The 122nd Guards Rifle Division was an elite infantry division of the

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

. It was formed in June 1945 from the 2nd formation of the 249th Estonian Rifle Division. The division was stationed in Estonia and disbanded in 1946.

History

The division was formed on 28 June 1945 from the re-designated 249th Estonian Rifle Division. On the same date the entire

8th Estonian Rifle Corps The 8th Estonian Rifle Corps (2nd formation) (russian: 8-й Эстонский стрелковый корпус, et, 8. Eesti Laskurkorpus) was a formation in the Red Army, created on 6 November 1942, during World War II. An 8th Rifle Corps ( ...

was raised to Guards status as the 41st Guards Rifle Corps. On its formation the 122nd Guards inherited the honorific title and decorations of the 249th,Charles C. Sharp, ''"Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units Divisions 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV'', Nafziger, 1995, p. 89 with its full title being 122nd Guards Rifle Estonian,

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

Division.Feskov et al 2013, p. 431 Col. August Yulianovich Feldman was in command of the 249th up to the German surrender and likely continued in command of the 122nd Guards until he was appointed deputy commander of the 41st Guards Corps. This re-designation took place nearly two months after

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

, but before the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

, so technically the 122nd Guards can be considered a wartime formation, although it did not see combat in Manchuria. The division was stationed in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

and was disbanded there in 1946.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945, state=collapsed G122 Military units and formations established in 1945 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner 1945 establishments in the Soviet Union 1946 disestablishments in the Soviet Union