The 60th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 278th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War.
The division was formed in the 3rd Guards Army of Southwestern Front and immediately continued operations in the Soviet winter counteroffensive. In the spring of the year the Front was forced over to the defensive, but by August the division was part of the 1st Guards Army, fighting into the Donbas and towards the Dniepr River, winning a battle honor in the process. From late October into late November the 60th Guards helped force several crossings of that river in the Zaporozhe area and several dozen personnel were awarded the gold star as Heroes of the Soviet Union. During the winter it took part in the fighting around Krivoi Rog in the Dniepr bend, now as part of the 6th Army in the redesignated 3rd Ukrainian Front. In May, 1944 as it reached the Romanian border the division was assigned to the 32nd Rifle Corps of 5th Shock Army and it would remain under those commands for the duration of the war. In August the 60th Guards took part in the offensive that drove Romania out of the Axis and then was moved with its Army northward to join the 1st Belorussian Front. In its third winter offensive it advanced across Poland and eastern Germany to the Oder River, and then continued the assault into the northern sector of Berlin in April, 1945.
Following the German surrender the division formed part of the Allied occupation force in the city, including guarding Spandau Prison after the Nuremberg trials. The division was disbanded in December 1946.
Formation The 60th Guards officially received its Guards title on January 3. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 177th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 851st Rifle Regiment) 180th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 853rd Rifle Regiment) 185th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 855th Rifle Regiment) 132nd Guards Artillery Regiment (from 847th Artillery Regiment)Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 69 65th Guards Antitank Battalion (later 65th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion) 75th Guards Antiaircraft Battery (until May 10, 1943) 63rd Guards Reconnaissance Company 72nd Guards Sapper Battalion 91st Guards Signal Battalion 69th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 64th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 67th Guards Motor Transport Company 58th Guards Field Bakery 57th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1688th Field Postal Station 1114th Field Office of the State Bank The 177th Guards Rifle Regiment was originally designated as the 178th, but this number had already been allocated to the 58th Guards Rifle Division a few days earlier.Perechen No. 5; see Bibliography Col. Dmitrii Petrovich Monakhov remained in command of the division and was promoted to the rank of major general two days later. The division did not complete its reorganization as a Guards division and receive its banner until February 13.Sharp, "Red Guards", p. 69
Operation Little Saturn On January 8 the commander of Southwestern Front, Col. Gen. N. F. Vatutin, reported to the STAVKA on his plans to further develop the winter counteroffensive:During the month the division was paired with the 203rd Rifle Division to form Group Monakhov. Vatutin further reported on January 30 that the Group was tying down Axis forces along the sector Nizhnii Vishnevetskii to Kalitvenskaya and coming under repeated counterattacks by up to a battalion of infantry supported by 10-18 tanks and 4-6 bombers.Soviet General Staff, Rollback, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2015, Kindle ed., Part VI, sections 8, 20
By the beginning of February the 3rd Guards Army held a bridgehead over the Northern Donets south of Voroshilovgrad from which it broke out on February 12 in a drive to liberate that city. By February 20 the division was on the right (north) flank of the Army north of Pervomaisk, facing elements of the German XXX Army Corps. General Vatutin reported that the 60th and 61st Guards Divisions, 279th Rifle Division and 229th Rifle Brigade had conducted a regrouping overnight and into the morning before going over to the attack at 1600 hours from the Kripaki and Smelyi front towards Krivorozhe.David. M. Glantz, After Stalingrad, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, pp. 150, 162 However, on the same day the German 4th and 1st Panzer Armies began the counteroffensive that would become the Third Battle of Kharkov. While this was primarily aimed at Voronezh Front, Southwestern Front also faced attacks and the overall crisis made any further Soviet advance impossible.John Erickson, The Road to Berlin, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., London, UK, 1983, pp. 49-54 In the general crisis the 60th Guards was reassigned to the 19th Rifle Corps in 1st Guards Army and on February 28 it was reported as having withdrawn from the Malaia Kamyshevakha and Sukhaia Kamenka line to the Dmitrievka, Brazhevka, Suligovka and Dolgenkaia regions to organize a defense along that line. The Corps soon formed a second defensive line as well and was able to hold there as the main German offensive rolled northward.Glantz, After Stalingrad, pp. 185, 189, 194
