The 112th Rifle Division was first formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in September 1939, in the Ural Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of that month. It began moving west from the Urals just prior to the German invasion, assigned to the 22nd Army of the High Command reserve, and completed its arrival in the Polotsk area on June 22. It completed its deployment along the Daugava River by June 30, just before it came under attack from two divisions of the German II Army Corps. Over the following week it put up a stiff defense of the old Stalin Line defenses behind the Sarja River until a third division was brought up, forcing it to begin a fighting withdrawal toward Nevel. Soon falling into encirclement with most of the rest of its Army west of that place it was forced to break out, mostly in small groups and as individuals. After its remnants were subordinated to the 170th Rifle Division in August they were withdrawn to be rebuilt into a motor rifle division, also numbered the 112th, at the start of September, but near the end of the month this decision was reversed and it was assigned to 16th Army as a regular rifle division. This Army was positioned not far east of Smolensk and very vulnerable to encirclement when the German offensive on Moscow was renewed on October 2. Reassigned to 20th Army it became trapped south of Vyazma and was effectively destroyed by October 10.
A new 112th was designated on January 20, 1942, in the Siberian Military District, based on a 400-series division formed in December. After it completed assembling it was sent west to the Moscow area, from where it was assigned to the 1st Reserve Army and sent south toward Stalingrad, where the Army was redesignated as the 64th. After initial battles along the Don River it was transferred to 62nd Army. Through September it fought in the city's suburbs, gradually retreating into the area around Mamayev Kurgan, which one of its regiments contested, before the weakened division was forced north into the factory district. When German 6th Army attacked the Dzerzhinskii Tractor Works on October 14 the partly-rebuilt 112th was overrun and largely destroyed, with its remnants withdrawing farther north before being evacuated across the Volga for a complete replenishment. After moving to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command at the end of December it continued rebuilding until it was assigned to the 2nd Tank Army in Central Front in February 1943. During that month and into March it advanced northwest of Kursk, briefly being assigned to 70th Army before moving to 60th Army. It saw little action during the Battle of Kursk, but in August joined Central Front's offensive to the west, winning its first battle honor for the capture of Rylsk. Following an advance through eastern Ukraine it crossed the Dniepr north of Kyiv and was reassigned to 1st Ukrainian Front while involved in inconclusive fighting through October before pushing to the west the following month and winning a second battle honor after the retaking of Korosten. Once the German attempt to recapture Kyiv was defeated the 112th went on the offensive again in January 1944, now as part of the same Front's 13th Army, and was awarded the Order of Suvorov. In July it took part in the offensive that encircled Brody and captured Lviv, and in the process won the Order of the Red Banner, before joining the push across the Vistula at Sandomierz. In January 1945 it broke out of this bridgehead and advanced across southern Poland into Silesia, where it would spend the remainder of the war. It took part in the Lower and Upper Silesian offensives during February and March, first attached to 4th Tank Army and later as part of 5th Guards Army, before being moved again to 6th Army, which was besieging Breslau until the end of the war. Shortly after the German surrender it was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, then was disbanded in July.
1st Formation The first 112th began assembling in July 1939 in the Ural Military District with its headquarters at Perm, based on territorial units of the 82nd Rifle Division that remained in the District after its main body departed to Mongolia.Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p. 56 The official date of formation was September 23, by which time Col. Nikolai Alekseevich Ulyanov had been appointed to command. On the same date Col. Fyodor Dmitrievich Rubtsov replaced Ulyanov, who went on to lead the 276th Rifle Division before being killed in action in the Crimea in 1941. Rubtsov also left the division on January 27, 1940; he would be promoted to Kombrig and then major general later that year and would be in command of the 66th Rifle Corps on September 17, 1941, when he was wounded and captured and then executed two days later. The 112th was under command of Col. Vasilii Mikhailovich Alekseev until November 23, who would later move to the armored forces and reach the rank of lieutenant general of tank troops before being killed in action in August 1944. His commanding officer for infantry, Kombrig Yan Siminovich Adamson, took over as acting divisional commander. This officer had been arrested during the Great Purge, and held for 18 months before his release in January 1940. He was still serving as acting commander at the time of the German invasion.
At this time the division was assigned to 51st Rifle Corps of 22nd Army,Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 10 and its order of battle was as follows: 385th Rifle Regiment 416th Rifle Regiment 524th Rifle Regiment 436th Artillery RegimentSharp, "Red Legions", p. 56 156th Antitank Battalion 270th Antiaircraft Battalion 196th Reconnaissance Company 159th Sapper Battalion 272nd Signal Battalion 198th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 225th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Platoon 33rd Motor Transport Battalion 148th Motorized Field Bakery 479th Field Postal Station 226th Field Office of the State Bank The 51st Corps also had the 98th and 153rd Rifle Divisions, all under command of Maj. Gen. A. M. Markov. As the division unloaded at Dretun, Markov ordered Adamson to take up his planned positions from Krāslava and along the right bank of the Daugava River to northwest of Drissa, with the intention of preventing German forces from crossing the river. Already on the morning of June 22 the division's base camp was coming under air attack, although losses were light.https://proza.ru/2019/03/18/1409. In Russian. Retrieved June 28, 2026.
Battle of Smolensk The 112th was hampered in this move of up to 150km by lack of transport as most of the men marched, carrying their heavy weapons. Adamson formed a forward detachment of some 2,500 troops, including the 196th Reconnaissance Company, 156th Antitank Battalion, and two reinforced companies of the 416th Rifle Regiment, which used the available trucks to move toward Krāslava, the most distant objective. On the morning of June 26 the forward detachment went into action near that place against reconnaissance units of the LVI Motorized Corps. This limited action continued for several days as the division's main body moved up. The next day Col. Ivan Andreevich Kopyak arrived to take command from Adamson, who moved to the position of deputy commander. Kopyak had previously led the 203rd Rifle Division and would lead the 112th (including 112th Motor Rifle) for the duration of the 1st formation. Battle for the Daugava As part of 22nd Army the division found itself at the junction between Western and Northwestern Front, and in fact was moved between these commands for several days before finally coming under Western Front in early July. By the evening of June 30 the entire division had reached its line, and the next day the 3rd SS Motorized Division Totenkopf launched its first attack on Krāslava; this was reinforced on July 3 by the 121st Infantry Division of 16th Army's II Army Corps. The defending 416th Regiment was first hit by bombing, then artillery, but held the high ground at Zamkova Hill after two assaults. A further attempt on July 2 turned into hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches before the attackers were driven off, at considerable cost to both sides. Late that evening the regiment was ordered to abandon Krāslava due to the threat of encirclement of the division's units on the right. A counterattack the next day retook part of the town, but the remainder of the division was forced to retreat 10-15km to the east by the end of the day.https://proza.ru/2019/03/18/1409. In Russian. Retrieved June 29, 2026. By this time the 170th Rifle Division had joined 51st Corps, replacing the 153rd.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, p. 18
As the 21st Mechanized Corps of 27th Army was forced back on July 3 it uncovered the bridge at Dzisna, where 19th Panzer Division made a crossing. General Markov now ordered Kopyak to retreat to the east bank of the Sarja River, while also subordinating the 98th Division's 308th Rifle Regiment to his command. As the division fell back its 385th Rifle Regiment overran the headquarters of the 32nd Infantry Division's 96th Infantry Regiment, the aftermath of which was documented on film by newsreel cameramen and screened in cinemas on July 22. The positions on the Sarja were intended to cover the north flank of the Polotsk Fortified Region, part of the Stalin Line, which had been largely neglected since 1939. The 308th Regiment was to fall back farther to Drissa; the 98th, along with the 385th Regiment, was to counterattack and eliminate the bridgehead at Dzisna. The remainder of the 112th took up its new defense on July 5.
The fighting along the Sarja continued through July 6-9. The 416th Regiment held the center section, refurbishing the pillboxes of the Stalin Line where practicable; the attached 308th held from the village of Ustye along the right bank of the Daugava; the 196th Reconnaissance Company covered west of Lake Osveyskoye; and the 524th Rifle Regiment formed the second echelon. The advance of II Corps was cautious, with the 121st Infantry expecting a trap. It and the 32nd Infantry made a general attack on July 7, with the latter attempting to cross the Daugava near the mouth of the Sarja in an effort to get into the division's rear. This was stopped by artillery fire and counterattacks by reinforced elements of the 308th and 524th. The 121st was also repulsed by the 416th, whose reconnaissance elements took several prisoners. The next day the main attack came southwest of Lake Osveyskoye against the 416th following air attacks and an artillery preparation. Kopyak had been expecting further attacks at the mouth of the Sarja and was caught off guard. The attackers penetrated the positions of the 416th's 3rd Battalion and envelop its right flank, again threatening the division's rear. Kopyak and his head of artillery, Col. Mikhail Yakovlevich Lev, moved to the threatened sector with two battalions of the 524th to counterattack. An artillery duel ensued, followed by a charge by the riflemen which pushed the 121st back over the Sarja, but at the cost of 25 percent casualties to the 524th and the loss of an entire battery of artillery.https://proza.ru/2019/03/18/1409. In Russian. Retrieved June 29, 2026. This source refers to a 449th Howitzer Artillery Regiment in several places, but this does not appear in the division's order of battle in Perechen No. 5. (See Bibliography)