The 119th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in September 1943, based on the 11th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade and the 15th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade and was one of a small series of Guards divisions formed on a similar basis. Although the two brigades had distinguished themselves in the fighting south of Stalingrad as part of 64th Army they were moved to Northwestern Front in the spring of 1943 before being reorganized. After serving briefly in 22nd Army the division was moved to reinforce the 3rd Shock Army within the large salient that Army had created behind German lines after a breakthrough at Nevel in October. In the following months it fought both to expand the salient and defend it against German counterattacks in a highly complex situation. In January 1944 it was transferred to the 7th Guards Rifle Corps of 10th Guards Army, still in the Nevel region, after which it advanced toward the Panther Line south of Lake Peipus. During operations in the Baltic states that summer and autumn the 119th Guards was awarded both a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner for its operations in Latvia. In March 1945 it joined the Kurland Group of Forces of Leningrad Front on the Baltic coast containing the German forces encircled in northwest Latvia. Following the German surrender it was moved to Estonia where it was disbanded in 1946.
Formation By mid-1943 most of the Red Army's remaining rifle brigades were being amalgamated into rifle divisions as experience had shown this was a more efficient use of manpower.
66th Naval Rifle Brigade This brigade was formed from October to November 1941 in the Volga Military District,Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 86 with a cadre from the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Military Flotilla. In December it was assigned to the reserves of Karelian Front and later to the 32nd Army of that Front. In June 1942 it was moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and joined 1st Reserve Army which soon was redesignated as 64th Army west of Stalingrad.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Death", Soviet Mountain, Naval, NKVD, and Allied Divisions and Brigades 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VII, Nafziger, 1995, p. 40
In this Army it joined the 154th Naval Rifle Brigade (below) and the two served closely through most of the battle of Stalingrad. The 66th NRB was originally positioned west of the Don River south of its junction with the Chir near Nizhne-Chirskaia but was forced to retreat to the east bank by July 27 after suffering up to 50 percent losses. In the face of the advance of 4th Panzer Army south of the city in early August the 64th Army took up a defense along a line from Logovskii on the Don to Tinguta Station on August 12 with the 66th along the Myshkova River. This proved ineffective when the offensive was renewed on August 20. On the night of August 30 the brigade withdrew to the Erik River with the 157th Rifle Division but by September 2 the two units were fighting in encirclement. Orders arrived from Stalingrad Front authorizing a further withdrawal to the Peschanka line.David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 222-23, 306, 364-65, 378-79, 553
The battle for the city itself had begun in the third week of August but 64th Army was still attempting to guard the southern approaches. After Elkhi was lost on September 4 the 66th NRB was designated for a counterattack, but this did not succeed. The fighting on the approaches reached its climax on September 12; at this time it was holding the Army's left flank with the 154th NRB and the 36th Guards Rifle Division to the boundary with 57th Army and refitting. Its combat strength on September 10 is given as 1,134 men. By the beginning of October the brigade was in the Beketovka bridgehead south of Stalingrad and went over to the attack at 0430 hours on October 2 with five rifle divisions on an 8km-wide sector in an effort to break through to the isolated 62nd Army but made no significant gains and the effort was called off on October 4.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 70, 93, 104, 109, 346-47
154th Naval Rifle Brigade The 154th Naval was formed in early December 1941 at Moscow in the Moscow Military District,Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, p. 102 based on recruits from the Moscow Naval School and originally designated as 1st Moscow Separate Naval Group. By the beginning of January 1942 it was assigned to the Moscow Defense Zone and on February 5 was reassigned to Northwestern Front. It marched some 250km through heavy snow to reach the Demyansk area where it took part in the fighting that cut off the German II Army Corps in a pocket. In June the brigade was pulled out of Front reserves and moved to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.Sharp, "Red Death", p. 48
The 154th was first sent to North Caucasus Front where it was under direct command of the Front as of July 7. Two weeks later it was in 64th Army and positioned west of the Don. When 4th Panzer Army began its advance toward Abganerovo on July 31 the brigade was sent southward to the Nizhne-Yablochnyi region (25km north of Kotelnikovo) to help block the German advance. Within days it was forced to fall back to the Aksay River near Novoaksaysky from where it had to withdraw another 5-10km on August 4. By August 12 it was in the Army's second echelon behind the MyshkovaTinguta line and as fighting continued on August 20 the Army commander, Maj. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, withdrew the brigade, along with the 138th Rifle Division, to new defensive positions about 5km to the rear. An Army report of September 1 stated that the 154th NRB was by now down to a strength between 500 and 1,000 personnel and the next day was reported as located in the Elkhi region.Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, pp. 114, 222, 278-80, 365-66
On September 4 the brigade was forced to abandon Elkhi although Shumilov reported that he was organizing a counterattack with his reserve 66th NRB. By September 12 the two brigades were defending in tandem on the Army's left flank while refitting in what was to become known as the Beketovka bridgehead on the west bank of the Volga south of the encircled 62nd Army. The brigade had 876 men on strength on September 10.Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, pp. 70, 93, 104, 109 Operation Uranus and Operation Ring Stalingrad Front launched its part in the encirclement of German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army on November 20. The 66th and 154th NRBs were still in 64th Army in the Beketovka bridgehead and had been partly rebuilt over the preceding weeks. On the first two days General Shumilov held them in reserve with orders to reinforce the Army's shock group's successes. At 2000 hours on November 22 the German IV Army Corps was ordered to fall back to a new defensive line anchored at Tsybenko and continuing east along the Karavatka Balka to Elkhi which was held by units of the 297th Infantry Division. This line would remain in German hands for many weeks. The next day the two brigades closed up to the line and for the rest of the month limited their activities to raiding and reconnaissance.Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, Book One, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2014, pp. 66, 325, 362
By the beginning of January 1943 the 64th Army had been transferred to Don Front which was responsible for the final liquidation of the encircled German forces, beginning on January 10. Shumilov organized his main attack on a 6km-wide sector from south of Hill 111.6 east to Elkhi while holding the 29th Rifle Division and the 154th NRB in second echelon. 66th NRB was one of the formations deployed in defensive positions from Elkhi northeastward to the Volga. In the initial attack Tsybenko was encircled and Hill 111.6 captured but the advance seemed to stall, prompting Shumilov to commit the 154th west of Tsybenko as of the morning of the 12th, temporarily under control of 57th Army. During the day it captured the meat canning factory east of Kravtsov. On January 13 the brigade returned to 64th Army control and repulsed a weak counterattack by IV Army Corps reserves near Hill 119.7. At this point the combined assault by 64th and 57th Armies had gained up to 7km northward. But German resistance at Elkhi prevented major gains the following day, prompting the decision to commit the 66th NRB to the general advance scheduled for January 15. On January 27, as Don Front closed in on the German remnants still holding out in Stalingrad, both brigades were ordered to be withdrawn into the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for redeployment to other strategic axes.Glantz, Endgame at Stalingrad, Book Two, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2014, pp. 423, 459, 462, 465, 473-74, 480, 540 They were moved by rail to the reserves of Kalinin Front where, during February and March the 66th was converted to the 11th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade while the 154th became the 15th Guards Naval Rifle Brigade. They were soon assigned to 22nd Army and helped form the 44th Rifle Corps, remaining under that command through the summer.Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units Divisions 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 99
On September 30, 1943 the combined brigades officially became the 119th Guards in the Northwestern Front; as they were already Guards formations there was no presentation of a Guards banner. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 341st Guards Rifle Regiment 343rd Guards Rifle Regiment 344th Guards Rifle Regiment 325th Guards Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Guards", p. 88 113th Guards Antitank Battalion 108th Guards Reconnaissance Company 123rd Guards Sapper Battalion 119th Guards Signal Battalion (later 126th Guards Signal Company) 109th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 111th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 110th Guards Motor Transport Company 106th Guards Field Bakery 107th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1799th Field Postal Station 1756th Field Office of the State Bank The division was placed under the command of Col. Sergei Ivanovich Aksyonov, who had previously commanded both the 170th and 171st Rifle Divisions in the Staraya Russa area. 44th Rifle Corps also contained the 32nd and 46th Rifle Brigades and 22nd Army was positioned south of Kholm, facing the II Army Corps of German 16th Army.Glantz, Battle for Belorussia, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2016, pp. 25-26
Into Western Russia On October 20 Northwestern Front was redesignated as 2nd Baltic Front and by November 1 the 119th Guards had left 44th Corps and was serving as a separate division in 22nd Army.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 273 On the same date Colonel Aksyonov was transferred to command of the 185th Rifle Division and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Pavel Mendelevich Shafarenko, who had previously commanded the 25th Guards Rifle Division.