The 271st Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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, afte ...

during

World War II 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Formed in the summer of 1941, the division fought in the

Crimean Campaign The Crimea campaign was an eight-month-long campaign by Axis forces to conquer the Crimea Peninsula, and was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front during World War II. The German, Romanian, and defending Soviet t ...

, during which it was destroyed and rebuilt twice. Designated an Azerbaijani national division in the summer of 1942, the 271st went on to fight in the Donbas strategic offensive, the Carpathians, and in Czechoslovakia before being disbanded postwar in the summer of 1945.

History

The 271st began forming on 10 July 1941 from reservists at Orel, part of the

Orel Military District The Orel Military District ( rus, Орловский военный округ (ОрВО), r=Orlovskiy voyennyy okrug (OrVO), p=) was a military district of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union. Established in 1918 ...

. Its basic order of battle included the 865th, 867th and the 869th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 850th Artillery Regiment. In early August it was relocated south and assigned to the 51st Army in Crimea. The division fought in the defense of Crimea between September and November, and was evacuated to the North Caucasus in November. In the North Caucasus the division was transferred to the 47th Army, and returned to the Crimea in March 1942, fighting in the

Battle of the Kerch Peninsula The Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, which commenced with the Soviet Kerch-Feodosia Landing Operation (russian: Керченско-Феодосийская десантная операция, ''Kerchensko-Feodosiyskaya desantnaya operatsiya'') ...

. It was soon transferred back to the 51st Army, and was destroyed on 8 May when the final German offensive, Operation Bustard Hunt, began. The remnants of the division were evacuated to the North Caucasus, where they were completely rebuilt. In August the division was designated an Azerbaijani national division. During the last months of 1942, the 271st fought as part of the

Transcaucasian Front Transcaucasian Front or Transcaucasus Front (russian: Закавказский Фронт) was a front of the Soviet Red Army—a military formation comparable to an army group, not a geographic military front—during the Second World War. Th ...

's Northern Group, later with the

58th Army The 58th Combined Arms Army (russian: 58-я общевойсковая армия) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered at Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, within Russia's Southern Military District. It was formed in 1941 as pa ...

and the 44th Army. In February 1943, along with the rest of the 44th Army, the division was transferred to the Southern Front. When the Donbas strategic offensive began in July, the division was part of the 28th Army. In September it was transferred to the 58th Army, now in the

Reserve of the Supreme High Command The Reserve of the Supreme High Command (Russian: Резерв Верховного Главнокомандования; also known as the ''Stavka'' Reserve or RVGK ( ru , РВГК)) comprises reserve military formations and units; the Stav ...

. The division returned to the front in December with the 1st Guards Army. For most of 1944, the division was part of the 18th Army, fighting in the Carpathian mountains. In October, the division transferred to the 1st Guards Army, and from February served with the 38th Army's 95th Rifle Corps, fighting in Czechoslovakia. The 271st was disbanded in the summer of 1945 with the

Northern Group of Forces The Northern Group of Forces (; ) was the military formation of the Soviet Army stationed in People's Republic of Poland, Poland from the end of World War II, Second World War in 1945 until 1993 when they were withdrawn in the aftermath of the fal ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945

271 __NOTOC__ Year 271 ( CCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelianus and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 1024 '' ...

Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner