| 84th Rifle Division 84th Motorized Division (1940–1941) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1923–1945 |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Branch | Red Army |
| Type | Infantry, Motorized Infantry |
| Engagements | |
| Decorations |  Order of the Red Banner |
| Honorifics | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Stepan Kalinin |
The84th Rifle Division (Russian:84-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of theRed Army before and duringWorld War II.
The 84th Rifle Division was formed in 1923 atTula as one of several Red Army territorial divisions, assigned to theMoscow Military District.Russian Civil War veterans from the36th Rifle Division and the 12th Red Banner Turkestan Rifle Regiment were used to form the permanent cadre of the division together with volunteer command personnel. After the cadre arrived, they began preparing for the first territorial training camp, which involved the practice mobilization of local men aged 21 to 25. The camp was held between 4 and 19 December; a veteran of the division recalled the "endless discontent and indignation" of the territorials at finding themselves in "uninsulated, unlit barracks lacking furnishings and bedding."[1] The training camp included marching and mock attacks, and was visited by commander-in-chief of the armed forcesSergey Kamenev.[2]
The division was assigned to the2nd Rifle Corps of the Moscow Military District in October 1924.[3]
In July 1940, the division was reorganized into the 84th Motorized Division of the3rd Mechanized Corps, stationed in theBaltic Special Military District. Major GeneralPyotr Fomenko, a cavalry officer, became the commander of the division when it was reorganized. After the beginning ofOperation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the division and its corps fought in the border battles as part of theNorthwestern Front. During theBattle of Raseiniai between 23 and 25 June, the division and its corps suffered significant losses, losing almost all of their equipment. Subsequently, the encircled remnants of the corps conducted a fighting retreat through Lithuania and Belarus. After heavy and bloody battles on theNeman river, the 84th Motorized Division suffered heavy losses and was reorganized into the 84th Rifle Division in mid-July.[4]
In August, the 84th was withdrawn for reorganization inValday. From September, the division, assigned to the11th and then the34th Army of the Northwestern Front, defended Valday, then fought in theDemyansk Offensive. In late August 1942, the division was sent to theStalingrad Front. As part of the4th Tank Army and then the66th Army from October, it fought in continuous defensive battles, preventing Axis forces from breaking through to Stalingrad. From November, as part of the24th Army of theDon Front, the division fought in the encirclement and destruction of the German troops in Stalingrad inOperation Koltso.[4]
In April 1943, after the end of the latter, the division was relocated to the area ofVoronezh for rebuilding. In the same month Fomenko was promoted to corps command,[4] being replaced by ColonelPavel Bunyashin, who was promoted to major general on 1 September; Bunyashin commanded the division for the rest of the war. As part of the53rd and5th Guards Armies of theSteppe Front (the2nd Ukrainian from October 1943), the division fought in theBattle of Kursk, theBattle of the Dnieper, theKirovograd Offensive, theKorsun–Shevchenkovsky Offensive, and theSecond Jassy–Kishinev Offensive. The division received the name ofKharkov as an honorific on 23 August 1943 for its actions in the capture of that city and theOrder of the Red Banner a month later. In late 1944, the division as part of the20th Guards Rifle Corps of the4th Guards Army was withdrawn to theReserve of the Supreme High Command, and in November joined the3rd Ukrainian Front to participate in theBudapest Offensive. In the last weeks of the war the division fought in theVienna Offensive.[5]
Postwar, the division was disbanded in August 1945 and its troops used to reinforce the21st and93rd Rifle Divisions of the57th Army.[6]
