207th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

207th Rifle Division (4 March 1941 - 1 June 1941) 207th Rifle Division (April 1942 – 2 December 1942) 207th Rifle Division (6 June 1943 - 1946)
Active	1941–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Operation Blue Battle of Stalingrad Battle of Smolensk (1943) Šiauliai Offensive Riga Offensive Vistula-Oder Offensive Battle of Berlin

The 207th Rifle Division began its combat path under unusual circumstances. It was partly formed for the first time as a standard Red Army rifle division in the spring of 1941, before the German invasion, but was never completed. A second formation began in April, 1942 and was completed on June 1, after which it was sent to the Stalingrad Front. Heavily depleted in counterattacks against the north flank of German Sixth Army, by November the survivors were reassigned and the division disbanded. The 207th was formed for a third time in June, 1943, and fought its way through the central part of the Soviet-German front, ending the war in the heart of Berlin in the battle for the Reichstag. The division saw postwar service in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

The 207th Rifle Division began forming on Mar. 4, 1941. Very little is known about this formation:

"[T]his division was officially disbanded on 1 June 1941, before the war started. The personnel were probably needed to fill up the new airborne brigades and antitank brigades being formed."

The second 207th Rifle Division began forming in April, 1942, to begin with in the North Caucasus Military District, based on a cadre from the 52nd Rifle Brigade. It did not have a commander assigned until after it moved to Ivanovo in the Moscow Military District in June. The division's primary order of battle was as follows:

The division was first assigned to the 10th Reserve Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. In August it returned to the south, assigned to 24th Army in Stalingrad Front. During the following two months the 24th, along with the 66th and 1st Guards Armies, were thrown into a series of desperate and costly counterattacks against the north flank of the German "corridor" that led their positions in Stalingrad. In November the 207th was so worn down that its survivors were reassigned to help rebuild the 387th Rifle Division, and the division was officially disbanded in the Don Front on Dec. 2.

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