The 32nd 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 ...
and later of 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 ...
, formed three times.
Interwar period
An order of 25 May 1922 combined the 2nd Saratov Separate Rifle Brigade and the 81st Rifle Brigade of the
27th Omsk Rifle Division to form the 32nd Rifle Division. It was located in
Saratov
Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...
(Volga Military District).
July 20, 1922 is the official birthday of the 32nd Rifle Division. According to the order RVSR number 1647/323 of 10 July 1922 excluding brigade unit in the divisional structure, the 32nd Rifle Division was reorganized on the basis of the 81st Rifle Brigade. Its 241st, 242nd, 243rd Rifle Regiments receive numbers respectively 94th, 95th, 96th. On 29 November 1922, by the order No. 2668/508 RVSR in connection with the adoption of patronage Saratov City Council awarded the division name: 32nd Saratov Rifle Division.
In 1934 it joined the
Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army, serving the Far Eastern Military District as part of the
39th Rifle Corps. It took part in a number of border skirmishes with Japanese
Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...
on the
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
n border near
Lake Khasan
Lake Khasan or Lake Hassan (; ) is a small lake in Khasansky District, Primorsky Krai of Russia, located southeast of Posyet Bay, near the border with North Korea and China, southwest of Vladivostok. It has a surface area of . The Tanbogatyi R ...
. By 1941 it consisted of the 17th, 113th, and 322nd Rifle Regiments and the 133rd and 154th Artillery Regiments. It was commanded by Colonel Viktor Ivanovich Polosukhin from 26 May 1941 to 18 February 1942 and by Colonel Stepan Trofimovich Gladyshev from 19 February to 24 May 1942.
Operation Typhoon
While the 32nd Rifle Division was serving in the 25th Army of the
Far East Military District
The Far Eastern Military District () was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District.
His ...
, the Germans invaded 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 ...
in Europe on June 22, 1941. The
German Army Group Center
Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the Sov ...
in September paused near
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 ...
because
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
had ordered the capture of
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
to secure the southern flank. This allowed the Soviets some time to prepare the defenses west of Moscow, but by the beginning of October the offensive toward the capital began again and was called
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 ...
by the Germans. The 32nd Rifle Division was ordered west and was rapidly transported by train to the
Mozhaisk Defense Line, then manned by
Dmitri Danilovich Lelyushenko
Dmitry Danilovich Lelyushenko (; ( – 20 July 1987) was a Soviet military officer and a commander in the Red Army during World War II. He rose to prominence during the first months of the Eastern Front of the Second World War, where he became a ...
's
5th Army. By October 10, the forward elements had arrived and dug in on the old
Borodino
The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. T ...
battlefield, where the Russians had bled white Napoleon's Army in 1812. The best the division could hope for was to delay the German advance long enough to form a new line of defense further east. The Germans attacked with two veteran divisions, the
10th Panzer Division and the
2nd SS Division Das Reich
The 2nd SS Panzer Division ''Das Reich'' () or SS Division ''Das Reich'' was an armored division of the of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Initially formed from regiments of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT), ''Das Reich'' initially served ...
on the 32nd's line of defense. On October 13 the fighting began in the
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 ...
area (defended by the 17th Regiment).
The battle continued for five more days until the exhausted Russians fell back further to the east and Mozhaisk fell on the 18th. The 32nd Rifle Division had traded its blood for time and had inflicted heavy losses on the Germans. It stayed on the front lines through November and took part in the
Battle of Moscow
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 32nd Division part in the battle of Moscow did not escape the notice of the Soviet high command and it was given the title
29th Guards Rifle Division on 24 May 1942 and the 17th Rifle Regiment 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 ...
.
Second Formation
The division was reformed and was back on the front line by 1 October 1942, and stayed fighting until 16 February 1944. It then fought again from 29 May 1944 to 9 May 1945 (Victory Day). (Perecheni No. 5). In August 1945, it was moved to
Tambov
Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...
in the
Voronezh Military District with the
92nd Rifle Corps. The division was disbanded by the summer of 1946, along with the corps.
Commanders:
* Colonel
Ivan Bezugly (16 June 1942 – 16 January 1943)
* Lieutenant Colonel
Ivan Fyodorovich Dryomov (17 January–3 February 1943)
* Colonel Gavriil Antonovich Kutalyev (7 February–8 June 1943)
* Colonel
Stepan Chernyak (9 June–24 August 1943)
* Colonel
Aleksandr Borisovich Rodionov
Aleksandr Borisovich Rodionov (; 12 September 1902 – 19 July 1944) was a Red Army Colonel (Eastern Europe), colonel who held division commands during World War II.
A veteran of the final stages of the Russian Civil War, Rodionov rose to comma ...
(25 August–12 October 1943)
* Colonel Yakov Romanovich Stolyarov (13 October–21 December 1943)
* Colonel Pyotr Karlovich Shteyger (22 December 1943 – 24 July 1944)
* Colonel Aleksandr Sergeyevich Belov (26 July–10 September 1944)
* Colonel Yakov Yakovlevich Verbov (11 September 1944 – February 1946; promoted to major general 20 April 1945)
Third Formation
In 1955, the
207th Rifle Division was redesignated as the 32nd Rifle Division in 1955 at
Stendal
The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region.
Geography
Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located ...
with the
3rd "Red Banner" Army. On 17 May 1957, it became the
32nd Motor Rifle Division.
[Feskov et al 2013, p. 151]
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
{{Soviet Union divisions 1945–57, state=collapsed
032
Military units and formations established in 1920
1920 establishments in Russia
Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner