23rd Guards Rifle Division

The 23rd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March, 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 88th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was one of just two Guards divisions to be formed in the far north, the 10th Guards being the other. It continued to serve in Karelian Front, where it was formed, until October when it was railed south to join the 1st Shock Army of Northwestern Front; it would remain in that Army until nearly the end of 1944. Over the next several months it took part in the dismal fighting around the Demyansk salient until it was evacuated by the German II Army Corps in March, 1943. During the rest of the year the division continued battling through the forests and swamps south of Lake Ilmen, occasionally under command of the 14th Guards Rifle Corps, until the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive began in late January, 1944. The 23rd Guards took part in the liberation of Staraya Russa in mid-February and went on to win a battle honor about a week later at Dno. 1st Shock Army (now in 2nd Baltic Front) closed up to the German Panther Line south of Lake Peipus during the spring and then helped break through it at the start of the Baltic Campaign in July. For its part in the liberation of Ostrov the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner before gradually advancing through Latvia towards Riga, which it helped to liberate in October. By now it was in the 12th Guards Rifle Corps which was transferred in late November to the 3rd Shock Army in 1st Belorussian Front. The 23rd Guards would remain under these commands for the duration of the war, advancing across Poland and eastern Germany into Berlin in 1945 and winning a second honorific after the fighting ended. Despite a fine record of service it was disbanded in 1947.

Formation The division was officially raised to Guards status on March 17, 1942, in recognition of its leading role in stopping the drive of the Finnish III Army Corps along the Kestenga-Loukhi road which had threatened to cut the Kirov Railway south from Murmansk. As the 88th the division had a special organization for operations in the roadless arctic terrain but this became more standardized during conversion and after the subunits received their redesignations on April 17 was as follows: 63rd Guards Rifle Regiment (from 426th Rifle Regiment) 66th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 611th Rifle Regiment) 68th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 758th Rifle Regiment) 49th Guards Artillery Regiment (from 401st Artillery Regiment)Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 52 28th Guards Antitank Battalion (from 269th Antitank Battalion) 26th Guards Antiaircraft Battery (until March 15, 1943) 7th Guards Mortar Battalion (until October 10, 1942) 27th Guards Reconnaissance Company (from 147th Reconnaissance Company) 18th Guards Sapper Battalion (from 222nd Sapper Battalion) 31st Guards Signal Battalion (from 221st Signal Battalion) 25th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion (from 288th Medical/Sanitation Battalion) 20th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company (from 128th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company) 16th Guards Motor Transport Company 19th Guards Field Bakery (from 154th Field Bakery) 21st Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 191st Field Postal Station 373rd Field Office of the State Bank Col. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Solovyov remained in command of the division after redesignation; he would be promoted to the rank of major general on May 3. By this time the division was under command of the 26th ArmyCombat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 79 Kestenga Operation On April 24 the 26th Army launched an offensive in the Kestenga area with the objective of improving its positions and driving the Finnish-German forces farther away from the railway. The Soviet plan called for the Axis troops to be fixed by a frontal assault by the 263rd Rifle Division while the main attack would be made after a long outflanking move from the north by the 23rd Guards and 186th Rifle Divisions plus the 80th Marine Rifle and 8th Ski Brigades. This force faced the German 6th SS Mountain Division Nord and a composite Finnish division. The attack began during a heavy snowfall and while 26th Army had the advantage in manpower, artillery and mortars it had to contend with acute shortages of ammunition. In the early going elements of the 23rd Guards managed to wedge into the defenses up to 7 km but the arrival of reserves brought the advance to a halt. The offensive was resumed on May 3, still making slow progress while also putting the defenders of Kestenga in semi-encirclement. A further regrouping followed by an attack on May 10 produced no results at all, and the Army went over to the defense the next day.http://www.xliby.ru/istorija/kestengskaja_operacija/index.php. In Russian. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

In August General Solovyov would be made the 26th Army's deputy commander. He was replaced in command of the division by Col. Sergei Nikolaievich Aleksandrov, who would himself be promoted to major general on September 12 prior to the move south to join Northwestern Front.

