History 16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

1 history

1.1 first formation
1.2 re-formation
1.3 battles

history
first formation

the division formed in 1918. @ beginning of operation barbarossa 16th rifle division (i formation) part of north-western front s 27th army, reporting directly army headquarters along 67th rifle division , 3rd rifle brigade. destroyed @ mga amid first german drive on leningrad.

re-formation

when 16th division reformed after destruction, given name lithuanian largely political purposes. after lithuania, along estonia , latvia, occupied soviet union in june 1940, lithuanian army reorganized 29th rifle corps of red army. however, @ start of operation barbarossa in june 1941, lithuanians massively deserted, joined anti-soviet june uprising, or surrendered germans. corps officially disbanded in august 1941. despite failure, lithuanian communists, including antanas sniečkus , mečislovas gedvilas, sought establish new lithuanian unit. similar national military units created estonians (8th estonian rifle corps) , latvians (130th latvian rifle corps).

the decision re-form division made state defense committee on 18 december 1941. decided formed in moscow military district, in city of balakhna, nizhny novgorod oblast. division officially labelled lithuanian encourage enlistment of lithuanians. personnel assembled staff , remnants of 184th rifle division (former 29th rifle corps) , lithuanian-speaking refugees had fled lithuania after german invasion. officers of division graduates vilnius infantry academy, had been evacuated after invasion novokuznetsk, kemerovo oblast.

battles

formation , training of division came end february 1943 , division entered war on 21 february 1943 @ alekseyevka, 50 km southeast of oryol. brought division path of wehrmacht s operation citadel or battle of kursk, served 42nd rifle corps of 48th army, soviet central front. in first days of battle, 16th rifle division withstood attack of german 383rd infantry , 18th panzer divisions, accompanied 120 planes. after suffering serious losses, soviet armies emerged victorious. between february 20 , march 24, 1943, division lost 1,169 dead , 3,275 injured men. during battle private named viktoras jacenevičius, wounded, taken prisoner , tortured death germans. posthumously awarded title hero of soviet union.

following victory @ kursk, division assigned 1st baltic front. on 1 june 1944, division directly subordinate front, along 47th rifle division. along 3rd belarussian front, invaded belarus , of lithuania. on 2 august 1944, division had arrived @ suburbs of Šiauliai, home commander, vladas karvelis. division stationed there 1 month, receive reinforcements lithuanian forced-volunteers.

in mid-august city of Šiauliai hit german Šiauliai offensive. wehrmacht divisions armed 900 armoured vehicles , artillery pieces. 3 days 16th division stood ground, , in end german attack ran out of steam division emerged victorious. on 31 october 1944 division presented order of red banner successful operations in clearing samogitia.

on 31 january 1945, lithuanian division received orders join fight against germans in courland pocket. german resistance strong , elements of army group courland did not surrender soviets until 8–9 may @ end of world war ii in europe.

the division part of 22nd guards rifle corps, 6th guards army towards end of war on 1 may 1945.

in 1947, became 44th rifle brigade @ vilnius, 2nd guards rifle corps. in december 1950, became division again. disbanded on 7 july 1956.