251st Rifle Division

The 251st officially joined the active army on July 18, just over three weeks after beginning to form up. Three days earlier, the lead elements of 2nd Panzer Group's 29th Motorized Division had reached the southern part of Smolensk. Over the following days German pressure mounted against the three armies of Western Front, commanded by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, which were almost entirely encircled in that region. On July 19 the commander of the Group of STAVKA Reserve Armies, Lt. Gen. I. A. Bogdanov, was alerted by the STAVKA to begin preparing an offensive operation with his 29th, 30th and 28th Armies to rescue Timoshenko's force. The 30th, starting from its concentration area north of the Western Dvina River, was to advance toward Demidov.[7]

The following day, on behalf of the STAVKA, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov sent a directive to Timoshenko, who was now acting as commander of the Western Direction. Four reserve armies, including the 30th (now designated as "Group Khomenko"), were to launch attacks toward Dukhovshchina and Smolensk along converging axes. Khomenko was to attack southward from the region southwest of Bely to reach the Maksimovka–Petropole line by the end of July 22 before pushing on toward Dukhovshchina the next morning. A report from 0600 hours on July 23 indicated that the 251st had reached the Belyi line. A further report two days later stated that the Army was engaged in fighting with German motorized infantry 2km north of Chernyi Ruchei, and that the division (less one rifle regiment) was attacking from the Petropole line, 25km south of Bely, as of 2000 hours to assist the 107th Tank Division on its left.[8]

In orders issued by Timoshenko at 0240 hours on July 26 the division was to attack toward Teribki and Baturino and capture the Pozhinki, Sukharevo, and Lelimovo region, 40km south of that Bely. During that day and the next 30th Army recorded some tactical successes in advances of 5–15km against the dug-in company-size battlegroups of 18th Motorized Division,[9] On July 30 General Solovyov left the 251st and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ivan Fyodorovich Nikitin. Solovyov returned to the front as commander of the 364th Rifle Division in September; he would later lead the 112th and 123rd Rifle Corps and be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Nikitin had commanded the 58th Rifle Division prewar and had also served as a senior instructor at the Frunze Military Academy. By July 31 it was clear that the offensive to recover Smolensk and rescue the three nearly-encircled armies there had failed, but had also forced Army Group Center's two panzer groups to a near standstill.[10]

On August 1 Army Group Center began its final effort to seal off the Smolensk pocket and liquidate the forces within it. In a report issued by Timoshenko at 2000 hours on August 3 it was stated that 30th Army had attacked with its main forces in the morning, overcoming strong German resistance, with the 251st moving on Zhidki and Pochinok No. 2 against small groups of withdrawing German troops.[11] As of August 5 the division had lost 3,898 officers and men killed, wounded or missing; the 919th and 923rd Rifle Regiments were down to just 247 and 379 men, respectively. In addition, the tank battalion had just one operational vehicle remaining.[12]

As of August 8 the divisions of XXXIX Motorized Corps which had been facing 30th Army had been relieved by the infantry divisions of 9th Army's V Army Corps. These divisions were very hard pressed to parry the attacks of Khomenko's forces and Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev's 19th Army east and northeast of Dukhovshchina. In the wake of these assaults the commander of Army Group Center noted "9th Army was also attacked; the day before yesterday the Russians broke through as far as the 5th Division's artillery positions." The chief of staff of OKH, Col. Gen. F. Halder, noted on August 11 in regard to these attacks:

The whole situation makes it increasingly plain that we have underestimated the Russian colossus, who consistently prepared for war with that utterly ruthless determination so characteristic of totalitarian states... At the outset of war, we reckoned with about 200 enemy divisions. Now we have already counted 360. These divisions indeed are not armed and equipped according to our standards, and their tactical leadership is often poor. But they are there, and if we smash a dozen of them, the Russians simply put up another dozen.

Timoshenko began planning for a renewed effort on August 14 which was intended to recapture Dukhovshchina en route to Smolensk. The STAVKA ordered this to be coordinated with Zhukov's Reserve Front on August 17 in order to engulf the entire front from Toropets in the north to Bryansk in the south. In the event, due to the chaotic situation, Timoshenko was forced to conduct the operation in piecemeal fashion and was unable to establish close cooperation with Zhukov.[13]

The operational directive set the goal of encircling and destroying the German 106th, 5th, and 28th Infantry Divisions and 900th Lehr Regiment through concentric attacks with two shock groups, the northern consisting of the 30th Army's 242nd, 251st and 162nd Rifle Divisions, 107th Tank and 45th Cavalry Divisions. The Army was to protect its right flank toward Bely with the 250th Division, penetrate the German defense and then commit the mobile forces to encircle the objective from the west. The attack sector was 17km wide from Markovo to Staroe Morokhovo, from 38km to 55km north of Yartsevo. The 251st, which had the support of two battalions of the 392nd Cannon Artillery Regiment and other supporting units, was to block the German center of resistance near Staroe Selo with two battalions, attack toward Shelepy and Pominki with its main forces, with the immediate mission of reaching the Staroe Sochnevo and Khadobuzha line, and subsequently develop the attack in the general direction of Verdino. The 107th Tanks and 45th Cavalry were to follow through the 251st's sector. The attack was to be preceded by a 45-minute artillery preparation beginning at 0900 hours. The shock group faced the German 106th Infantry, which was holding a sector roughly 16km wide.[14]

General Khomenko launched his attack on time, despite not all of his forces having managed to reach their jumping-off points. Several units were fed in piecemeal, which in some instances worked to their advantage, since the artillery preparation had done more to alert German units than it accomplished in causing damage. While 19th Army managed to penetrate the German tactical defenses throughout its sector, 30th Army achieved far more limited results due to intense machine gun and mortar fire, backed by effective artillery fire on most sectors. The 251st, in common with the 162nd and 242nd, only advanced from 150m-400m, but the 107th Tanks, in cooperation with one regiment of the 162nd, was successful in penetrating the defensive line and exploited roughly 4km deep. Timoshenko's headquarters reported at 2000 hours that the 251st had attacked in the Pochinoi 2 and Guliaevo sector and was fighting to capture Gordeenki from the north with its left wing.[15]

The Army attempted to resume its offensive at 0900 on August 18, but Khomenko's evening report reveals very little progress: "251st RD - fighting for Staroe Selo and Gordeenki." Overall, although 19th Army continued to make some gains, the 30th could not say the same. In addition, German reserves, such as the 35th Infantry Division, were arriving in the sector.[16] General Nikitin left the division that day; in September he would be given command of the 128th Rifle Division and later did three stints as deputy commander of 42nd Army and as commander of two rifle corps, but ended the war leading the 45th Rifle Training Division. He was replaced the next day by Col. Vladimir Filippovich Stenin, who had previously been deputy commander of the 69th Motorized Rifle Division, which had been reorganized as the 107th Tanks in July. On the same day, although the 162nd Rifle and 107th Tank Divisions managed to cover another 2km, the remaining divisions stalled against heavy resistance, and the belated arrival of the reinforcing 244th Rifle Division did nothing to assist because it had not yet regrouped after its long approach march. Under the pressure of the offensive the German 9th Army had no choice but to call on the only available reserve, the 7th Panzer Division.[17]

