The 78th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 204th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War.
As the 204th it had fought in the Battle of Stalingrad and distinguished itself during Operation Ring in the 64th Army. It remained assigned to that Army when it was redesignated as the 7th Guards Army. It moved north to the Kursk area joining Voronezh Front and played an important role in the defense of the Northern Donets River south of the salient as part of the 25th Guards Rifle Corps during Operation Zitadelle. Following this victory it fought in the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive in August and continued advancing toward the Dniepr River into the early autumn. During the crossing operations over the Dniepr a large number of the division's personnel distinguished themselves, becoming Heroes of the Soviet Union, including the divisional commander, or receiving other awards. During January and February 1944 the 78th Guards was involved in the fighting around Korsun-Shevchenkovski and went through several reassignments before ending up in the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps of 5th Guards Army where it remained for the duration of the war. As part of 1st Ukrainian Front it made a successful advance into southeastern Poland during the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive and was awarded a divisional honorific for its assault crossing of the Vistula River. In January 1945 the division attacked through southern Poland and into Silesia, taking part in the battles around Breslau and later in the offensive against Berlin in April before ending the war near Prague. Following the German surrender the division was decorated with the Order of Suvorov for its part in the capture of Dresden. Despite a laudable combat record the 78th Guards was disbanded in July, 1946.
Formation The 204th was redesignated as the 78th Guards on March 1, a month after the German surrender at Stalingrad, and officially received its Guards banner on April 20. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 223rd Guards Rifle Regiment (from 700th Rifle Regiment) 225th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 706th Rifle Regiment) 228th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 730th Rifle Regiment) 158th Guards Artillery Regiment (from 657th 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. 76 81st Guards Antitank Battalion 75th Guards Reconnaissance Company 89th Guards Sapper Battalion 107th Guards Signal Battalion 85th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 82nd Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 83rd Guards Motor Transport Company 77th Guards Field Bakery 79th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1487th Field Postal Station 921st Field Office of the State Bank Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Vasilevich Skvortsov, who had commanded the 204th since July 10, 1942, remained in command. As 64th Army moved north towards Kursk the German counteroffensive at Kharkov was unfolding. As elements of the SS Panzer Corps entered Belgorod on March 18 forces of the Soviet 69th Army were taking up a defense along the east bank of the Northern Donets. The next day the 73rd Guards Rifle Division, leading 64th Army, began to assemble in the Shebekino - Miasoedovo area and on March 24 the Army took over the 69th's defense sector. On April 17 the 64th officially became the 7th Guards Army, and the 78th Guards was subordinated to the new 25th Guards Rifle Corps, which included the 73rd and 81st Guards Rifle Divisions, all under command of Maj. Gen. G. B. Safiulin.Valeriy Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2018, pp. 30-31. This source mistakenly gives Skvortsov's rank as colonel. In May it was noted that the division's personnel were 80 percent of several Asian nationalities and 20 percent Russian.David M. Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005, p. 596
Battle of Kursk As of July 1 the 25th Guards Corps was deployed with the 78th and 81st Guards in its first echelon, with 73rd Guards in second echelon as Corps reserve. The 78th Guards stood on the east bank of the Donets from an unnamed correction labor camp to Dorogobuzheno to Nizhnii Olshanets to Krutoi Log and Generalovka, a frontage of 10 km. On its left it tied in with the 72nd Guards Rifle Division of 24th Guards Rifle Corps. When the German offensive began on July 5 its combat strength was as follows: 8,346 personnel, 824 horses and 103 motor vehicles, equipped with 4,766 rifles, 2,287 sub-machine guns, 387 light and 137 heavy machine guns, 199 antitank rifles, 54 light, 81 medium and 18 heavy mortars, 43 antitank guns, 12 76mm regimental guns, 19 76mm cannons and 11 122mm howitzers.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, pp. 34-38, 44
By a narrow margin this made the 78th Guards the smallest division in 7th Guards Army. It deployed nine guns (45 mm – 152 mm calibre) per kilometre of its front. General Skvortsov reported on the difficulties he faced due to the terrain in creating a strong defense:As with the rest of the Army the division's defense was constructed with a main position of three trench lines and a reserve position of two lines; the latter ran along the Belgorod - Titovka railroad bed. The regiments were arranged in two echelons, with Maj. I. A. Khitsov's 228th Guards Regiment and Maj. D. S. Khorolenko's 225th Guards Regiment forward and Maj. S. A. Arshinov's 223rd Guards Regiment in reserve. The 228th on the right was reinforced with two antitank rifle companies and eight 45 mm antitank guns and covered a sector about 5 km wide. The 225th on the left had one extra antitank rifle company and held a 7 km sector, backed by the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 158th Guards Artillery in the antitank strongpoint at Krutoi Log. The 158th's 2nd Battalion was posted at Razumnoye behind the boundary of the rifle regiments. Two battalions of the 223rd Regiment defended the Generalovka - Krutoi Log - Hill 164.7 sector with its third battalion in divisional reserve. All three of these regimental commanders had recently replaced more experienced officers who had been promoted or sent for further military studies.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, pp. 63-64, 92
