56th Guards Rifle Division
The 56th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in June 1943, based on the 2nd formations of the 74th and 91st Rifle Brigades, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Along with its "sister", the 65th Guards Rifle Division, the 56th was formed "out of sequence", that is, many Guards rifle divisions were higher numbered and formed earlier than the 56th. The division was immediately assigned to the 19th Guards Rifle Corps of the 10th Guards Army and remained under those headquarters for the duration of the war. It first saw action in Western Front's summer offensive, Operation Suvorov. On September 8 the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment was given the honorific title "in the name of Aleksandr Matrosov" and on September 25 the division as a whole was awarded the honorific "Smolensk" for its role in the liberation of that city. During the winter of 1943-44 it took part in the stubborn fighting north and east of Vitebsk, first in Western and later in 2nd Baltic Front. During the following summer offensives it helped break through the defenses of the German Panther Line and advanced into the Baltic states, eventually being decorated with the Order of the Red Banner after the liberation of Riga. For the rest of the war it was part of the forces blockading the remnants of German Army Group North in the Courland Pocket in Latvia, eventually in Leningrad Front. After the war the 56th Guards was moved to the town of Elva in Estonia where it was disbanded in 1947, although the successor formations of the 254th Guards Regiment exist into the present day. Preceding Formations The 56th Guards was formed on the basis of two rifle brigades which had been part of the 6th "Stalin Siberian Volunteer" Rifle Corps (later redesignated as the 19th Guards Rifle Corps). 74th Rifle Brigade The 2nd formation of this brigade took place at Barnaul in July 1942 by redesignating the 1st Special Siberian-Altaian Volunteer Brigade in the Siberian Military District. Its order of battle consisted of: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Rifle Battalions, each with: 3 rifle companies (180-200 men each) 1 submachine gun platoon (30 men) 1 antitank rifle platoon (30 men) 1 machine gun platoon (4 HMGs) Artillery Battalion (12 76mm cannon) Antitank Battalion (18 57mm guns) 120mm Mortar Battalion Submachine Gun Battalion 82mm Mortar Battery When formed from Siberian militia volunteers it had, on August 31, 5,804 personnel, of whom 31.4 percent were Communist Party members or Komsomols. It was soon assigned to the 6th Rifle Corps and sent under that command to the Kalinin area of the Moscow Military District. By November 1 the Corps had been assigned to the 22nd Army of Kalinin Front facing the western side of the German-held Rzhev salient. 91st Rifle Brigade This brigade formed for the second time in late August 1942 by redesignating the 4th Siberian Volunteer Brigade in the Siberian Military