The 391st Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and fought the German Operation Barbarossa. It began forming in August 1941, in the Central Asian Military District. It was first assigned to Southwestern Front but on its arrival it was seen to be far from combat-ready and so was moved north to the Moscow area for further training. It was finally assigned to the 3rd Shock Army in Kalinin Front and took part in the battle for the Kholm Pocket. Following this the division was moved to 1st Shock Army and took part in the dismal fighting for the Demyansk salient until it was finally evacuated by the German forces in March, 1943. The division moved on into the gradual advance across the Baltic states through 1943 and 1944, winning a battle honor along the way, until February, 1945, when it was transferred with its 93rd Rifle Corps to 1st Ukrainian Front as part of 59th Army. In the last weeks of the war the 391st was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its service in Upper Silesia, and ended the war advancing on Prague, but despite its distinguished record it was selected as one of the many divisions to be disbanded during the summer of 1945.
Formation The 391st began forming on August 19, 1941 at Alma-Ata in the Central Asia Military District,Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p. 81, states the division formed in September. Its order of battle was as follows: 1024th Rifle Regiment 1278th Rifle Regiment 1280th Rifle Regiment 951st 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. 107 404th Antitank Battalion 450th Reconnaissance Company 668th Sapper Battalion 839th Signal Battalion (184th Signal Company) 473rd Medical/Sanitation Battalion 466th Chemical Protection (Anti-gas) Company 503rd Motor Transport Company 255th Field Bakery 818th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1420th Field Postal Station 759th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Dmitrii Anatolevich Kovalenko was assigned to command of the division on August 28, and he would remain in command until March 8, 1942. In September the division's personnel were noted as being mostly Kazakh.David M. Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005, p. 594 These men had practically no time to train before they were ordered to the front. They arrived in the Volga Military District in mid-November and the division was briefly assigned to the 61st Army that was forming there, but instead of sending the raw unit into combat with that Army it was reassigned to the Moscow Defence Zone for more than a month of working-up.Sharp, "Red Tide", pp. 107-08Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 14
Battles of Kholm and Demyansk As part of the Toropets–Kholm Offensive on January 23, 1942 the 33rd Rifle Division of 3rd Shock Army tenuously encircled the German forces defending the town of Kholm. Throughout January 24-26 the German Battlegroup Scherer barely held against constant Soviet attacks, but the two sides were at roughly the same strength so no decisive results could be obtained. On January 31 the 391st was released from the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and began moving towards the pocket, which it reached in the second week of February along with the 146th Tank Battalion (two T-34s and 11 T-60s), the 44th Artillery Regiment (76mm guns) and three BM-8 multiple rocket launchers. There were now about 23,000 Soviet troops besieging about 4,500 German troops.Robert Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43: The frozen fortress, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2012, Kindle ed.
On February 13 Soviet artillery and aerial bombing struck the town heavily. The 1278th Rifle Regiment with tank support attacked the southwest sector held by Jagdcommando 8 without success, but the 82nd Regiment of the 33rd Division, backed by Lend-Lease Matilda II tanks, penetrated the main defensive line of the 386th Infantry Regiment, making a large dent in the Kholm perimeter and bringing Scherer's headquarters under direct fire. Attacks continued near the break-in point for five more days but the German regiment was finally able to seal off the breach. The additional artillery now allowed the Soviet forces to neutralize the airfield, forcing the German airlift to rely entirely on gliders and air drops. On the morning of February 21 the commander of 3rd Shock, Lt. Gen. M. A. Purkayev, began a new push with forces of the newly arrived 2nd Guards Rifle Corps, which attacked towards Dubrova, where a German artillery grouping had been firing in support of the pocket. Three days later the replenished 33rd and 391st Divisions attacked the southeast side of Kholm while the fresh 37th Rifle Brigade struck in the north, finally bringing the encirclement under simultaneous concentric attacks. Although Soviet tanks and infantry reached the GPU building, they could not capture it.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed.
