The 108th Rifle Division was first formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in mid-1940, in the reserves of the Western Special Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of September 1939. By the spring of 1941 it was stationed in Belarus, and at the outbreak of the war with Germany it was near Minsk, where it became encircled in the first week. A cadre of about 1,200 personnel were able to escape toward the Dniepr River. From there they retreated to the vicinity of Yartsevo, where they came under command of what was soon known as Group Rokossovskii, tasked with holding open the gap that led to the armies of Western Front pocketed around Smolensk. Once the survivors escaped in early August the division remained in the line along the Vop River, being substantially rebuilt during September as part of 16th Army. During Operation Typhoon the 108th was encircled along with the rest of its Army but managed to escape with about one-third of its strength. During November it was again replenished to about two-third strength, and was brought up to reinforce 5th Army during the final German push on Moscow, again suffering heavy losses. In the first days of December it joined in the general counteroffensive and pushed forward to the Ruza River, and later took part in the liberation of Mozhaysk in January 1942. Through most of that year it was deployed on the east side of the Rzhev salient, playing a relatively small part in the offensives against German 9th Army and followed up the German withdrawal as part of 10th Army in March 1943. It then returned to 16th Army, which was redesignated as 11th Guards Army prior to the July offensive against the Oryol salient. Once 9th Army was also driven out of this salient the 108th advanced through eastern Ukraine and into eastern Belarus as part of 50th Army, and spent the winter in the battles around Gomel and Rahachow as part of 1st Belorussian Front. In the reorganization of April 1944 the division was transferred to 3rd Army of the same Front. It the first days of the summer offensive it attacked toward and helped to clear the city of Babruysk, winning its name as a battle honor. In July it was transferred to 65th Army, where it remained into the postwar. In November the Army was transferred to 2nd Belorussian Front and under these commands the 108th fought through northern Poland in the winter of 1945, winning a rare Order of Lenin for breaking through the German defenses north of Warsaw. After playing an important role in the capture of Danzig in March it moved west to the Oder River, which it crossed during the final offensive into central Germany. For its service in this operation the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Following the German surrender it became part of the Northern Group of Forces in Poland until it was disbanded in June 1946.
Formation The 108th Rifle Division was formed in July 1940 in accordance with a People's Commissariat of Defense directive dated 6 July 1940 in the Western Special Military District. The directive called for the formation of the division, to be based at Vyazma with an authorized strength of 3,000 personnel, by 15 August. The division lacked a howitzer artillery regiment on formation, with the directive forming the division promising that the division would receive its organic howitzer regiment after receiving the necessary equipment in 1941. Col. Alexey Ilyich Muravyov, commander of the 121st Rifle Division, was appointed to command the division in July 1940. The 108th reached a strength of around 2,700 of its authorized 3,000 by 1 November, fielding above its authorized strength in artillery, machine guns, and horses but only half of its authorized motor transport. As of 6 November 1940 the division was located as follows, with its headquarters at Vyazma:
407th Rifle Regiment (Vyazma) 444th Rifle Regiment (Dorogobuzh) 539th Rifle Regiment (Gzhatsk) 575th Light Artillery Regiment (Sychyovka) 485th Separate Signal Battalion (Vyazma) 220th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (Vyazma) 172nd Separate Sapper Battalion (Dorogobuzh) 157th Separate Medical/Sanitation Battalion (Vyazma) 458th Separate Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion (Sychyovka) 152nd Separate Anti-Tank Battalion (Sychyovka) 188th Motor Transport Company (Vyazma) Military Prosecutor's Office (Vyazma)
Muravyov was transferred to command the new 209th Motorized Division in March 1941 and replaced on March 1 by Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Ivanovich Mavrichev. This officer had previously led the 33rd and 121st Rifle Divisions. As of May 30 the division was subordinated to 44th Rifle Corps in the reserves of the Western Special Military District,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 8 and its order of battle was as follows: 407th Rifle Regiment 444th Rifle Regiment 539th Rifle Regiment 575th Artillery Regiment 152nd Antitank Battalion (from January 25, 1942)Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 55 273rd Antiaircraft Battery (later 458th Antiaircraft Battalion, until February 20, 1943) 220th Reconnaissance Company 172nd Sapper Battalion 485th Signal Battalion (later 409th Signal Company) 157th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 155th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Platoon 188th Motor Transport Company (later 93rd) 278th Field Bakery 153rd Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1548th Field Postal Station 381st Field Office of the State Bank Immediately upon news of the German invasion on June 22 the division and its Corps, which also included the 64th Rifle Division, was subordinated to Lt. Gen. P. M. Filatov's 13th Army, which formed the second echelon of the redesignated Western Front. The 108th was located directly northwest of Minsk.Artyom Drabkin and Alexei Isaev, Barbarossa Through Soviet Eyes, ed. & trans. C. Summerville, Pen & Sword Books, Ltd., Barnsley, UK, 2012, p. xii
Battle of Białystok–Minsk
On June 24 the 407th and 444th Rifle Regiments, with one battalion of the 575th Artillery and an attached battalion of Corps artillery moved forward to a 40km-wide sector of the Stalin Line on the pre-1939 Polish border. The 539th Regiment was still regrouping near Minsk. A considerable portion of the division's artillery and antitank guns were at disposal of the Corps, it was short of other equipment and ammunition, and it had not received the required transport from the civilian economy to move supplies unloaded from trains to the rear. Once sorted out on June 27 the 539th was ordered to take up defenses along the Ptsich River separate from the rest of the division in order to cover Minsk from the southwest. The next day the division was encircled in the Minsk pocket.https://div108.narod.ru/war_road/war_road.html. In Russian. Retrieved July 26, 2026.
