87th Guards Rifle Division

87th Guards Rifle Division (Apr. 16 1943 – July 1946)
Active	1943–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Donbass Strategic Offensive Lower Dniepr Offensive Crimean Offensive Operation Bagration Courland Pocket East Prussian Offensive Battle of Königsberg
Commanders
Notable commanders	Mjr. Gen. K. Ya. Tymchik

The 87th Guards Rifle Division was created on Apr. 16, 1943 from the remnants of the 300th Rifle Division, in recognition of that division's leading role in the penetration of the German/Romanian defenses south of Stalingrad in the opening stages of Operation Uranus, its subsequent defense against Army Group Don's attempt to relieve the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, and later for its pursuit of the defeated German forces along the Don River to Rostov-na-Donu as far as the Mius River. The 87th Guards continued a record of distinguished service through the rest of the Great Patriotic War.

The 87th Guards was one of several Guards rifle divisions created in the aftermath of the fighting for Stalingrad. When formed, its order of battle was as follows:

The division spent the rest of April and May rebuilding, in the 13th Guards Rifle Corps of the 2nd Guards Army. It remained in this Corps for the duration, and in this Army for the duration apart from two re-deployments late in the war.

While rebuilding, and for several months thereafter, the 87th Guards was occupied in positional warfare along the line of the Mius River. The German forces facing them, including the re-created 6th Army, occupied defensive positions they had originally built a year earlier. The first major effort to break this line began on July 17; the 13th Guards Rifle Corps, in second echelon, crossed into a constricted bridgehead on the 21st, trying to stage a breakthrough in the area of the village of Dmitrievka. This proved unsuccessful and indeed turned into a rout, which cost Lt. Gen. Ya.G. Kreizer his command of 2nd Guards Army.

The following month South Front began a much more successful offensive into the Donbass region. The 87th Guards breakthrough came at the village of Uspenka and by Sept. 6 it entered the city of Stalino (today Donetsk). In the third week of September the German Wotan Line along the Molochnaya River was reached and soon breached, and the division continued its pursuit to the mouth of the Dniepr River, arriving at the town of Tsyurupinsk on Nov. 3. In the course of these operations 4th Ukrainian Front (formerly South Front) cut land access to Crimea, isolating German 17th Army and its allied Romanian forces, which were to become the Front's next targets.

...
Wikipedia