Army Group Center began its counterstroke on August 20. By noon the 7th Panzer was concentrated north of Losevo with roughly 110 tanks (mostly Panzer 38(t) types), preparing to strike the right flank of 19th Army. This attack drove into the heart of the Army's antitank defenses and was driven off with significant losses. Meanwhile, 30th Army maintained its offensive pressure as best it could; Khomenko reported that the 251st and 162nd Divisions were fighting fiercely to widen the penetration in the Pochinoi 2 and Shelepy sector. The next day, as the dogfight with 7th Panzer continued, Timoshenko decided that, since it appeared that 30th Army's attacks were going nowhere, it would be more useful to transfer its fresh forces to 19th Army's sector; on August 22 he permitted Khomenko to take a day to rest and refit. At the end of the day the 251st was reported as being west of Mikhailovshchina and the edge of the woods 1,000m southeast of Sechenki. Among the division's casualties the military commissar of its headquarters and Battalion Commissar Zaitsev was reported killed, as was Captain Shamko, the acting commander of the 927th Rifle Regiment. 19th Army resumed the attack on August 23 and 30th Army recorded some minor gains, with the division being tasked with identifying the boundaries between the German formations, begin penetrating these boundaries by sudden attacks overnight, and be prepared to exploit these penetrations the next morning. However, by the end of the day word had reached Timoshenko that 22nd Army, which was supposed to be advancing south of Velikiye Luki, was in fact facing defeat from the forces of 3rd Panzer Group moving northward.[18]

Despite this impending crisis, Stalin, the STAVKA, and Timoshenko remained confident that their armies could collapse Army Group Center's defenses east of Smolensk, and so persisted in their offensive preparations. On August 25 Timoshenko directed Khomenko to continue protecting the Bely axis with at least two regiments of the 250th Division while preparing to continue the offensive with most of the rest of his forces. At 0145 hours Khomenko dispatched a warning order to his subordinates which included:

251st RD - relieve 107th TD's 120th [Motorized Rifle Regiment] with one regiment at 0600 hours on 25 August, protect the left flank of the army's shock group, and prepare to exploit 162nd RD's success on the right wing toward Sechenki, Krechets, and Boris'kova.

Near the end of the day it was reported that the 251st was fighting to capture Sechenki against strong German resistance, but had not faced any counterattacks. This was part of a combined attack by the Army's five divisions on a 7km-wide sector against 106th Infantry Division which gained up to 2.5km and forced the German division back to its second defensive line. The assault resumed just past noon of the following day. The division was reported as fighting to capture Bolshoe Repino with its right wing and protecting the Nazemenki and Torchilovo sector with its left wing. Altogether, 30th Army forced the right wing of the damaged 106th Infantry to bend but not break, but at the cost to itself of 182 men killed and wounded. The heaviest fighting on August 28 occurred in the Shelepy area where the 251st and 162nd Divisions recorded advances of several hundreds of metres. The former captured Bolshoe Repino and reached a line from Hill 212.9 to the road junction southwest of Sekachi by 1500 hours while continuing to attack toward Krechets and Gorodno; this was supported by most of 107th Tanks. The Army lost another 453 men killed and wounded during the day. Khomenko issued orders for August 29 for the divisions to make a combined attack on the Gorodno and to seize crossings over the Votra River. This would smash the right wing defenses of 106th Infantry. Just before midnight, Timoshenko gave further orders that, while continuing its attacks, 30th Army was to regroup during August 30-31 for a new general offensive.[19]

On August 29 the division encountered heavy German fire while capturing Hill 235.1 and beginning to fight for Gorodnoe. The following day it was ordered to capture Krechets and Novoselki and protect the Army's left flank. In the process of regrouping, Khomenko formed a new shock group consisting of the 251st, 162nd and 242nd divisions, backed by the 250th and the artillery of 107th Tanks. Timoshenko, determined to carry out his design and press the advantages he had won, issued orders to Western Front to prepare to resume the offensive on September 1 after regrouping. 30th Army was directed to make its main attack toward Demidov, with the objective of reaching that place as well as Velizh by the end of September 8.[20]

