The 116th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in August 1939, in the Volga Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of the following month. At the start of the German invasion it was in the Odessa Military District as part of the 7th Rifle Corps. Within days it was detached to Southern Front, but quickly returned to Southwestern Front. During July it was redeployed by rail to the Cherkasy region to join 26th Army for the defense of the Dniepr southeast of Kyiv. In August it came under command of 38th Army before moving back to the 26th in September, just before Army Groups South and Center began their encirclement operation that trapped most of Southwestern Front in eastern Ukraine. Still holding along the Dniepr the 116th had no real chance to escape, and was officially written off on December 27.
A new 116th was formed very soon after, based on a 400-series division, in the Transbaikal Military District, and after only about six weeks of equipping and training began moving west by rail for assignment on the south flank of Western Front. It was assigned to 50th Army and suffered heavy losses in the effort to relieve the encircled 33rd Army, then spent several months on the defensive. In August it entered the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and moved south, soon being assigned to the 1st Guards Army of Stalingrad Front north of the Kotluban corridor, the supply line of German 6th Army in Stalingrad. The division lost heavily for little gain during a series of attacks in early September, after which it was reassigned to 66th Army in the new Don Front. During and after the encirclement of the Axis forces in and near the city the 116th conducted attacks against the strong German positions north of Orlovka until the final days of Operation Ring when it advanced into the factory district. Following this victory it was redeployed with its Army to the northwest, eventually to the Steppe Military District east of Kursk where it was reassigned to 53rd Army. It early August it took part in the counteroffensive against the defeated Army Group South forces south of the Kursk salient and was soon rewarded with an honorific. After advancing through eastern Ukraine it helped force a crossing of the Dniepr near Kremenchuk, now as part of 2nd Ukrainian Front. Through the winter the division took part in a series of battles in the Dniepr bend until breaking through to the Dniestr in the spring of 1944. It saw only limited action in the fighting in Moldova in April and May, now as part of 52nd Army, but in the August offensive that destroyed German 6th Army for the second time it played a leading role in the encirclement near Chișinău. It was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and its regiments also received decorations. As this campaign wrapped up the 116th, along with the rest of its Army, entered the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and moved north to join 1st Ukrainian Front. During the Lower Silesian Offensive it took part in the capture of Bunzlau and was awarded the Order of Kutuzov. In the initial days of the Berlin operation the division covered a long stretch of the Neisse River but soon joined the offensive in the direction of Dresden, fighting against a determined German push to the north. It ended the war advancing with its Front toward Prague. Following the German surrender the 116th was pulled back into Poland with its Army, assigned briefly to the Northern Group of Forces, before moving to western Ukraine in early 1946, where it was disbanded in June.
1st Formation The 116th was formed at Penza in the Volga Military District in accordance to a decree issued on August 28, 1939.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 58 The division was based on a cadre from the 75th Rifle Regiment of the elite 25th Rifle Division. Col. Tikhon Davydovich Klishev was appointed to command on the same day. Formation was largely complete by September 12 and the personnel and equipment were loaded on trains for redeployment to Kharkov Military District where it was subordinated to 55th Rifle Corps. As of September 24 it had 14,389 personnel on strength. On August 20, 1940, Col. Yakov Filippovich Yeryomenko took over command. This officer had most recently served as deputy commander of the 23rd Rifle Division and acting commander of the 162nd Rifle Division.
In the spring of 1941 the division was deployed to the Odessa Military District in the vicinity of Mykolaiv. It joined the 7th Rifle Corps, which also contained the 196th and 206th Rifle Divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 12 Its order of battle was as follows: 441st Rifle Regiment 548th Rifle Regiment 656th Rifle Regiment 406th Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Legions", p. 58 255th Howitzer Artillery Regiment 246th Antitank Battalion 305th Antiaircraft Battalion 178th Reconnaissance Battalion 250th Sapper Battalion 231st Signal Battalion 193rd Medical/Sanitation Battalion 136th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Platoon 75th Motor Transport Company 222nd Motorized Field Bakery 26th Divisional Veterinary Hospital 453rd Field Postal Station 234th Field Office of the State Bank After a little over a week of frantic mobilization, at the end of June the entire Corps was moved north and assigned to the reserves of Southwestern Front. Partway through this move the 116th, given its initial deployment, was detached from the Corps and reassigned to the newly formed Southern Front, joining the Front reserves as a separate division. By July 10 it was back in the reserves of Southwestern Front, where it and the 227th Rifle Division were joined to create the Glavkoma Southwestern Direction.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 17, 24
Battle of Kyiv By this time forces of the 1st Panzer Group were nearing the western outskirts of Kyiv and the danger to the Ukrainian capital was acute. The 116th began loading on trains on July 10 for transfer to the Cherkasy area, arriving at Sidirovka by July 19. By the end of the month it was north of Shpola, facing the 60th Motorized Division.David Stahel, Kiev 1941, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, pp. 84-85 By now it was under command of 26th Army, still in Southwestern Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 33 On August 3 it was reassigned to the new 38th Army and by August 11 the division had been pushed back to a sector from east of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi to north of Smila.Stahel, Kiev 1941, p. 84
The 116th fell back again, to Cherkasy, which it was contesting along with Krolevets Island in the Dniepr in cooperation with elements of the 212nd Motorized Division. After crossing to the east bank it remained facing the XXXXIV Army Corps across the river by early September. On September 7 it was moved back to 26th Army. On the same day, General Yeryomenko was badly concussed by shellfire and hospitalized; he would not return to service until April 1942 when he became chief of staff of the Stalingrad Military Academy. Several months later he was given command of the 169th Rifle Division, and later led three other divisions, but his health never completely recovered and he died of illness on February 13, 1945. Lt. Colonel Viktor Fyodorovich Buyanov, who had been serving as chief of staff of the 175th Rifle Division, took over the 116th and would remain in nominal command until the division was disbanded.
1st Panzer Group broke out of its bridgehead at Kremenchuk on September 12 and began driving north to link up with 2nd Panzer Group deep in the rear of Southwestern Front. The two linked up on September 15 and the 116th was caught in the trap, attempting to retreat northeastward to Orzhytsia.Stahel, Kiev 1941, pp. 210, 219-20, 228-29 Buyanov escaped the encirclement near Zmiiv alone, without weapons, and in civilian clothes, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NKVD and went on to serve in many staff positions until his retirement in April 1951. A number of other individuals and small groups also managed to filter through the German lines, but by the beginning of October the 116th had disappeared from the Red Army order of battle,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 52-53 although in common with many other divisions encircled near Kyiv it wasn't officially written off until December 27.Walter S. Dunn Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 70
2nd Formation A new rifle division preliminarily numbered as the 457th began forming on December 8, 1941, at Antipikha (a suburb of Chita) in the Transbaikal Military District, based a decree of November 22. On January 22, 1942, it was redesignated as the new formation of the 116th.Dunn Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, p. 100 Col. Vasilii Akimovich Samsonov, who had been given command of the 457th, remained in command. Once redesignated its order of battle remained very much the same as the 1st formation: 441st Rifle Regiment 548th Rifle Regiment 656th Rifle Regiment 406th Artillery Regiment 246th Antitank BattalionSharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 42 120th Antiaircraft Battery (until February 5, 1942) 140th Mortar Battalion (until October 16, 1942) 178th Reconnaissance Company 250th Sapper Battalion 231st Signal Battalion (later 231st Signal Company) 193rd Medical/Sanitation Battalion 540th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Platoon 75th Motor Transport Company 456th Field Bakery 921st Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1665th Field Postal Station 1098th Field Office of the State Bank The division began moving west on the Trans-Siberian Railway on February 7.Sharp, "Red Swarm", p. 42 According to STAVKA Directive No. 01542 to Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov, commander of the Western Direction, on February 16: Battles of Rzhev On March 3 the division joined the active army when it was assigned to Lt. Gen. I. V. Boldin's 50th Army in Western Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 64 Two days later, units of the Front liberated Yukhnov, but at the same time 33rd Army was fighting in encirclement southwest of Vyazma, and its situation was becoming increasingly desperate. On March 20 the STAVKA ordered the 50th, 43rd and 49th Armies to link up with 33rd Army and the attached Group Belov. This effort had no success. The 116th and several other divisions of the 50th engaged in fighting well into April for a series of hills called Zaitseva Gora, which commanded the Warsaw highway. For a short time on April 14 only 2km separated 50th and 33rd Armies, but a German counterattack the next day threw 50th Army back. By April 20 the Rzhev-Vyazma offensive ended when the STAVKA ordered Western Front over to the defense.Gerasimova, The Rzhev Slaughterhouse, pp. 42-45, 48
Battle of Stalingrad On May 27 Colonel Samsonov left the division; he would later lead the 58th Rifle Division for the remainder of the war, being promoted to major general on September 13, 1944. He was replaced by Col. Ivan Matveevich Makarov, an artillery officer who would be promoted to major general on January 27, 1943.