The 218th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army after a motorized division of that same number was redesignated about 10 weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
The division retreated through the southern Ukraine during the autumn until it took part in the defense of Rostov-na-Donu and the counteroffensive in December. Following this it remained on the defensive through the winter and spring of 1942 as part of 37th Army until the German summer offensive began. Retreating again in the face of the 1st Panzer Army most of the 218th was encircled near Millerovo in mid-July and although some elements escaped the division was officially disbanded in September.
A new 218th was formed in June 1943 in the Steppe Military District based on the cadres of two rifle brigades that had been involved in the amphibious landings west of Novorossiysk in February. It was assigned to the 47th Army and fought its way through eastern Ukraine in August and September, winning a battle honor on the way. It made three east-to-west crossings of the Dniepr up to early November when it played a role in the liberation of the Ukrainian capital, gaining another battle honor and soon after the Order of the Red Banner. During the subsequent German counteroffensive it was encircled at Zhytomyr and was forced to break out at the cost of heavy losses in men and equipment; although it returned to the fighting in January 1944 it was clearly not fully combat capable and went back to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command shortly after. In April it returned as part of 3rd Guards Army in 1st Ukrainian Front. The 218th served with distinction in the Lvov–Sandomierz operation, forcing a bridgehead over the Vistula in August. Before the winter offensive into Poland and Germany it was transferred to 6th Army and won a further decoration in the Lower Silesian offensive before taking part in the siege of Breslau for the duration of the war. After the German surrender it was awarded the Order of Lenin but nevertheless was disbanded shortly after.
218th Motorized Division The division began forming in February 1941, based on the 12th Motorized Rifle Brigade, as part of the prewar buildup of Soviet mechanized forces in the Odessa Military District as part of the 18th Mechanized Corps. Once formed its order of battle was as follows: 658th Motorized Rifle Regiment 667th Motorized Rifle Regiment 135th Tank Regiment 663rd Artillery RegimentCharles C. Sharp, "The Deadly Beginning", Soviet Tank, Mechanized, Motorized Divisions and Tank Brigades of 1940 - 1942, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. I, Nafziger, 1995, p. 65. This source describes the 663rd as a Howitzer Regiment. 44th Antitank Battalion 231st Antiaircraft Battalion 288th Reconnaissance Battalion 388th Light Engineering Battalion 591st Signal Battalion 216th Artillery Park Battalion 368th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 687th Motor Transport Battalion 164th Repair and Restoration Battalion 23rd Regulatory Company 466th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 747th Field Postal Station 597th Field Office of the State Bank The division continued under the command of Col. Aleksei Pavlovich Sharagin, who had led the 12th Motorized Brigade.Commanders of Corps and Divisions states that the division was under command of Maj. Gen. F. N. Shilov as of June 22 and was replaced by Sharagin on September 5. The same source also has Shilov in command of the 259th Rifle Division in early August. At the time of the German invasion the 218th was part of the 9th Army (former Odessa Military District).Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10 It was understrength in infantry, the 663rd had only one battalion of 12 122mm howitzers, and the 135th had no tanks at all. However, unlike most of the motorized divisions it had enough trucks to convey most of the infantry it did have, and so quickly became a mobile reserve division for Southern Front.Sharp, "The Deadly Beginning", p. 65 In this role it fought across the southern Ukraine and the Donbass until early September, first under direct command of the Front, and by the beginning of August as part of 18th Army; by the start of September it was back under Front command.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 25, 34, 43 On September 8 it was officially redesignated as the 218th Rifle Division after incorporating the 182nd Reserve Rifle Regiment to replace the 135th Tanks.Sharp, "The Deadly Beginning", p. 65
1st Formation Under the circumstances, in full retreat along the north coast of the Sea of Azov after taking heavy casualties in the earlier fighting, the division's order of battle was largely theoretical until it had a chance to thoroughly reorganize but eventually was as follows: 372nd Rifle Regiment 658th Rifle Regiment 667th Rifle Regiment 663rd Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p. 32. This source identifies the 372nd by its former designation as the 182nd. 44th Antitank Battalion 435th Antiaircraft Battery (later 231st Antiaircraft Battalion) 288th Reconnaissance Company 388th Sapper Battalion 591st Signal Battalion 368th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 85th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 71st Motor Transport Company 328th Field Bakery 1511th Field Postal Station (later 747th) 597th Field Office of the State Bank Colonel Sharagin remained in command of the division and would be promoted to the rank of major general on March 27, 1942. At the start of October it was back in 9th Army but later that month it moved back to direct Front command.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 53, 65
Battle of Rostov The move to the Front reserves allowed the 218th to escape the fate of most of 9th Army in the Chernigovka pocket. The remnants of that Army fell back toward Taganrog, forming a rebuilt defense along the Mius River. On November 21 the 1st Panzer Army captured Rostov but the thrust to reach the city opened a gap between it and 17th Army to the west that was soon exploited by 37th Army. Shortly after the 9th and 56th Armies attacked the southern and eastern flanks of 1st Panzer and by November 29 had cleared the city.John Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad, George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., London, UK, 1983, pp. 255-56, 265 By the beginning of December the division had been moved to 12th Army, still in Southern Front,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 76 but in January 1942 it was reassigned again, now to 37th Army,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1942, p. 29 where it remained into the spring. In this Army it was south of the Izium salient and therefore escaped the German counteroffensive that devastated the Front's 9th and 57th Armies in May.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 32 On May 19 General Sharagin left the division to further his military education; he would go on to lead the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps before he was killed in action in December 1943. Col. Mikhail Sergeevich Subbotin took over command of the 218th.
Case Blue The 1st Panzer and 17th Armies launched their summer offensive against the much-weakened Southern Front on July 7. 37th Army was positioned south of the Donets and north of Artemivsk with four divisions, including the 218th, in the first echelon and one in reserve, supported by just 46 tanks of the 121st Tank Brigade, and was soon falling back north of the river and eastward north of Luhansk in the face of the advance by 1st Panzer. During the retreat it was transferred to the 24th Army. By dawn on July 15 the 3rd Panzer Division of 4th Panzer Army had linked up with 14th Panzer of 1st Panzer Army 40 km south of Millerovo. This appeared to seal the fate of up to five Soviet armies, including the 24th, but the encirclement was never really closed; the cordon was porous at best as the German infantry lagged behind. Some remnants of 24th Army managed to escape eastward over the following days although German sources identified the 218th as one of the Red Army divisions "destroyed" in the pocket. As of July 25 a report of the defensive dispositions of Southern Front stated remnants of the division were back under command of 37th Army, helping to hold a sector 50–115 km east of Rostov,David M. Glantz, To the Gates of Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 110, 112, 175, 177, 197-98, 401, 539 but had no more than 2,000 personnel on strength at this time and by the beginning of August it was no longer part of the Red Army order of battle, although it was not officially disbanded until September 27.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 32
2nd Formation A new 218th Rifle Division was formed in the 47th Army on June 20, 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 51st Rifle Brigade and the 165th Rifle Brigade,Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 132 in the Steppe Military District of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and was immediately assigned to the 21st Rifle Corps.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1943, p. 175
51st Rifle Brigade This brigade was formed for the second time in the west of the Transcaucasus Military District in August 1942 from military schools and training establishments along the coast of the Black Sea. By the end of the month it was assigned to 46th Army of Transcaucasus Front, which was tasked with holding the passes through the High Caucasus from south of Tuapse to Mount Elbrus. It remained there until Army Group A began its retreat toward Rostov and the Taman peninsula in December. In January 1943 it joined the 16th Rifle Corps which was soon assigned to 18th Army and was conveyed to the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead west of Novorossiysk on February 18. Over the following months it was fought down to a remnant which was evacuated in June.Sharp, "Red Volunteers", Soviet Militia Units, Rifle and Ski Brigades 1941 - 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. XI, Nafziger, 1996, p. 32
165th Rifle Brigade Similar to the 51st the 165th was formed in September 1942 in the Transcaucasus Military District based on military students and training units and was one of the last units to be officially designated as a Student (Kursantskii) Brigade. In late October it was assigned to 18th Army in the Black Sea Group of Forces in Transcaucasus Front taking part in the defense of Tuapse and the first phase of the pursuit of Army Group A. At the end of the year it was moved to the reserves of the Black Sea Group before also being assigned to 16th Rifle Corps in January 1943. Two of its battalions took part in the amphibious assault alongside the 255th Naval Infantry Brigade at Novorossiysk on February 6 and by the 18th the remainder of the brigade was also ashore in Malaya Zemlya. In May it was reassigned to the 20th Rifle Corps but in June its remnants were evacuated along with those of the 51st.Sharp, "Red Volunteers", p. 70
Col. Pavel Trofimovich Klyushnikov was assigned to command on the day the division was formed. Once this was completed its order of battle was very similar to that of the 1st formation: 372nd Rifle Regiment 658th Rifle Regiment 667th Rifle Regiment 663rd Artillery Regiment 44th Antitank Battalion 487th Reconnaissance CompanySharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p. 86 388th Sapper Battalion 591st Signal Battalion (later 1454th Signal Company) 368th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 85th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 513th Motor Transport Company 328th Field Bakery 83rd Divisional Veterinary Hospital 2192nd Field Postal Station (later 747th) 525th Field Office of the State Bank