The 25th Rifle Division () was a rifle division of the

Soviet Union 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 ...

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

Second World War 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 ...

, formed twice. Formed in 1918, it was a Russian, and later

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 ...

formation formed on the Eastern Front 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 ...

. It was named after its first commander,

Vasily Chapayev Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev (; 5 September 1919) was a Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War. Biography Chapayev was born into a poor peasant family in a village called , now part of Cheboksary. During World War I ...

. As Chapayev's command it gained fame during the war and as a result received his name, designated the 25th Chapayev Rifle Division (). The division was transferred west to fight in the

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 ...

and was stationed in Ukraine during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

. Moved forward to participate in the

Soviet occupation of Bessarabia Between 28 June and 3 July 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, following an ultimatum made to Romania on 26 June 1940 that threatened the use of force. Those regions, with a total area of and a population of 3,776, ...

in 1940, the division retreated east after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in

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 ...

. It was disbanded after being destroyed in the siege of Sevastopol in mid-1942. The 25th was formed for a second time, without inheriting the honors of the original unit, in 1943. This unit served in the

Arkhangelsk Military District The Arkhangelsk Military District () was a regional Military districts of the Soviet Union, military district of the Red Army which oversaw the North-Western part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The district was formed in 1940 ...

without seeing combat in the rest of the war, and was disbanded shortly after the end of the war.

Russian Civil War

The division was formed in 1918 at the beginning of the

under the command of Vasily Chapayev. Chapayev previously served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during World War I. The division deployed to the Urals where it fought the

Ural Cossacks The Ural Cossack Host was a cossack host formed from the Ural Cossacks – those Eurasian cossacks settled by the Ural River. Their alternative name, Yaik Cossacks, comes from the old name of the river. They were also known by the names: * ...

in the Zavolzhye region. On October 7, 1918, the division fought at

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, on March 11, 1919, it fought at Uralsk, and on January 2, 1920, the division occupied entered

Atyrau Atyrau (, ; , ; ), known until 1991 as Guryev (), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea, between Europe and Asia, west of Almaty and east o ...

(then Guriev) for the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s. In May 1920, the division transferred to the Ukrainian front. It aided the successful defence of Kiev against the

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, before moving on to capture

Kovel Kovel (, ; ; ) is a city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion within the oblast. Population: Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runic inscriptions which were lost during World War I ...

and participate in further operations along the

Southern Bug The Southern Bug, also called Southern Buh (; ; ; or just ), and sometimes Boh River (; ),

. From April 1921 to the December 1922 the division was responsible for suppressing Ukrainian independence forces.

Interwar period

On 30 November 1921 the division was renamed the 25th Poltava Rifle Division before becoming the 25th Kremenchug Rifle Division on 4 January 1922. In 1922 the division became part of the

Ukrainian 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 ...

, which became the Kiev Military District in 1935. Its former designation, the 25th Chapayev Red Banner Rifle Division, was restored on 11 July 1925. The division was awarded the Honorary Revolutionary Red Banner in 1928 and the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

in 1933. The division transferred to the

Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...

in May 1940 in preparation for the

in June and July of that year. After participating in the occupation, the 25th became part of the 9th Army.

World War II

On June 24, 1941,

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 ...

Order #20466 attached the 25th Rifle Division to the 14th Rifle Corps, 9th Army, Southern Front. It took part in the Battle of Odessa, and was evacuated by sea in October 1941 prior to the city's fall. The division arrived in

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

in time to prepare for the defence of the port against the oncoming German offensive. The division was destroyed during the following siege of Sevastopol in July 1942. The sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko served with the division in this period, credited with a total of 309 kills. The division was subsequently reformed in the

in 1943. It did not see any further action in the Second World War. While Poirer and Connor list further fighting it took part in, it is believed that this information was incorrect. It was attached to the

4th Rifle Corps The 4th Rifle Corps was a corps of the Red Army, active from the 1920s. First Formation It was formed during the Russian Civil War as part of the Western Front of the Red Army in May and June 1922. The corps headquarters was stationed in Vitebsk ...

of the

Belomorsky Military District The Belomorsky Military District () was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, active from in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Civil War and just after the Second World War. The District was formed by the decree of the Council of ...

in May 1945.

Postwar

The division (

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: войсковая часть, в/ ч; Ukrainian: військова частина, в/ ч) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet ...

15887) was disbanded on 10 July 1946 along with the corps.Feskov et al 2013, p. 429 The name 'Chapeyevskaya' was later given to the 25th Guards Rifle Division.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945 025 Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1957 Military units and formations of the Soviet Union in the Winter War 1918 establishments in Russia 1957 disestablishments in the Soviet Union