| 121st Guards Rifle Division | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1943–1946 |
| Country |  Soviet Union |
| Branch | .svg) Red Army |
| Type | Division |
| Role | Infantry |
| Engagements | Battle of Smolensk (1943) Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive Kamenets-Podolsky pocket Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive Vistula-Oder Offensive Silesian Offensives Battle of Berlin Prague Offensive |
| Decorations |  Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov |
| Battle honours | Gomel |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Maj. Gen. Logvin Davidovich Chervony |
The121st Guards Rifle Division was formed on September 23, 1943, based on the first formation of the342nd Rifle Division, in the80th Rifle Corps of3rd Army. During 1943 it shared a similar combat path to that of the120th Guards Rifle Division, which was formed in the same Army about a week later. On November 26 it was given credit for its role in the liberation ofGomel and won that city's name as an honorific. It was soon reassigned to 13th Army and would serve under that command for the rest of the war. In 1944 the division helped form the bridgehead over the Vistula at Sandomir, and in January, 1945, joined in the breakout from this bridgehead and the subsequent advance through Poland and into Germany, earning its final honor for the capture ofWittenberg. The 121st Guards ended the war in western Czechoslovakia with a very impressive combat record.
The 342nd Rifle Division was raised to Guards status as the 121st Guards on September 23, 1943, based on its successful actions and mass heroism duringOperation Kutuzov, the offensive that eliminated the German-held salient aroundOryol. Its order of battle was as follows:
The division was under the command of Maj. Gen. Logvin Davidovich Chervonii, and he would remain in command for the duration of the war.[2]
As of October 1, the 121st Guards was in 80th Rifle Corps of 3rd Army, which had recently been reassigned toCentral Front fromBryansk Front. During theGomel-Rechitsa Offensive, which began on September 30, the division was tasked, along with 120th Guards and269th Rifle Divisions, with seizing a bridgehead over theSozh River to divert German attention and reserves from the fighting in theGomel region. The attack began at dawn on October 12 and succeeded in capturing small bridgeheads 1–2 km deep at Kostiukovka, Salabuty and Studenets, all south of the city ofPropoisk. Although German counterattacks over the next few days prevented the attackers from enlarging their bridgeheads, the attack also prevented German9th Army from sending reinforcements to2nd Army to the south.[3]
The responsibility for the final liberation of Gomel was assigned to11th and48th Armies. The 11th struck on November 12 but encountered extremely stiff resistance. The fight for the city was long and bloody, but Soviet advances on the flanks made the German position untenable. Meanwhile, 121st Guards wasen route from 3rd to 13th Army and was drawn in to the fighting for the city.[4] Gomel was finally liberated on November 26, and the 121st Guards was one of several units recognized with the city's name as an honorific:
"GOMEL" - ...121st Guards Rifle Division (Major General Chervonii, Logvin Danilovich)... the troops who participated in the liberation of Gomel, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 26 November 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvos from 224 guns.[5]
In December the division would part ways from its "sister" 120th Guards by being transferred to13th Army, which was now in1st Ukrainian Front. It would remain under those commands for the duration, to begin with in76th Rifle Corps.[6] In mid-1944 the division took part in the Lvov-Sandomir Operation, and in January, 1945, it helped make the breakthrough that unleashed the3rd Guards and4th Tank Armies to race across Poland and into Germany from the Sandomir bridgehead. Before the Berlin Operation began the 121st was moved to the24th Rifle Corps. At this time the strength of 13th Army's rifle divisions varied from 4,700 to 5,700 men each. The Army was deployed on the east bank of theNeisse River on a 10 km front from Klein Bademeusel to just outside Gross Saerchen, with the27th and102nd Rifle Corps in first echelon and the 24th in second. The offensive on 1st Ukrainian Front's sector began at dawn on April 16 with attacks across the Neisse and from a bridgehead that had been forced across the river south ofForst in February and made immediate progress. By about April 20 the division was shifted to 27th Corps.[7] After the fall of Berlin it struck southwards in the Prague operation, ending the war in western Czechoslovakia, north ofPilsen, still in the 27th Rifle Corps of 13th Army.[8]
The division was in the vicinity ofKarlovy Vary when news of the German surrender arrived. The men and women of the division won their final honor, theOrder of Lenin, on May 28, for the capture ofWittenberg. They now carried the final honorific title of121st Guards Rifle, Gomel, Order of Lenin,Order of the Red Banner,Order of Suvorov Division (Russian: 121-я гвардейская стрелковая Гомельская ордена Ленина Краснознамённая ордена Суворова дивизия).[9] In addition, 31 soldiers of the division had been named asHeroes of the Soviet Union.[citation needed] The division was relocated toBelokorovichi in western Ukraine as part of the 13th Army's27th Rifle Corps, where it was disbanded in 1946.[10]
