42nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
| 42nd Motorized Division 42nd Rifle Division |
|
|---|---|
| Active | 17 Jan 1940 - 29 Jun 1945 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Allegiance | Red Army |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements |
Winter War Brest Fortress Battle of Smolensk Battle of Kiev Smolensk Strategic Offensive Minsk Offensive East Prussian Offensive |
| Battle honours | Smolensk Order of the Red Banner Order of Kutuzov II class.jpg){kind=small} Order of Suvorov II class
|
The 42nd Rifle Division was a unit of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The division, first formed in 1940, was nearly destroyed in the opening days of the Operation Barbarossa defending the Brest Fortress. Disbanded in late December 1941 and immediately reformed in the Volga Military District. The division then served on the front until disbanded at the end of the war.
The division was formed on 17 January 1940 in the Leningrad Military District from individual infantry and construction battalions in the Karelian Fortified Region. In February 1940 it fought in the Winter War as part of the 7th Army's 34th Rifle Corps and on 27 February was assigned to the 10th Rifle Corps.
In June 1940 the division was sent to Estonia as part of the 8th Army's 19th Rifle Corps, but was reassigned to the Western Special Military District to replace the 33rd Rifle Division. In the spring of 1941 the division was ordered to the area of Brest. As part of the 4th Army's 28th Rifle Corps, the division was tasked to defend the right wing of the Brest Fortified Region from the mouth of the river to Drohiczyn Pulva. By early June 1941 the division was still not fully manned having about 8,000 assigned out of 14,500 authorized.
On 22 June 1941 the units of the division were in several places within the Brest covering region. The 459th Rifle Regiment, 472nd Artillery Regiment, 4th Antitank Battalion, and the 3rd Medical Battalion were in their training area around Zhabinka. The remaining units were based in the Brest Fortress and the immediate surrounding areas. The massive artillery strike by the German 4th Army's 45th Infantry Division at 0400 on 22 June disrupted many of the division's units located inside the fortress. Many units inside the fortress dispersed into scattered groups and the division lost a significant number of personnel and most of its equipment. The 393rd Separate Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion escaped from the fortress with three of its guns, but no ammunition for them. In the Zhabinka training area the division managed to gather together two battalions of the 44th and 455th Rifle Regiments (mostly without weapons), as well as vehicles from the 7th Motorized Infantry Company of the 84th Reconnaissance Battalion. The rest of the division's surviving members were consolidated into a small number of groups, who either took up the Defense of Brest Fortress or joined the 22nd Tank Division on the outskirts of Zhabenko in an attack to relieve the siege of Brest.
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Wikipedia