The6th Guards Airborne Division (Russian:6-я гвардейская воздушно-десантная дивизия) was aRed Army airborne division that fought as infantry duringWorld War II.
Weeks after the end of the war, it was redesignated as the113th Guards Rifle Division. It was downsized into a brigade between 1947 and 1953, serving in theTaurida Military District. The division became a motor rifle division in 1957 and disbanded in 1959.
The 6th Guards Airborne Division was formed on 8 December 1942 from the6th Airborne Corps inNoginsk, one of eight new airborne divisions formed due to a shortage of infantry. The former commander of the 6th Airborne Corps, Major GeneralAlexander Kirzimov, continued in command of the new division. Although its personnel received airborne training, the division was organized as a guards rifle division and would fight as infantry for the rest of the war. It included the 14th, 17th, and 20th Guards Airborne Regiments, the 8th Guards Airborne Artillery Regiment, and smaller units. Before the division went into combat, Kirzimov was replaced by ColonelMikhail Smirnov on 11 March 1943, who was promoted to major general on 16 October 1943; he would command the unit for the rest of the war.[2] The division saw its first combat with the1st Shock Army in the area of Koshelki south ofStaraya Russa on 14 March during theStaraya Russa Offensive. After that, the division was placed in theReserve of the Supreme High Command. As part of the5th Guards Army, the division fought in theBattle of Kursk and theBelgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation. After theBattle of the Dnieper, the division capturedKremenchuk on 29 September andZnamianka on 9 December, for which it was awarded honorifics. On 8 January 1944, the division helped captureKirovohrad during theKirovograd Offensive. In theKorsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive, the division stopped German attempts to relieve theKorsun Pocket. During theUman–Botoșani Offensive, it operated with the4th Guards Army. For its performance during the offensive, the division was awarded theOrder of the Red Banner on 19 March.[3]
Soviet troops on the march in Moldova during the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, late August 1944
On 25 March 1945, the division crossed the Hron in the area of Zhemlyari during theBratislava–Brno Offensive. On that day, it had a strength of 5,001 officers and men, with slightly more than 1,000 in each of its three rifle regiments. The division was equipped with 2,157 rifles, 851 submachine guns, 109 light machine guns, 49 heavy machine guns, twelve anti-aircraft machine guns, twelve 120 mm mortars equally divided between each rifle regiment, 51 82 mm mortars equally divided between the rifle regiments, five 122 mm howitzers, twenty 76 mm divisional guns, eight 76 mm regimental guns, eighteen 45 mm anti-tank guns, 36 anti-tank rifles, and 131 vehicles.[1] After the breaking through the German lines, the division capturedŠurany, advanced over theWestern Carpathians, and captured oilfields inZistersdorf. The division fought in thePrague Offensive at the end of the war and capturedPříbram on 11 May.[3]
On 13 June 1945, it was redesignated as the 113th Guards Rifle Division to reflect its infantry role as part of the 25th Guards Rifle Corps of the 7th Guards Army in the newly createdCentral Group of Forces.[3] Its airborne regiments became the 359th, 361st, and 363rd Guards Rifle Regiments, and the division also included the 468th and 473rd Guards Artillery Regiments.[4] The division was withdrawn toZaporizhia in theOdessa Military District in late 1945 with the corps[5] and downsized into the 43rd Separate Guards Rifle Brigade in April 1948[2] following the disbandment of the corps in May 1947. The brigade was subsequently moved toYevpatoria in theTaurida Military District,[2] where it became a division again in October 1953.[6] By 1955, the 85th Guards Tank Regiment was added to the division.[7] On 17 May 1957, the 113th Guards Rifle Division became a motor rifle division atYevpatoria with the45th Army Corps. It included the 359th, 361st and 363rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiments formed from guards rifle regiments with the same numbers,[8] the 85th Guards Tank Regiment and other smaller units. The division was disbanded on 1 March 1959.[9][10]
Divisions of the Soviet Union 1945–1957
