/10, 20th Panzer's battle group was contained along the Gorodok - Nevel road while the regrouped 381st and 154th Divisions, supported by the 236th Tanks, wheeled southward to assault the German defenses at Gorodok from the west. After crossing the Obolia River on November 11 the attacking force was only 22 km west of this key German stronghold. During the remainder of the month Soviet forces continued to press towards Gorodok, but unseasonal mild weather with accompanying heavy mud and desperate German countermeasures held them off.Glantz, Battle for Belorussia, pp. 129-33, 140
Battles for Vitebsk