The 109th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in July 1943, based on the 6th Guards Rifle Brigade and the 9th Guards Rifle Brigade and was the second of a small series of Guards divisions formed on a similar basis. It was considered a "sister" to the 108th Guards Rifle Division and they fought along much the same combat paths until the spring of 1945.
Following a further abortive offensive against the German Gotenkopfstellung on the Taman Peninsula that month the division was moved into reserve and then sent northwest to join the 44th Army in Southern Front. During the advance to the Dniepr River in early November that Army was disbanded and the division, along with its 10th Guards Rifle Corps, was reassigned to 28th Army. Under this command the 109th Guards fought along the southern flank of the German bridgehead over the Dniepr River based at Nikopol until it was finally evacuated in early February 1944. Following this the 109th Guards advanced through western Ukraine, winning a battle honor at Beryslav and decorations for its part in the battles for Nikolaev and Odessa. Its advance was brought to a halt along the Dniestr River in early May. When a new offensive began in August the 10th Guards Corps was initially in reserve but soon forced a crossing of the Prut River which began an advance through southern Romania. In late October the 109th Guards took part in the liberation of Belgrade, for which all four of its regiments were decorated or received battle honors. Following this the division pushed northward and participated in the encirclement and the siege of the Hungarian capital, winning further distinctions.
In mid-March 1945 the division began advancing through northern Hungary and into Czechoslovakia as part of the 18th Guards Rifle Corps in 53rd Army, ending the war against Germany near Brno. It then moved under these commands to the far east and took part in the offensive into Manchuria, winning a second battle honor in the process although it saw little actual fighting. After the war it was moved with its Corps to western Siberia and continued to serve until 1960.
Formation By mid-1943 most of the Red Army's remaining rifle brigades were being amalgamated into rifle divisions as experience had shown this was a more efficient use of manpower.
6th Guards Rifle Brigade This brigade began service as the 3rd formation of the 2nd Airborne Brigade in July 1942 but by the month's end had been redesignated in the Transcaucasus Military District. In August it was moved to the North Caucasus where it joined the 10th Guards Rifle Corps and it mostly remained under this command until it was reformed. For nearly a year it took part in battles against German Army Group A in the Caucasus region, eventually facing the defenses of 17th Army in the Kuban Bridgehead in the early summer of 1943.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units Divisions 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, pp. 13, 98
9th Guards Rifle Brigade The 9th Guards was formed from July 30 to August 10, 1942 from the 3rd formation of the 5th Airborne Brigade in the Transcaucasus Military District and was immediately assigned to the 11th Guards Rifle Corps. By early August it was fighting along the Terek River as the 1st Panzer Army advanced eastward, but as the momentum of this advance ebbed the Red Army began planning counterattacks. In October it was sent to the 18th Army and it fought under this command against the German defenses on the Taman Peninsula until July 1943 when it was reformed.Sharp, "Red Guards", pp. 14, 98
On July 5, 1943 the combined brigades officially became the 109th Guards in the North Caucasus Military District; as they were already Guards formations there was no presentation of a Guards banner. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 306th Guards Rifle Regiment 309th Guards Rifle Regiment 312th Guards Rifle Regiment 246th Guards Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Guards", p. 87 108th Guards Antitank Battalion (as of August 1945 the 52nd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion was added) 105th Guards Reconnaissance Company 116th Guards Sapper Battalion 168th Guards Signal Battalion (later 140th Guards Signal Company, later 60th Guards Signal Battalion) 110th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 106th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 107th Guards Motor Transport Company 104th Guards Field Bakery 104th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 2293rd Field Postal Station 1224th Field Office of the State Bank The division was placed under the command of Col. Ilya Vasilevich Baldynov who had been the deputy commander of the 55th Guards Rifle Division until he was seriously wounded in late May. He was of Buryat nationality and had been arrested in July 1938 during the Great Purge but was reinstated in the Red Army two years later. This officer would remain in this position for the duration of the war, becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union on September 8, 1945 and being promoted to the rank of major general on the same date.https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1121. In Russian, English translation available. Retrieved September 2, 2021. The 109th Guards did not inherit the Order of the Red Banner from the 6th Guards Brigade which it had won on December 13, 1942.