Into Ukraine On March 1 the division was transferred to the 6th Guards Rifle Corps, still in 1st Guards Army. It remained in that Corps until June, when it became a separate division under Army command and was still there in early August when the Donbas Offensive began on the 13th.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, pp. 65, 113, 138, 164, 196 It helped 1st Guards Army force a crossing of the Donets but was soon transferred to the 67th Rifle Corps of the 12th Army, which had been in the Front reserves. Under these commands it drove across the eastern Ukrainian plains towards Dniepropetrovsk and the Dniepr bend.Sharp, "Red Guards", p. 69Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 225 During this advance, on September 18, while serving in 12th Army's 66th Rifle Corps, the 60th Guards was awarded the honorific "Pavlograd" in recognition of its role in the second liberation of that city.http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-5.html. In Russian. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
By the beginning of October the division was under direct command of 12th Army, which was reduced to just four rifle divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 253 It had just run up against a bridgehead that the German forces were attempting to hold on the east bank of the Dniepr east of Zaporozhe. The STAVKA demanded that this bridgehead be eliminated as quickly as possible. The Front commander, Army Gen. R. Ya. Malinovsky, asked for and was granted the use of the 8th Guards Army for this purpose, stating that with it he could take the objective "in two days". The attack began at 2200 hours on the night of October 13 with 8th Guards in the center, 12th Army advancing from the north and 3rd Guards Army from the south. Malinovsky met his deadline with time to spare as 1st Panzer Army's forces abandoned Zaporozhe, destroying the dam and the railway bridge as they withdrew to the west bank.Erickson, The Road to Berlin, pp. 138-39 On October 14 the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in recognition of its general meritorious service.
Dniepr Operations Meanwhile much of the rest of Southwestern Front (redesignated as 3rd Ukrainian Front on October 20) liberated Dnepropetrovsk and Dneprodzerzhinsk.Soviet General Staff, The Battle of the Dnepr, ed. & trans. R. W. Harrison, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2018, pp. 77, 80 The 60th Guards now faced Khortytsia, the largest island in the Dniepr at long and wide, dividing the river into two channels. On the night of October 24/25 the 185th Guards Regiment, led by Lt. Col. Semyon Mikhailovich Vilkhovsky, the 177th Guards Regiment, and the 5th Separate Penal Battalion, crossed to the island and established a bridgehead on its southern and southeastern end. This position was hit by savage German counterattacks and after three days was no longer tenable; the Soviet forces were withdrawn to the east bank.http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=11758. In Russian; English translation available. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
In November the headquarters of 12th Army was disbanded and its forces came under command of 6th Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 310 The German Army Group South continued to hold another east-bank bridgehead based on Nikopol. In order to outflank and eliminate this position the 3rd Ukrainian Front again planned to force the Dniepr to the north. On the night of November 26/27 the 60th Guards advanced onto Khortytsia along with the 333rd Rifle Division to its south and both divisions staged a crossing to the west bank under strong German artillery and machine gun fire. Vilkhovsky's 185th Guards Regiment again led the way and established a small bridgehead near the village of Razumovka, south of Zaporozhe. This success allowed the rest of the Division to cross and over the following days the 60th and the 333rd Divisions carved out a deep bridgehead despite several German counterattacks with armor support. In recognition of his leadership and courage, on February 22, 1944, Lt. Col. Vilkhovsky was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=11758. In Russian; English translation available. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
Among the many soldiers of the Division who became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Dniepr operations was Lt. Afanasii Petrovich Shilin, the chief of intelligence of the 132nd Guards Artillery Regiment. During the initial crossing to Khortytsia on October 24/25 his radio station was destroyed during a German counterattack but he then led his men in an assault in which he personally killed seven German soldiers. He then recrossed the river and returned with a replacement radio and also led a telephone line to his position on the island. Shilin went on to lead the fighting against the German counterattacks until the island was evacuated. On February 22, 1944, he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his part in these actions. In January 1945, during the Vistula-Oder Offensive, Shilin would again distinguish himself in close combat and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time, a very unusual distinction for a junior officer.http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=3. In Russian: English translation available. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
In December the 60th Guards returned to 66th Rifle Corps, which included all four divisions in 6th Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1944, p. 19 On December 29 General Monakhov handed his command to Maj. Gen. Vasilii Pavlovich Sokolov. Monakhov went on to command the 28th Guards Rifle Corps before dying of wounds on February 18, 1944. Meanwhile, Sokolov remained in command of the 60th Guards into the postwar.
Nikopol-Krivoi Rog Offensive