242nd Rifle Division

The 242nd Rifle Division was the lowest-numbered infantry division of the Red Army to be formed from scratch following the German invasion of the USSR. It was largely based on what would become the ''shtat'' (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941 and was very quickly assigned to the new 30th Army of Western Front. Despite many shortages of equipment and specialist personnel, and a near-complete absence of formation training, the division joined the active army on July 15, thrown into the fighting near Smolensk. In late August and early September it took part on the Front's offensives toward Dukhovshchina, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to encircle and destroy a large part of the German 9th Army. At the start of Operation Typhoon on October 2 it was defending part of the sector attacked by 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group south of Bely and was quickly overwhelmed. After fighting in encirclement for most of the rest of the month its remaining men were able to break out and reach Soviet-held territory, but the losses were to too great to justify rebuilding and the division was disbanded.

A new 242nd was formed in the first days of 1942 in the North Caucasus Military District by redesignating a 400-series division. It moved to the front in late April and soon took part in 38th Army's mostly unsuccessful efforts to rescue the Red Army forces trapped in the Izium salient. It then faced two preliminary operations of Army Group South before being encircled in the first weeks of Case Blue. Sufficient of its forces escaped that it was not disbanded, but instead were reorganized as the 242nd Mountain Rifle Division, again in the North Caucasus Military District. It was soon assigned to block the German forces on the Mount Elbrus axis, and from January to October, 1943 took part in the long, attritional struggle for the Taman Peninsula, where it won a battle honor. As part of the Separate Coastal Army it crossed into the Crimea and was decorated for its role in the liberation of Kerch in April 1944, and several of its subunits were also distinguished in the battles for Sevastopol. After being transferred to 4th Ukrainian Front it fought through the Carpathian Mountains and into Czechoslovakia during the winter and spring of 1945, gaining further honors along its combat path. The 242nd Mountain Rifle Division was moved to the Carpathian Ukraine soon after the end of the war, where it was disbanded in 1946.

1st Formation

The division started forming on June 27, 1941, just five days after the start of the German offensive, at Kalinin in the Moscow Military District. Maj. Gen. Kirill Alekseevich Kovalenko was appointed to command the same day; he had been serving as the Red Army's Deputy Inspector of Infantry for most of the previous year, and he would remain in command for the duration of the first formation. Once formed the division had the following order of battle:
* 897th Rifle Regiment
* 900th Rifle Regiment
* 903rd Rifle Regiment
* 769th Artillery Regiment
* 772nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment
* 300th Antitank Battalion
* 519th Antiaircraft Battalion
* 321st Reconnaissance Battalion
* 410th Sapper Battalion
* 662nd Signal Battalion
* 240th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company
* 500th Auto Transport Battalion
* 673rd Field Postal Station
* 316th Field Office of the State Bank
It is noteworthy that no medical/sanitation battalion, field bakery, or veterinary hospital is listed. On July 21 the commander of 30th Army, Maj. Gen. V. A. Khomenko, ordered each of his reserve rifle divisions (242nd, 250th and 251st) to receive a tank battalion from the 110th Tank Division. These battalions were supposed to consist of two companies, one of 10 T-34s and one of 10 BT or T-26 light tanks, plus a BT or T-26 as a headquarters tank.

Khomenko would later report on the circumstances under which his three divisions arrived at the fighting front, being required to move up to 350 km on foot to their concentration areas and "were taken from their assembly points in the very midst of assembly, and, incomplete, they did not approach being 'knocked together' and went into battle unprepared for combat." Khomenko went on to enumerate the many deficiencies of the 251st, but added that the 242nd was only slightly more combat ready. Severe shortages existed in field guns and mortars, and ammunition of all types was short. Furthermore, of the roughly 60 tanks distributed from 110th Tanks, by August 5 only 10 remained operable. He want on to note:Glantz comments that "These candid reports about the combat state of 30th Army will largely explain why 30th Army operates as it does during the Western Front's three counteroffensives during late July, August, and early September 1941. Given these facts, the army's performance was nothing short of amazing."

Battle of Smolensk

The 242nd officially joined the active army on July 15, less than three weeks after beginning to form up. On the same day, the lead elements of 2nd Panzer Group's 29th Motorized Division reached the southern part of Smolensk. Over the following days German pressure mounted against the three armies of Western Front, commanded by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, which were almost entirely encircled in that region. On July 19 the commander of Reserve Front, Lt. Gen. I. A. Bogdanov, was alerted by the ''STAVKA'' to begin preparing an offensive operation with his 29th, 30th and 28th Armies to rescue Timoshenko's force. The 30th, starting from its concentration area north of the Western Dvina River, was to advance toward Demidov.

