The 17th Guards Rifle Division (Russian: 17-я гвардейская стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was created on March 17, 1942, from the first formation of the

119th Rifle Division The 119th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed three times. It was originally raised at Krasnoyarsk in 1939 as a motor rifle division until the following year when it was reorganized as a standard Red Army rifle divisio ...

, in recognition of that division's stalwart defense against German

Army Group Center Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...

in the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

, and in the subsequent strategic offensive that threw the German forces back from the capital. It became the 123rd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957 and converted into the 129th Guards Machine-Gun Artillery Division in 1989. In 2001, it was converted to the 17th Guards Motor Rifle Division and became the 70th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade in 2009. The brigade was reorganized as the 114th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the reformed 127th Motor Rifle Division in 2018. The regiment is currently based in

Ussuriysk Ussuriysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the valley of the Razdolnaya River. The city is north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia bo ...

Formation

The 17th Guards was one of four Guards rifle divisions created in

Kalinin Front The Kalinin Front was a major formation of the Red Army active in the Eastern Front of World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions ...

on the same date (along with 20th, 21st and 22nd Guards) in recognition of their role in driving in the left flank of Army Group Center during the winter of 1941–42. When formed, its order of battle was as follows: * 45th Guards Rifle Regiment from 421st Rifle Regiment * 48th Guards Rifle Regiment from 634rd Rifle Regiment * 52nd Guards Rifle Regiment from 920th Rifle Regiment * 26th Guards Artillery Regiment from 349th Artillery Regiment * 22nd Guards Antitank Battalion from 230th Antitank Battalion * 16th Guards Sapper Battalion from 224th Sapper Battalion. The division was part of 22nd Army when it was formed, and remained in Kalinin Front, in either that army or the 41st Army for the next year. In early 1943 it was transferred to

5th Guards Rifle Corps Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth Avenue * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a cont ...

in 39th Army, and remained under those commands for the duration.Sharp, ''"Red Guards'', p 49 In late 1943 the division, along with the rest of 39th Army, was transferred to Western Front, and took part in the campaign to liberate Smolensk. The division was the first Soviet unit to enter the city of

Dukhovshchina Dukhovshchina () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Dukhovshchina, Smolensk Oblast, a town in Dukhovshchinsky District of Smolensk Oblast ;Rural localities * Dukhovshchina, Irkutsk Oblast, a village in Bayand ...

after it was abandoned by German XXVII Army Corps on the night of September 16/17 and received its name as an honorific. During

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

the 17th Guards, now under

3rd Belorussian Front The 3rd Belorussian Front () was a Front of the Red Army during the Second World War. The 3rd Belorussian Front was created on 24 April 1944 from forces previously assigned to the Western Front. Over 381 days in combat, the 3rd Belorussian Fr ...

, advanced into the southern

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. At the time of the German surrender the division was in East Prussia, near

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

. In the following months the entire 39th Army was shipped east across Siberia, and in August 1945, participated in the invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria as part of

Transbaikal Front The Transbaikal Front () was a front formed on September 15, 1941, on the basis of the Transbaikal Military District. Initially, it included the 17th and 36th armies, but in August 1942 the 12th Air Army was added to the front, and, finally, in ...

. By this time its towed anti-tank battalion had been replaced with a battalion of

SU-76 The SU-76 ('' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 76'') was a Soviet light self-propelled gun used during and after World War II. The SU-76 was based on a lengthened version of the T-70 light tank chassis and armed with the ZIS-3 mod. 1942 76-mm divisional ...

self-propelled guns, but the divisional artillery had not been augmented as per the December 1944, Guards Rifle Division table of organization. During this campaign the division received a second honorific, ''Khinganskaya'', for its efforts in driving through the Khingan Range. When the war ended the division honorifics were – Russian: ''Духовщинско-Хинганская Краснознамённая ордена Суворова дивизия'' (English: Dukhovshchina, Khingan, Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov), and five of its men had been named as

Heroes of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both t ...

. Members of the division committed the notorious Gegenmiao massacre during the Manchuria Operation, torturing and killing thousands of Japanese civilians in August 1945.

Postwar

Postwar, the division moved to Barabash, Primorsky Krai with the 39th Army from Port Arthur. The 39th Army disbanded in 1956 and the division became part of the 5th Army. On 17 May 1957, it became the 123rd Guards Motor Rifle Division. On 19 February 1962, the 319th Separate Equipment Maintenance and Recovery Battalion was activated. In May 1962, the 111th Separate Tank Battalion was formed. On 22 February 1968, the division was awarded the

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

. On 15 November 1972, the 392nd Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion was activated. In 1980, the 1135th Separate Material Supply Battalion formed from the motor transport battalion. In 1989, the 111th Separate Tank Battalion disbanded. On 1 October 1989, it became the 129th Guards Machine-Gun Artillery Division. The 45th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment disbanded and was replaced by the 290th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment, the former 20th Fortified Area. The 52nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment was disbanded and replaced by the 196th Machine-Gun Artillery Regiment, the former 4th Fortified Area. The 1170th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment was disbanded and replaced by the 1133rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment. The 48th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment and 1133rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment transferred to the

40th Motor Rifle Division The 40th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II. It gained the honorific "named for Sergo Ordzhonikidze" on 14 April 1937. It fought in the Battle of Lake Khasan, engagements at Lake Khasan. On 22 June 1941, it ...

for Coastal Defence in October 1990. That division's 231st Motor Rifle Regiment and 1173rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment became part of the 129th Guards Division. In September 2001, the division was converted into the 17th Guards Motor Rifle Division. In June 2009, it was downsized into the 70th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. The brigade relocated to

in 2012, taking over the barracks of the former Ussuriysk Higher Military Automotive Command School of the Automotive Troops, disbanded in June 2007. The 70th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade was reorganized as the 114th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment in 2018, becoming part of the reformed 127th Motor Rifle Division. The regiment inherited the honors of the brigade.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Brigades of the Russian Ground Forces G017 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner