138th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

138th Rifle Division (Sept. 1939 – Apr. 1940) 138th Mountain Rifle Division (Apr. 1941 – Apr. 8 1942) 138th Rifle Division (Apr. 8 1942 – Feb. 6 1943; May 29, 1943 – 1945)
Active	1939 – 1945
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Winter War Battle of the Kerch Peninsula Battle of Stalingrad Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation Korsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. A.I. Pastarevich Col. I.I. Lyudnikov

The 138th Rifle Division began service as a standard Red Army rifle division, was converted to serve for two years as a mountain rifle division, then back to a rifle division. The division played a leading role in defending the Barricades ordnance factory in the Battle of Stalingrad, for which it was raised to Guards status as the 70th Guards Rifle Division. A new 138th was raised a few months later and fought through Ukraine and the Carpathian Mountains of Czechoslovakia from August 1943 to May 1945.

The division was originally based on a regimental cadre (301st Rifle Regiment) from the 48th Rifle Division and began forming in September, 1939, with the following order of battle:

The division was under the command of Col. A.I. Pastarevich.

By December the 138th was already engaged in the Soviet-Finnish Winter War. Fighting as a separate rifle division, part of 7th Army on the Karelian Isthmus, the 138th performed better than the stereotypical Red Army formation of that war. When the fighting was over, the division had collectively won the Order of the Red Banner, and three officers were awarded the Gold Star Hero of the Soviet Union.

Between Mar. 14 and Apr. 15, 1941, the division was converted to a mountain rifle division with a specialized order of battle featuring four rifle regiments made up of oversized companies (no battalion structure), with supporting arms, capable of independent operations in difficult terrain and backed by light and mobile mountain artillery:

At the outbreak of war with Germany on June 22, 1941, the 138th was near Leninakan in the 23rd Rifle Corps of Transcaucasian Military District, and became part of 45th Army in July. In October it was shifted to 46th Army, and added the 82nd Machine-gun Battalion to its order of battle on the 10th. On Dec. 25 it went into the 'active army' in the 47th Army of Crimean Front. On Jan. 15, 1942, 650th Rifle Regiment took part in an amphibious landing near Sudaka on the Kerch peninsula. The balance of the division followed, and fought under 51st Army in February and March, suffering heavy losses until being pulled back into reserve near Feodosiya. It began reforming on Mar. 30, and on Apr. 8 it was once again officially the 138th Rifle Division. Its mountain rifle regiments became standard rifle regiments and the 292 Mortar Battalion was added. One month later, Erich von Manstein's Eleventh Army began its attack into the peninsula. The 138th escaped relatively intact from the Kerch Naval Base, evacuating to Krasnodar on the night of May 19 – 20.

...
Wikipedia