The following day, on behalf of the ''STAVKA'', Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov sent a directive to Timoshenko, who was now acting a commander of the Western Direction. Four reserve armies, including the 30th (now designated as "Group Khomenko"), were to launch attacks toward Dukhovshchina and Smolensk along converging axes. Khomenko was to attack southward from the region southwest of Bely to reach the MaksimovkaPetropole line by the end of July 22 before pushing on toward Dukhovshchina the next morning. A report from 0600 hours on July 23 indicated that the 242nd was still on the march toward Bely. A further report two days later stated that the Army was engaged in fighting with German motorized infantry 2 km north of Chernyi Ruchei, and that the division had reached the Sergeevka line, 20 km southwest of Bely, facing a battalion of infantry reinforced with an artillery battery and 25-30 mortars. In orders issued by Timoshenko at 0240 hours on July 26 the division was to attack toward Chalishchev, Berezovka, and Boldino and retake the region around the latter place, 35 km south-southwest of Bely. During that day and the next 30th Army recorded some tactical successes in advances of 5–15 km against the dug-in company-size battlegroups of 18th Motorized Division. By July 31 it was clear that the offensive to recover Smolensk and rescue the three nearly-encircled armies had failed, but had also forced Army Group Center's two panzer groups to a near standstill.

The next day the Army Group began its final effort to seal off the Smolensk pocket and liquidate the forces within it. In a report issued by Timoshenko at 2000 hours on August 3 it was reported that 30th Army had attacked with its main forces in the morning, overcoming strong German resistance, and that the 242nd had blown up an ammunition dump in the Zhidki area with its artillery fire. As the remnants of the 16th and 20th Armies escaped on August 4 the armies outside, including the 30th, were ordered to attack to pin down the German forces on their fronts; Khomenko was directed to use his left wing to push toward Krasigovo (15 km west of Dukhovshchina) and reach a line north-northeast of the latter place on August 6, despite the fact that this was utterly unrealistic. An operational summary issued on the morning of August 8 gave the division's position as "Morokhovo Station, Novoe Morokhovo, and Dolgoe, with one battalion of 900th RR in the Klintsy region." As of August 5, the division's tank battalion was down to six T-26s, two of which needed repair. After less than 10 days of attacks it had lost 387 men killed or missing and 3,042 wounded, amounting to roughly a third of its authorized strength.

Dukhovshchina Offensives

As of August 8 the divisions of XXXIX Motorized Corps which had been facing 30th Army had been relieved by the infantry divisions of 9th Army's V Army Corps. These divisions were very hard pressed to parry the attacks of Khomenko's forces and Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev's 19th Army east and northeast of Dukhovshchina. In the wake of these assaults the commander of Army Group Center noted "9th Army was also attacked; the day before yesterday the Russians broke through as far as the 5th Division's artillery positions." The chief of staff of OKH, Col. Gen. F. Halder, noted on August 11 in regard to these attacks:Timoshenko began planning for a renewed effort on August 14 which was intended to recapture Dukhovshchina ''en route'' to Smolensk. The ''STAVKA'' ordered this to be coordinated with Zhukov's Reserve Front on August 17 in order to engulf the entire front from Toropets in the north to Bryansk in the south. In the event, due to the chaotic situation, Timoshenko was forced to conduct the operation in piecemeal fashion and was unable to establish close cooperation with Zhukov.

The operational directive set the goal of encircling and destroying the German 106th, 5th, and 28th Infantry Divisions and 900th ''Lehr'' Regiment through concentric attacks with two shock groups, the northern consisting of the 30th Army's 242nd, 251st and 162nd Rifle Divisions, 107th Tank and 45th Cavalry Divisions. The Army was to protect its right flank toward Bely with the 250th Division, penetrate the German defense and then commit the mobile forces to encircle the objective from the west. The attack sector was 17 km wide from Markovo to Staroe Morokhovo, from 38 km to 55 km north of Yartsevo. The 242nd, which had the support of the 1st Battalion of the 392nd Cannon Artillery Regiment, was to hold a line with one rifle regiment while the remaining two made the assault toward Erkhovo and Churkino with the immediate objective of reaching the Rekta River at Staroe Sochnevo. The attack was to be preceded by a 45-minute artillery preparation beginning at 0900 hours. The shock group faced the German 106th Infantry, which was holding a sector roughly 16 km wide.

General Khomenko launched his attack on time, despite not all of his forces having managed to reach their jumping-off points. Several units were fed in piecemeal, which in some instances worked to their advantage, since the artillery preparation had done more to alert German units than it accomplished in causing damage. While 19th Army managed to penetrate the German tactical defenses throughout its sector, 30th Army achieved far more limited results due to intense machine gun and mortar fire, backed by effective artillery fire on most sectors. The 242nd, in common with the 162nd and 251st, only advanced from 150m-400m, but the 107th Tanks, in cooperation with one regiment of the 162nd, was successful in penetrating the defensive line and exploited roughly 4 km deep. Timoshenko's headquarters reported at 2000 hours that the 242nd had advanced up to 200m but had been halted in front of the barbed wire by heavy fire.

The Army attempted to resume its offensive at 0900 on August 18, but Khomenko's evening report reveals very little progress:Overall, although 19th Army continued to make some gains, the 30th could not say the same. In addition, German reserves, such as the 35th Infantry Division, were arriving in the sector. Again, on the following day, although the 162nd Rifle and 107th Tank Divisions managed to cover another 2 km, the remaining divisions stalled against heavy resistance, and the belated arrival of the reinforcing 244th Rifle Division did nothing to assist because it had not yet regrouped after its long approach march. At 1600 hours the 242nd was reported as advancing forward slowly after capturing Hill 200.0, southwest of Zhidki. Under the pressure of the offensive the German 9th Army had no choice but to call on the only available reserve, the 7th Panzer Division.

Army Group Center began its counterstroke on August 20. By noon the 7th Panzer was concentrated north of Losevo with roughly 110 tanks (mostly Panzer 38(t) types), preparing to strike the right flank of 19th Army. This attack drove into the heart of the Army's antitank defenses and was driven off with significant losses. Meanwhile, 30th Army maintained its offensive pressure as best it could. The next day, as the dogfight with 7th Panzer continued, Timoshenko decided that, since it appeared that 30th Army's attacks were going nowhere, it would be more useful to transfer its fresh forces to 19th Army's sector; on August 22 he permitted Khomenko to take a day to rest and refit. At the end of the day the 242nd was reported as being in the Staroe MorokhovoNovoe MorokhovoZhidki region. 19th Army resumed the attack on August 23 and 30th Army recorded some minor gains, with the division pushing toward Erkhovo and Marker 215.2 in cooperation with the 250th Rifle and 107th Tank Divisions. However, by the end of the day word had reached Timoshenko that 22nd Army, which was supposed to be advancing south of Velikiye Luki, was in fact facing defeat from the forces of 3rd Panzer Group moving northward.

Despite this impending crisis, Stalin, the ''STAVKA'', and Timoshenko remained confident that their armies could collapse Army Group Center's defenses east of Smolensk, and so persisted in their offensive preparations. At 0145 hours on August 25 Khomenko dispatched a warning order to his subordinates which included:Near the end of the day it was reported that the division, "overcoming fierce enemy resistance", captured the eastern outskirts of Erkhovo by 1700, before beginning fighting to capture the rest of the village. This was part of a combined attack by the Army's five divisions on a 7 km-wide sector against 106th Infantry Division which gained up to 2.5 km and forced the German division back to its second defensive line. The assault resumed just past noon of the following day, although only part of the 242nd was involved. It was reported as having "attacked toward Churkino from the northeast with its left wing; and reached the brushy region (1 kilometre northeast of Churkino) by 1500 hours." Altogether, 30th Army forced the right wing of the damaged 106th Infantry Division to bend but not break, but at the cost to itself of 182 men killed and wounded. A further effort by the division on August 28 was unsuccessful.

