The 208th Rifle Division was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

infantry division in 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 began

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

as the 208th Mechanized Division under Colonel V.I. Nichiporovich, with the 128th Tank Regiment and 752nd and 760th Motorized Rifle Regiments. The Division was part of the 13th Mechanized Corps, 10th Army,

Soviet Western Front The Western Front was a front of the Red Army, one of the Red Army Fronts during World War II. The Western Front was created on 22 June 1941 from the Western Special Military District (which before July 1940 was known as Belorussian Special ...

. Unusually, Colonel Nichiporovich managed to keep a large group of men together after the destruction of his division during the border battles, and kept on the fight as 'Detachment No.208,' one of the first units of the

Soviet partisans Soviet partisans were members of Resistance during World War II, resistance movements that fought a Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war against Axis powers, Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Territories of Poland an ...

in Belarus. In 1942 the Division, under Col. K. M. Vysokoboinikov, was part of the 64th Army which fought in the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

. On 6 April 1945, now under the title 'Siberian,' it was part of the divisions of the encirclement of

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 ...

, located at the northwest sector as part of 124th Rifle Corps, 43rd Army. The division to the right is unknown, and to the left was the

216th Rifle Division The 216th Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army and Soviet Ground Forces. It was the successor to a motorized division of that same number that was destroyed during the Battle of Uman in August 1941. It fought at Kharkov and in Karelia, C ...

. Attacked

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

positions and broke through the second defensive line. The division was disbanded in the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

along with the 124th Rifle Corps in late December 1945.Feskov et al 2013, p. 478

Sources and references

* *See also http://www.soldat.ru/forum/?gb=3&id=44361 Infantry divisions of the Soviet Union in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 {{Russia-mil-stub