The 274th Rifle Division () was an infantry 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

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 ...

, formed twice. The division was first formed in the summer of 1941 and was destroyed in Ukraine during the fall of that year, Reformed in the spring of 1942, the division served through the entire war before being disbanded postwar in the summer of 1945.

History

First Formation

The 274th began forming on 10 July 1941 at

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a population of ...

, part of 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 ...

. Its basic order of battle included the 961st, 963rd, and the 965th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 814th Artillery Regiment. Still incomplete when the front line reached the division, the 274th was assigned to the Southern Front's 12th Army, defending the lower

Dnieper 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 ...

. After the Soviet encirclement in the Battle of Kiev, the

1st Panzer Group The 1st Panzer Army () was a German tank army that was a large armoured formation of the Wehrmacht during World War II. When originally formed on 1 March 1940, the predecessor of the 1st Panzer Army was named Panzer Group Kleist (''Panzergruppe ...

advanced south into the front's northern flank in the rear of the 12th Army. The division, which had never received its full complement of artillery or anti-tank weapons, suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. On 1 October, the 961st Rifle Regiment was detached to the 15th Rifle Division, and by 20 October the division's remnants were used as replacements for the 4th Rifle Division.

Second Formation

The 274th was formed for a second time from March to 10 May 1942 in the

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 ...

. The division retained the same basic order of battle as the first formation, but added the 150th Anti-Tank Battalion. After its commander was assigned on 10 May, the division was transferred to the Moscow Defence Zone from the Moscow Military District training command. The 274th became part of the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the '' Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK () or RGK ( comprises reserve military formations and units; the ''Stavka'' ...

's 4th Reserve Army a month later, and was part of the

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 ...

's 29th Army by the end of July. The army was moved to the Western Front in August, and the division transferred to the front's 30th Army in October. From April to December 1943, the division was part of the front's 31st Army. In the third phase of

Operation Suvorov The second Smolensk operation (code naming " Suvorov";Istomin (1975), pp. 20–21 7 August – 2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simu ...

31st Army attacked the positions of the

18th Panzergrenadier Division 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 ha ...

12 km east of Yartsevo on the morning of 15 September. Three days later the 274th, led by Lt. Col. Pyotr Dodogorsky's 961st Rifle Regiment, formed the vanguard in 31st Army's battle for the city, which was secured by 19 September. The division was awarded a battle honor for its role in the fighting.http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-6.html. In Russian. Retrieved March 5, 2019. The 274th was transferred to the 33rd Army's 36th Rifle Corps at the end of the year. In April 1944, the division became part of the

1st Belorussian Front The 1st Belorussian Front (, ''Pervyy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian"), known without a numeral as the Belorussian Front between October 1943 and February 1944, was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, bein ...

's 69th Army, and was assigned to the army's 61st Rifle Corps. The division remained part of the corps and the 69th Army until the end of the war. The division received the honorifics "Yartsevo Red Banner Order of Suvorov" for its actions, and was disbanded in the summer of 1945 with the

Group of Soviet Forces in Germany The Western Group of Forces (WGF), previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG) and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG), were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupation ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945

274 Year 274 (Roman numerals, CCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelianus and Capitolinus (or, less frequently, year 1027 ''Ab urbe condita''). The d ...

Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner