The 286th 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 entered combat during the fall of that year, fighting in operations attempting to break 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 city of L ...

. The division fought in the same area until the relief of Leningrad in February 1944, when it was transferred northwards to fight in the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, which ended the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

. The division was transferred to Poland with the end of the Continuation War, and fought in the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the

Prague Offensive The Prague offensive (russian: Пражская стратегическая наступательная операция, Prazhskaya strategicheskaya nastupatel'naya operatsiya, lit=Prague strategic offensive) was the last major military ...

in early 1945. The division was disbanded soon after the end of the war in the summer of 1945.

History

The 286th began forming on 10 July 1941 at

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲɛts) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. ...

, part of the

Arkhangelsk Military District The Arkhangelsk Military District () was a regional military district of the Red Army which oversaw the North-Western part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The district was formed in 1940 during a reorganisation of the Army, ...

. Its basic order of battle included the 994th, 996th, and 998th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 854th Artillery Regiment. In mid-August the division was transferred to 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 Sta ...

. While still forming in early September, the 286th was assigned to the 54th Army, also forming to the east of

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 ...

. When the division was sent into combat with the 54th Army in October, its strength, less than half of the authorized division strength, was 6,016 personnel, 102 machine guns, 5 82mm or 120mm mortars, and 27 76mm or larger guns. The division fought as part of the 54th Army on the

Leningrad Front The Leningrad Front (russian: Ленинградский фронт) was formed during the 1941 German approach on Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) by dividing the Northern Front into the Leningrad Front and Karelian Front The Karelian Front ...

until January 1942, when it was transferred to the

Volkhov Front The Volkhov Front (russian: Волховский фронт) was a major formation of the Red Army during the first period of the Second World War. It was formed as an expediency of an early attempt to halt the advance of the Wehrmacht Army Group ...

's 8th Army. The 286th served with the 8th Army until January 1944, fighting in operations attempting to end the

. The division transferred to the 59th Army for the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive in January 1944, which ended the siege of Leningrad. During the offensive, the 854th Artillery Regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions were equipped with 12 76 mm guns each, while the 3rd Battalion received eight 76 mm guns and a battery of four 122 mm howitzers. After the disbandment of the Volkhov Front, the division transferred back to the 8th Army. On 21 April, the 286th became part of the 21st Army's 109th Rifle Corps, preparing for the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive, an attack which would result in Finnish withdrawal from the war. The division fought in the offensive from June to September, when Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The division was moved south to become part of the 59th Army in September. The 286th spent the rest of the war with the 59th Army. In December the 59th was moved south to join the

1st Ukrainian Front The 1st Ukrainian Front (Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front (Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a ...

, after which the division became part of the 115th Rifle Corps. The division fought in the Vistula–Oder Offensive in January 1945, during which the division was one of the four that liberated the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. The division then fought in the

Upper Silesian Offensive The Upper Silesian offensive was a strategically significant Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945. It was aimed at capturing the considerable industrial and natural resources located in Upper Silesia and involved forces ...

in late March, and the

in early May. The division was disbanded in the summer of 1945 with the

Central Group of Forces The Central Group of Forces (Russian: Центральная группа войск) was a formation of the Soviet Armed Forces used to incorporate Soviet troops in Central Europe on two occasions: in Austria and Hungary from 1945 to 1955 and tr ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{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 1945 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner