The 51st K. E. Voroshilov Guards Vitebsk Order of Lenin Red Banner Rifle Division () was an infantry division of 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 ...

that continued serving in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in the early years of 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 in November 1942 from the 76th K. E. Voroshilov Red Banner Rifle Division, converted into an elite

Guards unit Guards units () were elite units and formations in the Soviet Armed Forces that continue to exist in the Russian Armed Forces and other post-Soviet states. These units were awarded Guards status after distinguishing themselves in wartime service ...

designated the 51st Guards Rifle Division for its actions in

Operation Uranus Operation Uranus () was a Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation on the Eastern Front of World War II which led to the encirclement of Axis forces in the vicinity of Stalingrad: the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romani ...

during 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, ...

. The 51st Guards fought in Operation Koltso at the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, receiving 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 ...

for its actions. The division went on to fight in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

in 1943 and

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 ...

in 1944, receiving the Vitebsk honorific for its performance in the Vitebsk–Orsha offensive during the latter. The division advanced into Latvia in the

Šiauliai offensive The Šiauliai offensive () was an operation of the Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front, commanded by General Hovhannes Bagramyan, conducted from 5 July to 29 August 1944, during the Second World War. It was part of the third phase of the Opera ...

, ending the war blockading the

Courland Pocket The Courland Pocket was a Pocket (military), pocket located on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945. Army Group North of the ''Wehrmacht'' were ...

. Stationed in Latvia postwar, the division was converted into the 51st Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957 and was disbanded in 1960 during reductions of Soviet conventional forces. Its personnel were retrained and formed the core of the new

29th Guards Rocket Division The 29th Guards Vitebsk Order of Lenin Red Banner Rocket Division is an intercontinental ballistic missile division of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces. The division was formerly part of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces and has been active si ...

, which inherited the honors of the 51st Guards.

Origins and Battle of Stalingrad

The 76th K. E. Voroshilov Red Banner Rifle Division received Guards status and became the 51st Guards Rifle Division on 23 November 1942, as a reward for its performance during

in the

, in which the division attacked out of the

Kletskaya Kletskaya () is a rural locality (a stanitsa) and the administrative center of Kletsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countrie ...

bridgehead with the 21st Army, defeating the opposing Romanian troops. The 76th was one of the prewar divisions of the Red Army and had originally been formed in 1920 as an Armenian unit. The division, commanded by Major General Nikolay Tavartkiladze, received its Guards battle flag on 5 January 1943. The division participated in the breakthrough of German defenses northwest of Stalingrad, becoming the first unit of the 21st Army to enter the city. It linked up with troops from the

13th Guards Rifle Division The 13th Guards Poltava Order of Lenin Twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army that was highly decorated during World War II. Formed in January 1942 from the 87th Rifle Divisio ...

on 26 January. The division was awarded the

on 19 June 1943 for "successful operations" during Operation Koltso. After the battle ended, the 21st Army was itself raised to Guards status, becoming the

6th Guards Army The 6th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought against Nazi Germany during World War II under the command of General Ivan Chistyakov. The Army's chief of staff was General Valentin Antonovich Penkovskii. The 6th Guards Army was ...

. The 51st Guards spent most of the rest of the war with the 6th Guards Army. Between 5 July and 23 August the division fought in the

and the

Belgorod–Kharkov offensive operation The Belgorod–Kharkov strategic offensive operation, or simply Belgorod–Kharkov offensive operation, was a Soviet strategic summer offensive that aimed to liberate Belgorod and Kharkov, and destroy Nazi German forces of the 4th Panzer Army a ...

, during which it participated in the capture of

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

, and Kharkov. From October 1943 to early January 1944, the division and the army, operating under the

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 ...

, occupied defenses northwest of Nevel, then fought in the Battle of Nevel. From 23 June, the division and the army, now part 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 ...

, fought in

. During the operation, the division advanced over 250 km in continuous fighting, conducting four assault crossings of rivers, including crossing the

Western Dvina The Daugava ( ), also known as the Western Dvina or the Väina River, is a large river rising in the Valdai Hills of Russia that flows through Belarus and Latvia into the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea. The Daugava rises close to the source of t ...

twice. For their actions in the assault crossing of the Western Dvina, fifteen soldiers of the division were made Heroes of the Soviet Union on 22 July. The division closed the encirclement of the German defenders of

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

and on 4 July 1944 captured

Polotsk Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...

. For their combat successes, the division was awarded the Vitebsk honorific and its three rifle regiments, the 154th, 156th, and 158th Guards, awarded the Polotsk honorific on 23 July. The Soviet advance continued throughout the summer of 1944, with the division pushing into the Baltic states, pursuing the retreating German troops from Polotsk to

Turmantas Turmantas () is a town in the Zarasai district municipality, Lithuania. Located on the border with Latvia, it is a railway station on the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg railway. The village is known since 1798. It began growing after completion of ...

Joniškis Joniškis (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Juonėškis''; ) is a city in northern Lithuania with a population of about 9,900. It is located 39 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–Latvia border. Joniškis i ...

Tryškiai Tryškiai (, , ) is a small town in Telšiai district municipality, Lithuania with a population of about 1,000. History In late July 1941, 70 to 80 Jewish men were killed on the banks of the Virvyte in a mass execution perpetrated by an Einsatzg ...

, and Bēne to Priekule in the

. For success in the battles of fall 1944 the 156th and 158th Guards Rifle Regiments were 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 ...

3rd class and the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

. In the last months of the war, the division fought in the blockade of the

. Together with the forces of the 1st Baltic Front, the division advanced to the Baltic coast, where it ended the war. During the war, 32 soldiers of the division were made Heroes of the Soviet Union, twelve received all three awards of the

Order of Glory The Order of Glory () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on November 8, 1943. It was awarded to soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the Red Army as well as to aviation ...

, and a total of 19,114 total decorated.

Postwar

After the end of the war, the 51st Guards Rifle Division remained in Latvia. It was reorganized as the 51st Guards Motor Rifle Division on 25 June 1957, becoming part of the 10th Army Corps. Like most divisions in the Soviet interior military districts, the division was maintained at reduced strength with only one of three motor rifle regiments combat ready. By the late 1950s, division headquarters was at

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, the tank and artillery regiments at Paplaka, a motor rifle regiment at

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

, and the two cadre-strength motor rifle regiments and a tank battalion at Priekule. The division was disbanded on 10 March 1960 during reductions of Soviet conventional forces under

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

and its personnel transferred to the

Strategic Missile Forces The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; ) is a separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic miss ...

, retrained to serve in

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

units. The 138th Guards Red Banner Artillery Regiment was used to form the 344th Missile Regiment of the 29th Guards Missile Division, which inherited the honors of the 51st Guards Motor Rifle Division. Several officers of the 51st Guards assumed senior positions in the 29th Guards Missile Division, including the commander and deputy commander of its tank regiment, who assumed the corresponding positions in the 307th Missile Regiment. On

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

1965, 51st Guards Rifle Division posthumous Heroes of the Soviet Union Senior Sergeants Lutsevich and A. I. Krasilnikov were commemorated by being permanently placed on the rolls of the 344th and 867th Missile Regiments of the 29th Guards, respectively.

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Origins and Battle of Stalingrad

Postwar

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading