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24th Rifle Division
24-я стрелковая дивизия
Forming the Division
The Division was formed on 28 July 1918 by Order No. 137 to the troops of the 1st Army of the Eastern Front from the Samara, Tver, Stavropol and Sengileyev direction detachments as the seductive Simbir Infantry Division. By Order No. 35 of 9 August 1918, the division was given the name 1st Seductive Simbir Infantry Division. It was subsequently renamed the 24th Simbir Rifle Division by Order No. 104 of 18 November 1918. By Order No. 2797/559 of 13 December 1920, the division was again renamed, this time as the 24th Samar Rifle Division. By Order of the Russian Revolutionary Military Council No. 2444/423 of 25 October 1921, the honorary name "Iron" was returned to the division and it became the 24th Samara Iron Rifle Division. By order of the Russian Revolutionary Military Council No. 896/170 of 12 April 1922, the division was returned the name Simbirskaya.
In December 1921, the division moved to the town of Vinnitsa. In June 1922 the division allocated personnel, horses and weapons (from the 70th and 71st Rifle Brigades) on the basis of which the 2nd Frontier Division was formed. In November 1923, the division detached personnel from the division and formed the 24th Rifle Podolia Territorial Division (from May 1924 - 96th Rifle Division). In 1924, in connection with the renaming of the town Simbirsk to Ulyanovsk, the division was renamed the Samara-Ulyanovsk Division. By order of the Kyiv Military District, the division was transferred to Leningrad in November 1937.
Winter War
During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, the 7. Army under the command of Commander 2nd RankV. F. Yakovlev (on 7 December 1939 he was replaced by Commander 2nd RankK. A. Meretskov of the Leningrad Military District). The army was formed in September 1939 in the Kalinin Military District and was moved to the Karelian Isthmus on 15 November. The army consisted of two rifle corps - 19th and 50th, which included 9 rifle divisions. The 19th Rifle Corps under the command of Commander F. N. Starikov had five rifle divisions in its composition, including the 24th Rifle Division. The task of the 7th Army was to strike on the Vyborg Line with two corps supported by the Baltic Fleet. In the first sequence, on the line of the Soviet-Finnish state border, on a front of 100-110 kilometers, five rifle divisions were deployed, including the 24th (in the formation of the 7th, 168th and 274th Rifle Regiments) under the command of kombrigP. J. Veschev.
On Thursday, 30 November 1939 at 8.30 am, after a 30-minute artillery preparation, the various divisions of the 7th Army crossed the state border with Finland to the sounds of the Internationale. In five days, however, the units of the 24th Rifle Division advanced only 24-30 km and by the end of 4 December 1939 had captured the settlements of Ilyakulya, Mustamjaki. On 6 December the regiments attacked the villages of Lavola and Perkyarvi. In this battle, the division commander kombrig Veschev was killed. Command of the division was taken over by kombrigK. N. Galitsky. The successful tactics of the Finnish troops consisted of a guerrilla style of warfare: Finnish skiers dressed in white camouflage cloaks ambushed columns of Russian troops. Their boots with bent toes allowed them to pull their feet out of the bindings and free themselves from the skis in a split second. Appearing out of nowhere, skiers armed with submachine guns Suomi opened fire on the clusters of Russians and disappeared again into the freezing whiteness. Minefields and roadblocks were set up by the Finns on all the approach roads. Heavy Soviet tanks were tying up in the swamps or plunging through the ice. Snowfall made air operations difficult. Narrow dirt roads could barely accommodate advancing columns, snow and stone roadblocks made movement difficult, and Finnish snipers operated along the roads. Fifty-degree frosts and poor supply of Russian troops (they had no warm clothing - the war was due to be over in two or three weeks) completed the dismal picture.
The fighting to overcome the enemy's supporting defensive zone lasted thirteen days, during which the division covered 50 km. The low rate of advance was due to poor organization of engineer support for the offensive and poor fire destruction of the enemy. During the fighting, commanders and staffs learned, as it were on the fly, the tactics of the enemy, gaining experience in organizing combat in special conditions, invaluable in the future war, for which they had not yet been prepared. The division, for exemplary performance of combat tasks of the command and for the valor and courage shown by its members, was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 11. April 1940).
By 12 December 1939, the regiments of the division south of Lake Moulan-jarvi reached the front edge of the main defensive line of the Mannerheim Line. However, after analyzing the course of 7th Army's combat operations, the Main Military Council temporarily suspended the offensive on the Karelian Isthmus to prepare more thoroughly for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. In late December 1939, a new 13th Army was formed on the Karelian Isthmus and the 7th. January 1940, the Northwestern Front was created (commander 1st rankS. K. Timoshenko), which consisted of the 7th and 13th Army. Ammunition, fuel, and food supplies were stockpiled in the rear of the division. Arrangements were made to provide the men with warm clothing, furs, felt boots and coats. The "buďonovka" caps were replaced by warm earmuffs. Regiments were provided with increased nutritional standards. Insulated huts and heating stations were built. Mobile huts, metal furnaces and other equipment were supplied.
The general offensive ("the second Voroshilov offensive") on the Karelian Isthmus began on 11 February 1940. On the direction of the main Soviet attack, a holding group - four divisions of Group West with 136 tanks supported by 216 guns - launched local attacks on the Finnish defenses along the entire front of the main attack. The assault group that followed included the 123rd Rifle Division, a tank brigade, a battalion of flame-thrower tanks, and two artillery regiments. The group was commanded by majorF. F. Alyabushev (the division's chief of staff in 1937-1938). In four days, the advancing troops managed to break through the main zone of the Mannerheim Line on a four-kilometer front and penetrate 5-6 kilometers into the Finnish positions. Three rifle divisions of the 19th Rifle Corps - the 24th, 90th and 123rd Rifle Division - moved into the breakthrough created by the assault group. Soviet losses were significant, however - the 24th Rifle Division alone lost 570 men during the first day of fighting.
By 21 February 1940, Soviet troops on the front of the 7th Army offensive had reached the second defensive zone of the Mannerheim Line. For a few days the front stabilized. On the night of 25 February 1940, advance units of the 7th and 274th Regiments, advancing to the northeast, crossed the ice of Lake Muolon-Järva to Surri-Saari Island, from which a 2 km (1.5 mi) wide sheet of ice stretched towards the enemy positions. By morning, observing all camouflage precautions, they reached the shore of the lake. Soon the main force of the division arrived here. The division, after executing a flanking maneuver, found itself in the rear of the main enemy group, which was defeated as a result of the fighting. As a result, conditions were created for the development of the offensive at Viipuri (Vyborg). On Thursday, 7 March 1940. the 24th Rifle Division, covering the Vyborg enemy grouping, in cooperation with the 19th Viipuri. and the 50th Rifle Corps reached the Repola area (12 km northwest of Vyborg). The main forces of the 7th Army approached the eastern outskirts of the town. Its fate was decided. The situation on the front became hopeless for the Finnish troops. Marshal Mannerheim appealed to the Finnish Defence Council to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Soviet-Finnish peace negotiations began. A ceasefire was declared on the night of 12-13 March 1940.
In the spring of 1940, the 8th Rifle Brigade was formed on the Finnish Hanko Peninsula from regiments detached from the 24th Rifle Division.
The Great Patriotic War
On 22 June 1941, the division's units were stationed in Molodechno. According to pre-war plans, on the fifth day of the war it was to start arriving in Grodno to become part of the 4th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Army. By 24 June 1941, the division had reached the east bank of the Gavia River on the Dobrovliany - Batadiny section. On 25 June 1941, an advance was planned in the general direction of Suvalishki, Oshmiany, reaching the Golšany, Klevica line. While advancing to this line, the division's units encountered units of the German 19th Tank Division. With the division's forces, the German tank units were driven back to the opposite bank of the Kleva River, and the division reported the destruction of 30 enemy tanks. A combined tank battalion, probably from the 5th Tank Division, operated successfully within the division and was hit by an enemy strike in Alytus. It consisted of eight tanks KV-1, 15 tanks T-34 and 14 tanks T-26. On 26 June 1941, the division continued the attack, advanced 8-10 kilometers, captured Traby and Vishnev, and in the afternoon attacked the enemy column, which was halted for lack of fuel. The division continued to fight offensively until 29 June 1941, which is also recorded in German sources. Then, already surrounded, it fought its way through the Bakhsht to the southeast to the corps units. On 3 July 1941, with two remaining detachments of 1,200 and 500 men, the remnants of the division broke through the encirclement ring in the Uzda area, and after a 350-kilometre crossing, the two detachments broke through to their On 15 July 1941, in the area north of Mozyr, they joined Colonel Kurmashev's detachment.
By 18 July 1941, the remnants of the division were concentrated in the area of Ozarichi. The division was partially replenished with reinforcements, the remnants of the 17th Rifle Division, which had come out of the encirclement, poured in, and already on 23. July 1941, the division operated in the area of Glushko, Selec, Novoselki with the task of securing the actions of the troops of the 66th Rifle Corps during its offensive on the station Moshna, Ratmirovichi. During late July - early August 1941, the divisional units retreated in the direction of Gomel and then in the general direction of Chernigov. On 27 August 1941, the division, together with a cavalry group of the 21st Army, was given the task of recovering the situation in the area of Verbovka, Dobrjanka. On 28 August 1941, the division, along with the 214th Air Brigade, was assigned to the reserve with the task to concentrate in the Shchorsa area by the end of the day. However, continuing the offensive, the division engaged in fighting in the area of Brechunovka, Suslovka, and by the morning of 30 August 1941 was tasked to concentrate near the southwestern edge of Mena.
As early as 31 August 1941 the division concentrated in the area of Vieličkovka and moved to the area of Rudnya, 40 km northeast of Mena, where it arrived on 1 September 1941 and captured the line of Černotiči, Rudnya. On 2 September 1941 the division went on the offensive and, repelling the enemy, reached the line Ljaškovice, Sverok, Rudnya. On 3 September 1941 the division was given the task of continuing the offensive and was to be withdrawn again to the reserve after the task was accomplished. However, under the influence of enemy attacks, the division withdrew behind the southern bank of the Seima and by 7 September 1941 had occupied the Kerbutovka, Mariental line. On 9 September 1941, the division occupied the border line Nové Mlyny, Mariental. On 10 September 1941, it moved to the Shapovalovka area with the task of counterattacking the enemy in the rear near Shapovalovka.
The division did not get there, however, and was pushed back behind Bachmač, into the area of Pervomajsk and Krasilovka. On 12 September 1941, it engaged in offensive fighting on the southwestern outskirts of Bachmač, but by 14 September 1941 it was pushed back behind Gajvoron. Under pressure from the enemy, who from the north closed a ring of encirclement around the troops of the Southwestern Front (2nd Tank Group of General Guderian), the division retreated to Priluka, resisted the fighting on the Uday River near Lelyak, then on Pirjatina, Lubno. Apparently one of the last battles the division fought was on the Oržica River 80 km southwest of Lubny. As it was surrounded, the division was split into several isolated groups and destroyed at the end of September 1941. On 27 December 1941, it was formally disbanded.
Loss of battle flag
During the fighting in Belarus, the division's flag was lost. It was found to have been confiscated during the retreat from the encirclement by the instructor of the political department of the division, senior political officer A. V. Barbashev, who was killed on 6 August 1941 in action near the village of Anyutino, Cherikovsky district, Mogilev region, apparently during the retreat from the encirclement which took place in June 1941 near Minsk. A local resident, kolkhoznik D. N. Tyapin found the division flag on the dead officer's body and buried the body together with the flag in the local cemetery. After the liberation of the village of Anyutino by Soviet troops in 1943, the flag was picked up and sent for restoration. However, by that time the 24th Rifle Division (2nd Formation) had already been formed, which distinguished itself in combat and was given the honorary name "Berdichevskaya".
On February 20, 1944, the division of the second formation was handed over to the restored battalion of the former 24th Rifle Division all the regalia of the First Formation Division (except The Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner, which was no longer awarded at that time). For saving the battalion, D. N. Tyapin forever inscribed in the rolls of the 1st Company of one of the regiments of the division
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