Kuban Bridgehead In the late May fighting near Moldavanskoye both Brigades had been in 10th Guards Corps of 56th Army and made only minor gains before the offensive bogged down.Robert Forczyk, The Kuban 1943: The Wehrmacht's last stand in the Caucasus, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK, 2018, Kindle ed. By the beginning of July both Brigades were still in this Corps.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 167 A new offensive began on July 16 after a massive artillery preparation at 0400 hours and initially involved only the 10th and 11th Guards Corps on a 7km-wide sector on the boundary between the 97th Jäger and 98th Infantry Divisions but this was almost immediately halted with heavy losses. On July 22 the effort expanded to include the rest of 56th Army but with no greater success.Forczyk, The Kuban 1943, Kindle ed. At the beginning of August the 109th Guards was the only rifle formation remaining in 10th Guards Corps, still in 56th Army,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 199 and on August 22 the STAVKA decided to cut its losses and ordered the Front to transfer seven of its divisions, including the 109th Guards, to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for redeployment.
Into Ukraine As of the start of September the 108th and 109th Guards constituted the 10th Guards Corps, still in North Caucasus Front, but it soon began moving north to reinforce the small 44th Army in Southern Front (as of October 20 4th Ukrainian Front) by the beginning of October adding the 49th Guards Rifle Division to its composition.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 228, 254 By this time the German Army Group South had largely fallen back to the Dniepr River but south of the Dniepr bend at Zaporozhe the rebuilt German 6th Army was still tasked with holding along the Molochna River to the east.Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, Center of Military History United States Army, Washington, DC, 1968, p. 155 On September 26, as the 309th Guards Rifle Regiment fought westward north of Melitopol, Sgt. Mikhail Ilyich Bakalov was serving as a mortar gunner in a battery of battalion (82mm) mortars. When the other men of the battery were killed or wounded he continued to serve his piece as long as shells were available, despite being wounded himself. Bakalov was captured in a German attack and subjected to torture but did not divulge any information before he was freed by Soviet forces. Unfortunately his wounds and injuries proved mortal and he died in hospital in Stalino on October 15. On March 19, 1944 he would be posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1068. In Russian, English translation available. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
On October 9 the Front resumed its offensive against 6th Army with a significant superiority of strength in all categories. The attack began on a 32km-wide front straddling Melitopol. By the 12th the 51st Army had pushed into the city from the south but the battle continued for another 12 days. Following this victory the Front began a general advance.Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, pp. 166, 176-78 44th Army was making a dash to capture Nikopol on November 9 when its commander, Lt. Gen. V. A. Khomenko, and his chief of artillery, S. A. Bobkov, mistakenly took a road that led into German positions; Bobkov was killed and Khomenko mortally wounded. Based on German radio reports Stalin believed the two officers had deserted. In a rage he ordered the disbandment of 44th Army.John Erickson, The Road to Berlin, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., London, UK, 1983, p. 166 10th Guards Corps (now consisting of 108th Guards, 109th Guards and 77th Rifle Divisions) was reassigned to 28th Army, still in 4th Ukrainian Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 311 Into Western Ukraine Until the end of February 1944 the 28th Army was involved in the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive, facing the southern flank of the German-held Nikopol bridgehead over the Dniepr near Bolshaya Lepatikha until early that month when this was finally evacuated. The last German troops crossed the Dniepr on February 7 with the goal of forming a new line behind the Ingulets River. Due in part to an unusually mild winter the pace of operations on both sides remained slow through the rest of the month.Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, pp. 239, 242-44 During the month the Army was transferred to 3rd Ukrainian Front as 4th Ukrainian prepared for an offensive into the Crimea, and in March the 10th Guards Corps was moved to the 5th Shock Army, still in 3rd Ukrainian Front; at this time the Corps contained the 86th Guards and 109th Guards and the 320th Rifle Divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, pp. 78, 108
The Front commander, Army Gen. R. Ya. Malinovskii, began a new offensive on March 4 with the objectives of crossing the Bug and Dniestr rivers prior to forcing the border into Romania. The center of German 6th Army was struck by the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps and the 8th Guards Army, which made slow initial progress before breaking into the clear on March 7, advancing 40km and liberating Novy Bug. Malinovskii now faced the choice of striking due south toward Nikolaev or to drive west to get over the Bug behind 6th Army. Attempting to do both he gave the German forces an opportunity to escape.Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, pp. 273-74, 277-78, 282-83 Despite this miscalculation the Front liberated a great deal of territory and on March 13 the 109th Guards shared an honorific with the 4th Guards Mechanized Brigade:On March 28 the division took part in the battle for Nikolaev with the rest of its Corps and on April 1 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for this victory.
Odessa Offensive Immediately following the victory at Nikolaev the left (south) wing of 3rd Ukrainian Front continued its advance on the city of Odessa, which was expected to be taken at the earliest around April 5. This was led by Pliyev's Cavalry-Mechanized Group, followed by the 8th Guards and 6th Armies to envelop the city from the northwest and west while the 5th Shock was to advance on its defenses directly from the east.David M. Glantz, Red Storm Over the Balkans, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2007, pp. 110, 114-15, 119