153rd Infantry Division (1st formation)

In August 1940, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Union, the 153rd Infantry Division ^[1] was created in Sverdlovsk , later transformed into the 3rd Guards Rifle Division .

From August 1940 to June 1941, the division was engaged in combat training in the Kamyshlovsky camps as part of the Ural Military District .

In the first half of June 1941, by order of the People’s Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the division as part of the 62nd Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Second Strategic Echelon of the Red Army was transferred to Vitebsk . By June 22, 1941 , the day of the German attack on the USSR , the first three echelons of the division had already arrived in Vitebsk . All parts of the division concentrated in Vitebsk only by June 27, 1941. The division, unloading in Vitebsk, was staffed in peacetime (6,000 soldiers and commanders ( officers )). In connection with the declaration of war on June 22-27, 1941, units of the division were hastily understaffed with personnel, armaments and equipment. The replenishment that arrived at the division was often unsecured, however, after a week the division was quite combat-ready.

At the same time as understaffing, units of the division on June 26, 1941 took up defense on a wide front at the turn: Gnezdilovichi , Kholm , and TSW. Walkers , Moshkans , Bourdelles , Art. Krynki. At the same time, the advanced detachments of the division entered the area: Ulla-2 (435 joint ventures), Beshenkovichi (reconnaissance battalion of the division), Verkhovye (according to OT 666 joint ventures), Senno (according to OT 505 joint ventures).

On July 5, 1941, advanced detachments at these lines entered into battle with large motorized forces of the enemy breaking through to Vitebsk. July 7, 1941 the main forces of the division entered the battle in the areas of: Gnezdilovichi , Shchikotovschina , Pavlovichi , farm. The walkers . The enemy, with large forces of motorized infantry and tanks, developing the offensive , tried to break through to the city of Vitebsk along the Beshenkovichi - Vitebsk highway, and on July 7, 1941 approached the line of defense of the division. Throughout the day, the units fought fierce battles with the advancing enemy and, inflicting heavy losses on him, stopped his advance towards the city along the highway. The German units, waging battles with the defending parts of the division, simultaneously launched large-scale attacks on Vitebsk : along the Polotsk - Vitebsk highway and to the south along the Senno - Bogushevsk highway, thus bypassing the division from the north and south. On July 8, 1941, in connection with the emerging threat of encirclement by the enemy, the division partially regrouped its forces, and took up defense at the line of Gnezdilovichi , Kholm , and TSW. Walkers, Moshkans, Shchemilovka.

These battles were extremely fierce. The enemy repeatedly tried to break through the defense of the units and subunits of the division, but having not achieved success and having suffered heavy losses in people and equipment, he refused the frontal breakthrough of the division’s defense. Having broken through the defense of neighboring units to the right and left, with large forces of infantry and tanks, he began to bypass parts of the division from the north and south. Continuing the offensive north and south of the defending units of the division, by the end of July 10, 1941, the enemy, having broken through the Gorodok - Vitebsk and Polotsk - Vitebsk highways, took control of the western part of the city of Vitebsk , going directly to the western bank of the Zapadnaya Dvina River . Developing the offensive in the direction of Smolensk , its motorized units bypassed the division.

Since July 11, 1941, the division has been surrounded in the area of ​​the settlements of Popovka , Karpovichi , and the village of Krynki , which are 8, 14 and 22 km, respectively, southeast of the city of Vitebsk . By the morning of July 17, 1941, the division with its main forces entered the area: Sleptsi, Loguny, Karoli, which are 17, 14 and 18 km respectively southwest of the large settlement of Liozno (Vitebsk region). On August 5, 1941, inclusive, the division left the encirclement. By August, about 1,000 soldiers and commanders (officers) remained from its original composition (6,000 people). From July 20 to August 5, 1941, the documents of the division and higher headquarters were not found in the Archives of the USSR Ministry of Defense .

From August 6 to 22, 1941, the division conducted military operations on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River and on the western bank to expand the bridgehead in the areas of Ratchino, Lyakhovo , Golovino.

From August 22 to September 6, 1941, the division conducted military operations in the area of ​​249.9 altitude on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River , and then on the western bank.

From September 6 to September 20, 1941, the division was in the reserve of the 20th Army , and then in the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and was understaffed in the city of Kalinin .

On September 18, 1941, by order of the People’s Commissar of Defense No. 308, the 153rd Infantry Division was renamed the 3rd Guards Rifle Division .

• Western Special Military District , 22nd Army , 62nd Rifle Corps (from mid-June to July 1941);
• Western Front , 20th Army (July - early August 1941);
• Western Front , 16th Army (August - early September 1941);
• Western Front , Reserve 20th Army (from September 6 to September 18, 1941).

• Management ( headquarters )
• 435th Infantry Regiment ;
• 505th Infantry Regiment;
• 666th Infantry Regiment;
• 565th light artillery regiment;
• 581st howitzer artillery regiment,
• 150th separate anti-tank defense division,
• 460th separate anti-aircraft artillery division,
• 238th separate reconnaissance company;
• 208th separate combat engineer battalion;
• 297th Separate Battalion of Communications;
• 362nd Separate Health Battalion;
• 162nd separate chemical defense company;
• 190th motor transport company;
• 303rd field postal station;
• 356th box office of the State Bank

• Hagen, Nikolai Alexandrovich (July 16, 1940 - September 18, 1941), Colonel

• General base. Military scientific management. “Collection of combat documents of the Great Patriotic War. Issue 32. " - Moscow: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, 1957.
• Stantsev V. T. "Divo Division". - Yekaterinburg, ARGO, 1995.126 p.
• Stadnyuk I.F. War: Roman. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1987. - “Library Series”.

• Vladimir Martov. Belarusian Chronicles, 1941
• Do not forget!
• O. I. Nuzhdin. Ural State University. NEVEL DEFENSE OPERATION OF THE 22nd ARMY
• Military-patriotic club "Memory" at Voronezh State University