137th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

137th Rifle Division
Active	Aug. 1939 – 1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Smolensk (1941) Battle of Moscow Battle of Kursk Lower Dnieper Offensive Operation Bagration Lublin-Brest Offensive Vistula-Oder Offensive East Prussian Offensive
Decorations	Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Battle honours	Bobruisk
Commanders
Notable commanders	Mjr. Gen. Ivan Grishin Mjr. Gen. A. I. Alferov Mjr. Gen. F. N. Zhabrev

The 137th Rifle Division was raised in 1939 as a standard Red Army rifle division, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. The division had a distinguished but relatively uncomplicated combat path, fighting in the central part of the Soviet-German front. It shared credit with other formations for the liberation of Bobruisk during Operation Bagration, and ended the war in the conquest of East Prussia.

The division was organized at Gorkiy in the Moscow Military District in September, 1939, based on a cadre from the 51st Rifle Regiment of the 17th Rifle Division, as part of the major pre-World War II mobilization of the Red Army. On June 22, 1941, its order of battle was as follows:

Kombrig Sergei Evlampeivich Danilov, who had been the commanding officer of the 97th Rifle Regiment, served as commander of the division until he was promoted and succeeded by Col. Ivan Tikonovich Grishin in late October, 1940. Grishin remained in command until Mar. 17, 1942, and went on to command the 49th Army.

On June 25, the division was subordinated to 20th Army's 20th Rifle Corps, part of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. Beginning on June 26, the division was transferred to Orsha. The first trains carrying men of the 771st Rifle Reg't. arrived there on June 29. At the beginning of July, the division was subordinated to the 13th Army. The division was also transferred to the 61st Rifle Corps. It held positions at Ponizova (south of Orsha) and on the Dniepr, a front of 20 kilometers. On July 5, the division's 176th Reconnaissance Company, operating in advance of the division at Borisov, was heavily assaulted by German tanks and withdrew to the Dniepr. On July 8, the division was ordered to move east and hold positions on the Resta River. However, the division at this point had only the 771st Rifle Regiment, elements of the 624th Rifle Regiment and the two artillery regiments actually at the front; the transports of the 409th Rifle Regiment and the remainder of the 624th were still approaching Krichev, and later joined the 7th Airborne Brigade (4th Airborne Corps). The division's antiaircraft artillery battalion was heavily bombed by German aircraft and ceased to exist as an effective combat unit. The medical battalion reached Roslavl and was attached to a different unit.

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