97th Rifle Division

The 97th Rifle Division was thrice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. The first formation was based on the pre-September 1939 ''shtat'' (table of organization and equipment) and the division was initially intended to serve in the fortifications along the border with Poland in western Ukraine. Beginning on September 17, 1939 it took part in the invasion of eastern Poland and then was moved north to join the 7th Army and later the 13th Army on the Karelian Isthmus during the Winter War against Finland where it saw action in the latter part of the struggle. Following this it returned to western Ukraine where it was on the border at the time of the German invasion in June 1941. At considerable cost it was able to retreat back to the Dniepr River south of Kiev during July and was still there as part of 26th Army when the Soviet forces in eastern Ukraine were largely surrounded and wiped out in September. The division was finally disbanded in late December.

Meanwhile a new division was being formed in the Transbaikal Military District based on the ''shtat'' of December 6, 1941 which was soon renumbered as the second formation of the 97th. It was quickly assigned to the 16th Army in Western Front and saw limited action in the last stages of the winter counteroffensive west of Moscow before holding the line on this sector into the spring of 1943, making limited holding attacks against units of Army Group Center. The division performed well enough that it was redesignated as the 83rd Guards Rifle Division in April, about the time the 16th Army was renamed 11th Guards Army.

A third 97th Rifle Division was raised in late April 1943 in Bryansk Front under the ''shtat'' of December 10, 1942, based on a pair of rifle brigades. It was immediately assigned to 61st Army and saw limited action in the July offensive towards Oryol before being moved northward, becoming part of the 5th Guards Rifle Corps of 39th Army in Kalinin Front (soon 1st Baltic Front) and saw combat in the slow and bloody battles east and north of Vitebsk through the winter. Early during the summer offensive against Army Group Center, now as part of 5th Army, the 97th distinguished itself in the capture of that city and received its name as an honorific. It then took part in the advance through Lithuania, winning the Order of the Red Banner at Vilnius, and then into East Prussia, remaining in 5th Army of 3rd Belorussian Front, mostly in the 65th Rifle Corps. In April 1945 it was moved along with the rest of its Army to the far east where it took part in the invasion of Manchuria in August, winning further distinctions in the process. The division was disbanded in 1946.

1st Formation

The division began forming in February 1936 in the Kiev Military District. It was intended to serve in the fortified region along the Southern Bug River centered on Letychiv west of Vinnytsia (''3rd Letichevsky fortified region''). Once completed it had the following order of battle:
* 69th Rifle Regiment
* 136th Rifle Regiment
* 233rd Rifle Regiment
* 41st Artillery Regiment
* 98th Howitzer Artillery Regiment
* 87th Antitank Battalion
* 104th Antiaircraft Battalion
* 66th Reconnaissance Company
* 32nd Sapper Battalion
* 47th Signal Battalion
* 41st Medical/Sanitation Battalion
* 68th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company
* 39th Motor Transport Company
* 51st Field Bakery
* 223rd Field Postal Station
* 402nd Field Office of the State Bank
The division was first commanded by ''Komdiv'' Yurii Vladimirovich Sablin, however this officer was arrested on September 25 and executed by firing squad in June of the following year. In August 1937 Col. Aleksandr Vasilevich Katkov took command of the division after serving as an instructor at the Frunze Military Academy and was promoted to the rank of ''Kombrig'' on November 4. In November 1938 Col. Gavriil Ignatovich Sherstyuk, who had been the division's deputy commander since March, took over command. This officer would lead the 97th into the invasion of Poland and the Winter War.

Invasion of Poland

When the Polish operation began on September 17, 1939 the division was in the 6th Army of Ukrainian Front, part of the 17th Rifle Corps along with the 96th Rifle Division and the 10th and 38th Tank Brigades. The invasion came as a complete surprise to the Polish Army and government which were in no position to offer effective resistance. Their broadcast orders to units in the path of the invasion were to withdraw to the borders of Hungary and Romania. 6th Army deployed with the task of advancing on Ternopil, Ezerna and Kozova by way of the Zbruch River bridge at Volochysk ''en route'' to Lvov. At 0430 hours the artillery of 17th Corps delivered an attack on the Polish firing points and within 30 minutes its troops began to cross without significant resistance. By about 0800 hours these formed into marching columns and began moving towards Ternopil. After overtaking the infantry the 10th Tank Brigade entered the city sometime past 1800. Meanwhile, the 24th Tank Brigade of the 2nd Cavalry Corps made a joint advance with the 136th Rifle Regiment north of Ternopil, passing Dobrovody at noon and reaching the western outskirts of the city at 2200 where they began clearing it of Polish units. Together the 97th and 96th Divisions took up to 600 Polish soldiers as prisoners during the day.

Over the following days the advance on Lvov continued; this included a forward detachment formed from elements of the two divisions which prepared for an assault on the city to begin at 0900 hours on September 21. During the previous two days there had been extensive three-way negotiations for control of the city as well as hostilities between the Soviet forces and the German 1st Mountain Division. The German forces withdrew overnight on September 20/21 and the forward detachment, supported by 38th Tanks, began to move into Lvov from the east at the planned time along with other formations of 6th Army when negotiations with the Polish command resumed. At 1400 hours on September 22 the Polish troops began to lay down their arms. The advance to the west continued during the following week and at 0900 hours on September 29 the 17th Corps reached Przemyśl and began receiving control of it from the German command. During the rest of the day the 6th Army deployed along the San River from Biłgoraj to Przemyśl. Over the following weeks as negotiations continued between the Soviet and German governments the Army would fall back to positions west of Lvov.

Winter War

Within a few months the 97th Division was transferred north to the Northwestern Front on the Karelian Isthmus where it was assigned to the new 13th Army when that force was split from 7th Army in January 1940. The division first joined the 23rd Rifle Corps before being transferred to the 15th Rifle Corps and remained in reserve until the fighting was renewed in February. The division and its Corps was deployed on the Army's left flank along the Vuoksi waterway. In the course of the fighting several soldiers of the 97th became Heroes of the Soviet Union, among them Sr. Lt. Spiridon Mikhailovich Egorov, a company commander of the 69th Rifle Regiment who distinguished himself in the capture of Vitsa-Saari island from February 25-28. He went on to study at the Frunze Military Academy in 1942 and served through the Great Patriotic War, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel before moving to the reserve in 1947. He resided in Moscow before he died in December 1999.

Another soldier of the 97th who gained the Gold Star was Jr. Lt. Andrei Filippovich Zinin, a platoon commander of the 377th Tank Battalion, which was now part of the division's order of battle. On February 26, during fighting for the village of Kusa (now Klimovo in the Vyborgsky District), Zinin destroyed a Finnish bunker with five shots, setting it on fire, and killed or wounded three snipers in the process. When another tank of his platoon was immobilized with a broken track Zinin left his own vehicle to direct repairs under heavy fire. He went on to study at the Ulyanovsk Tank School in 1941 and eventually commanded a company of IS-2 tanks of the 57th Independent Heavy Tank Regiment; he would also take part in the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945. Zinin transferred to the reserve in 1961 with the rank of lieutenant colonel and died at Novotroitsk in April 1983.

''Krasnoarmeets'' Ivan Timofeevich Artemiev was a machine gunner of the 69th Rifle Regiment. On March 12 he was with his unit on the island of Musti-Saari northeast of the city of Vyborg during what turned out to be the last hours of the war. With his fire he repelled several night attacks by the Finnish forces. When his machine gun ammunition ran out he resorted to grenades and in the course of the action killed or wounded as many as 30 Finnish officers and soldiers. Following the Winter War Artemiev transferred to the Red Air Force and became an air gunner but was shot down and killed near Vitebsk on June 26, 1944. All the division's HSU awards were proclaimed on April 7, 1940. On the previous day Sherstyuk, who had been promoted to the rank of ''Kombrig'' on February 1, had his rank modernized to that of major general

Operation Barbarossa

Following the Finnish War the division was returned to the Kiev Special Military District, where it took up positions much the same as after the Polish invasion. General Sherstyuk remained in command until January 15, 1941 when he was replaced by Col. Nikita Mikhailovich Zakharov; Sherstyuk would go on to briefly command the 38th Army in early 1942 before serving in various staff positions until 1949. On June 22, 1941 the 97th was part of the 6th Rifle Corps of 6th Army in the Kiev District, now renamed Southwestern Front, and was still under these commands on July 1.

