The 18th Rifle Division was an

infantry division A division is a large military unit or Formation (military), formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically mak ...

of the Soviet Union's

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 the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and World War II. The division was formed a total of five times during this period.

First Formation

The 18th Rifle Division was formed on 26 November 1918 at

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

from troops from

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the Catholic hierarchy of angels, based on and put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book ''De Coelesti Hierarchia'' (''On the Celestial Hierarchy'') ...

, Belsky and Kotlassky areas. During the period from November 1918 to May 1921 the division was part of the 6th Army, 7th Army, 15th Army, 4th Army, Reserve Group of the Western Front, 3rd Army, 15th Army, 9th Army, and 11th Armies. It participated in the liberation of Archangel and Onega. In the spring of 1920 the division was part of the Western Front and took part in the invasion of Poland. After being defeated at the Battle of Warsaw the division retreated to

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

where it was briefly interned. In November 1920 the division was assigned to the Caucasus Front where it participated in the battles with the white-green in the Kuban region and participated in the Erivan operation. In 1921 the division was located in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

. It was a territorial division after the end of the

until the late 1930s, when it was upgraded to cadre status and dispatched to

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

. From 20 November 1939 to March 1940 the division was assigned to the 56th Rifle Corps,

8th Army (Soviet Union) The 8th Army was a field army of the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. Winter War The 8th Army was formed in October 1939 (or 14 September 1939) from the Novgorod Army Operational Group of the Leningrad Military District with the ...

during the

, the division led the attack on Uomaa- Kitilä-

Impilahti Impilahti (; ; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finnish border, about west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city of the R ...

Sortavala Sortavala (; Finnish language, Finnish and ; ), previously known as Serdobol () until 1918, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finland, Finni ...

. The division was encircled near

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and defeated. In early 1940 due to the loss of its banner and heavy losses the division was disbanded. The remains of the division were reassigned to the 71st Rifle Division. Currently, the division banner as a trophy stored in museum collections in Finland.

Subordinate Units

The Russian Wikipedia article lists the following subordinate units: * 97th Infantry Regiment * 208th Infantry Regiment * 316th Infantry Regiment * 12th Howitzer Regiment * 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion * 381st Separate Tank Battalion Armies of the Bear list the following subordinate units: ''This is likely the OB prior to the expansion of the Soviet Army and the reorganization of the regiments in early 1939'' * 52nd Rifle Regiment * 53rd Rifle Regiment * 54th Rifle Regiment * 18th Artillery Regiment

Second Formation

It was established at

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

on 15 August 1939 from the

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk,, , known as Simbirsk until 1924, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Ulyanovsk has been the only Russian UNESCO Ci ...

-based

86th Rifle Division The 86th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Interwar period, World War II, and the early postwar period, formed twice. Interwar period By an order of the Volga Military District on 23 May 1922 ...

as the 111th Rifle Division, and on 2 February 1940 (Russian Wiki), or April 1940 (Avanzini and Crofoot) was renamed as the 18th Rifle Division. Until June 1941 was stationed in

, from the middle of June 1941 to the beginning of the transfer of the western frontier. On 22 June 1941 the 208th Infantry Regiment and the majority of other regiments had arrived in the west. Still located in

was the commander of the division, and all the rear units. The division was assigned to

61st Rifle Corps The 61st Rifle Corps (Russian: 61-й стрелковый корпус '' '') was a Red Army infantry corps during World War II, formed twice. The 61st Rifle Corps was formed firmed in Tula during September 1939. After Operation Barbarossa, it was ...

20th Army (Soviet Union) The 20th Army was a field army of the Red Army that fought on the Eastern Front during World War II. First formation The Army was first formed in the Orel Military District in June 1941. On 22 June 1941 the Army was part of the Reserve of the Sup ...

. The division initially took up positions west of

Orsha Orsha (; , ; ) is a city in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the fork of the Dnieper, Dnieper River and Arshytsa River, and it serves as the administrative center of Orsha District. As of 2025, it has a population of 101,662. History ...

, but on 5 July was moved to south of Orsha taking up positions on the left bank of the

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

covering the area from Orsha to near

Shklow Shklow is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus, located north of Mogilev on the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It serves as the administrative center of Shklow District. It has a Train station, railway station on the line between Orsha and Mogilev. In 20 ...

. The corps ordered the division to push two battalions supported by antitank weapons to the

Drut River The Drut or Druts (, ; , ) is a river in Belarus, a right tributary of Dnieper. It originates in the Orsha Upland in the Belarusian Ridge and flows through the Vitebsk, Mogilev and Gomel regions of Belarus. It is long, and has a drainage ba ...

40–45 km from the main line of defense. These units were quickly cut off from the rest of the division by advancing German forces. The division fully entered battle on 9 July and by 11 July German forces had crossed the Dnieper River north of Shklow and quickly surrounded the division. The division received its order to withdraw on 18 July and on 19 July was in an encircled defensive position near Pishchikov. east of the Dnieper River. A small part of the division was able to break out of the ring on 23 July and joined the group led by General Boldin, which broke out of the encirclement on 15 August 1941. For its actions defending the Dnieper River the division was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. The division was officially disbanded on 19 September 1941.

Subordinate Units

* 97th Rifle Regiment * 208th Rifle Regiment * 316th Rifle Regiment * 3rd Artillery Regiment * 12th Howitzer Artillery Regiment * 64th Separate Antitank Artillery Battalion * 356th Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion * 56th Reconnaissance Battalion * 86th Sapper Battalion * 97th Separate Signals Battalion * 105th Medical Battalion * 48th Decontamination Company * 179th Auto-Transport Company (formally 72nd Auto-Transport Battalion) * 24th Field Bakery * 215th Field Postal Station * 97th Field Cash Office of the State Bank

Third Formation

It was reestablished in September 1941 from the 18th Division of the Moscow People's Militia. It then fought at 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 ...

. Became

11th Guards Rifle Division The 11th Guards Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. It was disbanded in 1946. History 18th Moscow Militia Division Originally formed on 2 July 1941 in the Leningrad region of Moscow. The subordinat ...

in January 1942.

Subordinate Units

* 1306th Rifle Regiment (until 7 December 1941) * 1308th Rifle Regiment (until 26 December 1941) * 1310th Rifle Regiment (until 22 October 1941) * 365th Rifle Division (from 24 October 1941) becomes 33rd Guards Rifle Regiment * 518th Rifle Regiment (from 28 November 1941) becomes 40th Guards Rifle Regiment * 282nd Rifle Regiment (from 13 December 1941) becomes 27th Guards Rifle Regiment (formally with the 19th Rifle Division) * 978th Artillery Regiment becomes 30th Guards Artillery Regiment * 702nd Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion becomes 8th Guards Sep AA Artillery Battery (formally 146th Sep. AA Artillery Battery) * 477th Reconnaissance Company becomes 9th Guards Reconnaissance Company * 461st Sapper Battalion becomes 15th Guards Sapper Battalion * 866th Separate Signals Battalion becomes 12th Sep. Signals Battalion * 500th Medical Battalion becomes 381st Medical Battalion * 344th Decontamination Company becomes 14th Guards Decontamination Company * 312th Auto-Transport Company becomes 504th Auto-Transport Company (formally 17th Auto-Transport Company) * 927th Field Postal Station * 394th Field Cash Office of the State Bank

Fourth Formation

Recreated in February 1942 at

Ryazan Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...

in the

from a cadre of the 16th Sapper Brigade. Spent four months in the District and assigned to the 1st Reserve Army in

STAVKA The ''Stavka'' ( Russian and Ukrainian: Ставка, ) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine. In Imperial Russia ''Stavka'' referred to the administrat ...

Reserves. The division was located under the Staling Front Reserves by 10 July and reassigned to the 4th Tank Army. The division participated in unsuccessful counterattack on 22 July 1942. From 3–12 August the division was involved in intense fighting in a small bend of the

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

north-west of

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

. Sustaining heavy casualties on 15–16 August and making another unsuccessful counterattack on 17 August. Due to its significant losses the division was put in reserve on 23 September 1942. After spending three months in the Moscow Military District rebuilding near

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

the division was sent to the

Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front () was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group North in its offensive thrust towards L ...

before the end of the year and assigned to the

2nd Shock Army The 2nd Shock Army (), sometimes translated to English as 2nd Assault Army, was a field army of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. This type of formation was created in accordance with prewar doctrine that called for Shock Armies to ''o ...

. In mid-January 1943 the division broke through the German encirclement, breaking the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

and joining the forces of the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front () was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front on August 27, 1941. History The Leningrad Front was immediately ...

. The 18th Rifle Division is credited with capturing the first

Tiger Tank Tiger tank may refer to: *Tiger I, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. E'', a German heavy tank produced from 1942 to 1944 *Tiger II The Tiger II was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of the World War II, Second World War. The final official ...

. The division would participate in the Svir-Petrozavodsk Offensive. In late September 1944 the division was assigned to the Soviet-Finish border southwest of

. The division was placed in the STAVKA reserves in mid-November 1944 assigned to the 19th Army's

132nd Rifle Corps Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * 13 (Black Sabbath album), ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * 13 (Blur album), ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * 13 (Borgeous album), ''13'' (Bo ...

. Reassigned to the

2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front (, ''Vtoroi Belorusskiy front'', also romanized "Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussian"), was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group. I ...

along with its higher headquarters the division participated in the East Pomeranian Strategic Offensive Operation and fought at Danzig, Poland. Major General Alexander Yakushov commanded the division from July 1945 to its disbandment. It was stationed on

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

after the end of the war with the corps, part of the 43rd Army in the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Armed Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army (Russian Ground Forces starting 1992) stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fa ...

from June 1945, and was disbanded in June 1946 after the corps was withdrawn to Poland on 4 May 1946.

Subordinate Units

* 414th Rifle Regiment * 419th Rifle Regiment * 424th Rifle Regiment * 1027th Artillery Regiment * 7th Student Battalion * 359th Separate Antitank Artillery Battalion * 458th Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battery (until 10 March 1943) * 200th Machine Gun Battalion (from 14 December 1942 to 10 March 1943) * 121st Reconnaissance Company * 72nd Sapper Battalion * 714th Separate Signals Battalion (formally 588th Sep. Signals Battalion, 140th Sep. Signals Company) * 83rd Medical Battalion * 26th Decontamination Company * 526th Auto-Transport Company * 370th Field Bakery * 811th Veterinary Field Hospital * 1826th Field Postal Station * 1149th Field Cash Office of the State Bank

5th formation

In 1955, it was reformed from the 194th Rifle Division at Kirov in the

Ural Military District The Red Banner Ural Military DistrictHistory of the Ural Military District / Edited by Alexander Egorovsky, Ivan Tutarinov – 1 – Moscow: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union, 1970 – 352 Pages – 11,500 ...

with the

10th Rifle Corps The 10th Rifle Corps (Military Unit Number 16058 until June 1956) was an infantry corps of the Red Army, which later became the 10th Army Corps after the Second World War. Interwar period The corps was formed by an order dated 12 July 1922 in ...

. On 5 June 1956 it became the 43rd Mechanized Division. It was relocated to Chkalov (Orenburg). On 4 June 1957, the 43rd Mechanized Division became the 130th Motor Rifle Division at

Chkalov Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (; ; – 15 December 1938) was a test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936). Early life Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper Volga region, the town of Vasilyevo (the town is ...

. The division disbanded on 1 July 1959.

Commanders

* A.N. Lengovsky - (26 Nov - 1 Dec 1918) * J.P. Uborevich - (1 Dec 1918 - 29 Sep 1919) * N.M. Bobrov - (30 Sep - 26 Nov 1919) *

Mikhail Filippovsky Michael is a common masculine given name derived from the Hebrew phrase ''mī kāʼēl'', 'Who slike-El', in Aramaic: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ (''Mīkhāʼēl'' ). The theophoric name is often read as a rhetorical question – "Who slike he He ...

- (26 Nov - 23 Mar 1920) * B.A. Burenin - (23 Mar - 25 Aug 1920) * L.Y. Ugriumov - (10 Sep - 25 Dec 1920) * A.G. Schirmacher - (25 Dec 1920 - 24 May 1921) * Nikolai Klykov (March 1931 - March 1935) * Mikhail Khozin (May 1935 - March 1937) * Kombrig G.F. Kondrashov - (Mar 1939 - Mar 1940) Executed 29 Aug 1940. * Colonel Alekseev (Mar 1940) * Colonel Karp Sviridov - (Apr 1940 – 31 Aug 1941) * Colonel P.K. Zhivalev - (26 Sep 1941 – 10 Nov 1941) * Colonel P.N. Chernyshev - (11 Nov 1941 – 5 Jan 1942) * Colonel I.F. Seregin - (28 Feb 1942 – 25 Aug 1942) * Lieutenant Colonel P.D. Strebkov - (26 Aug 1942 – 20 Sep 1942) * General-Major M.N. Ovchinnich - (21 Sep 1942 – 20 Nov 1943) * General-Major M. Absalyamov - 21 Nov 1943 – 25 Aug 1944) * Colonel P.V. Poluveshkin - (26 Aug 1944 – 11 May 1945)

References

Sources

*Crofoot, Craig, Armies of the Bear, orbat.com, 2003 * *Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner, The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. . *Sharp Charles, C., Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Red Legions, Soviet Rifle Division Formed Before June, 1941, George F. Nafziger, 1996. *Sharp Charles, C., Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, Red Tide, Soviet Rifle Division Formed From Juneto December 1941, George F. Nafziger, 1996. *Sharp Charles, C., Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Red Swarm, Soviet Rifle Division Formed From 1942 to 1946, George F. Nafziger, 1996. * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017

018 018 may refer to: *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboj ...

Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in the Winter War