The 206th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. Its first formation in March 1941 was based on the last prewar shtat (table of organization and equipment) for rifle divisions. When the German invasion began it was still organizing well away from the front near Krivoi Rog but was soon sent to the Kiev Fortified Sector where it eventually came under command of the 37th Army. It was deeply encircled by the German offensive in September and destroyed, but not officially stricken from the Soviet order of battle until late December.
At that time a new division was forming which was soon redesignated as the 206th, based on the shtat of December 6. It spent the first half of 1942 forming up and was still not fully equipped when it was sent to the front as part of 40th Army in Voronezh Front. It saw its first action in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive and shortly after in the Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive, as part of 38th Army, helping to defeat and drive the Axis forces west from the territory that became the Kursk salient. The 206th was on a mostly quiet sector in 40th Army during the Battle of Kursk but then joined the 1943 summer offensive in eastern Ukraine as part of 40th and later 47th Army. In October it was reassigned to the 27th Army, where it remained for the duration of the war. During the winter and spring of 1943/44 the 206th took part in the fighting along the Dniepr and into western Ukraine and, remarkably, was awarded a battle honor and three decorations during just over two months; it also lost two commanders killed or died of wounds between the end of December and the beginning of May. The division, now in 2nd Ukrainian Front, saw heavy fighting in the Târgu Frumos area of Romania during April and May 1944. By mid-summer the vast majority of its personnel were of Kazakh nationality. The 206th then took part in the offensive that drove Romania out of the Axis in August and continued its advance into the Balkans, including the campaigns for Transylvania and eastern Hungary, and ended the war in the 33rd Rifle Corps of 27th Army, now in 3rd Ukrainian Front, advancing into western Austria. This highly distinguished division continued its service into mid-1946, but was then disbanded.
1st Formation The 206th Rifle Division began forming for the first time on March 14, 1941 at Pavlograd in the Odessa Military District. As of June 22 it was still in that District and its order of battle was as follows: 722nd Rifle Regiment 737th Rifle Regiment 748th Rifle Regiment 661st Artillery RegimentCharles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 95 714th Howitzer Artillery Regiment 35th Antitank Battalion 407th Antiaircraft Battalion 286th Reconnaissance Battalion 374th Sapper Battalion 586th Signal Battalion 361st Medical/Sanitation Battalion 306th Anti-gas Detachment 679th Motor Transport Battalion 467th Field Bakery 358th Field Postal Station 40th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Sergei Ilich Gorshkov took command of the division on the day it began forming, and would remain in command through the entire 1st Formation. On June 22, 1941 it was still in the Odessa District, subordinated to the 7th Rifle Corps along with the 116th and 196th Rifle Divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 12 During the next few days the Corps was transferred to the Southwestern Front and sent to the northwest. By July 8 it was fighting near Novograd-Volynskii and later that month the 206th was one of the first units assigned to the Kiev Fortified Sector covering the immediate approaches to the city from the west. The units of the fortified sector were redesignated as the 37th Army in August.Sharp, "Red Legions", pp. 95-96
On August 25 the German 2nd Panzer Group began its advance to the south with the objective of linking up with 1st Panzer Group and surrounding most of Southwestern Front. By September 9 it was making rapid progress but Stalin refused to give Col. Gen. M. P. Kirponos permission to pull back from Kiev. On September 15 the German pincers met at Lokhvitsa. The 206th, along with the rest of 37th Army, was deeply encircled and forced to give up Kiev on September 19.David Stahel, Kiev 1941, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, pp. 120, 210-11, 215, 220, 228-29, 260-61. Note the map on p. 210 misnumbers the 206th as the 208th Rifle Division. The bulk of the division was destroyed the next day but a small group led by Colonel Gorshkov managed to escape, along with another led by the divisional chief of staff, Lt. Col. P. I. Kulizhski, in late October. Gorshkov would go on to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps in the last year of the war. The division was not officially removed from the Red Army's order of battle until December 27.Sharp, "Red Legions", p. 96
2nd Formation The 206th began forming again on December 26, 1942 based on the 428th Rifle DivisionWalter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007. p. 99 at Buguruslan in the South Urals Military District. Its order of battle was similar to that of the 1st formation: 722nd Rifle Regiment 737th Rifle Regiment 748th Rifle Regiment 661st Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 - 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 82 35th Antitank Battalion 122nd (later 89th) Antiaircraft Battery (until April 20, 1943) 286th Reconnaissance Company 374th Sapper Battalion 586th Signal Battalion (later, 664th Signal Company) 361st Medical/Sanitation Battalion 508th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 244th Motor Transport Company 427th Field Bakery 892nd Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1680th Field Postal Station 1083rd Field Office of the State Bank Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Nikiforovich Chernikov was assigned to command of the