201st Motor Rifle Division

201st Rifle Division (I Formation) 1941-1942 (converted to 43rd Guards Rifle Division) 201st Rifle Division (II Formation) 1943-c. 1945 325th Rifle Brigade c. 1945-1948 27th Mountain Rifle Division 1948-1957 124th Motor Rifle Division 1957-1965 201st Motor Rifle Division 1965-present
Gate of 201st Military Base, Tajikistan
Active	1941-present
Country	Soviet Union, Russia
Branch	Russian Ground Forces
Type	Division
Role	Motor rifle
Engagements	Battle of Moscow, Siege of Leningrad, Gatchina, Luga, Narva, Riga, Courland, Soviet war in Afghanistan

The 201st Gatchina Twice Red Banner Motor Rifle Division was originally raised twice in World War II as part of the Soviet Union's Red Army and is now part of the Russian Ground Forces.

The division was formed as Red Army national unit on 3 August 1941 in Gorokhovets, Vladimir Oblast, Moscow Military District from remains of the 24th Territorial Rifle Corps. It was originally designated as the 201st Latvian Rifle Division, the first of three national divisions with predominantly Baltic-speaking personnel. The basis of the division was the 76th Independent Latvian Rifle Regiment which was in turn formed from the two Latvian volunteer battalions that participated in the retreats of the Red Army, including the defence of Tallinn. It had been established in August 1941 at Gorki (today Nizhny Novgorod) Gorokhovetz Army Camp. In addition to the much depleted 76th regiment (about 1200 troops), were added 2500 Latvian speaking members of the state militia (police) and NKVD, as well as the predominantly Latvian speaking 582nd Construction Battalion, and members of the 24th Corps which was the territorial reserve formation in Latvia which failed to form due to rapid German advance.

At this time the composition of the division included the 92nd, 122nd and 191st Rifle Regiments, 220th Artillery Regiment, 10th Independent AAA Battery, 170th Independent Signals Battalion, and other support units. By December 1941 the division had 10,348 personnel, of whom 51% were ethnic Latvians, 26% ethnic Russians, 17% Jews and 6% others. This caused some problems since most Jews spoke Yiddish only, and the Latvians published the divisional paper Latvijas strēlnieks (Latvian Rifleman) in Latvian. At least 70 Jewish members of the division were members of the Zionist Beitar organisation that had been training members for travel to the then Palestine to defend Jewish settlements there before Latvia was annexed by Soviet Union.

The first combat the division experienced was during the counter-offensive at Moscow in the areas of Naro-Fominsk and Borovsk where it suffered 55% casualties. By June 1942 only 36% of the division were Latvian-speaking, and a year later this figure was reduced to 32%. However, in part this was due to the formation of a second Latvian division, the 308th Latvian Rifle Division. The division was reflagged as the 43rd Guards Rifle Division in October 1942.