178th Rifle Division

The 178th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in the Siberian Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of September 13, 1939, on the basis of the separate 386th Rifle Regiment. Following the German invasion it was moved west and concentrated west of Moscow as part of 24th Army in early July. Late that month the Army was assigned to Reserve Front. While this Army played the main role in the successful offensive at Yelnya, the 178th was held in reserve. In late August, in response to a German drive against 22nd Army on the right flank of Western Front, the division was moved by rail and truck northward to join 29th Army in the vicinity of Nelidovo, to cover the gap between that Army and the 22nd. When Army Group Center launched Operation Typhoon in early October the 29th Army was not directly affected, but soon had to fall back to the northeast under pressure from German 9th Army, giving up the town of Rzhev in the process. On October 17 the 29th Army became part of the new Kalinin Front, and later in the month the 178th was moved to 22nd Army. On January 15, 1942, the Army went over to the counteroffensive, and the 178th soon found itself fighting to regain territory around Rzhev that it had been forced from months before. In February, the division was reassigned to 30th Army, and it remained in that Army through the summer battles for the Rzhev salient. During Operation Mars, in November, it was in 39th Army, and managed to gain ground during this otherwise failed offensive. During March 1943 the 178th took part in the pursuit of the German forces evacuating the salient, but soon came up on the extensive fortifications that had been built at its base, and remained facing them into August. When offensive fighting resumed the Army's objective was the town of Dukhovshchina, but it was only taken after heavy combat well into September. Once the town was taken the division was awarded a battle honor. Shortly after it was reassigned to 3rd Shock Army, still in Kalinin Front (soon renamed 1st Baltic Front). During the fall and winter campaign of 1943/44 it faced the heavily fortified German positions just east of Novosokolniki as part of 2nd Baltic Front's 11th Guards and 22nd Armies, and finally liberated that town in late January 1944, earning the Order of the Red Banner. It left the fighting front in late March for a period of rebuilding in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command; when it returned in May it was assigned to 21st Army in Leningrad Front. During the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive it took part in the final drive toward Vyborg as part of 23rd Army, and after this city was taken all three rifle regiments of the 178th were awarded its name as honorifics. The division remained facing Finland until early 1945, when it was moved to Latvia and spent the remainder of the war containing the German forces trapped in Courland, eventually assisting in clearing the region after the German surrender in May. It was moved to the Gorkii Military District in August, and was disbanded there in April 1946.

Formation The division was formed between August 18 and September 9, 1939, in the Altai region; the 386th Regiment was stationed at Slavgorod. Later the new regiments were stationed at Omsk and Tatarsk. Following an inspection in early 1941 it was rated as one of the best in the Siberian Military District. Its order of battle on June 22, 1941, was as follows (including later additions): 386th Rifle Regiment 693rd Rifle Regiment 709th Rifle Regiment 332nd Artillery Regiment 432nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment (until September 27, 1941)Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 87 213th Antitank Battalion (until September 27, 1941, then from February 10, 1942) 239th Antiaircraft Battery (later 178th Antiaircraft Battalion) (until May 5, 1943) 430th Mortar Battalion (from November 1, 1941, to October 10, 1942) 467th Machinegun Battalion (from October 1, 1942, to May 5, 1943) 139th Reconnaissance Company (later 139th Reconnaissance Battalion) 211th Sapper Battalion 227th Signal Battalion (later 579th Signal Company) 218th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 156th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 93rd Motor Transport Company (later 225th Motor Transport Battalion) 266th Field Bakery (later 138th Motorized Field Bakery) 88th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 484th Field Postal Station (later 227th) 247th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Nikolai Ivanovich Starukhin transitioned from command of the 386th Regiment to command of the full division when it began forming. He would remain in this position until August 1, 1941. At the outbreak of war with Germany it was part of 53rd Rifle Corps, along with the 107th and 133rd Rifle Divisions. This Corps was assigned to 24th Army in the Reserve of the STAVKA High Command.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10 The 178th began moving west from Siberia by rail in late June, and by the start of July was concentrating west of Moscow.Sharp, "Red Legions", p. 87

