252nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

252nd Rifle Division
Active	June 26, 1941 – March 1947
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Smolensk (1941) Operation Typhoon Battle of Moscow Battle of Stalingrad Battle of Kursk Belgorod-Khar'kov Offensive Operation Lower Dnieper Offensive First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive Jassy–Kishinev Offensive Siege of Budapest Lake Balaton Offensive
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. A.A. Zabaluev

The 252nd Rifle Division was raised in 1941, within days of the German invasion, as a standard Red Army rifle division, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. After helping to defeat an offensive by Third Panzer Group at Kalinin in October, and serving through the winter counteroffensive west of Moscow, the division was sent south where it participated in the Battle of Stalingrad. In the summer of 1943 the 252nd distinguished itself in the final liberation of Kharkov, and again near the end of the war for assisting in the liberation of Bratislava.

The division began organizing on June 26, 1941 at Serpukhov in the Moscow Military District. It was one of a series of rifle divisions numbered in the 240 - 260 range that were built on cadres taken from the NKVD. Its order of battle was as follows:

Col. Alexandr Alekseyevich Zabaluev was named divisional commander, and the division was assigned to 29th Army of Western Front by July 13, less than three weeks after beginning to be formed. The NKVD cadre consisted of 1,500 border guards and internal security troops, providing a solid, well-motivated core. During the fighting around Smolensk the 29th Army was deployed north of the city, and at the end of August the 252nd had to make a hasty retreat eastwards after the German XL Motorized Corps broke through 22nd Army and advanced towards Toropets.

On Oct. 2 the Germans launched their Operation Typhoon. 29th Army was too far north to be immediately affected, but in mid-month was transferred to the new Kalinin Front in the vicinity of that city. The 252nd was transferred to the newly-arriving 31st Army, and on Oct. 19 - 20 participated in the counterattacks that defeated the XXXXI Motorized Corps along the Torzhok road northwest of Kalinin. When the Soviet counter-offensive against Army Group Center began in early December, the division was reporting a strength of 5,800 officers and men, about 50% of authorized strength, but relatively good given four months of fighting, mostly on retreat. During the winter the 309th Antitank Battalion was removed to Army control (the Howitzer Regiment had been removed earlier) but was replaced by the 110th Antitank Battalion when the division was reformed in the spring of 1942. The division remained in Kalinin Front, mostly in 39th Army, until August.

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