11th Guards Rifle Division

18th Moscow Militia Division (2 Jul – Sep, 1941) 18th Rifle Division (III) (Sep 1941 – 5 Jan 1942) 11th Guards Rifle Division (5 Jan 1942 – 1946)
Active	1941–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Allegiance	Red Army
Branch	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Battle of Moscow Battle of Kursk Operation Bagration East Prussian Strategic Offensive Operation
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov II Class Order of Kutuzov II Class
Battle honours	Gorodok

The 11th Guards Rifle Division was a rifle division of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. It was disbanded in 1946.

Originally formed on 2 July 1941 in the Leningrad region of Moscow. The subordinate regiments were numbered on 20 July. As of 16 July the division had 6934 men assigned but no weapons or equipment had been assigned. On 20 July the division was assigned to the 32nd Army of the Reserve Front west of Moscow with about 10,000 men assigned. On 29 August 1941 the division was transferred to the 33rd Army, but remained in army reserves until 26 September when it was renamed the 18th Rifle Division (III Formation) of the regular army.

Still assigned to the 33rd Army of the Reserve Front when the German offensive against Moscow, Operation Typhoon, struck the Western, Bryansk, and Reserve Fronts. On 3 October the division engaged the Germans at the bend of the Dnieper River near the villages of Volovhek Kamenetz. On 5–6 October the division was surrounded and broke out on 12 October. On 20 October the division reentered the line near Skirmanovo, west of Istria along with the 17th Rifle Division. In the middle of November the division recaptured the village of Skirmanovo. The division managed to halt the advance of the 11th and 5th Panzer Divisions.

On 6 December 1941 the division participated in the Winter Counter-Offensive forcing across the Istra River.

On 5 January 1942, in recognition of its defensive and offensive fighting the division was renamed the 11th Guards Rifle Division.

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