The 290th 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 in the summer of 1941, the 290th fought in the Battle of Smolensk,

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

, the Vistula–Oder Offensive, and the East Pomeranian Offensive during the rest of the war before its postwar disbandment in 1946.

History

The 290th began forming on 12 July 1941 at

Kalyazin Kalyazin () is a town and the administrative center of Kalyazinsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River, northeast of Tver, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History A ''sloboda'' ( ...

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 ...

from reservists. Its basic order of battle included the 878th, 882nd, and the 885th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 827th Artillery Regiment. After only five weeks, the division was assigned to the 50th Army. In late September, the division was encircled in the Bryansk pocket by

Operation Typhoon 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 ...

, the German advance on Moscow. The division's remnants broke out from the pocket by 23 October. On 27 November the 827th Artillery Regiment was removed from the division and replaced by the 1420th Artillery Regiment on 22 January 1942. In May, the 290th transferred to the Western Front's 10th Army. During the last four months of 1943, the division was part of the 33rd Army,

49th Army The 49th Combined Arms Army () is a combined arms ( field) army (CAA) of the Russian Ground Forces, formed in 2010 and headquartered in Stavropol. Military Unit в/ч 35181. Part of the Southern Military District, the army traces its heritage b ...

, and the 68th Army, as it advanced from

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

to the

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

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 ...

line on the

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 ...

. At the end of the year, the 290th transferred back to the 10th Army, but in spring 1944 it was moved to the 49th Army. The division fought in

and was awarded the

Order of Kutuzov The Order of Kutuzov ( ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established during World War II t ...

, 2nd class, for recapturing

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

. By August it began to outrun its supply lines, and received 1200 rear area conscripts and militia from Grodno, and 380 newly drafted civilians from areas it advanced through as replacements. In September, the 290th was transferred to the 3rd Army of 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 ...

, with which it fought in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the East Pomeranian Offensive in early 1945. At the very end of the war, the 3rd Army was transferred to 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 ...

, and became part of the front reserve during the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

. By the end of the war, the division's honorifics were "Mogilev, Order of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov." The division was relocated to

Chavusy Chavusy or Chausy (; ; ; Yiddish: טשאָוס) is a town in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Chavusy District. In 2009, its population was 10,692. As of 2024, it has a population of 9,817. Jewish history It ...

in the

Minsk Military District Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

with the 35th Rifle Corps in the summer of 1945, and disbanded there in June 1946 along with the corps.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945 Infantry divisions of the Soviet Union in World War II Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner