26th Guards Rifle Division

The 26th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April, 1942, based on the 1st formation of the 93rd Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It would soon after provide the headquarters cadre for the 8th Guards Rifle Corps. It was soon assigned, with its Corps, to 20th Army of Western Front and saw extensive fighting, while also suffering extensive casualties, in two campaigns against the German 9th Army in the Rzhev salient through the rest of 1942. The division, again with 8th Guards Corps, joined the 11th Guards Army when it was formed in April, 1943 and, apart from a brief reassignment in early 1944, remained under those commands for the duration of the war. During that summer the division took part in the liberation of Bryansk. By December, after fighting through western Russia north of Smolensk it was in 1st Baltic Front, attacking south towards Gorodok and won the name of that city as a battle honor. By the start of the offensive against Army Group Center in the summer of 1944 the 26th Guards had been redeployed with its Army to the south of Vitebsk as part of 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain for the duration. Driving westward during Operation Bagration the division advanced north of Orsha and then helped to seize a crossing over the Berezina River for which it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. It continued to advance through Lithuania to the border with East Prussia later that year. As part of the East Prussian Offensive the 26th Guards entered that heavily fortified region in the winter of 1945 and helped gradually break the German resistance there, particularly at Insterburg and Königsberg, winning the Order of Suvorov for its part in the battle for the former place. The division ended the war at Pillau. The 26th Guards remained in the Kaliningrad Oblast well after the war, becoming the 26th Guards Motorized Rifle Division in 1957 and not finally disbanded until 1989.

Formation As the 93rd the division had been originally formed on August 14, 1936, at Chita in the Siberian Military District, based on the 106th Siberian Rifle Regiment, in October of that year it was named the "East Siberian" division, a name that it continued to carry throughout the war.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 49 The division was officially raised to Guards status on April 20, 1942, in recognition of its leading role in driving in the south flank of German 4th Army during the counteroffensive in front of Moscow and the liberation of Maloyaroslavets and Yukhnov. As the 93rd the division had the standard prewar howitzer regiment (the 128th) in addition to the light artillery regiment, but this had been removed earlier in the month to become a separate army-level support unit. After the subunits received their redesignations on May 19 the division's order of battle was as follows: 75th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 51st Rifle Regiment) 77th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 129th Rifle Regiment) 79th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 266th Rifle Regiment) 57th Guards Artillery Regiment (from 100th Light Artillery Regiment)Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 53 25th Guards Antitank Battalion (from 144th Antitank Battalion) 24th Guards Antiaircraft Battery (until February 7, 1943) 9th Guards Mortar Battalion (until October 20, 1942) 19th Guards Reconnaissance Company 30th Guards Sapper Battalion 38th Guards Signal Battalion 21st Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion (from 394th Medical/Sanitation Battalion) 27th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 22nd Guards Motor Transport Company (from 575th Motor Transport Company) 30th Guards Field Bakery (from 550th Field Bakery) 20th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital (from 525th Divisional Veterinary Hospital) 250th Field Postal Station 824th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Nikolai Nikolaevich Korzhenevskii remained in command of the division after redesignation; he would be promoted to the rank of major general on November 27. At this time the division was under command of the 43rd Army. In May it was withdrawn to the reserves of Western Front, providing the command cadre for the new 8th Guards Rifle Corps; as with all Guards rifle corps in this period it consisted of one Guards division with a number of rifle brigades, in this case the 129th, 140th, 150th and the 153rd. In June the Corps was assigned to the 20th Army, still in Western Front.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, pp. 83, 103, 123

Battles of Rzhev At the beginning of July, following a discussion with Stalin, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov 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 which bogged down the 30th Army's advance while the 29th failed to penetrate the German front at all. 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 30 km wide and Soviet troops had penetrated to a depth of 25 km, closing on the Gzhat and Vazuza rivers.Svetlana Gerasimova, The Rzhev Slaughterhouse, ed. & trans. S. Britton, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2013, pp. 75-77, 80, 82

