3rd Guards Rifle Division

The 3rd Volnovaskyi Guards Red Banner Order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Division (Military Unit Number (V/Ch) 61415) was a division of the Soviet Army from 1957 to around 1992. It traced its history from the highly decorated 3rd Guards Rifle Division of World War II. 3rd Guards Rifle Division was formed from the 153rd Rifle Division.

In August 1940, by the Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the 153rd Rifle Division was created in the city of Sverdlovsk. The division was later renamed the 3rd Guard Rifle Volnovakha Red Banner Suvorov Division. From August 1940 through June 1941 the division was engaged in combat training in the Kamyshlovsky camps of the Ural Military District.

In the first half of June 1941, by the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the division, as a part of the Second Strategic Echelon, was transferred to Vitebsk. By June 22, 1941—the day of the German attack on the Soviet Union—the first three echelons (troop trains?) had already arrived to Vitebsk. The full complement of the division arrived to Vitebsk only by June 27, 1941. Upon arriving to Vitebsk, the division was manned to peace time standards (6,000 soldiers and officers). Due to the declaration of war, the division was urgently staffed with personnel and supplied with additional weapons and materiel over the period of June 22–27. The mobilized personnel arriving to the division's camps was often under-supplied, but over the course of the week the division became fairly battle-ready.

While the staffing of the division was still in progress, on June 26, 1941 parts of it assumed a defensive position on a broad front along the Gnezdilovichi–Kholm–sovkhoz Khodtsy–Moshkany–Burdeli–station of Krynki line. At the same time, the division's advance detachments reached the area of Ulla-2 (435 ch), Beshankovichy (Reconnaissance Battalion), Verkhovye (by OT 666 ch), and Syanno (by JV from 505). On July 5, 1941, the advance units along these lines clashed with large mechanized forces of the enemy which were breaking through to Vitebsk. On July 7, 1941, the battle reached the main division lines in the areas of Gnezdilovichi, Shchikotovshchina, Pavlovichi, and sovkhoz Khodtsy. Large German motorized and tank forces, expanding their offensive, attempted to break through to the city of Vitebsk along the Beshenkovichi-Vitebsk highway, and on July 7, 1941 reached the defense division line. After the day of fierce fighting, the division stopped the enemy's advance to the city along the highway and inflicted heavy losses. The German units, waging battles with the defending divisional forces, launched another offensive towards Vitebsk both along the Polotsk–Vitebsk and the Syanno—Bogushevsk highways, thus bypassing the division from north and south. On July 8, 1941, due to the emerging threat of the entrapment by the enemy, the division partially re-grouped its forces, and took up defensive positions at the Gnezdilovichi–Kholm–sovkhoz Khodtsy–Moshkany–Shchemilovka line.

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