329th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

329th Rifle Division (September 1, 1941 – August 22, 1942)
329th Rifle Division (May 4, 1944 - 1945)
Active 1941–1945
Country  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
Type Division
Role Infantry
Engagements Battle of Moscow
Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive
Vistula-Oder Offensive
Silesian Offensives
Battle of Berlin
Battle of Halbe
Prague Offensive

The 329th Rifle Division was first formed in September 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Voronezh. This formation was assigned to the Western Front in mid-December as the Soviet winter counter-offensive west of Moscow was developing, but had the misfortune to be cut off and destroyed behind German lines. The division was formed again nearly two years later, this time in 1st Ukrainian Front, and served with distinction with this Front during the final 12 months of the war.

1st Formation

The division first formed on September 1, 1941 in the Oryol Military District[1] at Voronezh, right alongside the 327th Rifle Division. Its basic order of battle was as follows:

In late October the division was assigned to 26th (Reserve) Army, which was forming up in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command. While that army was moving north, the 329th was reassigned to 5th Army in Western Front in mid-December. In January, 1942, the division formed part of the assault group of 33rd Army, which was driving through the lines of Army Group Center towards Vyasma. This objective was not quite reached, and the army was cut off behind German lines by counterattacks in early February. Late winter snow and early spring mud delayed the inevitable, but in April the Germans had reduced the remaining men of the 329th to small, barely organized groups. The division was carried under the Western Front reserves until June, but by then it was clear that not enough of these men would slip out of the forests and back to Soviet lines, and on August 22 the unit was officially disbanded.[3]

2nd Formation

After an effective absence of more than two years from the Red Army order of battle, a new 329th Rifle Division was formed on May 4, 1944, in the 3rd Guards Army of 1st Ukrainian Front, near Lutzk in the Kiev Military District.[4] This division remained in the same army and Front for the duration. For most of 1944 it was in either 21st or 22nd Rifle Corps, but during the last weeks of the war it was in 120th Rifle Corps.[5]

Postwar

The division was disbanded "in place" with the Central Group of Forces in the summer of 1945.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p 78
  2. ↑ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p 78
  3. ↑ Sharp, "Red Tide", p 78
  4. ↑ Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p 125. Sharp states that the OoB of this formation was likely different from the 1st Formation, because many late-war divisions used lower regimental numbers made available by the conversion of rifle divisions into Guards units in 1942-43.
  5. ↑ Sharp, "Red Swarm", p 125
  6. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, p. 413.

External links

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