The 53rd 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 ...

that served from the early 1930s to the immediate postwar period following

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 ...

Interwar period

The 53rd was formed in 1931 as a territorial division;

Ivan Boldin Ivan Vasilievich Boldin (; in Vysokaya – 20 March 1965 in Kiev) was a senior Red Army general and war hero during the Second World War. Early military and political career A son of a landed peasant, Boldin was fortunate enough to attend prima ...

became its first commander and military commissar in April of that year, and would hold that position until December 1934. It was stationed in the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at differen ...

with the

12th Rifle Corps The 12th Rifle Corps () was an infantry corps of the Red Army during the interwar period and World War II, formed four times. The corps headquarters was briefly active between late 1922 and early 1923 as part of the Separate Caucasus Army, and a ...

. By 1935, the division was headquartered at

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Krasny Kut, the 159th Rifle Regiment at

Pugachyov Pugachyov ( rus, Пугачёв, p=pʊgɐˈtɕɵf) is a town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, located on the Bolshoy Irgiz River (Volga's tributary), northeast of Saratov, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History It was founded ...

, and the 53rd Artillery Regiment at Pugachyov. On 8 July 1937 it received the honorific "named for Friedrich Engels". Before the war it became part of the 21st Army in the Gomel Region of the

Western Special Military District Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

World War II

Poirer and Connor, in their 1985 ''Red Army Order of Battle'', say that the division fought at

Yelnya Yelnya () is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Yelnya, Yelninsky District, Smolensk Oblast, a town in Yelninsky District of Smolensk Oblast; administratively incorporated as Yelninskoye Urban Settlement ;Ru ...

, on the

Dnieper River 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

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

and Targul Frumos. For its actions in the capture of Jassy, the division was awarded 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 ...

on 15 September 1944. The division was with

46th Army The 46th Army was a Soviet Red Army field army during World War II. The army was formed in August 1941 and guarded the Turkish border. During the summer of 1942, it fought in the Battle of the Caucasus. During the spring of 1943, the army helped c ...

of the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

in May 1945.

Postwar

The division was disbanded on 30 June 1946 in 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 ...

with the

34th Rifle Corps The 34th Rifle Corps was a corps 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 esta ...

of the 40th Army. In 1955, the division was reformed from the 318th Rifle Division with the

3rd Rifle Corps The 3rd Rifle Corps was a corps of the Soviet Red Army which saw service in World War II and in the 1950s. The corps was first formed in 1923 from the 3rd Army Corps in the Moscow Military District and fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland and the ...

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

, inheriting the honorifics "Novorossiysk Order of Suvorov". On 9 September 1955, it became the 39th Mechanized Division. The division received personnel and equipment from the disbanded 13th Guards Mechanized Division in fall 1955 and on 4 December became the 39th Guards Mechanized Division.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * – Located in fond 33, opus 594258, file 34 of the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defence, a list of units disbanded postwar in the Odessa Military District *Poirer and Connor, Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, 1985 * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017

053 53 may refer to: * 53 (number) * one of the years 53 BC, AD 53, 1953, 2053 * FiftyThree, an American privately held technology company that specializes in tools for mobile creation and visual thinking * 53rd Regiment Alabama Cavalry * 53rd Regiment ...

Military units and formations established in 1931 Military units and formations disestablished in 1947