58th Guards Rifle Division

The 58th Guards Rifle Division (Russian: 58-я гвардейская стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II.

It was formed in June 1942 as the 1st Rifle Division (1st formation).

Formation and Stalingrad

The 1st Rifle Division (1st formation) was formed in June 1942 in Kuybyshev Oblast. It included the 408th, 412th, and 415th Rifle Regiments, the 1026th Artillery Regiment, and smaller units. It was quickly assigned to the 5th Reserve Army (which became the 63rd Army on 10 July and the 1st Guards Army (Second formation) in November) and took up defensive positions on the left bank of the Don River along the line of Novaya Kalitva, Verkhny Mamon, and Sukhoy Donets. The division first saw combat on 3 July and defended its positions until the beginning of the first Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad. During Operation Little Saturn, with the 1st Guards Army, the division went on the offensive on 16 December. Crossing the Don near Solontsy, Olkhovy, and Grushevo, it broke through fortified Axis defenses and developed the offensive to capture Boguchar on 19 December in cooperation with the 44th Guards Rifle Division.^[1]

Guards conversion to the end of the war

The division was formed on 31 December 1942 by the redesignation of the 1st Rifle Division (formed 1942) into an elite Guards unit in recognition of its courage in the initial stages of Operation Little Saturn. Continuing the attack, the 58th Guards captured Millerovo alongside the 38th Guards Rifle Division on 17 January 1943. During February, it reached the Seversky Donets near Voroshilovgrad, contributing to the capture of the latter. During the second half of February and early March, initially with the 1st Guards and later with the 6th Armies of the Southwestern Front, the division repulsed a German counteroffensive south of Kharkov.^[2]

In early August the division joined the 57th Army of the Steppe Front and fought in the Belgorod–Kharkov Offensive, then in the Battle of the Dnieper. For its courage in the battles for Krasnograd, the division received the name of the city as an honorific on 19 September. The division began crossing the Dnieper north of Verkhnodniprovsk on 26 September, with the machine gun crew of Yefreytor Grigory Shtonda of the 175th Guards Rifle Regiment being among the first across. For repulsing German counterattacks and ensuring the crossing of the vanguard of the regiment, Shtonda was made a Hero of the Soviet Union. Between October and December the division fought in attacks toward Krivoy Rog with the 57th Army of the Steppe Front (the 2nd Ukrainian Front from 20 October).^[2]

In early 1944, the division was transferred to the 37th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and fought in the Nikopol–Krivoy Rog Offensive, the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive, and the Odessa Offensive. For distinguishing itself in the capture of Voznesensk the 58th Guards received the Order of the Red Banner on 29 March. In early July 1944 , the division was transferred to the 5th Guards Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, with which it served for the rest of the war. During the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive, it entered the battle with the army and defeated the German forces counter-attacking from Mielec, then fought in the battles for the retention and the expansion of the Sandomierz bridgehead.^[2]

During the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive of early 1945, the 58th Guards advanced more than 200 kilometers (120 mi) in eleven days, crossing the Oder on 23 January north of Oppeln. It captured and held a bridgehead in the area of Oderwerder. For their actions in the crossing of the Oder, thirteen soldiers of the division were made Heroes of the Soviet Union. The division fought in the Lower Silesian Offensive and the Upper Silesian Offensive in February and March. For the "exemplary performance of combat missions" in the breakthrough of German defenses and the defeat of German troops southwest of Oppeln, the 58th Guards received the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class, on 26 April.^[2]

The division broke through German defenses on the Neisse during the Berlin Offensive and on 25 April made contact with the American 69th Infantry Division at Torgau on the Elbe River on 25 April 1945, splitting Germany into two separate parts, an event that became known as Elbe Day. The first contact was made between patrols near Strehla, when U.S. First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue crossed the River Elbe in a boat with three men of an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. On the east bank, they met forward elements of the 175th Guards Rifle Regiment of the division, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gardiev.^[3] For breaking through to the Neisse, the division was awarded the Order of Lenin on 28 May. The units of the division rapidly advanced during the Prague Offensive, participating in the capture of Dresden on 8 May and on the next day reaching the vicinity of Beřkovice, 35 kilometers (22 mi) northwest of Prague. For distinguishing itself in the advance on Prague, the division received the name of the city as an honorific on 11 June. For their actions during the war, roughly 11,000 soldiers of the division were decorated, and 28 received the title Hero of the Soviet Union.^[2]

Postwar

The division was disbanded in June 1946,^[1] along with the rest of the 33rd Guards Rifle Corps, still with the Central Group of Forces.^[4]

Commanders

The following officers commanded the division:^[2]

Major General A.I. Semyonov (June 1942 – January 1943)
Colonel D.S. Zherebin (promoted to major general 29 January 1943; January to April 1943)
Colonel G.S. Sorokin (April–June 1943)
Colonel P.I. Kasatkin (June–September 1943)
Colonel V.V. Rusakov (September 1943–April 1944)
Colonel V.I. Katsurin (April–June 1944)
Colonel V.V. Rusakov (promoted to major general 13 September 1944; June 1944–disbandment)

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b Sergeyev 1999, pp. 261–262.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Ogarkov 1977, pp. 427–428.
^ MacDonald 1973, pp. 445–458.
^ Antonyuk & Andreyev 1946, p. 1.

Bibliography

Antonyuk; Andreyev (1946). "Перечень расформированных частей и соединений центральной группы войск на которых нет учетных документов по безвозвратным потерям" [List of disbanded units and formations of the Central group of forces for which there are no records for irretrievable losses] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
MacDonald, Charles B. (1973). The Last Offensive. United States Army in World War II: European Theater of Operations. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History. OCLC 963582. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Ogarkov, Nikolai, ed. (1977). "Красноградско-Пражская стрелковая дивизия" [Krasnograd–Prague Rifle Division]. Советская военная энциклопедия [Soviet Military Encyclopedia] (in Russian). Vol. 4. Moscow: Voenizdat. pp. 427–428. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Sergeyev, Igor, ed. (1999). "Красноградско-Пражская стрелковая дивизия" [Krasnograd–Prague Rifle Division]. Военная энциклопедия в 8 томах [Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes] (in Russian). Vol. 4. Moscow: Voenizdat. pp. 261–262. ISBN 5-203-01876-6. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)