The 95th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in May 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 226th Rifle Division, and served in that role until well after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It ended the war on the approaches to Prague and continued to serve well into the postwar era in the Central Group of Forces.
The 226th had distinguished itself in the Battle of Stalingrad and following the German surrender there it was moved north to the central part of the front. At about the same time its Army was redesignated 5th Guards Army it was itself redesignated as the 95th Guards; it would soon be assigned to the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps and it would remain under this Army for the duration of the war. At the beginning of July 1943 it was in Steppe Front and in the latter part of the Battle of Kursk it was brought forward to help defend the Red Army's positions around Prokhorovka. Shortly after it joined the summer offensive through eastern Ukraine where it won a battle honor. In August it was first assigned to the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps and would serve under this distinguished command for most of the rest of the war. During the battles along the Dniepr River and west bank Ukraine the 95th Guards distinguished itself sufficiently to be awarded both the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. In the early summer of 1944 it was transferred with its Army to the 1st Ukrainian Front where it remained for the duration. It played a limited role in the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive but a significantly larger one in the Vistula-Oder offensive and the advance through southern Poland and into Silesia, during which it won the Order of Lenin and its subunits received several honorifics and decorations. In the final offensive south of Berlin the 95th Guards fought across the Neisse River before driving west toward Dresden. Along with its Front it then advanced south toward Prague in the final days before the fighting ended. With its distinguished record of service the division was retained into postwar service, finally being disbanded in September 1955.
Formation In April the 226th was still in 66th Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 121 In the first days of May that Army was redesignated as the 5th Guards Army and on May 4 the division officially became the 95th Guards; it would receive its Guards banner on May 11. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 284th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 985th Rifle Regiment) 287th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 987th Rifle Regiment) 290th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 989th Rifle Regiment) 233rd Guards Artillery Regiment (from 875th Artillery Regiment) 103rd Guards Antitank BattalionCharles 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. 83 99th Guards Reconnaissance Company 109th Guards Sapper Battalion 140th Guards Signal Battalion (later 19th Guards Signal Company) 104th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 100th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 102nd Guards Motor Transport Company 96th Guards Field Bakery 97th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 986th Field Postal Station 833rd Field Office of the State Bank The division remained under the command of Maj. Gen. Nikolai Stepanovich Nikitchenko who had led the 226th since August 15, 1942. On June 29 he left command and was replaced by his deputy commander Col. Andrei Nikitovich Lyakhov. As of the beginning of June 5 Guards Army was still in the Steppe Military District of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and the division had been assigned to 33rd Guards Rifle Corps. It was still there as the German summer offensive began.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 147, 175
Battle of Kursk The Steppe Military District was activated as Steppe Front on July 9, four days after the start of the battle. At this time the 33rd Guards Corps consisted of the 95th Guards, 97th Guards and 9th Guards Airborne Rifle Divisions. On this date the 95th Guards was recorded as having the following personnel and equipment: 862 officers; 2,433 NCOs; 5,476 other ranks; 4,720 rifles and carbines; 2,644 sub-machine guns; 489 light machine guns; 165 heavy machine guns, 218 antitank rifles; 96 artillery pieces of all calibres; 170 mortars of all calibres; 188 motor vehicles; seven tractors; 28 tow vehicles; and 923 horses. This was roughly average for the rifle divisions of 5th Guards Army. A detailed breakdown of the 287th Guards Rifle Regiment (Lt. Col. V. I. Solovev) from June 24 shows 1,896 personnel of an authorized 2,244. They were armed with: 1,057 Mosin-Nagants, of which 84 were carbines and 56 sniper rifles; 251 SVT-40s; 260 PPSh-41 SMGs; 163 DP-28 LMGs; 53 M1910 HMGs; two DShK-39 HMGs; 52 antitank rifles; 12 45mm antitank guns; four 76mm regimental guns; 18 50mm mortars; 26 82mm mortars; and eight 120mm mortars. This Regiment had the 109th Separate Penal Rifle Company attached to it, consisting of 247 personnel with similar percentages of small arms but no crew-served weapons.Valeriy Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, pp. 194, 197
Battle of Prokhorovka By July 10 it was clear to both sides that the German plan for Operation Zitadelle had largely failed; the attack by 9th Army on the north flank of the salient had stalled after minor gains. The 4th Panzer Army in the south, and especially the II SS Panzer Corps, was still capable of attacking and had reached to within striking distance of Prokhorovka. The commander of Voronezh Front, Army Gen. N. F. Vatutin, was determined to shut this down with a counterattack by the newly arrived forces of Steppe Front. By 0400 hours on July 11 units of the 95th Guards had reached the sector held by the 52nd Guards Rifle Division and had begun occupying jump-off positions for this attack.Soviet General Staff, Battle of Kursk, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2016, Kindle ed., book 1, part 2, ch. 3 However, during the approach march the situation had changed, largely due to the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf having seized a bridgehead over the Psyol River near Klyuchi from the 52nd Guards late on the 10th, and plans for a counterattack were postponed. Instead the 95th Guards and 9th Guards Airborne dug in along what had been their start lines to form a second defensive line within the bend of the Psyol and in front of Prokhorovka. During the upcoming fighting the 287th Guards Regiment and 109th Penal Company would operate in partial isolation from the division's main forces, being dug in south of the Psyol and forming a link with the 9th Guards Airborne closer to Prokhorovka. The two divisions were to play a most important role on July 11 and 12 in keeping possession of Prokhorovka Station.Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 193, 200, 202-04
When the battle resumed on the morning of July 11 the 2nd Battalion of the 287th Guards Regiment was the 95th Guards' leftmost unit, tied in with the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Guards Airborne's 26th Guards Airborne Regiment on the sector from Vasilevka to Storozhevoe; they were supported by elements of the 2nd Tank Corps including the 26th Tank Brigade but this unit had been reduced to just three T-34s and nine T-70s with four attached Churchill tanks. Unknown to these Soviet forces the commander of the II SS Panzer Corps, Ogruf. P. Hausser, had decided to attack precisely on this sector with his 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Hausser delayed attacking with his 3rd SS because the heavy resistance that division had encountered the previous day from the 52nd Guards convinced him that tank support was required north of the Psyol and bridging had been delayed by poor road conditions and concentrated Soviet artillery fire.Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, p. 207
At 0630 hours the commander of the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment was ordered to advance north toward Luchki before attacking through the woods north of Storozhevoe. About 15 minutes later the 1st SS Division's reconnaissance battalion was directed to cover the division's left flank and the 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment. Before these moves began the Soviet positions were intensively worked over by artillery and air bombardment from 0730 and 0900 hours. By 1030 lead elements of the latter regiment had seized part of an antitank ditch and began to assault toward Hill 252.2 supported by further air attacks on that point as well as the nearby Oktiabrskii State Farm. This first attack gained from 1.5–2 km before being halted. A renewed effort began at 1300 which included extensive use of field artillery firing over open sights. About 30 minutes later the tank and armored infantry battlegroup led by Stubaf. J. Peiper reached the crest of Hill 252.2 along the railroad embankment, then pivoted north and attacked the Oktiabrskii. Almost simultaneously the 2nd Battalion of the 287th Guards Regiment buckled under the attack of the 1st SS's reconnaissance battalion.While the commander of the 287th Guards Regiment had planned a defense in two echelons with the 1st Battalion together with batteries of 45mm and 76mm guns backing up the boundary between the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, the late arrival of the latter forced a change in these dispositions. Furthermore, as Lt. Colonel Solovev later reported to Colonel Lyakhov, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Sen. Lt. Polunsky, failed to deploy on his assigned line and attempted to lead his men from a dugout more than 2 km to the rear. Polunsky would be removed from his command on July 19. This breakthrough was also facilitated by a number of mistakes made by the commander of the 9th Guards Airborne in setting up his antitank defenses. The State Farm would change hands several times during the fighting. Its defense was based on the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Guards Airborne Regiment backed in part by the 1st Battalion (Maj. Bugaev) of the 233rd Guards Artillery Regiment, which had been brought up to localize the breakthrough.Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 214, 217-20, 225-26
By 1830 hours elements of the 1st SS had reached a line running from the western portion of Storozhevoe and the woods north of it to a point along the rail line about 500 metres northwest of Hill 252.2 over to the eastern outskirts of the Oktiabrskii State Farm. The division reported that it had been halted by the lagging behind of its corps-mates, the 3rd SS and 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich. In addition an attack by a large group of Il-2 aircraft near the sector held by the 1st Battalion of the 287th Guards Regiment knocked out some 20 armored vehicles late in the day and forced the remainder back to the State Farm. However, the failures of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, allowing the 1st SS to advance to Petrovka, also led to the encirclement of the 99th Tank Brigade in Andreevka where it remained isolated until the morning.Zamulin, Demolishing the Myth, pp. 226-27, 231
The Fighting on July 12