78th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 78th Rifle Division (Russian: 78-я стрелковая дивизия 78-ya strelkovaya diviziya) was an infantry division of the Red Army, formed in 1932, in Novosibirsk, in the Siberian Military District. After being used to provide cadres for new divisions, in September 1939 the division was reformed for the second time. In 1940 the division was transferred to Khabarovsk in the Far Eastern Front.

At the Battle of Moscow it fought alongside the 316th Rifle Division, and its commander Ivan Panfilov, in November 1941. For its distinguished service, the division was awarded Guards status and renamed as the 9th Guards Rifle Division on November 26, 1941.

The 78th Division was formed again, for the third time, by renaming the 403rd Rifle Division at Samerkand, and once it had finished forming was sent west to the Moscow Military District. The division was subordinated then to the 30th Army, which fought against Army Group Center, within Operation Jupiter and Operation Mars. Due to Mars' failure, the division was once again transferred to the South Western Front and assisted 1st and 3rd Guards Armies in fighting against the Germans in Donbass region. In 1944, the unit took part in the offensives clearing Ukraine and the Balkan states, including the Battle of Debrecen and the Vienna Offensive. At the end of the war, the division was subordinated to the 3rd Ukrainian Front, within the 27th Army.

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