The 297th 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 twice. Its first formation was formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed during

Case Blue Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the German Armed Forces' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields of the Cauca ...

, the German summer offensive towards Stalingrad, in 1942. Reformed in the summer of 1943, the division's second formation fought in combat for the rest of the war before being disbanded postwar.

History

First Formation

The division began forming on 2 July 1941 at

Lubny Lubny ( uk, Лубни́, ), is a city in Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Lubny Raion (district), the city itself is administratively incorporated as a city of oblast significance and does n ...

in the

Kharkov Military District The Kharkov Military District () was a military district of the Russian Empire, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and the Soviet Union. Throughout its history, the district headquarters was located in the city of Kharkov in northeast ...

. Its basic order of battle included the 1055th, 1057th, and the 1059th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 824th Artillery Regiment. On 12 August, the 297th was assigned to the Southwestern Front's 38th Army. In early September, the division absorbed elements of the

Kremenchug Kremenchuk (; uk, Кременчу́к, Kremenchuk ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnipro river, Dnipro River. The city serves as the Capital city, administrative center of the Kremenchuk Raion (Raio ...

Militia Division, from which it may have received mountain and infantry reconnaissance companies. The division escaped from the Kiev pocket, and after October 1941 became part of the 21st Army, fighting in the

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

Belgorod Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics The population of Be ...

area. During the 21st Army's attack in the

Second Battle of Kharkov The Second Battle of Kharkov or Operation Fredericus was an Axis counter-offensive in the region around Kharkov against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted 12–28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objectiv ...

, the 297th was in a secondary sector. The division and its army were able to avoid being destroyed in the Kharkov pocket but were weakened. In June, the 297th was forced to retreat by the German summer offensive,

, but suffered heavy losses and was disbanded on 15 July.

Second formation

The division was reformed on 25 July 1943 from the 253rd Rifle Brigade, part of the Southwestern Front's 33rd Rifle Corps, and included the same basic order of battle as the previous division. The 33rd Corps was assigned to the

8th Guards Army The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army (abbreviated 8th CAA) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, within Russia′s Southern Military District, that was reinstated in 2017 as a success ...

soon after. In late August, the division was transferred to the 3rd Guards Army but in October returned to the 8th Guards Army. In November the 33rd Rifle Corps and the 297th were sent into the

3rd Ukrainian Front The 3rd Ukrainian Front (Russian: Третий Украинский фронт) was a Front of the Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southwester ...

reserve. In early 1944 the division became part of the

7th Guards Army The 7th Guards Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II and of the Soviet Army during the Cold War. History The 7th Guards Army was formed from the 64th Army on April 16, 1943. 64th Army had originally been formed from 1s ...

, but was withdrawn to the reserve again in March, this time in the

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front (2-й Украинский фронт), was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943 the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the Second Jassy–Kishinev O ...

. In April the 297th became part of the 27th Guards Rifle Corps, which became part of the 27th Army in May. From June to September the corps was in the front reserve. Beginning in late fall, the 297th fought in the

siege of Budapest The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet Union, Soviet and Kingdom of Romania, Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital (political), capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the b ...

, during which it was transferred back and forth between front reserves and various armies. Between October 1944 and March 1945, the division served in the 53rd Army and the 7th Guards Army, and in the 37th Rifle Corps and the 18th Guards Rifle Corps in front reserves. The 297th fought in the

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street fi ...

, at the beginning of which it was assigned to the 46th Army's 68th Rifle Corps. The division was disbanded between 1945 and 1946 in the

Odessa Military District The Odesa Military District (russian: Одесский военный округ, ОВО; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 1998 most of its territory was transformed into the Southern Operat ...

or the

Tauric Military District The Taurida Military District was a military district of the Soviet Union. It was formed from the headquarters of the Separate Coastal Army and the 22nd Army in the summer of 1945. The military district controlled troops on the territory of the ...

In Popular Culture

The 297th Rifle Division is featured extensively in Multi-Man Publishing's 2011

Historical Advanced Squad Leader module Historical Advanced Squad Leader (HASL) are additional modules for the tactical wargame Advanced Squad Leader intended to depict historical events using maps produced from terrain maps, and featuring linked scenarios called Campaign Games. This ar ...

''Festung Budapest''.Multi-Man Publishing, Inc., ''Festung Budapest'', Millersville, MD, 2011, pp. FB18-FB22

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 1946