The 123rd Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in September 1939, in the Kalinin Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of that month. It was barely formed when it was moved to the Leningrad Military District, joining the 7th Army on the Karelian Isthmus just before the start of the invasion of Finland on November 30. Along with the remainder of the Red Army units facing the Mannerheim Line it fared poorly in the attacks beginning on December 17 and was driven back with heavy losses. The remnants of the 123rd were pulled back behind the lines, fleshed out with numerous replacements, and given extensive training against mock-ups of the Finnish fortifications they would again face. The division returned to battle in February 1940 and succeeded in breaking the Line, for which it was awarded the Order of Lenin, the only division to be decorated before the ceasefire. Afterward it became part of 23rd Army, and remained on the Finnish border until after the start of the Continuation War in July 1941. During late August it was forced to conduct a costly fighting withdrawal from the Viipuri area south to the pre-Winter War Finnish-Soviet border, where it would remain defending besieged Leningrad until late 1942. It left 23rd Army in December and moved east to join 67th Army for the offensive that restored land communications with the city in January 1943, making the first contact with forces of 2nd Shock Army attacking from outside. From July into September the 123rd took part in two offensives that finally liberated Sinyavino, but failed to take the objective of Mga. After brief reassignments to 2nd Shock and 42nd Armies it was back in 67th Army at the start of the offensive that finally drove Army Group North away from Leningrad, and in February it was awarded a battle honor. From there it advanced to the Estonian border, being assigned to 59th Army before going into reserve. It returned to the front in August again in 42nd Army, now part of 2nd Baltic Front, and advanced into Latvia into December as the remnants of Army Group North were bottled up in the Courland Pocket. It spent early 1945 in this containment operation, mostly as part of 1st Shock Army, but in April it returned to 67th Army in Leningrad Front, where it ended the war. After the peace it was sent to Ukraine, where it was disbanded in January 1946.
Formation The division was formed at Vyshny Volochyok in the Kalinin Military District in September 1939, based on the 146th Rifle Regiment of the 49th Rifle Division. Before the end of the month it was assigned to 8th Army, on the border between the USSR and Estonia, but was soon redirected to the Leningrad Military District, which was under command of Komandarm 2nd rank K. A. Meretskov. Col. Viktor Fyodorovich Stenshinskii was not appointed to command until November, just weeks before the start of the invasion of Finland on November 30. The major units of the 123rd were the 245th, 255th, and 272nd Rifle Regiments, plus the 323rd Artillery Regiment. It was assigned to the 19th Rifle Corps of 7th Army, which deployed on the Karelian Isthmus, initially under command of Komandarm 2nd rank V. F. Yakovlev with, eventually, 14 rifle divisions, three tank brigades, and a mechanized corps. The Army was tasked with breaking through the Mannerheim Line and reaching Viipuri before sweeping west to Helsinki.William R. Trotter, A Frozen Hell, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 1991, p. 38
Winter War
The invasion began at 0700 hours on November 30 with an opening bombardment by 600 guns on the isthmus frontier. The infantry and tanks began to advance at 0730. While the Finns were expecting an attack, its weight and scope "exceeded our worst apprehensions", according to the Finnish commander-in-chief, Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim. The Finns fell back, more quickly than planned due to Soviet tanks, until 7th Army halted just short of the Mannerheim Line on December 6. For the next ten days the front went quiet, giving the Finns a respite to regroup.John R. Elting, Battles for Scandinavia, Time-Life Books Inc., Chicago, IL, 1981, p. 25 Meretskov took direct command of 7th Army from Yakovlev on December 9. Battle of Summa 19th Corps faced the center of the Mannerheim Line in the Summa sector, defended by the Finnish 5th Infantry Division. The first large assault on the sector began at 1000 hours on December 17, following five hours of artillery fire and strikes by up to 200 aircraft. The attack was on two axes: on the left against Summa itself; and on the right along the Lähde Road, 2km to the northeast. Lähde itself, an important road junction, was several kilometres behind the line. Soviet sappers led the push, blowing up antitank boulders and wire entanglements, and were followed by 50 tanks in an unsupported wedge formation; coordination between the infantry and armor was almost non-existent.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 79-80 The 123rd was in the Corps' second echelon and penetrated the Line near Hill 65.5 ("Poppius"), but was cut off by bypassed Finnish units and forced to break out, at the cost of some 1,500 killed and wounded.
A heavier strike against the Lähde positions began the next day, with 86 tanks backed by heavy artillery and air attacks. Finnish artillery knocked out 10 vehicles while still behind the line, and another 15 were disabled in close combat. The infantry failed to pass the line of boulders. On December 19 the "Poppius" bunker, a major fortified complex, was battered by close-range tank fire so that many of its steel embrasures were jammed. Overrun by infantry, it held out for 48 hours until a Finnish counterattack freed the ground around the position. 19th Corps was now low on ammunition and supplies, and had suffered enormous casualties. The fighting died out by December 22.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 81-82 The 123rd had lost most of its combat personnel. Second phase
At about this time Col. Philipp Fyodorovich Alyabushev was brought in from command of the 14th Rifle Division to take over from Colonel Stenshinskii. In addition, on January 7, 1940, Komandarm 1st rank S. K. Timoshenko took command of Northwestern Front (former Leningrad Military District), with Komkor G. K. Zhukov as his chief of staff. The 13th Army was created to take over the eastern end of the line. As part of their reform program the 123rd and the 35th Tank Brigade were pulled behind the front lines for replenishment and intensive training. Finnish fortifications, particularly the "Poppius" and the nearby "Million" complex, were reproduced on similar terrain.Elting, Battles for Scandinavia, p. 30 For the second phase of the offensive about 75 percent of Meretskov's 7th Army, altogether nine rifle divisions, five tank brigades, a machine gun division, and 50 guns per kilometre, would be concentrated on a 16km sector of the line from Summa to Lähde Road to Munasuo Swamp.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 205-06
The planned tactical approach was called "gnawing through". The Line would be pierced with an armored wedge, now with infantry support, and this would be systematically expanded with waves of fresh troops and tanks until the defense collapsed. The Finns were known to be stretched to the limit, and such a breakthrough in the Viipuri gateway sector would force the abandonment of the entire Mannerheim Line. The 123rd and 35th Tanks would form the tip of the wedge. Intensive reconnaissance, previously neglected, discovered the positions of about 75 percent of the front line fortifications. Some patrols even returned samples of the concrete for analysis. The assault detachments of the division carried out three full-scale rehearsals against the mock fortifications, including actual demolitions, as well as refining armor and artillery cooperation and support. The tanks were given limited but realistic objectives. Several other divisions were given similar intensive training.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 206-08
Timoshenko had thoroughly reorganized the artillery, now consisting of some 2,800 pieces of 76.2mm calibre up to 280mm. The latest radios would accompany the leading units to adjust fire, and a total of 108 guns would support the 123rd, most from Corps and Army sources. Many would be used in a direct fire role against "Million" and "Poppius"; a 152mm piece had been placed just 500m from the embrasures of the latter under cover of diversionary fire, while a 280mm gun was available against the former. Altogether, 300,000 shells would be fired in the first 24 hours, the heaviest bombardment since Verdun. Timoshenko's plan was to gradually escalate the usual artillery and airstrikes against the Line on February 1, accompanied by strong local ground attacks, for 10 days, before going over to the general offensive on February 11.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 209, 214-15
On February 10 the preparations widened across the entire front. A few hours before dawn the next day the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division relieved the battalion that had been defending the Lähde Road sector since January. Its 1st Company was assigned to "Million", the 2nd was in and around "Poppius", while the 3rd was on the left flank north of Munasuo. The battalion was significantly under strength, with some 400 effectives, and had little time to familiarize itself with the position. It was composed of Swedish-speaking Finns, which introduced a complication in communications. The two main strongpoints were backed by three more concrete bunkers, but they were 20 years old and had been damaged by shellfire. The morning temperature was -22°C with fog. The 123rd was tasked with eliminating both bunker complexes, and as Summa had proven so tough Lähde would be the sector of Meretskov's main thrust. Once the division pushed through the support line, those three bunkers about 1,000m to the rear, it would strike toward the road junction, which would force the Finns to retreat or suffer heavy casualties in counterattacks.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 219, 225-27
The assault troops were issued a ration of vodka at dawn, and by 0800 hours both the 123rd and the 35th Tanks were in position. This was followed by a two-and-a-half hour artillery preparation, heavier than previously seen. The heavy guns sited for direct fire tore large chunks out of the concrete of "Poppius" and "Million" while also bending their armored shutters. At 1200 the entire 255th Rifle Regiment attacked the latter, while a battalion of the 245th, with two companies of tanks, went for the former. Stiff resistance at "Poppius" halted and broke the attack after 20 minutes. Alyabushev ordered another battalion forward, and the tanks showed fresh determination. Four were knocked out by shell fire but the remainder drove up to the bunker's firing ports, bringing their guns and machine guns to bear while shrugging off Finnish machine gun fire. While this had been tried before, the riflemen now protected the tanks against Molotov cocktails and grenade bundles, and the few antitank guns had been disabled by artillery fire. The garrison had no option but to evacuate the strongpoint and take up the fight from what remained of the trenches around it. The 245th had lost about 200 killed within 100m of "Poppius", but at 1230 Alyabushev and his staff saw a red banner being raised over its roof.Trotter, A Frozen Hell, pp. 227-28