The 26th Rifle Division was a rifle division in the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The division was formed on 3 November 1918 on the Eastern Front (China Border), sent to the Soviet-German Front in August 1941. Ended the war in Poland, where it was assigned to 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Ground Forces starting 1992) stationed in Poland from the end of Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fa ...

. It was disbanded in 1952.

Russian Civil War

The division was formed on the Eastern Front in November 1918. It fought the entire civil war period on the eastern front and ended the war on the Chinese border. The division remained there until 1929 when it moved to the coastal region.

Composition

*76th Rifle Regiment *77th Rifle Regiment *78th Rifle Regiment *26th Artillery Regiment

World War II

Assigned to the

1st Red Banner Army The 1st Red Banner Army () was a Red Army field army of World War II that served in the Soviet Far East. Before 1941 The 1st Army was created in July 1938 under the name of the 1st Coastal Army (or, depending on translation, 1st Maritime Army) i ...

at the start of the World War II, the division was ordered west in August 1941. Assigned to the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-c ...

's 11th Army upon arrival. The division spent 1942 through September 1944 assigned to Northwestern or

2nd Baltic Front The 2nd Baltic Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. History The 2nd Baltic Front was formed on October 20, 1943 as a result of the renaming of the Baltic Front, it ...

s 11th, 27th, 34th, 1st Shock, and 22nd Armies. During this time the division took part in the Demyansk Army Group offensive operation (1st phase) from 7 January to 20 May 1942 and second phase from 15 to 28 February 1943. It also fought in the Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive's Staraya Russa-Novorzhev Offensive from 18 February 1944 to 1 March 1944. In September 1944 the division was reassigned to the 43rd Army's 90th Rifle Corps of the

1st Baltic Front The First Baltic Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Прибалтийский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War. It was commanded by Army General Andrey Yeryomenko, succeeded by Army General Bagramyan. It ...

. The army was reassigned to the

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 ...

in January 1945 where it remained assigned for the remainder of the war. In the last part of the war the division participated in the Baltic Strategic Offensive's Riga Army Group offensive from 14 September to 24 October 1944 and the East Prussian Offensive's Insterburg–Königsberg Offensive, Königsberg Offensive, and Zemland Offensive.

Composition

*87th Rifle Regiment (formerly the 76th Rifle Regiment) *312th Rifle Regiment (formerly the 77th Rifle Regiment) (awarded the Honorific Designation “Novgorod”) *349th Rifle Regiment (formerly the 78th Rifle Regiment) *19th Artillery Regiment (formerly the 26th Artillery Regiment) *62nd Separate Antitank Artillery Battalion *459th Mortar Regiment (from 27.10.1941 to 19.10.1942) *67th Reconnaissance Company *9th Sapper Battalion *70th Separate Signals Battalion (formally 820th Sep. Signals Company) *30th Medical Battalion *29th Decontamination Company *52nd Auto-Transport Company (formally 150th and 479th Auto-Transport Company) *78th Field Bakery *59th Veterinary Field Hospital (formally 196th Veterinary Field Hospital) *20th Divisional Artillery Workshop Battalion *171st Field Postal Station (formally 8812th Field Postal Station) *261st Field Cash Office of the State Bank

Post war

The division was assigned to the

after the war and remained in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In June 1946 it became part of the 132nd Rifle Corps, replacing the disbanded 18th Rifle Division. It became part of the

18th Rifle Corps 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. It is an even composite number. Mathematics 18 is a semiperfect number and an abundant number. It is a largely composite number, as it has 6 divisors and no smaller number h ...

and was based at

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

between 1946 and 1948. The division disbanded along with its corps in 1952.Feskov et al 2013, pp. 408–410.

Commanders

Mikhail Matiyasevich Mikhail Stepanovich Matiyasevich (Matiasevich) (Smolensk, May 23 une 41878 – Kyiv, August 5, 1941) was a Soviet military commander, who commanded several military units of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Biography

From the ...

(3.11.1918 — 26.03.1919) * Yan Gaylit (26.03.1919 — 16.04.1919) *

Genrich Eiche Genrich Christoforovich Eiche (, ; September 29 (October 12) 1893, Riga — June 25, 1968 Jūrmala, Latvia) was a Soviet military commander and historian of Latvian ethnicity. He served in World War I as an officer in the Russian Imperial Army ...

(16.04.1919 — 10.08.1919) * S. M. Beliitsky (10.08.1919 - 8.09.1919) * I. F. Blazevich (8.09.1919 - 10.09.1919), acting * S. M. Beliitsky (10.09.1919 - 21.09.1919) *

(21.09.1919 - 23.11.1919) * A. M. Volpe (23.11.1919 - 25.11.1919), acting * Yan Gaylit (25.11.1919 - 26.10.1921) *

Pyotr Filatov Pyotr Mikhailovich Filatov (; 18 August 1893 – 14 July 1941) was a Red Army lieutenant general. A veteran of World War I, Filatov rose to brigade command during the Russian Civil War and was decorated for his actions. He held division command in ...

(November 1925–February 1927) * Konstantin Pashkovsky (1929-1931) * Grigory Iusstinovich (1931-1937) * Nikolai Glovatsky (1937-1938) *Colonel Pavel Grigoryevich Kuznetsov, 14 April 1941 - 22 February 1943 *Colonel Kornily Cherepanov, 23 February 1943 - 25 September 1944 *General-major Vasilii Andreevich Belonogov, 26 September 1944 - 21 April 1945 *Colonel Nikolai Ivanovich Krasnov, 22 April 1945 - 9 May 1945

References

Sources

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 026 026 Military units and formations established in 1919 Military units and formations disestablished in 1952