102nd Infantry Division (3rd formation)

It was formed in October 1942 in Khabarovsk (except for the 356th artillery regiment formed in Kungur ) from border guards of the Amur and Priussuri outposts on the basis of a decision of the State Defense Committee of 10/14/1942 on the formation by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR for the Red Army of the Sixty-Vision Separate Army of the NKVD of the USSR the composition and order of the NKVD of the USSR on the beginning of the formation of 10/26/1942, as the Far Eastern Rifle Division of the NKVD troops. By the Directive of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief No. 46052 of 02/05/1943 "On the inclusion of the 70th Army in the Red Army," the division was transferred to the Red Army on February 1, 1943, renamed the 102nd Far Eastern Rifle Division. The staff of the division is 63.8%. At the end of the first ten days of December 1942, she was fervently transported to Vereshchagino of the Molotov Region , where she was engaged in combat training and was transported to the Central Front on 09/09/1943 , arrived in Yelets on 02/15/1943, on foot on the Livny - Fatezh route, 200 kilometers long for 17 days without food supply, went to the forefront.

Excerpt from the diary of the assistant chief of the political department of the 140th Komsomol division, lieutenant R. P. Kudryashov.

"February 27. Many have already passed (from Yelets to Zolotukhino). Passed the Long. It all comes down to nutrition and providing relaxation. Artillery sat down, no products. Rapidly (at 2 km per hour) we step to Fatezh. A fighter died of starvation from exhaustion. Another died in Zakharovka. The soldiers go to the last - to death, but they go ... "

It should be noted that the food supply of the division improved only by April, and before that 17 cases of starvation of soldiers were recorded at the front line.

In the first decade of March 1943, having replaced parts of the 69th Infantry Division , she took up positions on the western part of the northern front of the Kursk Bulge , near the city of Dmitrovsk-Orlovsky , on the left flank of the 70th Army . From this day the division participated in the Sevsk offensive operation . On the night of 07/08/1943, two regiments attacked a fortified enemy on the move, suffered heavy losses, threw them back, then deflected a few days back and went on the defensive at their previous positions on the outskirts of the city of Dmitrovsk-Orlovsky along the Bryantsevo, Ferezevo, Khalzeevo lines , Anthill. 03/18/1943 again launched an unsuccessful attack, resulting in a full-blooded division (10,539 people at the time of formation), 6,500 people remained.

Since the beginning of the Battle of Kursk, the division has not been in the direction of the main attack, and moreover, on 08/08/1943 went on the counterattack, wedged in the battle formations of the enemy and created a threat to the rear of the advancing enemy group. The offensive could not be developed.

07/27/1943 the division, being on the left flank of the army, went on the offensive. Defending the section Bryantsevo - Halzevo , the division with the 16th Ussuriysk and 40th Amur rifle regiments with one regiment, advancing almost strictly to the north, captured the settlements of Muravchik, Krasnaya Strelitsa , Sredny Log, Martynovsky forest. In a three-day battle, the units of the division managed to take possession of a large stronghold of the enemy and reach the village of Ignateevo . On July 29, 1943, the 30th Khasan Regiment also began to advance and, together with the division’s units, reached the approaches to the city of Dmitrovsk-Oryol . 08/12/1943 in a night battle the division took possession of this city. On August 22, 1943, the division is being transferred to the Pochinok-Aleshok region of the Oryol Region and from August 26 to August 31, 1943, fights on the outskirts of Desna . In early September 1943, with advanced units, the division approached the right bank of the Desna River, on the left flank of the operational formation of the 48th Army , having the combat mission, in collaboration with the right-flank formations of the 65th Army, to force Desna northwest of the settlements of Ostrovushka and Pogrebki and to seize the city of Novgorod-Seversky .

09/08/1943 the advance detachments of the 40th and 30th Rifle Regiments reached the river northeast of the city. The head company of the 40th Infantry Regiment, using improvised means, crossed the Desna and consolidated on the opposite bank. On the night of September 11/12/1943, simultaneously all three regiments of the division on a wide front crossed the river, fought on the right bank of the Desna and on the outskirts of Novgorod-Seversky for more than three days, liberated the city. Then the division continued the offensive in the Gomel direction and soon approached the Sozh River . On the night of 07/08/1943, forced the river, capturing a bridgehead on the outskirts of Gomel , a little south of it. Until November 24, 1943, the division held an active defense on a wide front, gaining a foothold on the bridgehead, and continued to fight for its expansion.

From 10 to 30 November 1943, the division participated in the Gomel-Rechitsa operation . By 11/20/1943, the heavy-fighting division advanced to a depth of 70 kilometers, and on the night of 24/25/1943, two regiments started fighting on the near approaches to Gomel. On the afternoon of November 25, 1943, the 30th Infantry Regiment broke into the western outskirts of Gomel and occupied a railway station. November 26, 1943, parts of the division, in collaboration with other formations, liberated the city. Then the division marched between the Dnieper and Berezina rivers to the area of ​​the Mormal settlement, where it conducts offensive battles until 03/09/1944, then until mid-June 1944 it holds the defenses in the named area. In the winter of 1943-1944 she received a replenishment from the 146th reserve rifle regiment.

So, on January 16, 1944, the division had the task of advancing in the direction of Molcha with the task of capturing a grove 500 meters south of Zakletnoe by the end of the first day. By the end of the second day of the onset of the division, it was necessary to reach the line Zaruzhe 2, Molcha , 4-5 kilometers west of Chirkovichi . 01/16/1944 the division went on the offensive and in the evening moved forward, riding the road Rasov , Pechishchi . 02/19/1944 is fighting near the village of Starina (now Zhlobin district of the Gomel region ).

In mid-June 1944, from the Mormal region, she made a secretive march north to the area southeast of Rogachev . From June 24 to June 29, 1944, the division participated in the Bobruisk offensive operation , during which, along with other formations, crossed the Drut River, west of the city of Rogachev . On June 28, 1944, the division crossed to the right bank of the Berezina River and, without stopping, fought through the western outskirts of Bobruisk in the direction of the cities of Pukhovichi and Baranovichi . In the period from June 24 to June 29, 1944, the division liberated 97 settlements, while 116 guns and 184 machine guns were captured as trophies. In July 1944 she received a replenishment from the 192nd reserve rifle regiment ( Ufa ).

By September 3, 1944, the division, passing through Belarus, came to Narew . It conducts heavy fighting on the approaches to the river, 10-12 kilometers from it. In some places, the division was forced to abandon its positions, in some places the division’s defense was broken, but thereby the division diverted the enemy’s forces and allowed other corps units to force the Narev.

In September 1944, she was transferred to the Narevsky bridgehead, 10-16.10.1944 breaks through the enemy’s defenses in the area of ​​the village of Sventa Rozalia ( Poland ) in battles for the expansion of the Ruzhany bridgehead on the Narew River, then holds the defense on the bridgehead until January 1945.

During the East Prussian operation, from January 20, 1945, it advances in the direction of Wormditt , where it entered in early February 1945, and then fights against the enemy's Heilsberg group, advancing on Brownsberg . So, 02/21/1945 is fighting near the village of Shendamemerau ( East Prussia , now Dąbrowa, Commune Ploskina , Braniewski County , Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship , Poland ). In late April and early May 1945, part of the forces led the fighting on the Frisch-Nehrung spit , and the other part carried out the tasks of the commandant service in the city of Elbing . Ended the war mostly in the city of Brownsberg . 05/09/1945 the division entered the village of Tolkemit on the coast of the Gulf of Frishess-Gaff, opposite the spit Frishe-Nerung.

During the war, along with awards and honorary titles, the division received 6 thanks from the Supreme Commander.

1. Order No. 14 of September 16, 1943 (for the liberation of Novgorod-Seversky). 2. Order No. 46 of November 26, 1943 (for the liberation of Gomel). 3. Order No. 118 of June 25, 1944 (for breaking through the defense in the Bobruisk direction). 4. Order No. 125 of June 29, 1944 (for the liberation of Bobruisk). 5. Order No. 303 of March 20, 1945 (for the capture of the city of Brownsberg). 6. Order No. 317 of March 29, 1945 (for the liquidation of a group of German troops southwest of Koenigsberg).

14 soldiers and division officers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union , 2 are full holders of the Order of Glory .

• 102nd Rifle Far Eastern Novgorod-Seversky Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division

• Control
• Division Headquarters Battery
• 16th Ussuri Rifle Regiment
• 30th Hassan Rifle Regiment
• 40th Amur Rifle Order of Kutuzov Regiment
• 356th Artillery Far Eastern Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment
• 39th Separate Anti-Tank Fighter Division
• 43rd reconnaissance company
• 10th Engineer Battalion
• 211st Separate Communications Battalion (648th Separate Communications Company)
• 59th Health Battalion
• 21st Separate Chemical Defense Company
• 303rd motor transport company
• 46th field bakery
• 12th Division Veterinary Hospital
• 2218th Field Post Station
• 1784th field office of the State Bank

•   Andreev, Andrey Matveevich (11/25/1942 - 12/05/1943), Major General
• Senchillo, Sergey Yakovlevich (12/06/1943 - 01/29/1944), Major General
• Pogrebnyak, Markian Petrovich (01.30.1944 - 05.09.1945), Colonel

• A. M. Andreev "From the first instant to the last", M. Military Publishing, 1984.
• “Do you remember, comrade ...”, a collection of memoirs of veterans of the 102nd Far Eastern Division. Kursk, 1993. (Compiled by Kondrashov N.E., Isakov P.N., Brzhan V.S.).

• 70th Army in World War II
• Appendix to the Official Site of the Ministry of Defense of Russia
• Directory
• Directory on the website of the club "Memory" Voronezh State University
• Directories and forum on Soldat.ru
• List No. 5 of the rifle, mountain rifle, motor rifle and motorized divisions that were part of the army during the Great Patriotic War (inaccessible link)
• 102nd Rifle Far Eastern Novgorod-Seversky Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov 2nd Degree Division