At this time the division was noted as being well-armed but less well equipped with transport. It had a total of 10,050 officers and men armed with 7,754 rifles and carbines, 3,540 semi-automatic rifles, 401 sub-machine guns, 437 light machine guns, 174 heavy machine guns, 58 45mm antitank guns, 37 76mm cannons and howitzers, 37 122mm howitzers and 12 152mm howitzers and 151 mortars of all types. Transport consisted of 143 trucks, 78 tractors, and 2,535 horses. On June 23 it was attacked by German panzers north of Nemyriv. The division continued to hold its defensive positions west of Lvov for the first week of the invasion but this gallant stand just made it more vulnerable to encirclement by 1st Panzer Group. Colonel Zakharov is listed as having left command on June 27 and was not replaced until July 1 by Col. Fyodor Vasilievich Maltsev.

Battle of Kiev

By July 7 the depleted 6th Rifle Corps, which was now under direct command of the Front, was in retreat through Proskurov in the face of the advancing IV Army Corps of German 17th Army. Over the following week the 97th's retreat accelerated, reaching the Ros River. The division survived the retreat in part because it was intermixed with elements of the 4th Mechanized Corps, and for a time Colonel Maltsev actually commanded the 8th and 202nd Motorized Rifle Regiments in addition to his own forces. In late July the 6th Corps was reassigned to the 26th Army, and by August 6 the 97th was being forced from its positions on the Ros by the 60th Motorized Division, falling back to the Dniepr west of Kanev by August 11.

As of the beginning of September the division was serving as a separate division in the 38th Army, still in Southwestern Front. It was on the Army's right flank on the east bank of the Dniepr, still holding the Kanev area. The 1st Panzer Army broke over the river at Kremenchug by September 10 with the goal of linking up with the 2nd Panzer Army well to the west of Kiev. Being cut off from 38th Army the 97th reverted to command of the 26th Army and began withdrawing eastward by September 15 but was soon trapped in a pocket west of Orzhytsia. The division was effectively annihilated there by September 23, although Colonel Maltsev survived the catastrophe and continued to lead the remnants of the division until it was finally officially disbanded on December 27.

2nd Formation

In early December a new rifle division, designated as the 456th, began forming at Ulan-Ude in the Transbaikal Military District; it would be renumbered as the 97th in January 1942. Its first commander, Col. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shchennikov, was assigned on December 8. Its order of battle remained the same as the 1st formation with the following exceptions: there was no howitzer regiment; the antiaircraft battalion was replaced by the 119th Antiaircraft Battery; the signal battalion was replaced by a signal company (it would later be reinstated as a battalion); there was a 139th Mortar Battalion (until October 22, 1942); the 920th Divisional Veterinary Hospital was added; and the following were renumbered -
* 455th Field Bakery
* 1664th Field Postal Station
* 1097th Field Office of the State Bank
The division had just a couple of months to organize and train before it began moving west by rail at the beginning of February. It had been assigned to the 16th Army in Western Front and had offloaded and formed up at Kaluga by March 5. The division would remain under these commands for the duration of the 2nd formation.

On March 17 Colonel Shchennikov was moved to the command of the 36th Rifle Brigade in the same Front and the division was taken over by Col. Denis Protasovich Podshivailov, who had previously commanded the 36th Guards Rifle Regiment of 12th Guards Rifle Division. Later that month the 97th liberated the town of Duminichi and reached the Zhizdra River

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