The 97th Cavalry Division was a cavalry 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 in the first years of the Great Patriotic War, but did not see any combat. It began forming in November, 1941, in the

Central Asia Military District The Red Banner Central Asian Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, which existed in 1926–1945 and 1969–1989, with its headquarters at Tashkent (1926–1945) and Almaty (1969–1989). By USSR Order No.304 of 4 ...

as a "

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

National Division". Three other cavalry divisions, the 61st,

63rd 63rd may refer to: ;Metro stations *Ashland/63rd (CTA station), on the Green Line *East 63rd-Cottage Grove (CTA), on the Green Line *63rd (CTA Red Line), on the Red Line *63rd Street station (SEPTA Market–Frankford Line) on the Market-Frankford L ...

and the 81st were formed in this district at about the same time, also from men of Central Asian nationalities, and while those divisions became the latest complement of the 3rd Formation of the 4th Cavalry Corps in November, the 97th did not join that Corps until over a year later. When formed, its partial order of battle was as follows: * 279th Cavalry Regiment * 298th Cavalry Regiment * plus an unidentified cavalry regiment. The division was initially commanded by Colonel T.P. Gaikazyan, but on Feb. 28, 1942 he was replaced by the newly promoted Major General Yakub Kuliev, who had previously commanded the

21st Mountain Cavalry Division First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. From August to December the division remained in the reserves of the Central Asia Military District. On August 28, Kuliev went on to the post of deputy commander of 4th Cavalry Corps. In January, 1943, the 97th, now under command of Colonel V.A. Koninskii, was ferried across the

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by the

Caspian Flotilla The Caspian Flotilla () is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea. Established in November 1722 by the order of Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Caspian Flotilla is the oldest flotilla in the Russian ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

to join 4th Cavalry Corps, which was being rebuilt in this area after taking very heavy losses south of Stalingrad during

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 ...

and

Operation Winter Storm Operation Winter Storm (), a German offensive in December 1942 during World War II, involved the German 4th Panzer Army failing to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. In late November 1942 the ...

. In the event, this effort was abandoned, and the division, along with the rest of the Corps, was disbanded in March.Sharp, ''"Red Sabers"'', p. 70

References

;Notes ;Sources * p. 363

External links

Yakub Kulievich Kuliev
{{Soviet Union divisions before 1945 97 Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943