The 74th Guards Rifle Division was a Guards infantry division of the

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 the

Second World War 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 ...

. Its full formal name was the 74th Guards Nizhnedneprovskiy

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

twice Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Rifle Division. It was formed from the 45th Rifle Division on 1 March 1943. The division's entire World War II service was with the 62nd Army, later 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 ...

World War II Service

1943

In July 1943, the Division participated in the battles on the outskirts of

Izium Izium or Izyum ( uk, Ізюм, ; russian: Изюм) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion (district). Izium hosts the administration of Izium urban hr ...

, Izyum-Barvenkovo Offensive, in August 1943 in the Barvenkov-Pavlograd Offensive, as part of the Donbass Strategic Offensive Operation . In the

Lower Dnieper Offensive The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 in Ukraine on the Eastern Front of World War II. One of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a front. Over four ...

Operation crossed the Dnieper south of

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

. During Nizhnedneprovskiy offensive forced the Dnieper to the south of Dnipropetrovsk. Then took part in the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive.

1944

During the Winter Spring campaign of 1944 the division participated in the Bereznegovatoye-Snigirevka Offensive and the follow on

Odessa Offensive Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern sho ...

. In July 1944 the division participated in the Lublin-Brest Offensive as part of the

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

and the beginning of the liberation of Poland.

1945

In January 1945 the division was part of the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the liberation of Poland. In April 1945 it broke through enemy defenses at the

Battle of the Seelow Heights The Battle of the Seelow Heights (german: Schlacht um die Seelower Höhen) was part of the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (16 April–2 May 1945). A pitched battle, it was one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions o ...

, taking part in the Berlin Strategic Offensive. During the war the division participated in the liberation of the cities of Izium, Nikopol, Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Poznan, Lodz, and taking Kustrin.

Postwar

The division became part of the

Group of Soviet Forces in Germany The Western Group of Forces (WGF),. previously known as the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (GSOFG). and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG),. were the troops of the Soviet Army in East Germany. The Group of Soviet Occupati ...

along with its corps and army, and was disbanded in the summer of 1946.

Subordination

* South-Western Front,

62nd Army The 62nd Army (russian: 62-я армия) was a field army established by the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. Formed as the 7th Reserve Army as part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in May 1942, the formation was des ...

- 1 April 1943. * South-Western Front, 8th Guards Army,

29th Guards Rifle Corps 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

- from 5 May 1943. *

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 ...

, 8th Guards Army, 29th Guards Rifle Corps - about 20 October 1943. *

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 ...

, 29th Guards Rifle Corps — about 15 June 1944. * With 8th Guards Army of the

May 1945.

Composition

* 226th Guards Rifle "Lodz" Regiment * 236th Guards Rifle Regiment * 240th Guards Rifle Regiment * 157th Guards Artillery Regiment * 82nd Guards separate antitank battalion * 399th Guards antiaircraft battery (up to 13 April 1943) * 76th Guards intelligence company * 85th Guards sapper battalion * 103rd Guards separate battalion * 584th (77th) Medical battalion * 73rd Guards separate company chemical protection * 725th (78th) trucking company * 659th (79th) field bakery * 676th (75th) Divisional veterinary hospital * 781st Field Postal Station * 538th field ticket office of the State Bank

Commanders

* Colonel

Vasily Pavlovich Sokolov Vasily Pavlovich Sokolov (; 16 June 1902 – 7 January 1958) was a Soviet Army major general and a Hero of the Soviet Union. After conscript service as a junior officer, Sokolov became a ''militsiya'' officer but was recalled to active duty in the ...

(1 March 1942 - 1 September 1943), 1943 promoted to major general * Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Yugatov (2 September 1943 - 29 November 1943) * Colonel Adrian T. Kuzin (30 November 1943 - 31 January 1944) * Colonel Dmitry Yevstigneyevich Bakanov (1 February 1944 - 1 May 1944) * Colonel Karl Karlovich Mazheika (11 May 1944 - 3 June 1944) * Major General Dmitry Yevstigneyevich Bakanov (4 June 1944 - 5 August 1945)

Awards

* Awarded the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2 degrees Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky II degree * 13 Feb 1944 — given the name "Nizhnedneprovskiy"

World War II Service

1943

1944

1945

Postwar

Subordination

Composition

Commanders

Awards

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading