The 84th Rifle Division () was an 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 ...

before and 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 ...

History

Prewar

The 84th Rifle Division was formed in 1923 at Tula as one of several Red Army territorial divisions, assigned to the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010 it was merged with the Leningrad Military Di ...

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

veterans from the 36th Rifle Division and the 12th Red Banner Turkestan Rifle Regiment were used to form the permanent cadre of the division together with volunteer command personnel. After the cadre arrived, they began preparing for the first territorial training camp, which involved the practice mobilization of local men aged 21 to 25. The camp was held between 4 and 19 December; a veteran of the division recalled the "endless discontent and indignation" of the territorials at finding themselves in "uninsulated, unlit barracks lacking furnishings and bedding." The training camp included marching and mock attacks, and was visited by commander-in-chief of the armed forces

Sergey Kamenev Sergey Sergeyevich Kamenev (russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Ка́менев; April 16 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._April_4.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O.S._April_4">Old_Style_and_New ...

. The division was assigned to the 2nd Rifle Corps of the Moscow Military District in October 1924.

World War II

In July 1940, the division was reorganized into the 84th Motorized Division of the 3rd Mechanized Corps, stationed in the Baltic Special Military District. Major General

Pyotr Fomenko Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko (russian: Пётр Нау́мович Фоме́нко; 13 July 1932 in Moscow – 9 August 2012 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater director, teacher, artistic director of the Moscow theater Pyotr Fomenko ...

, a cavalry officer, became the commander of the division when it was reorganized. After the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the division and its corps fought in the border battles as part of the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-cre ...

. During the

Battle of Raseiniai The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a large tank battle that took place in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The battle was fought between the elements of the German 4th Panzer Group an ...

between 23 and 25 June, the division and its corps suffered significant losses, losing almost all of their equipment. Subsequently, the encircled remnants of the corps conducted a fighting retreat through Lithuania and Belarus. After heavy and bloody battles on the Neman river, the 84th Motorized Division suffered heavy losses and was reorganized into the 84th Rifle Division in mid-July. In August, the 84th was withdrawn for reorganization in Valday. From September, the division, assigned to the 11th and then the 34th Army of the Northwestern Front, defended Valday, then fought in the

Demyansk Offensive The Battle of Demyansk was part of the Soviet offensive Operation Polar Star against Axis forces which took place in Demyansk from 15 to 28 February 1943. The Northwestern Front and Mikhail Khozin Special Group engaged the 16th Army of Army Gr ...

. In late August 1942, the division was sent to the Stalingrad Front. As part of the 4th Tank Army and then the 66th Army from October, it fought in continuous defensive battles, preventing Axis forces from breaking through to Stalingrad. From November, as part of the 24th Army of the

Don Front The Don Front was a front of the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War, which existed between September 1942 and February 1943, and was commanded during its entire existence by Konstantin Rokossovsky. The name refers to Don River, Russia. Fo ...

, the division fought in the encirclement and destruction of the German troops in Stalingrad in

Operation Koltso Operation Koltso (Operation Ring) was the last part of the Battle of Stalingrad. It resulted in the capitulation of the remaining Axis forces encircled in the city. Initial attack The operation was launched on 10 January 1943 with a mass artiller ...

. In April 1943, after the end of the latter, the division was relocated to the area of

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

for rebuilding. In the same month Fomenko was promoted to corps command, being replaced by Colonel Pavel Bunyashin, who was promoted to major general on 1 September; Bunyashin commanded the division for the rest of the war. As part of the 53rd and 5th Guards Armies of the Steppe Front (the 2nd Ukrainian from October 1943), the division fought in 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 the Dnieper 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 ...

, the Kirovograd Offensive, the Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, and the

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

. The division received the name of

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

as an honorific on 23 August 1943 for its actions in the capture of that city and the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

a month later. In late 1944, the division as part of the 20th Guards Rifle Corps of the 4th Guards Army was withdrawn 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 ...

, and in November joined the 3rd Ukrainian Front to participate in the Budapest Offensive. In the last weeks of the war the division 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 f ...

. Postwar, the division was disbanded in August 1945 and its troops used to reinforce the 21st and 93rd Rifle Divisions of the 57th Army.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* – Located in fond 1237, opus 1, file 40 of the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defence * – 10th anniversary booklet, 500 copies printed * * {{Soviet Union divisions before 1945 Infantry divisions of the Soviet Union Military units and formations established in 1923 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner