222nd Rifle Division
The 222nd Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed in the months just before the start of the German invasion, based on the shtat of September 13, 1939. It was formed at Starodub and was considered a "sister" to the 217th Rifle Division. It first saw action in July 1941 as part of 28th Army in the fighting between Smolensk and Roslavl and the division took heavy casualties when it was partly encircled and forced to abandon the latter city in early August. It was again encircled during Operation Typhoon but managed to escape complete destruction and soon came under command of 33rd Army, where it remained for almost the entire length of the war.
During the counteroffensive west of Moscow the division gained ground but was eventually encircled with the rest of its Army and forced to break out again, with substantial losses. It recovered over the following months before joining the summer offensive of 1943, retaking much of the territory it had lost two years earlier, and being awarded a battle honor for the liberation of Smolensk and Roslavl. Over the fall and winter the 222nd took part in the grinding offensives toward Orsha and Vitebsk. During the spring of 1944 it was moved to 2nd Belorussian Front and fought as part of 49th Army in the first stage of Operation Bagration before moving back to 33rd Army, and won the Order of the Red Banner while its commander became a Hero of the Soviet Union. After advancing nearly to the border with East Prussia it was moved with its Army to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and transferred to 1st Belorussian Front. It broke out from the Puławy bridgehead in the first stage of the Vistula-Oder Offensive and advanced across Poland, gaining additional distinctions in the process. In the final offensive into Germany it drove south of Berlin toward the Elbe River and after the German surrender three of its regiments were decorated for their part in the destruction of German forces en route. The 222nd fought from the first to the last but was soon disbanded.
Formation
The division began forming on March 22, 1941, at Starodub in the Oryol Military District. When completed it had the following order of battle, although it would be modified, temporarily or permanently, on several occasions:- 757th Rifle Regiment
- 774th Rifle Regiment
- 787th Rifle Regiment
- 666th Artillery Regiment
- 722nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment
- 43rd Antitank Battalion
- 297th Reconnaissance Company
- 389th Sapper Battalion
- 602nd Signal Battalion
- 391st Medical/Sanitation Battalion
- 309th Chemical Defense Company
- 261st Motor Transport Company
- 351st Field Bakery
- 124th Divisional Veterinary Hospital
- 317th Field Postal Station
- 42nd Field Office of the State Bank
Battle for Roslavl
By July 10 the 217th had joined the 222nd and the 145th Rifle Divisions in 33rd Corps, which was still in the Reserve. 28th Army was under command of Lt. Gen. V. I. Kachalov and by late July was being referred to as Group Kachalov. The Group consisted of the 222nd, 145th and 149th Rifle Divisions plus the 104th Tank Division on July 23 as Army Group Center was trying to eliminate the Soviet forces that were partly encircled near Smolensk. The latter two rifle divisions attacked northward along the RoslavlSmolensk road with 104th Tanks on the right flank and the 222nd remaining west of Roslavl to protect the left. This made some progress against Großdeutschland Motorized Regiment and a battlegroup of 18th Panzer Division, driving them back toward Pochinok and Yelnya. The Soviet forces had a tendency to make costly frontal attacks without adequate tank or artillery support and this effort was halted by the end of July 27. The next day the 222nd relieved a composite regiment that Kachalov had cobbled together and the following day was ordered to defend the city of Roslavl.On July 29 the STAVKA ordered Kachalov to bring the 21st Mountain Cavalry and 52nd Cavalry Divisions forward from the Army reserve to protect his left flank west of Roslavl and reorganize to renew his attacks. At the same time Army Group Center was planning to eliminate Group Kachalov with its XXIV Panzer Corps. At this time Roslavl was 65km beyond the German front lines. As of August 1 the 222nd had been reassigned to Reserve Front's 43rd Army, joining the 217th and 53rd Rifle Divisions. The German attack began the same day and quickly broke through Kachalov's left flank before wheeling east along the Roslavl road, led by 4th Panzer Division. The assault overran the two cavalry divisions, splitting them apart and forcing them to with withdraw in disorder before turning the 222nd's left flank. The panzers were joined by infantry of VII Army Corps advancing on the city from the west and the division was effectively routed. Somewhat late, Kachalov ordered antitank reinforcements to the sector, but the end of August 2 4th Panzer was within 15km of the western outskirts of Roslavl. In spite of this threat, under pressure from the STAVKA Kachalov continued to order attacks to the north, which were effectively suicidal under the circumstances.
Roslavl fell to 4th Panzer on August 3, blocking the highway to Moscow and encircling the bulk of Group Kachalov. At 1730 hours the chief of staff of Reserve Front, Maj. Gen. P. I. Lyapin, managed to get a report to his new commander, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov, describing the previous and current day's events:Zhukov began taking measures to rescue Group Kachalov, including the 774th Regiment. He ordered the commander of 43rd Army, Lt. Gen. I. G. Zakharin, to reinforce his defenses along the Desna River. He also radioed orders to Kachalov as to how he was to withdraw and link up with the remainder of the 222nd, but this officer was killed in a skirmish north of Roslavl on August 4. His deputy chief-of-staff, Maj. Gen. F. A. Zuev, took over and overnight directed the 774th Regiment, with two battalions of artillery, to provide a rearguard for the Group as it attempted to break out.
At 0312 hours on August 5, Zhukov contacted Zuev with "instructions", in which he put the bulk of the blame for the situation on Bobrov and his division:Just after midnight on August 7, Reserve Front reported to the STAVKA what had happened in the pocket based on the testimony of survivors. According to German sources Group Kachalov lost 80 percent of its initial force, including 250 tanks and other tracked vehicles, 713 guns and almost 2,000 trucks and other vehicles.
Battle of Yelnya
As the situation stabilized by the end of August 14 the 43rd Army had established its headquarters as Kirov and had the 53rd, 217th and 222nd Rifle, 105th Tank, and 106th Motorized Divisions, plus significant artillery assets, under command. The STAVKA began planning for a new offensive against Army Group Guderian and issued orders at 0235 hours on August 25 which directed the 222nd and 53rd Divisions to defend the Army's positions at Spas-Demensk and Kirov while the remainder of the Army attacked toward Roslavl on August 30 in conjunction with 24th Army. This effort initially went well as four divisions thrust across the Desna and penetrated the VII Corps' defenses between its 23rd and 197th Infantry Divisions. After an advance of up to 6km westward the group was halted the following day by German reserves and after the 211th Rifle Division was routed it and the other attacking Soviet divisions broke off their attack and retreated back to the Desna's eastern bank.Operation Typhoon
By the end of September the division was operating under a hybrid shtat. It was still authorized the same number of mortars as prewar but the artillery and machine guns had been cut in half as per the July wartime shtat; it would officially lose its howitzer regiment on October 15. Although there is no official documentation of this type of organization available it may have been a local emergency authorization. In any case the division was understrength. On October 1 it was still in 43rd Army of Reserve Front and had 9,446 personnel on strength, but only 72 of 163 LMGs authorized; 38 of 108 HMGs; 19 of 81 50mm, 8 of 54 82mm, and 2 of 18 120mm mortars required. There were only 25 artillery pieces in the division, including regimental guns, plus 13 antitank guns and no antiaircraft weapons at all. At this time the 757th Rifle Regiment had been redesignated as, or replaced by, the 457th Regiment.Despite these shortages the division continued to act on the offensive; on September 24 it had joined with the 145th Tank Brigade in an attempt to drive German forces from a bridgehead they held on the east bank of the Striana River. 43rd Army was defending a 70km-wide sector covering the Yukhnov axis with three rifle divisions in first echelon and one in second echelon; the 222nd and 211th Divisions were protecting the left flank. By this time intelligence indicated that German forces were massing on the RoslavlSpas-Demensk axis. At 0615 hours on October 2 a 15-minute artillery preparation began along the Army's entire sector, followed by the actual assault. The 222nd was struck by one infantry division while the 211th faced a division and part of another, along with a battalion of tanks. By noon the front had been breached, following which a panzer and a motorized division were committed through the gap toward Spas-Demensk. The next day it became clear that the entire Army was in an unauthorized retreat into the sector of Marshal S. M. Budyonny's Bryansk Front and he ordered the 222nd to come under his operational control while 43rd Army took up a line along the Snopot River. The division was subordinated to 24th Army by the morning of October 6 and Budyonny ordered that Army to defend the line of the Ushitsa River to Gorodechnia. During the previous day German reports claimed that it had been encircled and crushed south and southeast of Spas-Demensk.
Through this chaos Colonel Bobrov managed to maintain control of the remnants of his division and by the evening of October 6 it was located in the area of Moloshino along with the badly damaged 8th Rifle Division and 144th Tank Brigade. At this time the 24th Army was fighting in semi-encirclement which became total on October 8. The next morning the 222nd, along with many of the Army's other retreating elements, began to arrive in the area of Panfilovo and to the south. Bobrov led his troops to the north during the breakout, rather than the east as the German command expected. During this action he sustained a shoulder wound but managed to cross the German lines with his remaining troops near Naro-Fominsk and they were soon put back in the line near there and Kubinka while Bobrov reported to hospital, being replaced in command on October 15 by Col. Timofei Yakovlevich Novikov. By the beginning of November the division came under command of the rebuilding 33rd Army in Western Front. With two brief exceptions it would remain in this Army for the duration of the war.