135th Infantry Division (1st formation)

Formed in 1939 on the basis of the 25th Infantry Division in Priluki in the Kiev Special Military District .

She took part in the Polish campaign in September - October 1939 as part of the 36th Rifle Corps of the Ukrainian Front .

In the army from 06.22.1941 to 12.27.1941.

On 06/22/1941, it was deployed in Dubno , Ostrog , Izyaslav and from the evening of 06/22/1941 it moved to the area of ​​Lokachi, Svinukha. On the way came under air strike. On June 24, 1941, she received an order to advance on Vladimir-Volynsky and at 14:00 she launched an attack on the enemy forces from the Aleksandrovka region, 3 km east of Voinitsa - Kruchenichi - Lokachi. At 17:00 the enemy brought in tanks and the division was forced to retreat to the line: Stanislavovka, Ulyanki, Oderody — 12-16 km west of Lutsk . On June 25, 1941, the division, which suffered heavy losses, retreated to the right bank of the Styr River , where it was again involved in a counterattack. 06/26/1941 began a random rapid retreat towards Rivne . By the beginning of July, 1,276 fighters and commanders, 38 guns and 10 easel machine guns remained in the division. On July 10, 1941, the division actively defended the line of Yagodenka and Turchinka, covering the Korosten direction, and by July 15, 1941, it took control of the Fasova area (35 km north of Zhitomir ).

By July 22, 1941, about 500 people remained in the division, it covered the regrouping of the 5th Army from an attack from the south, was forced to withdraw to the left bank of the Irsha River, where it was replenished with two marching battalions. By 08/04/1941, the division continued to defend the entrusted sector, but by August 8-10 was assigned to the rear of the Korosten fortified area . Her rearguard was surrounded. The division held the defense in the entrusted sector until 08/20/1941, having 600 members on 08/14/1941, and was replenished with one marching battalion on 08/17/1941.

On August 23, 1941, the division was scheduled to leave the Radcha loading station - by rail to the Yaduty, Alenovka, and Boron districts (75 km east of Chernigov ). The division took up positions on a wide front along the Seym and Desna rivers. In early September, the division was aimed at eliminating the bridgehead near Wibley. 09/06/1941 she was forced to engage in battle at the town of Saltykova Devitsa with the vanguards of the 131st , 293rd and 112th infantry divisions , suffered losses and was forced to retreat south, to the line of Orlovka, Smolyanka, Oleshevka. On September 9, 1941, it had 200-250 people.

Until September 18, 1941, she fought surrounded, destroyed in the Kiev boiler. Small remnants left the environment. The division’s administration in Voronezh , headed by a divisional commander, was aimed at restoring the 45th rifle division .

Curiously, the following remains a fact: in early July 1941, the army actually had two division formations. After the battles of June 1941 in the Vladimir-Volynsky area , some parts of the division left the battle and were sent to replenish in Shepetovka , where the 135th Rifle Division was formed again and in connection with the alleged death of Major General Smehotvorov F.N. Lieutenant Colonel Dubrovsky was appointed its commander. The division was deployed 20 kilometers west of the Polonnoye station for defense, then it was transferred to the eastern bank of the Sluch River, in the area of Baranovka .

But at the same time, in early July, Major General F. N. Smehotvorov, in a place east of Korosten, collected the retreating units of the division and other formations, forming the same 135th division.

As it turned out later, the information about the death of Major General Smehotvorov was false. In fact, Major General Smekhotvorov, together with the chief of staff of the division, Lt. Col. Mikhailov, in a place east of the mountains. Korosten was assembled by units that left the battle and formed a division from them, and there were more personnel and armaments in these units than in the newly formed 135th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Dubrovsky.

September 19, 1941 Lieutenant Colonel D.V. Mikhail took command of the 361st Infantry Division .

By 07/07/1941, parts of the 135th Infantry Division of Lieutenant Colonel Dubrovsky were in a semicircle and received an order to withdraw from Major General F.N. Smehotvorov, but Lieutenant Colonel Dubrovsky refused to fulfill the order, as well as the second. By 10.07.1941, the units of the division of Lieutenant Colonel Dubrovsky were completely surrounded, Dubrovsky ordered the division to be divided into three parts and leave the encirclement, he himself left in an unknown direction. Fighters and division commanders, having destroyed automobiles, heavy weapons, having distributed horse-drawn carts through the villages, began to leave the encirclement, but only a few soldiers could break through. So the story of the double formation ended.

• 396th Infantry Regiment
• 497th Rifle Regiment
• 791st Infantry Regiment
• 276th artillery regiment
• 184th howitzer artillery regiment
• 173rd separate anti-tank fighter division
• 170th separate anti-aircraft artillery division
• 120th reconnaissance battalion
• 157th Separate Engineer Battalion
• 168th Separate Communications Battalion
• 138th Health Battalion
• 135th degassing platoon
• 119th Motor Battalion
• 115th field bakery
• 178th Field Post Station
• 347th box office of the State Bank

• as of June 22, 1941 - 9,232 people, 6,682 rifles, 422 submachine guns, 542 light machine guns, 161 machine guns, 61 45-mm guns, 36 76-mm guns, 28 122-mm howitzers, 13 152-mm howitzers, 141 mortar, 194 cars, 17 tractors, 2078 horses.

• Smekhotvorov, Fedor Nikandrovich (06/13/1940 - 12/27/1941), Major General - commander of the division.
• Berlin, Leonid Borisovich (08/08/1940 - 11/1940) - chief of staff of the division.

• Isaev A.V. From Dubno to Rostov. - M .: AST; Transitbook, 2004.
• Vladimirsky A.V. In the Kiev direction. According to the experience of conducting military operations by the troops of the 5th Army of the South-Western Front in June-September 1941 - M .: Military Publishing House, 1989.
• Meltiukhov, Mikhail Ivanovich . Soviet-Polish war. Military-political confrontation 1918-1939 Part three. September 1939 War from the West - M., 2001.