The 10th Rifle Division was a military formation of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

. It existed by 1920, but was formally created on 20 June 1922, based on the 29th Infantry Brigade. It was then recreated at Vladimir in September 1939, and fought in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Second World War

Around 1939, the division was stationed in the

Leningrad Military District The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. H ...

, Western Special Military District, and the Baltic Special Military District. It participated in the Polish campaign in 1939, and in the accession of Lithuania to the USSR in June 1940. It was part of the

10th Rifle Corps The 10th Rifle Corps (Military Unit Number 16058 until June 1956) was an infantry corps of the Red Army, which later became the 10th Army Corps after the Second World War. Interwar period The corps was formed by an order dated 12 July 1922 in ...

, 8th Army on 22 June 1941. The division fought in northern Russia and the Baltic States. From April 1942 to December 1944 it was part of the 23rd Army, Leningrad Front, engaged in the

siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet Union, So ...

. From June to August 1944 it took part in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive as part of 115th Rifle Corps. It was engaged in operations (in Russian terms, part of the 'operational army') during the Eastern Front campaign against Germany, from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945. The division was disbanded in spring 1946 with the 6th Rifle Corps in the Don Military District.

Latvian battalion

In July 1940, the 1st and 2nd Latvian workers regiments (the last later changed to

76th Latvian Rifle Regiment 76th may refer to: * 76th Academy Awards ceremony honored films of 2003 *76th Air Army, an air army of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949 to 1980 and from 1988 to 1998 *76th Air Assault Division (Russia), a division of the Russian Airborne Troops base ...

) were formed in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

from Latvian workers guard battalions and other active duty soldiers, who at the beginning of German attack, fled from

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

to Estonia.

1st Latvian Workers Regiment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

was formed on July 18, 1941. Their strength was about 900 men, and that was subordinate to 8th Army (Soviet Union),

. In the beginning the regiment guarded the Corps rear lines and fought with Estonian and Latvian Destruction battalions, but later joined in battles against the Army Group North (until July 29). The regiment suffered heavy losses, and at the end of July transferred to Gogland Island and later to Kotlin Island (

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

). From the left over regiment was later formed (3rd through September 7)

Latvian Battalion Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latvi ...

(commander

Žanis Grīva-Folkmanis Žanis is a Latvian masculine given name and may refer to: *Žanis Ansons (1911–1968), Latvian member of Waffen-SS during World War II *Žanis Bahs (1885–1941), Latvian military general *Žanis Blumbergs (1889–1938), Latvian-Soviet military ...

), which was part of (Russian) 10th Rifle Division 62nd Regiment. The Latvian battalion had only 283 soldiers. By riflemen, Germans battalions destroyed them and the remaining part retreated to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, and Peterhof to be placed in

76th Latvian Riflemen Regiment 76th may refer to: *76th Academy Awards ceremony honored films of 2003 *76th Air Army, an air army of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949 to 1980 and from 1988 to 1998 *76th Air Assault Division (Russia), a division of the Russian Airborne Troops based ...

. Aviel Roshwald, Ethnic nationalism and the fall of empires.

References

External links

*Leo Niehorster
Division as part of 8th Army June 22, 1941
{{Soviet Union divisions before 1945

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

Military units and formations established in 1922 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner Continuation War