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158th Rifle Division

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158th Rifle Division (September 15, 1939 – August 18, 1941)
158th Rifle Division (January 20, 1942 - June 1945)
Active1939–1945
Country Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsOperation Barbarossa
Battle of Smolensk (1941)
Toropets–Kholm offensive
Battles of Rzhev
Operation Büffel
Smolensk operation
Orsha offensives (1943)
Operation Bagration
Baltic offensive
Šiauliai offensive
Kaunas offensive
Courland Pocket
East Pomeranian offensive
Battle of Berlin
DecorationsOrder of the Red Banner Order of the Red Banner (2)
Order of Suvorov 2nd Class Order of Suvorov (both 2nd Formation)
Battle honoursLiozno
Vitebsk (both 2nd Formation)
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Col. Vitalii Ivanovich Novozhilov
Col. Stepan Efimovich Isaev
Maj. Gen. Aleksei Ivanovich Zugin
Maj. Gen. Mikhail Mikhailovich Busarov
Maj. Gen. Ivan Semyonovich Bezuglyi
Col. Demyan Ilich Goncharov

The 158th Rifle Division was originally formed as an infantry division of the Red Army on September 15, 1939 in the North Caucasus Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of that month. After remaining in that District through 1940 it was moving through Ukraine in June 1941 as part of 19th Army when the German invasion began.

1st Formation

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The division first began forming on September 15, 1939, at Yeysk in the North Caucasus Military District, based on a cadre from the 38th Rifle Division. Its order of battle on June 22, 1941, was as follows:

  • 875th Rifle Regiment
  • 879th Rifle Regiment
  • 881st Rifle Regiment
  • 423rd Artillery Regiment
  • 535th Howitzer Artillery Regiment[1]
  • 196th Antitank Battalion
  • 167th Antiaircraft Battalion
  • 110th Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 274th Sapper Battalion
  • 284th Signal Battalion
  • 84th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
  • 119th Motor Transport Battalion

Col. Vitalii Ivanovich Novozhilov was appointed to command on the day the division began forming. Since October 1937 he had led several regiments of the 77th Mountain Rifle Division, an ethnic Azerbaijani unit. From October 1940 until May 1941 he was furthering his military education at the Frunze Academy, and his deputy commander (since March 1940), Col. Vasilii Petrovich Brynzov, served as acting commander. This officer had been arrested in August 1938 during the Great Purge, but was released in December 1939 and placed at the disposal of Far Eastern Front. When Novozhilov returned, Brynzov went back to his deputy command.

Battle of Smolensk

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In June 1941 the 158th was en route to Ukraine as part of the 34th Rifle Corps of 19th Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. The Corps also contained the 129th and 171st Rifle Divisions.[2] On the day of the German invasion the division was located in the areas of Cherkasy and Bila Tserkva.[3] 19th Army was under command of Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev, and was soon redirected toward the Vitebsk area, where it arrived in piecemeal fashion over several days. In a lengthy after-action report prepared on July 24 by Konev's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. P. N. Rubtsov, the circumstances of this arrival were described in part:

1. Forces of 25th Rifle Corps were mobilized at the moment they took the field. 34th Rifle Corps forces were only in a state of reinforced combat readiness. The divisions were brought up to only 12,000 men, but were not fully mobilized.
In the field the 12,000-man divisions experienced immense difficulties because of an absence of transport and were unable to maneuver. They could not pick up up required quantities of ammunition, could not carry mortars, etc.
2. The artillery arrived late because [it] had arrived in the Kiev region in the first trains and were the first to occupy firing positions in the former deployment region...

Rubtsov went on to note deficiencies in command and control, especially in the use of radio; lack of rear services and reserves; and insufficient reconnaissance.[4] All these would be reflected in the coming battle.

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 79
  2. ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10
  3. ^ Sharp, "Red Legions", p. 79
  4. ^ David M. Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1998, pp. 208-09

Bibliography

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  • Grylev, A. N. (1970). Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 77
  • Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941–1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy. pp. 179-80
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