During August 30, before the offensive officially resumed, the 251st completed the recapture of Gorodno as German forces withdrew to the northwest. When the general assault began the division attacked at 0900 hours; by 1630 the 919th Regiment had occupied Hill 214.9 and was attacking toward Krechets, while the 923rd Regiment reached the brushy area 500m east of Ivanovo before attacking toward that place. During the day the Army lost 248 men killed and wounded. Khomenko now issued orders for September 2, directing Colonel Stenin to regroup his main forces to his left wing overnight, establish links with the 244th Division of 19th Army, capture the road junction at Dorofeevo and crossings over the Votro in that sector, 5-7km west-southwest of Gorodno. As of 0500 the 251st was reported as digging in along the Hill 214.9, Novoselki and southwestern outskirts of Gorodno line. During this day and the next 30th Army recorded very few gains, and as of 1700 hours on September 3 the division was said to have advanced 400m to a road junction east of Mamonovo. Khomenko attacked again at 0800 on September 5 with four divisions, including the 251st, but was unsuccessful at the cost of an additional 131 men. Finally, at 0335 on September 10 the STAVKA ordered Western Front to go over to the defense. The next day the division, in cooperation with the 162nd, to firmly defend the Hill 228.0, Olkhovka, and Ilina Farm region (25-32km south of Chernyi Ruchei), with combat security positions along the Shelepy, Shanino Farm, 1km west of Sechenki, and western outskirts of Gorodno line to prevent German infantry and tanks from penetrating toward Savinka and Karpovo and protect the boundary with 244th Division. In a report produced by the Army's military council on September 6 the division had criticized for poor collection of intelligence, to the point of appointing a procurator to investigate if criminal proceedings would be justified.[21]

By the beginning of November the division had returned to 30th Army, which was now in Kalinin Front, but later in the month the Army was assigned back to Western Front.[27] The 923rd Rifle Regiment was operating detached from its division and, by order of Western Front staff, on November 26 was concentrating, with the 2nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, in the area of Dmitrovka, 20km southeast of Solnechnogorsk. It then became part of the Rogachevo group, which on November 28 was noted as falling back to the east and southeast under pressure of superior German forces following difficult defensive fighting.[28]

Attack of Western Front, August 4, 1942

At the beginning of July, following a discussion with Stalin, Zhukov had initiated planning for an offensive by 20th Army against the Rzhev salient to be called Operation "Sverdlovsk". This was intended primarily as a means to draw German reserves from their developing offensive in the south, but as it developed Zhukov's plan anticipated advances towards Rzhev, Sychyovka and Gzhatsk. In its final form the operation was to include the 29th and 30th Armies of Kalinin Front to the north and the 31st and 20th Armies of Western Front to the south. Kalinin Front began its offensive on July 30, but on the same day heavy rains began which flooded the countryside and turned the roads into quagmires. After waiting for the weather to abate Western Front attacked on August 4 following a powerful artillery preparation which destroyed or suppressed roughly 80 percent of the German forces' weapons. 8th Guards Corps, in the first echelon of 20th Army, breached the defenses south of Pogoreloe Gorodishche allowing the Army's mobile group, the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, to begin to exploit in the direction of Sychyovka. 31st Army was similarly successful to the north and by the end of August 6 the gap in the German front was up to 30km wide and Soviet troops had penetrated to a depth of 25km, closing on the Gzhat and Vazuza rivers.[33]

Colonel Orestov left the division on August 8 and was replaced by Col. Basan Badminovich Gorodovikov. This officer, of Kalmyk nationality, had previously served as commander of the 71st Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Crimean Partisan Area. 20th Army had intended to liberate Sychyovka on August 7 but by now the German High Command was reacting with alarm and the offensive began drawing German reserves. 8th Guards Rifle Corps ran into elements of the 1st Panzer Division as it continued to advance and on August 9 and 10 the roughly 800 tanks under Western Front met counterattacks by about 700 panzers; the Soviet armor lacked adequate signals equipment and command facilities which limited its effectiveness. The counterattack was eventually repulsed but the Soviet forces in turn were unable to make much headway. On August 23 the Army, in cooperation with elements of 5th Army, broke through the German grouping at Karmanovo and liberated that town. Although this date is given as the official end of the offensive in Soviet histories, in fact 20th Army persisted in efforts to penetrate the German front and attack Gzhatsk from the west before going over to the defense on September 8. In total during the period from August 4 to September 10 the 20th Army suffered a total of 60,453 personnel killed, wounded and missing-in-action.[34]

The division later participated in the Second Rzhev–Sychevka Offensive Operation in November 1942. 20th Army, now under command of Maj. Gen. N. I. Kiryukhin, was assigned the main task along the east face of the Rzhev salient; it was to drive across the Vazuza and create a breach for its mobile forces to exploit and pinch off the northern part of the salient in conjunction with Kalinin Front from the west. The 251st, along with the 42nd Guards Rifle Division, was to assault the German positions at and north of Grediakino, while the 326th Rifle Division pinned down the German forces in Vaselki. The division would be directly supported by the 83rd Tank Brigade, and the infantry assaults would be led by penal battalions and companies despite the misgivings of Kiryukhin, as he was unsure how these troops would perform. A headlong assault was to propel the 251st and 42nd Guards through the German forward defenses in time to link up with their left flank neighbour's attack on the second German defensive position during the second day of the advance. After this position fell, four rifle divisions would cross the Rzhev–Sychyovka railroad line by day's end and the 251st and 42nd Guards, with the 326th, would wheel to the northwest to roll up the defenses. Altogether a 15-18km wide breach in the German defenses would be created, allowing the commitment of the 6th Tank Corps and 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps into the German operational rear.[35]

The offensive began at 0920 hours on November 25, in the narrow neck of land between the Vazuza and Osuga rivers. The German forces, consisting of the 195th Grenadier Regiment of the 102nd Infantry Division, were very well dug-in and, because of poor visibility due to fog and falling snow, the preparatory artillery bombardment had been relatively ineffective. The grenadiers reoccupied their forward positions just as the artillery lifted and met the advancing riflemen with heavy machine gun and rifle fire. Pre-registered German artillery fell on presumed assault routes, and diminishing snowfall allowed better observation; attack after attack was repulsed, until the fields were littered with hundreds of dead, plus tens of burnt-out tanks. By 1140 the attacks slackened and Gorodovikov's first echelon regiments had suffered heavy losses while making no progress at all toward Grediakino. Konev egged Kiryukhin to commit the divisions' second echelons, following a renewed artillery preparation, as greater success seemed to have been achieved on sectors to the south. During November 26 the 251st continued to fight along existing lines without any appreciable gains.[36]

By November 29 the German forces facing the division had been reinforced by elements of 9th Panzer Division, making its task yet more difficult. During the day the incessant attacks of the 251st and 42nd Guards finally isolated the single panzergrenadier battalion in Grediakino and drove back German infantry on its long flank toward Vaselki, but at the cost of further losses of infantry and seven destroyed tanks. While the Germans were eventually forced to abandon Grediakino on November 30, the offensive was stalled. Lt. Gen. M. S. Khozin took over command of the Army on December 4. Zhukov was still determined to renew the offensive, and in his orders from the Front on December 8 he was directed:

... to penetrate enemy defenses in the Bol'shoe Kropotovo, Iarygino sector on 10 and 11 December, take Sychevka no later that 15 December, and move no fewer than two rifle divisions into the Andreevskoe sector on 20 December to work with Kalinin Front's 41st Army to seal the encirclement of the enemy.

To do so Zhukov provided Khozin with infantry reinforcements and the fresh 5th Tank Corps, which had previously been held in reserve as an exploitation force. On December 11, four rifle divisions went over to the attack on the Vazuza sector, but this did not include the 251st. In the event the attackers made scanty gains of 500 - 1,000 metres at significant cost, and failed to capture a single German-held fortified village.[37] The 251st would require substantial rebuilding; in the period from November 25 to December 18 the division lost 765 men killed, 1,911 wounded, and 328 missing-in-action, for a total of 3,004 casualties.[38]

• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967a). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть I. 1920 - 1944 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part I. 1920–1944] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967b). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть II. 1945 – 1966 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part II. 1945–1966] (in Russian). Moscow.
• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• 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. 113
• 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. 227-28