One aspect of the Soviet planning for the German offensive was a counter-artillery preparation once the time of the initial attack was ascertained. For this purpose the 158th Guards Artillery Regiment had the 3rd Battalion of the 213th Rifle Division's 671st Artillery Regiment attached; this division was deployed in the Army's second echelon. In response to heavy German activity on the afternoon of July 4 the commander of Voronezh Front, Army Gen. N. F. Vatutin, ordered the first phase of the bombardment to begin at 2230 hours. A second phase in the sector of 7th Guards Army began at 0330 hours on July 5, concentrated opposite the defenses of the 81st, 78th and 72nd Guards where the largest concentrations of Army Detachment Kempf had been revealed. This barrage was more successful than those of the other Soviet armies, in large part because Kempf's lead units had started to force a crossing of the Donets about 30 minutes before and were particularly vulnerable. The German bridgehead at Mikhailovka opposite the 81st Guards was especially hard-hit which led the III Panzer Corps to divert its 6th Panzer Division to make a crossing opposite the 78th Guards. However the 106th Infantry Division of Kempf's Corps "Raus" nearly opposite the 78th was also surprised and bloodied by the shellfire.Zamulin, The Battle of the Kursk - Controversial and Neglected Aspects, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2017, pp. 208, 212-15, 220 General Skvortsov directed most of his division's guns on the village of Solomino and in ten minutes fired 1,700 76 mm and 122 mm shells at this target which was also being worked over by part of the 25th Guards Corps' artillery.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, p. 151
At the outset of the offensive the 78th Guards directly faced the 7th Panzer and part of the 19th Panzer Divisions plus about one-third of the 168th Infantry Division. The attack was led by a battlegroup of the 168th ahead of the 19th Panzer, which had the objective of striking the boundary of the 78th and 81st Guards. This division had the support of a company of Tiger tanks of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion, but it would require the construction of a 60-tonne bridge to get these across the Donets.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, pp. 140-41
Despite heavy blocking artillery fire the 19th Panzer's 73rd Panzergrenadier Regiment managed to get across the river north of Dalnie Peski, penetrated the forward edge of the 1st Battalion of the 228th Guards Regiment and took the village in about 90 minutes. This crossing was essential for bridging purposes. By 0500 hours the Guards battalion was falling back under cover of machine gun fire from the 3rd Battalion. At noon the 19th Panzer's commander reported that his 73rd Regiment had run into bitter resistance when attacking the woods south of the correction labor camp and was locked in heavy fighting, while also expressing surprise at the extent and strength of the Red Army fortifications. Also at 0500 the 228th Guards Regiment faced a deteriorating situation on its left flank south of Dorogobuzheno. The adjacent 225th Guards Regiment had thrown back a first crossing attempt by a battlegroup of 7th Panzer at 0425, but this was followed by the laying of a smokescreen and a renewed effort which broke through to the first trench line held by the regiment's 2nd Battalion in the vicinity of Solomino. German engineers immediately began constructing a bridge built on piles which allowed medium tanks to begin crossing by 0725 hours. Most of these formed up to break through across the Solomino - Razumnoye road while a small group supported the infantry attempting to roll up the defense of the 2nd Battalion of the 225th Guards from south to north and emerge on the flank of the 3rd Battalion of the 228th Guards.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, pp. 163, 165-68
While 7th Panzer had scored some early successes the resistance of the defenders began to increase. At this point the efforts of the 106th Infantry Division began to affect the battle; it had crossed two battalions in the Karnaukhovka area by 0530 hours and these struck the left flank of the 78th Guards while trying to break through to Nizhnii Olshanets. This put Cpt. I. A. Matsokin's 2nd Battalion/225th Guards in danger of encirclement by a pincer move by the 106th and the 7th Panzer, which began at 0830 hours. After holding out for a bit more than an hour Matsokin was forced to order a retreat to the Dorogobuzheno - Belgorod road. Around 0930 soldiers of the 106th Infantry began to infiltrate into Nizhnii Olshanets. The antitank strongpoint in this village was held by the 1st Battalion/225th Guards commanded by Cpt. A. Ya. Belovitsky and due to Matsokin's retreat the battalion's right flank was exposed. Fierce street fighting broke out in the southern portion of the village. After receiving a report on the situation, Skvortsov ordered Major Arshinov to prepare his 1st Battalion/223rd Guards for an immediate counterattack. At the same time he received a report of German tanks assembling on the road leading from Hill 108.9 to the Razumnoye railyard.Zamulin, The Forgotten Battle of the Kursk Salient, pp. 170-71