Second Offensive

Timoshenko, determined to carry out his design and press the advantages he had won, issued orders to Western Front to prepare to resume the offensive on September 1 after regrouping. 30th Army was directed to make its main attack toward Demidov, with the objective of reaching that place as well as Velizh by the end of September 8. As part of the regrouping Khomenko ordered the 134th Rifle Division to relieve the 242nd's units along the Demekhi and Novoe Morokhovo line while the division in turn relieved the 250th's units in the Hill 215.2 and Shelepy sector, prior to attacking to capture Churkino, Kostino, and Hill 229.6. After an artillery preparation, four armies of the Front went back to the general offensive between 0700 and 0900 hours. 30th Army had the 242nd, 162nd and 251st Rifle and 107th Tank Divisions in first echelon, with the 250th in reserve, facing the German 106th and 35th Divisions. The 242nd encountered strong German resistance and machine gun fire; by 1535 hours the 897th Regiment was reported as being 500m from the northeastern outskirts of Churkino, the 903rd Regiment at the eastern outskirts of Shelepy, and the 900th Regiment in second echelon behind the 903rd. The latter objective was taken at 1900 hours. Despite generally poor results for his Army on this first day, Khomenko ordered the division to concentrate its main effort on September 2 toward Hill 215.2 and Churkino in cooperation with the 162nd, beginning at 0800. In the event, the 30th effectively stalled on this second day. As the offensive ran down, at 1700 hours the next day Khomenko was able to report that the 242nd had partly enveloped Churkino from the north, south and east and was fighting to capture the strongpoint. An operational pause ensued on September 4, but when the Army returned to the attack on the 5th it made no gains at all, at the cost of 131 men killed or wounded. Finally, at 0335 on September 10 the ''STAVKA'' ordered Western Front to go over to the defense.

Operation Typhoon

Khomenko issued his defense order to his Army on September 11 to firmly defend its present positions, while continuing to fortify strongpoints, antitank, rear and cutoff positions, and to entrench deeply to prevent any penetration toward Bely and Kaniutino. The 242nd was specifically assigned to defend Hill 200.8, Orlovo, Shelepy, and Shestaki region. However, being weakened by its offensive battles, the Army's defense was fragile, as it was deployed in a single echelon with the 162nd Division in reserve. In a report produced by the Army's military council on September 6 the division was criticized for poor collection of intelligence, to the point of appointing a procurator to investigate if criminal proceedings would be justified.

The front west of Moscow was generally quiet through the balance of September as Army Groups Center and South focused on the encirclement and destruction of Southwestern Front east of Kyiv. By the end of the month 30th Army was defending a 66 km-wide sector with four divisions; 19th Army remained on its left (south) flank. General Khomenko correctly determined, due to the terrain, that the Kaniutino axis was likely where the main German attack would come. At the expense of a critical weakening of the Army's other sectors the 162nd was moved from reserve to deploy on this flank in two echelons on a frontage of only 6.5 km, with one regiment of the 242nd also in the first echelon. In addition to being badly overstretched, the Army was experiencing an acute shortage of artillery, rifles, and engineering assets. Although the ''STAVKA'' believed the main German attack would come along the SmolenskVyazma highway, in fact it would be aimed at the 19th/30th Army boundary.

Khomenko decided to fire a preemptive artillery bombardment between 1100 and 1130 hours on October 1 in an effort to disrupt the German forces which, by then, were clearly massing against his left flank. While Khomenko's headquarters claimed significant damage had been inflicted, a good deal of the Army's available ammunition was also expended. Operation Typhoon began at 0530 hours on October 2, and the Army boundary was struck by 3rd Panzer Group and 9th Army as Khomenko expected. As early as 1330 he reported to Western Front:While the overall attack front was up to 45 km wide the main breakthrough sector was only 16 km wide. The front of the 242nd was struck by the 6th Infantry and 1st Panzer Divisions of XXXXI Motorized Corps, followed by the 36th Motorized Division. The positions of the 897th's 1st Battalion were attacked by up to a regiment of motorized infantry supported by 70 tanks. Almost every soldier of the Battalion was killed in the unequal struggle, but they refused to abandon their positions; the radio operator, who was reporting the situation to regimental headquarters, announced in his final message, "I'm blowing up the set. Farewell, dear comrades." Overall, the Kaniutino axis was attacked by four German corps consisting of 12 divisions, including three panzer divisions (460-470 tanks) and one motorized division, simultaneously. Shortly after, the 9th Army's VI Army Corps began pushing toward Bely.

At 1630 hours Khomenko issued combat orders to his forces to counterattack the German penetrations, specifying that the reserve 107th Motorized Rifle Division (formerly 107th Tank Division) cooperate with the 242nd. In the event, the 107th bumped into advancing German units overnight and did not reach the 242nd's positions. Unable to even take up new defenses along the Vop River

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