General Mavrichev withdrew what remained of the main body of the division to the area of Staroye Selo on June 29 while isolated units continued to hold out in the Stalin Line. The commander of 3rd Army, Lt. Gen. V. I. Kuznetsov, with part of his headquarters, was emerging from encirclement farther west the next day, and linked up with the 108th and 64th and began leading them out of the pocket overnight on July 1/2 in the direction of Babruysk and Gomel. Approximately 1,200 personnel of the 108th emerged from the trap, without any heavy equipment. Mavrichev became separated from most of his troops and on July 12 was replaced in command by Maj. Gen. Nikolai Ivanovich Orlov, the deputy commander of 44th Corps. Mavrichev's remaining group of 45 men were scattered by a German attack on August 15. With six others he linked up with a partisan group led by the former commander of the 64th, Col. S. I. Iovlev, and eventually reached Red Army lines on September 26 near Bely.According to Commanders of Corps and Divisions (see Bibliography) Mavrichev was replaced by Orlov on June 15, but this is an obvious error as this document only names officers who held wartime commands.
Battle of Smolensk The XXXXVI Motorized Corps reached the Berezina River on July 2 and forced crossings at and south of Pogost, on the approaches to Mogilev, with the 10th and the SS Das Reich Motorized Divisions. The southern bridgehead was contested for two days by the remnants of 13th Army's 108th, 64th, 100th, and 161st Rifle Divisions, plus two units of 4th Army. By the end of July 7 the XXXXVI Corps was still only halfway between the Berezina and the Dniepr. By July 10 the 44th Corps included the 17th Rifle Division and was under direct command of Western Front, now led by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko.David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2010, Kindle ed., ch. 3
By July 17 the lead elements of 2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups were close to completing the encirclement of the 16th, 19th, and 20th Armies in and around Smolensk. In order to keep a gap open to the pocket the STAVKA formed Group Yartsevo, under command of Lt. Gen. K. K. Rokossovskii, which would initially consist of 44th Corps. The Corps now contained the remnants of its earlier divisions which had withdrawn to the Yartsevo area, plus the 25th Rifle Corps, 23rd Mechanized Corps, an artillery regiment and a few companies of T-26 tanks. Timoshenko, now in command of the Western Direction, ordered Rokossovskii to The Group became operational that day although initially it had just a pair of truck-mounted quad PM M1910 machine guns, a radio van, and a few staff officers, all of which got out of Yartsevo just ahead of 7th Panzer Division.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 4
Rokossovskii strengthened his Group by assembling rear echelon units from the armies in the pocket, combat units that had become separated from their main units, and a large number of stragglers. An important arrival was the 38th Rifle Division, which was assigned to contain 7th Panzer; this fight continued for five days. Also joining the Group was the 101st Tank Division with about 220 tanks of mostly older types, the 107th Tank Division (former 69th Motorized Division), and the 108th and 64th Divisions, both significantly understrength. Stalin had given orders that Smolensk was to be held at all costs, which prevented Timoshenko from evacuating the pocket. Rokossovskii mounted many limited counterattacks which led the German command to believe his Group was stronger than it actually was. This was expanded on July 21 with orders from Western Front to join a larger counteroffensive against the German pincers two days later, although the 108th was not included in these plans. Instead, Timoshenko ordered the division, along with the 64th, the 44th Corps headquarters, and several other units, to be withdrawn to the Gzhatsk and Medyn region for rebuilding and resupply.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., chs. 4, 5