The 97th Guards Mechanized Brigade () was a

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

, and then a motor-rifle 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 ...

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, before becoming a mechanized

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...

of the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

, based in

Slavuta Slavuta (, ; ; ) is a city in Shepetivka Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) of western Ukraine, located on the Horyn River. The city is located approximately 80 km from the oblast capital, Khmelnytskyi, at around . Slavuta hosts the adm ...

in western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The full name of the division was the "97th Guards Poltava Motor-Rifle Division,

Red Banner In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of left-wing ideologies, including socialism, communism, anarchism, and the labour movement. The originally empty or plain red flag has been associated with left-wing politics since the French ...

, Suvorov's, Bogdan Khmelnitsky". After the division became part of

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

it was known as the (''97-ma okrema mekhanizovana bryhada'').

History

World War II

The division was formed in August–September 1941 as the 343rd Rifle Division near the city of

Stavropol Stavropol (, ), known as Voroshilovsk from 1935 until 1943, is a city and the administrative centre of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 547,820, making it one of Russia's fastest growing cities. E ...

. Over the next twelve months it was assigned to the 56th, 6th, 9th,

21st 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. Mathematics Twenty-one is the fifth distinct semiprime, and the second of the form 3 \times q whe ...

, and 24th Armies. The division took part in the defensive operations at

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, then in the Rostov and Barvenko-Lozovaia offensive operations. Later, it fought in the

Second Battle of Kharkov The Second Battle of Kharkov or Operation Fredericus was an Axis powers, Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted 12–28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front (World War II), Easter ...

, then fled eastward to take part in defensive operations near

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

. On July 17, 1942, when the 21st Army joined the

Stalingrad Front The Stalingrad Front was a front, a military unit encompassing several armies, of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. The name indicated the primary geographical region in which the Front first fought, based on the city of St ...

, the division had 2,795 men and fewer than 20 artillery pieces. After October, 1942, it was assigned to the

66th Army The 66th Army was a field army of the Red Army. It was established in August 1942 from the 8th Reserve Army. The 66th Army fought to break through to the Volga to the north of Stalingrad during September and October 1942. During Operation Uranus, ...

, which later became the

5th Guards Army The 5th Guards Army was a Soviet Guards formation which fought in many critical actions during World War II under the command of General Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov. The 5th Guards Army was formed in spring 1943 from the 66th Army in recognition o ...

. On May 4, 1943, the division was re-designated as the 97th Guards Rifle Division. Its order of battle was as follows: * 289th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1151st Rifle Regiment * 292nd Guards Rifle Regiment from 1153rd Rifle Regiment * 294th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1155th Rifle Regiment * 232nd Guards Artillery Regiment from 903rd Artillery Regiment * 104th Guards Antitank Battalion from 567th Antitank Battalion * 110th Guards Sapper Battalion from 620th Sapper Battalion * 141st Guards Signal Battalion from 791st Signal Battalion * 100th Guards Reconnaissance Company from 402nd Reconnaissance Company The day before its re-designation the division was assigned to the newly-formed 33rd Guards Rifle Corps. On May 2, the commander of the division,

Matvei Usenko Matvei Alekseevich Usenko (; , – May 12 1943) was a major general of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. Biography In 1918 he joined the Red Army, and during the Civil War served with enough distinction to be awarded both ...

, was promoted to the rank of Major General. Just ten days later he was killed after being blown up by a land mine while crossing a road in a vehicle. The division took part 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 ...

, along with the rest of 5th Guards Army as part of the

Steppe Front The Steppe Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had been effective since 30 April.G ...

. Later, it fought in the liberation of

left-bank Ukraine The Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy. Left-bank Ukrain ...

. In September, the division was awarded the '

Poltava Poltava (, ; , ) is a city located on the Vorskla, Vorskla River in Central Ukraine, Central Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Poltava Oblast as well as Poltava Raion within the oblast. It also hosts the administration of Po ...

' honorific, along with its sister divisions, the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

and

95th Guards Rifle Division The 95th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in May 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 226th Rifle Division, and served in that role until well after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It ended the ...

s. In 1944 and 1945, it took part in the Kirovograd, Uman-Botoshany, Lvov-Sandomir, Sandomir-Silesia, Upper and

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and Prague offensives. The division ended the war in

32nd Guards Rifle Corps 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, still in 5th Guards Army.

Postwar

After

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 ...

, the division was stationed in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, with the

Central Group of Forces The Central Group of Forces (Russian: Центральная группа войск) was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955 and tr ...

, where it remained until 1946. During that time, the division belonged to the

. After its relocation to

, it became part of the

13th Army Thirteenth Army or 13th Army may refer to: * Thirteenth Army (Japan) * Japanese Thirteenth Area Army * 13th Army (Russian Empire), unit in World War I *13th Army (RSFSR), a unit in the Russian Civil War *13th Army (Soviet Union) The 13th Army (, ...

. After it moved to Slavuta, the division was downsized into the 28th Separate Guards Rifle Brigade, but became a division again on 16 September 1949. In 1957, it was reorganized from a Rifle into a Motor Rifle division. After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the division was reorganized into a Brigade, which continued to exist until November 2004, when it was disbanded.

Commanders

Division commanders included: * '' General-mayor''

(4–12 May 1943) * Colonel Vasily Yakovlevich Kashlyayev (13–30 May 1943) * Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Antsiferov (1 June 1943–19 April 1944, ''general-mayor'' from 25 September 1943) * Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Lashkov (20 April–22 May 1944) * ''General-mayor'' Ivan Ivanovich Antsiferov (23 May–8 October 1944) * Colonel Yefrem Mikhailovich Golub (9 October–28 December 1944) * Colonel Anton Prokofyevich Garan (29 December 1944–16 June 1945) * ''General-mayor''

Leonid Kolobov Leonid Alexandrovich Kolobov (; 8 August 1907 – 13 November 1993) was a Soviet Army Lieutenant general and Hero of the Soviet Union. After being drafted into the Red Army in 1928, Kolobov graduated from the Moscow Infantry School and became an of ...

(16 June 1945–20 March 1947) * ''General-mayor'' Fyodor Zakharovich Borisov (20 March 1947–21 February 1948) * ''General-mayor'' Vasily Ivanovich Shcherbenko (21 February 1948–12 September 1955) * Colonel Vasily Poyarov (12 September 1955–2 July 1958, ''general-mayor'' from 27 August 1957) * Colonel Pyotr Yegorovich Litvinenko (2 July 1958–19 December 1961, ''general-mayor'' from 9 May 1961) * Colonel Stepan Aleksandrovich Fedorenko (19 December 1961–15 January 1966, ''general-mayor'' from 13 April 1964) * Colonel Pyotr Timofeyevich Latuk (15 January 1966–unknown, ''general-mayor'' from 25 October 1967) * Colonel Leonid Ivanovich Pinchuk (''general-mayor'' from 28 October 1976)

Order of battle

During the late 1980s, the division included the following units. *110th Tank Regiment *289th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment *292nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment *294th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment *232nd Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment *1094th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment

Awards

*September 1943 received the honorific "Poltava" *19?? received Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky *19?? received

Order of Suvorov The Order of Suvorov () is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named in honor of Russian Generalissimo Prince Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). History The Order of Suvorov was originally a Soviet Union, Soviet award established on ...

*19?? received 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 ...

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Matvei Alekseevich Usenko

{{Soviet Union divisions Mechanized brigades of Ukraine Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations established in the 1990s Military units and formations disestablished in 2004 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner