The 221st Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was redesignated about four weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. After several further redesignations the division, which had always been a rifle division for all intents and purposes, was destroyed during Operation Typhoon in October 1941.
The first official 221st Rifle Division was formed in the spring of 1942 in the Ural Military District from a mix of several Central Asian nationalities. It arrived in Stalingrad Front in late August and was immediately thrown into the offensives that were attempting to break through the German corridor from the Don River to the city in order to relieve 62nd Army. The Kotluban offensives were expensive failures and by the end of October the division was so badly depleted that it was disbanded.
A new 221st was formed in 5th Shock Army of Southern Front in late June 1943, based on a rifle brigade. After assisting in the breakthrough of the German defenses along the Mius River it advanced through the southeastern Ukraine and won a battle honor for the liberation of Mariupol. From here the division followed an unusual combat path, serving as a sort of utility unit on several sectors of the front, first west of Kiev where it won the Order of the Red Banner, then well to the north as part of 7th and 21st Armies in the final offensives against Finland. It then joined 39th Army in 3rd Belorussian Front, taking part in the campaigns in East Prussia in 1945 winning a further decoration in the process. Before the German surrender it began moving with this Army across the Soviet Union to serve in the invasion of Manchuria in August, where it won a second battle honor. Within months of the Japanese capitulation it was disbanded in the far east.
221st Motorized Division The division began forming in March 1941, as part of the prewar buildup of Soviet mechanized forces in the Central Asian Military District as part of the 27th Mechanized Corps. It was based on the 19th Mountain Cavalry Order of Lenin Division (until 1936 the 6th Uzbek Mountain Cavalry Division). Once formed its order of battle was as follows: 671st Motorized Rifle Regiment 695th Motorized Rifle Regiment 138th Tank Regiment (until July 29, 1941) 659th Artillery RegimentCharles C. Sharp, "The Deadly Beginning", Soviet Tank, Mechanized, Motorized Divisions and Tank Brigades of 1940–1942, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. I, Nafziger, 1995, p. 66. This source describes the 659th as a Howitzer Regiment. 47th Antitank Battalion 236th Antiaircraft Battalion 296th Reconnaissance Battalion 379th Light Engineering Battalion 595th Signal Battalion 219th Artillery Park Battalion 366th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 693rd Motor Transport Battalion 167th Repair and Restoration Battalion 59th Regulatory Company 479th Field Postal Station 734th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Gersh Moiseevich Roitenberg, who had been in command of the 19th Mountain Cavalry since January, remained in command of the 221st. Although his cavalrymen were well-trained and capable peacetime soldiers they had very little experience with tanks or other motor vehicles; in fact the 138th Regiment was never completely formed and never received any tanks, and the inadequate number of trucks provided from the civilian economy for the motorized regiments and other elements were mostly not serviceable for war conditions.Sharp, "The Deadly Beginning", p. 66 On June 22 the Corps (221st Motorized, 9th and 53rd Tank Divisions, 31st Motorcycle Regiment) were still in Central Asian Military District,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 13 based at Samarkand, and on June 25 received orders to begin entraining for the west.
Redesignation and Disbandment 9th Tanks began moving two days later and arrived at Voronezh on July 8 with the remainder of the Corps following. By July 10 the Corps had been assigned to 28th Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 26 Given the severe tank losses the Red Army had already suffered the STAVKA now decided to disband all unengaged mechanized corps and between July 11–15, as they continued moving toward Kirov, the 9th Tanks was converted to the 104th Tank Division (based on the new shtat for 100-series tank divisions), the 53rd Tanks to the 105th Tank Division and the 221st to the 106th Tank Division. From Kirov the three divisions proceeded to the Spas-Demensk region, still under 28th Army. On July 19 the 106th, given its complete lack of tanks, was redesignated as the 106th Mechanized-Motorized Division as it continued moving to the Smolensk region.David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2010, Kindle ed., Appendix A Under this designation the division's order of battle became the 1st and 2nd Motorized Regiments, 540th Rifle Regiment, and 106th Artillery Regiment. By August 28 all further pretence was dropped and the division became the 106th Rifle Division in 24th Army of Reserve Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 41 This was awkward as there was already a 106th Rifle in service, but the situation was resolved about six weeks later when the former 221st Motorized was surrounded and destroyed north of Spas-Demensk in early October during Operation Typhoon.Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p. 17
1st Formation The first 221st Rifle Division began forming in March 1942 at Krasnoufimsk in the Ural Military District.Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 108 At this time its personnel were noted as being roughly 25 percent Russian, with nearly all of the remainder being of Uzbek, Kazakh and Kirghiz nationalities.Glantz, Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2005, p. 593 When it completed forming its order of battle was as follows: 625th Rifle Regiment 671st Rifle Regiment 695th Rifle Regiment 659th Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 87 422nd Antitank Battalion 476th Antiaircraft Battery 296th Reconnaissance Company 379th Sapper Battalion 595th Signal Battalion 366th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 188th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 542nd Motor Transport Battalion 358th Field Bakery 855th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1844th Field Postal Station (later 1969th) 1163rd Field Office of the State Bank Col. Pavel Ivanovich Bunyashin, who had previously served as chief of staff of the 18th Rifle Division, was appointed to command on April 16; he would lead the division for the existence of this formation. In May it was assigned to the 8th Reserve Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 113 and soon began moving toward Stalingrad. It was north of the city on August 24 when the headquarters of 8th Reserve was used to form 66th Army in Stalingrad Front.Sharp, "Red Swarm", pp. 87-88
Kotluban Offensives On August 21 the XIV Panzer Corps struck eastward from a bridgehead over the Don River and by the 23rd had reached the Volga and the northern outskirts of Stalingrad in some strength. This seemingly vulnerable corridor, which passed near the village of Kotluban and its railway station, would attract Soviet counterattacks into November. The 221st did not join 66th Army but was instead assigned to the new 24th Army which was formed on August 27, also in Stalingrad Front, and deployed somewhat farther to the west, north of the corridor.Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 339, 345–46, 353
The division went into action at 1500 hours on September 5. It faced: 24th Army attacked well dug-in elements of VIII Army Corps west of Kuzmichi; the 221st, flanked by the 173rd and 207th Rifle Divisions, drove in the German security line and reached the forward edge of the main defense along the northwestern slopes of Hill 93.1the village 4 km southwest of Samofalovkathe northwestern slopes of Hill 13.4, which was a marginal return for the commitment of three fresh divisions. This offensive, which had begun two days earlier, was utterly stalled, although its mentor, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov, would not shut it down until September 13.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 42-43, 48-50, 55
Second Kotluban Offensive The second Kotluban offensive was set to begin on September 18. The Front commander, Col. Gen. A. I. Yeryomenko, chose a 17 km-wide attack sector from 564 km Station to the Kotluban Balka, in part because it was defended by German infantry, rather than the mobile troops which had defeated his earlier attempt. This was the sector held by 24th Army which he recognized as already weakened to the point that it could not spearhead the effort by itself. As one example, on September 15 the 221st was noted as already reduced to 5,724 men. Yeryomenko therefore regrouped his forces and the division now became part of 1st Guards Army, although remaining on much the same sector as before. Supported by 340 tanks, the Army was to break through the defense at the junction of VIII Corps and XIV Panzer Corps and exploit southward along the BorodkinNadezhda axis to link up with the isolated 62nd Army in the Gumrak region. The Army commander, Maj. Gen. K. S. Moskalenko, chose to hold the 221st and 207th Divisions, along with 4th Tank Corps, in his second echelon in order to reinforce success and fend off counterattacks during the advance. The offensive began at 0700 hours following a 90-minute artillery preparation that was largely ineffective due to the depth of the defense. The first echelon managed to gain up to 3 km in places but then ground to a halt in front of the main defense lines as German reserves began arriving. At 1400 Moskalenko ordered his second echelon into the fight to maintain the momentum of the assault but by the time it arrived it was too late to halt the German counterattacks, backed by up to 50 tanks, that were sweeping the 308th and 316th Rifle Divisions from the slopes and crest of Hill 154.2 and effectively routing them. In the intense fighting of September 18 and 19 1st Guards Army suffered 36,000 casualties from its initial 123,000 personnel.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, pp. 168–71, 173–74, 176-77
After a pause for reinforcements and a minor shift in objectives Moskalenko was ordered to renew the offensive on September 23. The 221st and 207th Divisions formed the first echelon of a shock group that was to assault the defenses of 60th Motorized Division's 9th Machine Gun Battalion at 564 km Station. This position changed hands three times but was in the division's hands by the end of September 24. Despite this minor success the overall offensive had ground to a halt two days later, primarily due to German air strikes and local counterattacks. Yeryomenko persisted in ordering his armies to attack as late as October 4, but this achieved little except attrition and a distraction for the German command from the fighting in the city itself.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, pp. 178-81