division on the day it began forming, but in mid-April he handed it over to Col. Fyodor Mikhailovich Kishkin-Ivanenko. In May it was assigned to the 3rd Reserve Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and then in June to the 6th Reserve Army.David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 108-09 In July the division was assigned to the 40th Army in Voronezh Front; at this time the 737th Rifle Regiment was under the command of Maj. Spiridon Mikhailovich Egorov, who had been made a Hero of the Soviet Union following the Winter War against Finland in 1940.http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=5599. In Russian, English translation available. Retrieved May 30, 2020. After six months of forming-up, the division was still lacking crucial heavy weapons; it had only 12 of its authorized 18 120 mm mortars while the 661st Artillery Regiment was short two of its 76 mm guns and had no 122 mm howitzers at all. By the time it arrived, the main fighting had mostly moved farther east and the 206th remained on the defensive along the upper Don River and the city of Voronezh through the rest of the year.Sharp, "Red Swarm", p. 82
Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive On December 31 Colonel Ivanov handed his command over to Col. Samuil Ilich Tsukarev. At this time the division was in the 60th Army of Voronezh Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 238 On January 13 the left-wing and center forces of the Front began the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh offensive operation against the 2nd Hungarian Army and part of the 8th Italian Army. 60th Army consisted of the 100th, 121st, 206th, 232nd and 303rd Rifle Divisions and the 104th Rifle Brigade. Each division had between 5,000-6,000 personnel on strength. By January 19 the Axis Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh group of forces had been encircled and the Army was defending along a 60 km line from Olkhovatka to Voronezh to Kremenchug, facing the German 88th, 323rd (minus one regiment) and 75th Infantry Divisions.Soviet General Staff, Rollback, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, Kindle ed., Part III, sections 1, 2
Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive In a regrouping that took place before the start of the next offensive the 206th was transferred to the 38th Army, still in Voronezh Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 38 The intention was to encircle and destroy the Axis forces in the area of Voronezh and Kastornoye and subsequently develop the offensive directly on Kursk and Kharkov. Instructions to prepare and conduct the operation were issued by the STAVKA on January 20 and it was to involve the 40th, 60th and 38th Armies of Voronezh Front and the 13th Army of Bryansk Front. The first attack, scheduled for January 24, would involve the 40th and 13th Armies, which had the shortest distances to cover to meet up. 38th Army would attack second from the area of Terbuny. Its main forces would advance toward Nizhnyaya Veduga with one division on Kastornoye. Once the encirclement was made the secondary attacks by 38th and 60th Armies would split up and eliminate the isolated forces.Soviet General Staff, Rollback, Kindle ed., Part IV, sections 1, 2
When the offensive began the command of German Army Group B correctly determined its intention and possibilities. Believing that the encirclement of its 2nd Army would only be a matter of several days, orders were given to the VII Army Corps to withdraw from Voronezh and across the Don. Reconnaissance by 60th Army discovered this movement and it began to pursue. By dawn on January 25 the city had been completely cleared.Valeriy Zamulin, The Battle of Kursk - Controversial and Neglected Aspects, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, pp. 84-85 38th Army's offensive began on January 25, moved up a day due to the German retreat from Voronezh. The attack did not begin until 1630 hours following a 30-minute artillery preparation on a 14 km sector from Kozinka to Ozerki. It had only 91 tanks (mostly in the 180th Tank Brigade) in support and no infantry reserves. The 206th was to attack toward Golosnovka and Zemlyansk to gain a line from the former village to Ilinovka by the end of the day to secure the left flank of the Army's shock group.Soviet General Staff, Rollback, Kindle ed., Part IV, sections 1, 2
It wasn't until dawn on January 26, following another artillery preparation, that the 240th and 167th Rifle Divisions, forming the Army's shock group, began to make any progress. Heavy fighting continued until 1300 hours when resistance began to weaken and the Axis forces began to fall back to the south. One regiment of the 206th which was attached to the shock group fought throughout the day for the village of Ivanovka. During the day the combined force advanced up to 8 km. As the Axis withdrawal continued the 38th Army went over to the attack along its entire front on January 27. Col. Gen. F. I. Golikov, commander of Voronezh Front, ordered a change to the operational plan, sending all three divisions plus the 180th Tanks in the direction of Kastornoye. This led to an advance of 15 km during the day's fighting. The 206th reached as far as Malopokrovka and Ilinovka but was unable to seize these places. The next day the tank brigade reached Kastornoye in conjunction with mobile forces of the 13th and 40th Armies, followed by rifle units of the 13th Army and the shock group of the 38th, leading to a stubborn fight for the town into the morning of January 29; meanwhile the 206th reached a line from Milavka to Akulovo to Makhovatka. As a result of these advances the main escape routes of the Axis Voronezh-Kastornoye group of forces had been cut.Soviet General Staff, Rollback, Kindle ed., Part IV, section 3
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