Battle of Smolensk On July 1 the 24th Army was still officially a separate Army within the STAVKA Reserve,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 18 but by 10 days later it was part of the Group of STAVKA Reserve Armies, and 53rd Corps had gained the 248th Rifle Division. On July 30 the headquarters of Reserve Front was formed, to be located at Gzhatsk and with Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov appointed as commander. 24th Army, now with seven rifle divisions, a tank division, a motorized division, and an assortment of artillery assets, was assigned a sector from Ugriumovo Station on the left to Luzhki (60km south of Vyazma) to Popovka (10km south of Yelnya) and Pochinok. The Army's headquarters was to be at .David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, Kindle ed., chs. 2, 8 On August 1, Colonel Starukhin left the division and was replaced by Lt. Col. Aleksandr Petrovich Kvashnin; this officer had been serving as the division's chief of staff. He had been arrested in 1939 in the late stage of the Great Purge, but was reinstated to the Red Army the next year. He would be promoted to the rank of colonel on January 15, 1942. Yelnya Offensive 24th Army was under the command of Maj. Gen. K. I. Rakutin, an NKVD officer who had previously led 31st Army. On August 3, Gen. H. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group captured Roslavl, which created a "dangerous hole" in the Red Army's defenses east of Smolensk. As a result, at 0216 hours on August 6 the STAVKA issued orders to Zhukov to use forces of Reserve Front to attack and retake Guderian's concentrated forces in a bridgehead around Yelnya, as well as his grouping at Roslavl. The Yelnya operation was assigned to 24th Army and would be led by the 107th and 100th Rifle Divisions. Zhukov acted quickly and by 2000 had sent his orders to Rakutin; they categorically stated that the STAVKA attached "exceptional significance to the El'nia region". The 178th was not part of the attacking force but remained in second echelon. The salient was now held by three divisions of XX Army Corps. Despite these preparations, Zhukov suspended the launch of the attack 24 hours later, partly due to a new threat that had developed elsewhere, and partly due to his realization of the poor state of training of most of his forces. He would spend the following day reorganizing his defenses and conducting exercises.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 8

The offensive finally got underway on August 8. The plan remained much as previous, although the main shock group was now reinforced. This first effort made hardly a dent in the German lines. The assaults continued almost every day during August 12-20, with continuous reshuffling of units along with threats, warnings, and demotions to command staffs. While 24th Army gained little ground, casualties on both sides were heavy. At 0445 hours on August 21, Zhukov finally admitted to Stalin that the offensive would have to be suspended for rest, refitting, and further training of 24th Army. He proposed restarting on August 25. At about this time the 178th was transferred, relatively intact, to the 29th Army of Western Front.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 11 Move to the north This fairly lengthy move was conducted by truck and by rail. On September 2 one train with some of the division's equipment departed Vyazma station. By the evening six more trains had been loaded and sent out, while the first was being unloaded at Nelidovo station. Meanwhile, the 386th Regiment was concentrating in the woods south of that place by 2000 hours, while the lead elements of the 709th and 693rd Regiments were at Bosino (13km southeast of Bely) at 1730. This movement continued the next day, with 11 more trains being unloaded and all the trucked forces concentrating at Nelidovo. By 2000 on September 5 the 178th was reported as having completed concentrating in the Mukhino, Zhivilka, and Zuevo region by 1300. 29th Army, under command of Lt. Gen. I. I. Maslennikov, had just three other divisions (243rd, 246th, 252nd), all of which had been formed from NKVD cadres. The context of the movement was a late-August attack by 3rd Panzer Group which had battered the 22nd Army and taken the town of Toropets. The 178th was deployed in order to cover the boundary between 29th and 22nd Armies.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 2, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2012, pp. 232, 250, 257, 271, 290. Note this source misnumbers the 386th Regiment as the 38th, and the 693rd as the 639th on p. 257. Operation Typhoon The front remained relatively quiet through the rest of September, as Army Group Center built up for what it intended to be the final drive on Moscow. On September 27, just before this blow fell, Lt. Colonel Kvashnin handed his 432nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment and 213th Antitank Battalion over to Maslennikov's direct command.Sharp and Jack Radey, The Defense of Moscow 1941 - The Northern Flank, Pen & Sword Books, Ltd., Barnsley, UK, 2012, pp. 16-17 At the end of September six of the armies of Western Front, now under command of Col. Gen. I. S. Konev, were occupying a defense in a sector 347km wide along a line from Lake Seliger to west of Andreapol to Yartsevo to Yelnya. The plan of defense designated counterattacks in the event of a German penetration. In case of the counterattacks' failures it was planned to fall back to the prepared rear army-level line of defense and continue the battle there.Lev Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe 1941, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2013, Kindle ed., Part 2

Operation Typhoon began at 0530 hours on October 2 and the forces of 3rd Panzer Group and 9th Army soon penetrated along the boundary between 19th and 30th Armies. On the afternoon of October 5 the Chief of the General Staff, Marshal B. M. Shaposhnikov, summoned Konev to a telegraph machine for talks. Konev reported that the situation of the 22nd and 29th Armies was unchanged, and (erroneously) that the penetration of 30th Army had been held up. Shaposhnikov stated that his information indicated that "your situation at Belyi has become difficult." Konev replied that fighting at Bely was ongoing (in fact it had already fallen) and that Maslennikov had departed for there.Lopukhovsky, The Viaz'ma Catastrophe 1941, Kindle ed., Part 4