The 110th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army from July into September 1943, based on the 5th Guards Rifle Brigade and the 7th Guards Rifle Brigade and was the third of a small series of Guards divisions formed on a similar basis. It would follow a very similar combat path to the 108th and 109th Guards Rifle Divisions and would serve well into the postwar era.
The 110th joined the active Army on September 7 as part of 37th Army of Steppe Front during the advance through eastern Ukraine to the Dniepr River. Upon reaching this objective late in the month it helped to force a crossing southeast of Kremenchug following which nearly 30 of the division's personnel were made Heroes of the Soviet Union. By October 10 the bridgehead was well established and on the 15th the division began breaking out as part of 5th Guards Army. In very short order in December and January 1944 the 110th Guards was awarded a divisional honorific, the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Suvorov. During February it was transferred to the 49th Rifle Corps of 53rd Army; it would remain under this Army command for the duration of the war and this Corps for most of it. Along with the rest of 2nd Ukrainian Front it reached the border of Moldavia along the Dniestr River in early April but the advance soon stalled along this line. When a new offensive against the Axis forces began in August the 53rd Army played a secondary role and quickly advanced through Romania and into Hungary, reaching the border with Slovakia by December. Once Budapest fell in February 1945 the 110th Guards joined in the offensive which overran the latter country in March and April, during which its regiments received several decorations. After finishing the war with Germany near Prague it then moved with its Army to the far east, joining the 18th Guards Rifle Corps, 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 but was soon converted back to a Guards rifle brigade at Irkutsk.
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.
5th Guards Rifle Brigade This brigade began service as the 2nd formation of the 1st Airborne Brigade which had formed in Volkhov Front in February - March 1942. It was soon assigned to the 6th Guards Rifle Corps but largely remained in the Front reserves until July 30 when it began reforming as the 5th Guards Rifle Brigade far to the south in the Transcaucasus Military District. In August it was moved to the North Caucasus where it joined the 10th Guards Rifle Corps and it 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. In July it was removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and sent to the Voronezh region.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, 97
7th Guards Rifle Brigade The 7th Guards was formed from July 30 to August 10, 1942, from the 3rd formation of the 3rd Airborne Brigade in the Transcaucasus Military District and was immediately assigned to the 10th Guards Rifle Corps. By January 1943 it had reached the German defenses in the Taman Peninsula and for the next several months was involved in the costly and mostly futile battles of attrition for these powerful positions, during which it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on March 31. In July it was also moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding and reforming.Sharp, "Red Guards", pp. 14, 98
On August 3, 1943, the combined brigades officially became the 110th Guards in the 37th Army which was in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command; as they were already Guards formations there was no presentation of a Guards banner. Once the division completed its reorganization its non-standard order of battle was as follows: 307th Guards Rifle Regiment 310th Guards Rifle Regiment 313th Guards Rifle RegimentSharp, "Red Guards", p. 87 247th Guards Cannon Artillery Regiment 636th Guards Divisional Artillery Brigade 823rd Guards Mortar Regiment 109th Guards Antitank Battalion 106th Guards Reconnaissance Company 117th Guards Sapper Battalion 169th Guards Signal Battalion (later 141st Guards Signal Company) 111th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 107th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 108th Guards Motor Transport Company 112th Guards Field Bakery 104th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 2290th Field Postal Station 1274th Field Office of the State Bank The division was placed under the command of Col. Mikhail Ivanovich Ogorodov who had previously served as deputy commanding officer of the 3rd Rifle Corps and had been appointed commander of the 7th Guards Brigade while it was in Reserve. It had considerably more artillery than a standard regular or Guards rifle division, close to that of a small rifle corps. (Its veterinary hospital also shared the same number with that of the 109th Guards.) When it joined the active army in September it was noted that 70 percent of its personnel were of several Asian nationalities while nearly all the remainder were Russian.David M. Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005, p. 596 The division did not inherit the Order of the Red Banner from the 7th Brigade.
Battle of the Dniepr As of the beginning of September the 37th Army consisted of four rifle divisions (62nd Guards, 92nd Guards, 110th Guards and 53rd Rifle Division) all under command of 57th Rifle Corps.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 235 As the Red Army advanced through eastern Ukraine that month the Army was released from the Reserve of the Supreme High Command to reinforce Steppe Front (as of October 20 2nd Ukrainian Front). The Army began its offensive operation on September 24 along the approaches to the Dniepr in conjunction with the neighboring 53rd and 7th Guards Armies.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of the Dnepr, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2018, p. 243
Steppe Front was facing the German 8th Army and part of the 1st Panzer Army which at this time were withdrawing toward Kremenchug in order to cross the Dniepr and organize a defense on its right (west) bank. 37th Army was in the Front's second echelon and was tasked with seizing a bridgehead southeast of that city following initial crossings by 69th Army. This Army had been weakened in previous fighting and was disregarded as a threat by the German command. 37th Army's commander, Lt. Gen. M. N. Sharokhin, was ordered to force march to the 69th's sector and capture a bridgehead between Uspenskoye and Myshuryn Rih on September 27. For this purpose the Army was heavily reinforced from the 69th Army, including the 89th Guards Rifle Division and a great deal of artillery. As of September 25 the 110th Guards recorded a strength of 8,818 men; 490 light and 171 heavy machine guns; 75 82mm and 16 120mm mortars; 40 45mm antitank guns; 32 76mm cannons and 12 122mm howitzers. (The division's additional artillery assets are not included.) This was very similar to that of the other divisions in 57th Corps.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of the Dnepr, pp. 245, 247-49
The division comprised the Corps' second echelon and was ordered to concentrate in the BarannikiZabegailovkaKovalenki area by 1600 hours on September 27, making ready to force the river. The forward detachments of the first echelon 62nd Guards and 92nd Guards had reached the Dniepr as early as 0200 hours that day while the 110th Guards was on the march northeast of Ozery, 15–20 km from the river. The leading divisions were unable to immediately start crossing operations due to the absence of equipment and had to gather materials for rafts and other improvised means. General Sharokhin and a group of staff officers soon arrived at Ozery and organized an auxiliary command post. 37th Army's crossing sector was 29 km wide and the Army had a total of 1,204 guns and mortars available, although a significant number of these had fallen behind due to shortages of fuel. 57th Corps had about 655 guns and mortars available to support the crossings of the forward detachments. The remnants of the German 106th and 39th Infantry Divisions, numbering about 4,500 officers and men with up to 200 machine guns and up to 160 guns and mortars, were withdrawing across the river near the village of Koleberda en route to taking up a 25 km-wide defensive sector along the west bank. In addition elements of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer were operating on that bank.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of the Dnepr, pp. 251-53. Note that on p. 251 the division is misnumbered as the 10th Guards.
The 62nd Guards was able to land two battalions beginning at the onset of darkness on the 27th, one on an island southwest of Soloshino and the other at a jetty north of Myshuryn Rih. At the same time the 92nd Guards attempted a crossing to another island south of Botsuly but this was discovered while still in mid-river; two pontoons were sunk by artillery fire and a third forced back which caused the crossing to be suspended. By the end of the day on September 28 the 62nd's 182nd Guards Rifle Regiment held a bridgehead 4–6 km deep and 5–6 km wide while the 184th Guards Regiment had also obtained a smaller but still substantial lodgement. The main goal of 37th Army on September 29–30 was to expand the existing bridgeheads, consolidate them, and repel increasingly powerful counterattacks. Overnight on September 28/29 the 110th Guards was committed from 57th Corps' second echelon to reinforce the 62nd Guards' bridgeheads. As well various crossing equipment arrived with the Army, including 21 half-pontoons and 67 boats, both A-3 small inflatables and collapsible canvas-sided types. During the day elements of the 23rd Panzer Division began arriving in the Myshuryn Rih area. Overnight on September 29/30 the 92nd Guards' 282nd Guards Rifle Regiment was landed in the 62nd Guards bridgehead east of Deriivka, while the remainder of that division's own forces, apart from its artillery regiment, crossed as well.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of the Dnepr, pp. 264-67, 271