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162nd Rifle Division

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162nd Rifle Division (July 16, 1940 – December 27, 1941)
162nd Rifle Division (December 1941 – July 24, 1942)
162nd Rifle Division (October 1942 - July 1945)
Active1940–1945
Country Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
TypeInfantry
SizeDivision
EngagementsOperation Barbarossa
Battle of Smolensk (1941)
Battle of Moscow
Second Battle of Kharkov
Operation Wilhelm
Case Blue
Sevsk-Trubchevsk offensive
Oryol offensive
Battle of Kursk
Battle of Kiev (1943)
Operation Bagration
Lublin–Brest offensive
Vistula–Oder offensive
East Pomeranian offensive
Battle of Berlin
DecorationsOrder of the Red Banner Order of the Red Banner
Order of Suvorov 2nd Class Order of Suvorov (both 3rd Formation)
Battle honoursCentral Asian
Novgorod-Seversky (both 3rd Formation)
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Col. Nikolai Fyodorovich Kolkunov
Col. Mitrofan Ilich Matveev
Maj. Gen. Sergei Yakovlevich Senchillo
Col. Stepan Ivanovich Chernyak
Col. Lazar Vasilevich Grinvald-Mukho
Col. Anatolii Olegovich Muratov

The 162nd Rifle Division was originally formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in August 1940 in the Kharkov Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of the previous September. At the start of the German invasion in June 1941 it was in Lubny, Poltava Oblast, and was quickly sent to the front as part of 19th Army.

1st Formation

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The division first began forming on July 16, 1940, at Artyomovsk in the Kharkov Military District. Its order of battle on June 22, 1941, was as follows:

  • 501st Rifle Regiment
  • 627th Rifle Regiment
  • 720th Rifle Regiment
  • 605th Light Artillery Regiment[1]
  • 634th Howitzer Artillery Regiment
  • 141st Antitank Battalion
  • 473rd Antiaircraft Battalion
  • 241st Reconnaissance Battalion
  • 187th Sapper Battalion
  • 400th Signal Battalion (until October 18, 1941)
  • 194th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
  • 21st Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Platoon
  • 3rd Motor Transport Battalion
  • 136th Field Bakery
  • 169th Field Postal Station
  • 119th Field Office of the State Bank

Col. Nikolai Fyodorovich Kolkunov was appointed to command on the day the division began forming, and he would remain in this post for the duration of the 1st formation. As of June 22 it was part of 25th Rifle Corps, along with the 127th and 134th Rifle Divisions,[2] and was already on the move, by rail, to join the 19th Army at Cherkasy. From here the Army commander, Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev, was ordered north to the Vitebsk area, to join Western Front. Between July 7 and 10 the 162nd offloaded north of Smolensk.[3]

Battle of Vitebsk

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By late on July 9 forces of 3rd Panzer Group had created a serious breach in the Red Army's defenses around Vitebsk. The front commander, Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, ordered Konev to counterattack to restore the situation despite the fact his Army was not yet assembled. The 162nd took part in the counterattack the next day, which faltered after two days of heavy fighting due to the lack of coordination and reserves. By nightfall on July 12 both motorized corps of the Panzer Group were over the Dvina River and fanning out around Vitebsk. By the end of July 13 the 162nd and 134th were moving into the area east of Smolensk, but the remainder of 19th Army was strung out along the poor roads between that city and the area east of Vitebsk. 25th Corps was fighting in a salient east of Orsha which had been formed by XXXIX and XXXXVI Motorized Corps pushing toward Smolensk. Timoshenko continued to attempt to retake Vitebsk with counterattacks that included the 162nd as late as July 16, but these made no progress at all. Adding to the turmoil, the commander of the Corps, Maj. Gen. S. M. Chestokhvalov, had been captured on July 13.[4]

Battle of Smolensk

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Timoshenko was not immediately aware that Army Group Center had taken Orsha and had completed an encirclement of Western Front's forces north of the Dniepr River, east of that city and west of Smolensk. The elongated pocket contained most of 20th Army, what remained of two mechanized corps, and five divisions of 19th Army, including all of 25th Corps, for a total of 20 divisions of several types. However, the rapid advance had taken a toll of the German forces as well, with the 18th Panzer Division, as an example, holding blocking positions with only 12 operable tanks on strength. Furthermore, German infantry divisions were still well to the rear. At 2000 hours on July 18 Timoshenko issued an operational summary to the STAVKA which stated, in part, that 19th Army was "withdrawing in disorder", and the 162nd was withdrawing to the Nelidovo region, now being subordinated to 30th Army.[5]

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. 81
  2. ^ Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10
  3. ^ Sharp, "Red Legions", p. 81
  4. ^ David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2010, Kindle ed., chs. 2, 3
  5. ^ Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 3

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. 80
  • 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. p. 182
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