Demyansk Campaign Between September 27 and October 9 the 1st Shock Army suffered a defeat when German 16th Army launched Operation Michael against its forces south of the Ramushevo corridor which linked the II Army Corps around Demyansk to the main German front. In part due to this setback and in part due to plans being formulated for the overall winter counteroffensive the 23rd Guards was loaded onto trains on the Kirov Railway later in October and moved south to the Ostashkov railhead to join 1st Shock. The intention of the new offensive, as in those during the summer and fall, would be to penetrate the corridor from the south and link up with 11th Army to its north, again encircling the German Demyansk grouping. As with the case of Operation Mars at Rzhev, constant bad weather and a late front delayed Northwestern Front's preparations for its offensive, particularly the regrouping of its forces.David M. Glantz, After Stalingrad, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, pp. 92-93, 97, 99Robert Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43: The frozen fortress, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2012, Kindle ed.

On November 2 the division, with a current strength of 9,651 personnel, officially came under the command of 1st Shock Army, along with the 167th Tank Regiment with 24 T-34 tanks. The Army commander, Lt. Gen. V. I. Morozov, planned to have the 23rd Guards and 129th Rifle Divisions and 86th Rifle Brigade, supported by the 167th Tanks, 70th Guards Mortar Regiment, and the bulk of the Army's artillery, conduct the main attack in the Rechki and Sarai sector, while the remainder of his forces conducted an "active" defense along the remainder of his front. The shock group would face roughly three German regiments supported by 15-20 tanks. While this gave the Red Army forces a ratio of over three to one in infantry and an edge in armor strength it would be mostly negated by the thick and roadless terrain and unfavorable weather.Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp. 100-01

1st Shock's attack began with a preliminary operation by the 86th Brigade on the night of November 23/24, striking at the boundary between the 126th and 123rd Infantry Divisions but this stalled short of its initial objective due to heavy mud and German fire. Despite this failure the 23rd Guards and 129th divisions were ordered to pass through the Brigade's lines and take up jumping-off positions overnight on November 27/28. Their assault began at 1115 hours the next day, supported by the 167th Tank Regiment and the 103rd and 401st Tank Battalions and following a 45-minute artillery preparation. This achieved some successes, although at the cost of heavy losses. Operating in carefully tailored shock groups with direct armor support the leading rifle regiments advanced 2–2.5 km deep into the German forward security outposts and extensive engineering obstacles before arriving at the forward edge of the main line at 2000 hours, after dark. At this point they ran into a virtual wall of German fire, reportedly "4–5 artillery and mortar battalions firing more than 4,500 rounds." After taking only small toeholds in these defenses the relentless artillery fire and numerous company-to-battalion sized counterattacks forced the two divisions back to their start lines. Despite this, General Morozov ordered several attempts to renew the offensive over the next few days, but to no avail. Although the STAVKA realized the offensive had failed, as with Operation Mars it insisted the armies continue their futile attacks, which were not suspended until December 11.Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp. 101-04

The offensive was renewed on December 23, even after Operation Mars had finally collapsed. By now the attackers had fallen into stereotyped methods; when 1st Shock was observed massing for yet another assault on December 27 the German forces interdicted with an artillery counter-preparation, firing over 14,000 shells which rendered the Army temporarily combat ineffective. By the time the STAVKA allowed the offensive to be suspended again in early January, 1943 most of the Front's best divisions, including the 23rd Guards, were battered wrecks. Clearly the defenses around the salient remained formidable but given that Demyansk had always been partially supplied by air, 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 Hitler authorized the evacuation of the salient.Glantz, After Stalingrad, p. 104Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43: The frozen fortress, Kindle ed.

In the aftermath of Operation Iskra, which had restored land communications with Leningrad, Marshal Georgy Zhukov planned a further 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 salient. 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. 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 to 3 km with great difficulty, and a further effort the next day was stopped in its tracks. A further effort on February 27 involving the 23rd Guards was also unsuccessful.Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp. 415-21 Days before this, on February 24, General Aleksandrov was replaced in command by Col. Andrei Markovich Kartavenko.

Operations in 1943 The II Army Corps officially completed its evacuation of the Demyansk salient on March 1. The forces freed by this move strengthened the overall German position and Polyarnaya Zvezda was effectively stillborn, although Zhukov would continue to try to reinvigorate it for another month.Forczyk, Demyansk 1942-43: The frozen fortress, Kindle ed. Through the rest of the year 1st Shock Army would be lightly engaged with elements of German 16th Army along the Polist River. In October the 23rd Guards joined the 53rd Guards Rifle Division in the 14th Guards Rifle Corps under direct command of the Front;Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 273 on November 19 this Front would be renamed 2nd Baltic.

Into Western Russia