20th Army 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 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. As an example the 11th Tank Brigade lost contact with its headquarters and wandered into the sector of 8th Guards Corps against orders. The counterattack was eventually repulsed but the Soviet forces in turn were unable to make much headway. On August 23 the Corps, 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.Gerasimova, The Rzhev Slaughterhouse, pp. 83, 85-86, 94, 99, 214

Operation Mars In the buildup to the new Soviet offensive around the Rzhev salient in the autumn the 26th Guards, with its Corps, was alerted by Western Front Directive No. 0289/OP on October 1 as follows:In the event, due largely to weather, the offensive did not begin until November 25. At this time the 8th Guards Corps consisted of the 26th Guards plus the 148th and 150th Rifle Brigades,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 235 and was in the Army's second echelon along with a cavalry/mechanized group consisting of the 6th Tank Corps and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. 8th Guards Corps was supported by the 11th and 18th Tank Brigades. In the first echelon the Army had five divisions, including the 247th and 331st on the front line along the Vazuza about 20 km northeast of Sychyovka. The German XXXIX Panzer Corps was holding the sector with the 14th Infantry Regiment of the 78th Infantry Division backed by the two panzergrenadier regiments of 5th Panzer Division. In the operational plan the two rifle divisions were to make a headlong advance over the mostly-frozen river following a massive artillery preparation and punch through the forward German defenses. 8th Guards Corps was to follow the advancing first echelon by the end of the first day, mop up bypassed German resistance, expand the south flank of the penetration towards Sychyovka and follow and support the exploiting mobile group.Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1999, pp. 50-53

The offensive began with the artillery at 0750 hours which continued for more than 90 minutes. However, fog and blowing snow hindered observation and the bombardment was not as effective as planned. Despite failures along the rest of 20th Army's front, the 247th Division, supported by 80th Tank Brigade, reached the far side of the Vazuza early in the assault and by noon had seized two fortified villages. At the same time the 331st also forced the river and captured the village of Prudy but was abruptly halted by heavy German fire from the town of Khlepen to the south. Although the 247th continued to advance in the afternoon to a depth of nearly 2 km, and the 331st also expanded the bridgehead, there wasn't enough space to deploy the 8th Guards Corps effectively. Instead, Col. Gen. I. S. Konev, the Western Front commander, chose to commit the 6th Tank Corps early the next day, assuming an additional armored blow would complete the breakthrough of the German front. Anticipating this breakthrough and realizing the need for infantry to consolidate the tanks' gains the 8th Guards Corps was ordered to advance over the river in tandem with and just to the south of the tank corps. The problem with this revised plan was that there were just two fragile roads running from the rear to the Vazuza which were not adequate to move such a mass of men and vehicles.Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat, pp. 80-81, 84-85, 87

The night of November 25/26 proved to be "a staff officer's nightmare." Despite their best efforts the marching troops and equipment became entangled and delayed. In the end neither the 8th Guards or 6th Tanks Corps completed their concentrations forward before mid-morning. Meanwhile, German counterattacks were regaining some ground in the bridgehead lost the previous day. By mid-afternoon the 148th and 150th Rifle Brigades were in action against hard-pressed elements of the 78th Infantry and 5th Panzer Divisions between Zherebtsovo and Khlepen while the XXXIX Corps anxiously awaited the arrival of the 9th Panzer Division. However, due to congestion at the crossings the 26th Guards remained on the east bank until just after midnight. A Soviet after action report noted:By now the entire offensive timetable was in a shambles. On November 27 the two rifle brigades reinforced their positions but their repeated attacks on the two strongpoints they faced made little headway. Late in the evening the division moved up and relieved the 3rd Guards and 20th Cavalry Divisions which had become exhausted in their struggle for the villages of Arestovo and Podosinovka.Glantz, Zhukov's Greatest Defeat, pp. 88, 93, 95-98