329th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

329th Rifle Division (September 1, 1941 – August 22, 1942) 329th Rifle Division (May 4, 1944 – 1945)
Active	1941–1945
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Moscow Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive Vistula-Oder Offensive Silesian Offensives Battle of Berlin Battle of Halbe Prague Offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov  Order of Kutuzov
Battle honours	Kielce
Commanders
Notable commanders	Colonel K. M. Andrusenko Colonel A. A. Shikita

The 329th Rifle Division was first formed in September 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Voronezh. This formation was assigned to the Western Front in mid-December as the Soviet winter counter-offensive west of Moscow was developing, but had the misfortune to be cut off and destroyed behind German lines. The division was formed again nearly two years later, this time in 1st Ukrainian Front, and served with distinction with this Front during the final twelve months of the war.

The division first formed on September 1, 1941 in the Oryol Military District at Voronezh, right alongside the 327th Rifle Division. Its basic order of battle was as follows:

In late October the division was assigned to 26th (Reserve) Army, which was forming up in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. While that army was moving north, the 329th was reassigned to 5th Army in Western Front in mid-December; at about the same time the division came under the command of Colonel K. M. Andrusenko. In January, 1942, the division formed part of the assault group of 33rd Army, which was driving through the lines of Army Group Center towards Vyasma. This objective was not quite reached, and the army was cut off behind German lines by counterattacks in early February. By the beginning of May, Western Front was developing a plan to break through to these isolated pockets with major forces and to hold them as staging areas for further operations. On May 20, by Front order, the "Special Group of General Belov" was created and consisted of Lt. Gen. P. A. Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, the 329th Rifle Division, units of the 4th Airborne Corps, and several large partisan detachments. However, the plan was never implemented, due to renewed German offensive action and the poor organization of the airlift operations that were intended to support Group Belov. Late winter snow and early spring mud had delayed the inevitable, but by the end of the month the Germans had reduced the remaining men of the 329th to small, barely organized groups. The division was carried under the Western Front reserves until June, but by then it was clear that not enough of these men would slip out of the forests and back to Soviet lines, and on August 22 the unit was officially disbanded.

...
Wikipedia