The 283rd Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

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 ...

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 opposin ...

. Formed in the summer of 1941, the division fought 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 (World War II), Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January ...

, the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...

, the Battle of Smolensk and the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...

. The 283rd was disbanded in 1946, after the end of the war.

History

The 283rd began forming from reservists on 15 July 1941 at

Shchigry Shchigry (russian: Щигры) is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Shchigry, Kursk Oblast, a town in Kursk Oblast incorporated as a city of federal subject significance, ...

in 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 856th, 858th, and 860th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 848th Artillery Regiment. In early September, it was sent to the front, where it was assigned to

Arkady Yermakov Arkady Nikolayevich Yermakov ( – 25 October 1957) was a Soviet Army lieutenant general. Yermakov served as a Red Army commander during the Winter War and World War II. He served as the Senior Military Adviser to the Chinese People's Liberatio ...

's operational group of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front (russian: Брянский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it first fo ...

. In October, during

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. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive e ...

, the German assault on Moscow, the 283rd was transferred to the 3rd Army, with which it served during the rest of the war with only one small interruption. After the Bryansk Front was disbanded, the division became part of the Southwestern Front in late 1941. In February 1942, the 848th Artillery Regiment became the 9th Guards Artillery Regiment. The division was later transferred back to the new formation of the Bryansk Front, with which it served until October 1943. In late 1943, the 283rd fought in the operations that forced the German

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) 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 on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army fo ...

to retreat back to the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

. In February 1944, the division briefly transferred to the

1st Belorussian Front The 1st Belorussian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Белорусский фронт, ''Perviy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian") was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army ...

's 50th Army, but a month later it returned to the 3rd Army. At this point the division had suffered so much attrition that each rifle battalion had only two rifle companies, one machine gun company, and one mortar company. The division fought in

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп� ...

in June and July as part of the 80th Rifle Corps. In late July the 3rd Army moved to the

2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front (Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...

, advancing into the Baltic states. The 3rd Army became part of the

3rd Belorussian Front The 3rd Belorussian Front () was a Front of the Red Army during the Second World War. The 3rd Belorussian Front was created on 24 April 1944 from forces previously assigned to the Western Front. Over 381 days in combat, the 3rd Belorussian Fron ...

in February 1945. In late April, the 3rd Army became part of the

, and the 283rd was assigned to the 41st Rifle Corps, serving as the front reserve in the

Berlin Offensive The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major Offensive (military), offensives of the European theatre of World War II. ...

. Postwar, the division was relocated to

Stowbtsy Stowbtsy ( be, Стоўбцы, ''Stoŭbcy'', ) or Stolbtsy ( rus, Столбцы, , stɐlˈptsɨ; pl, Stołpce; yi, סטויבץ ''Steibtz'', lt, Stolpcai) is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus, the administrative center of the Stowbtsy District. I ...

in the Minsk (later Belorussian) Military District, where the 41st Rifle Corps became part of the 28th Army. The division disbanded between 1 July 1946 and 1 January 1947.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

283rd Rifle Division museum
{{Soviet Union divisions before 1945 Infantry divisions of the Soviet Union in World War II Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner