The139th Rifle Division was aninfantrydivision of theRed Army, formed three times duringWorld War II, in 1939 and twice in 1941.
Its First Formation was established atKozelsk in September 1939, on the basis of a regiment of the81st Rifle Division. It fought in theWinter War withFinland. It initially consisted of the 718th, 609th, and 364th Rifle Regiments. Fighting as part of8th Army, it was defeated at theBattle of Tolvajärvi on 12 December 1939. It was serving with 37thRifle Corps,6th Army,Kiev Special Military District, on 22 June 1941.[1] It was wiped out during theBattle of Uman in August 1941.
Force Composition 2 October 1939
It was recreated (II formation) from 9th Moscow People's Militia Rifle Division (In 1941, residents of Zamoskvorechye formed the Twelfth Militia Division of Kirovsky District (дивизия народного ополчения Кировского района) (Zamoskvorechye District). It was destroyed again at Vyazma in October 1941.
It was recreated (III formation) atCheboksary in January 1942. Fought at Kursk and Gdynia. It received a large number of volunteers from Siberia before participating in theBattle of Kursk. A popular song was written about a platoon of the division "Na Bazimyannoy Visote" (Russian:"На безымянной высоте") (On a nameless height) featured in the film "Tishina" (Silence) that documented the events of a defence of a height at the village of Rubezhenka, Kuybyshevsky rayon,Kaluga Oblast, when the platoon defended against an attack by a Germanbattalion estimated at a strength of 200 on 14 September 1943. There were only two survivors from the platoon, but the height was held.[2] It was serving with the 49th Army of the2nd Belorussian Front in May 1945.
The division appears to have disbanded "in place" with theGroup of Soviet Forces in Germany during the summer of 1945.[3]