By early March the German XXXIX Army Corps had managed to assemble something less than two divisions for a relief attack which failed due to worsening weather and stiff Soviet resistance. On March 9 Col. Andrei Kuzmich Kudryashov took command of the division from Colonel Kovalenko. The spring thaw arrived in early April, melting the German defenses built of ice and snow and exposing their forces to mortar and sniper fire, while 3rd Shock launched repeated unsuccessful attacks between April 2 and 18. In the end German assault guns broke the siege on May 5.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed. Prior to this, in late April the 391st was transferred to the nearby 1st Shock Army of Northwestern Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 81 This Army faced the south side of the newly-formed "Ramushevo corridor" that had restored tenuous land communications with the previously encircled German II Army Corps at Demyansk.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed. Demyansk Pocket On May 3 the Front made its first attempt to cut the 4km-wide corridor; 1st Shock attacked from the south while 11th Army struck from the north. The attempt was a failure although artillery fire prevented the German supply columns from using the road most of the time.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed. On May 16, Col. Aleksei Stepanovich Frolov replaced Colonel Kudryashov in command; he was in turn replaced by Col. Pyotr Mitrofanovich Paramonov on July 2. The second attempt to sever the corridor began at 1400 hours on July 17. The 391st, now in the 1st Guards Rifle Corps,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 121 formed one of the assault groups of 1st Shock Army, along with the 14th and 37th Rifle Brigades. Following a 90-minute artillery bombardment which barely scratched the German positions the attack went in and walked straight into carefully prepared engagement areas which quickly tore the shock groups to shreds. The Soviet artillery had insufficient stocks of shells and the attack degenerated into a battle of attrition and collapsed a week later having gained about a thousand metres of ground.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed.
A new offensive began on August 10 with the 391st again forming an assault group for 1st Shock, along with the 130th and 364th Rifle Divisions and the 37th Brigade, backed by 30 tanks. There was only enough artillery ammunition for a 10-minute bombardment which failed to dent the German defenses. Again these groups were badly shot up. On the next day Colonel Paramonov left his command of the division, being replaced on the 14th by Lt. Col. Vasilii Fedorovich Marchuk. In the course of the fighting the commander of 1st Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. N. D. Zakhvataev, was wounded. By August 21 the offensive had to be halted due to heavy casualties and insufficient supply of shells. While the corridor was again disrupted by Soviet artillery, no more than a few hundred metres of ground had been gained. The 391st was spared further action in another offensive in September. Following this, on September 27 the German 16th Army launched Operation Michael in an attempt to drive back or even destroy the 1st Guards Corps in a salient it held south of the corridor. Supported by artillery and airstrikes the Germans surrounded and overwhelmed one regiment of the 7th Guards Rifle Division within hours. After a six-day fight the east side of the salient was smashed in, and after a regrouping the west side was struck on October 7. With 1st Shock on the verge of a crushing defeat, the salient was evacuated.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed. In the midst of this, on October 10 Maj. Gen. Maksim Evseevich Kozyr took command of the division.
By November 1 the 391st was a separate division in 1st Shock Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 209 The Soviet forces around Demyansk were intended to play a role in the second Soviet winter offensive, which also included Operation Uranus and Operation Mars, if only to tie down German forces that could be more usefully employed elsewhere. Yet another attack on the corridor began on the night of November 23/24, this time focused on its eastern end, but the division played no major role in it.Glantz, After Stalingrad, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, pp. 100-01 The Demyansk pocket had always been partially supplied by air, and following the encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad those air assets were much more required to the south. Too late to make a difference, on January 31, 1943, Hitler authorized the evacuation of the salient.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43, Kindle ed.
In the aftermath of Operation Iskra, which had restored land communications with Leningrad, Marshal Georgy Zhukov planned a further operation, Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda, intended to completely end the siege of that city and destroy Army Group North. Northwestern Front's role in the offensive would once again be the elimination of the Demyansk pocket. At the same time the German command was planning its Operation Ziethen, the phased withdrawal from the salient. 1st Shock Army's part in the offensive was to begin on February 19. It was regrouped westward to attack the south side of the mouth of the corridor and was reinforced with four tank regiments, two artillery divisions, two Guards Mortar divisions, and two aviation corps. The 391st and 7th Guards formed a secondary shock group to launch an attack on a 5km sector from Shotovo to Viazki, with the objective of taking the village of Ramushevo. In the event, nothing went as planned. In mid-month intense cold was replaced by continuous rain with reinforcements and supplies becoming bogged down. Ziethen began on February 17 and immediately began freeing up German troops to form reserves. 1st Shock's attack had to be postponed until February 26 by which time it was facing three German divisions instead of one. The assault troops managed to gain from 1 - 3km with great difficulty, and a further effort the next day was stopped in its tracks. In the midst of the carnage medical sledge-dog teams were used to evacuate wounded from the battlefield. The division's Medical Assistant Tartkov moved 98 men to aid posts, for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin.Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp. 415-25