56th Guards Rifle Division

The 56th Guards Rifle Division was formed from the composition of the 74th and 91st separate Stalin Volunteer Rifle Brigades ^[1] , by the directive of the deputy NPO of the USSR No. org / 2/133681 of April 19, 1943 ^[2] on the basis of the order of the Supreme High Command of April 16, 1943 as part of the 19th Stalin Guards Siberian Rifle Corps ^[3] . The formation of the division took place from May 6 to 15, 1943, in the vicinity of the city of Gzhatsk . On July 4, 1943, at the ceremonial construction, Lieutenant General Povetkin handed the Red Banner of the Guard to the division commander, Guard Colonel Kolobutin. Until July 13, 1943, units of the division were engaged in combat training.

The period of entry into the army: May 15, 1943 - May 9, 1945 ^[4] .

On the night of July 29, 1943, the division replaced the defending units of the 85th Guards Rifle Division on the front of Sergeevka, Shilovo, Raevsky. From August 7 to August 25, 1943, the division participated in the breakthrough of the strongly fortified enemy strip north-west of Spas-Demensk . On August 29, units of the division breaking through the enemy’s defenses on the Ugra River began a rapid pursuit with enemy battles, which contributed to the capture of the city of Yelnya .

On September 3, 1943, breaking through a heavily fortified defensive line under the Nezhoda station, units of the division made a quick roundabout maneuver and participated in the liberation of the city of Smolensk , for which the division was awarded the honorary name Smolenskaya.

On September 28, 1943, the division, together with other parts of the 19th Guards Rifle Corps, participated in the liberation of the settlements of Krasny and Zverovichi .

On October 23, 1943, the division reached the approaches to the city of Orsha north of the Dnieper River , overcame the enemy’s strong resistance west of the Verkhit River and started fierce battles for the capture of Osistroy.

On December 23, 1943, the division was redeployed to the Senchita district of the Velikoluksky district , where it became part of the 2nd Baltic Front .

• 254th Guards Rifle Regiment
• 256th Guards Rifle Regiment
• 258th Guards Rifle Regiment
• 189th Guards Artillery Regiment
• 91st separate guards anti-tank fighter division
• 87th Guards Reconnaissance Company
• 97th Guards Engineer Battalion
• 117th Separate Guards Communications Company
• 567th (92nd) Health Battalion
• 88th Separate Guards Chemical Defense Company
• 625th (90th) motor transport company
• 642nd (86th) field bakery
• 649th (84th) Division Veterinary Hospital
• 2061st Field Post Station
• The 1221st box office of the State Bank ^{[4] [1]}

• Kolobutin, Anatoly Ivanovich (03/19/1943 - 10/30/1944), guard colonel
• Boyko, Fedor Pavlovich (10/31/1944 - 12/31/1944), Guard Colonel
• Krovyakov, Ivan Filatovich (01/13/1945 - 05/09/1945), Guard Colonel ^{[6] [7]}

• Feskov V.I., Kalashnikov K.A., Golikov V.I. Chapter 2. Rifle and airborne troops, fortified areas of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War // Red Army in victories and defeats 1941-1945 .. - Tomsk: Publishing house of Tomsk University, 2003. - 619 p. - ISBN 5-7511-1624-0 .

• Feskov V.I., Golikov V.I., Kalashnikov K.A., Slugin S.A. Ground Forces // Armed Forces of the USSR after the Second World War from the Red Army to the Soviet. - 1st. - Tomsk: NTL, 2013 .-- 640 p. - ISBN 978-5-89503-530-6 .

• Formation and combat path of the 56th Guards Smolensk Red Banner Rifle Division (1) - Document (unopened) . refdb.ru. Date of treatment June 9, 2018.
• 56th Guards Rifle Smolensk Red Banner Division (Neopr.) . altaikdm.ru. Date of treatment June 9, 2018.
• 56 Guards Smolensk Order of the Red Banner Rifle Division - MUSEUM OF BATTLE GLORY (Russian) . museum.gym42.ru. Date of treatment June 9, 2018.
• Memory of the people :: Combat Journal 56 guards. sd The period from 05/06/1943 to 10/27/1944 (neopr.) . pamyat-naroda.ru. Date of treatment June 9, 2018.