226th Rifle Division
The 226th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as one of the first reserve rifle divisions following the German invasion of the USSR. After being hastily organized it arrived at the front along the lower Dniepr River as part of 6th Army and in the wake of the German victory in the Kiev encirclement it fell back toward, and then past, Kharkiv and spent the winter fighting in this area. During the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942 it scored early successes but was soon forced back by counterattacking panzers and barely escaped destruction in the first phases of the German summer offensive. After rebuilding in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command the division returned to the front north of Stalingrad where it joined the 66th Army. It took heavy losses in one of the last efforts to break through to the city before Operation Uranus cut off the German 6th Army, but it still played an important role in the reduction of the pocket during Operation Ring and as a result was redesignated as the 95th Guards Rifle Division in May 1943.
A new 226th was formed on July 22 in the 60th Army of Central Front based on two rifle brigades, one of which had fought at Stalingrad. By this time the Battle of Kursk had ended in a Soviet victory and Central Front was already involved in battles to reduce the salient held by German 9th Army around Oryol before breaking out into northeastern Ukraine. The division rapidly won distinctions, including two battle honours and two decorations, by the following February. It forced a crossing of the Dniepr River north of Kyiv in late September, and 23 of its men were made Heroes of the Soviet Union, several posthumously. During the German counterattacks west of Kyiv in late November, it was encircled at Korosten and forced to break out with considerable losses. In May 1944 it was assigned to the 11th Rifle Corps of 18th Army and served in this Corps almost continuously for the duration. The 226th broke into the Carpathian Mountains in the late stages of the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive and thereafter took part in the battles for Czechoslovakia as part of 1st Guards Army and, in the last weeks, 38th Army. Its subunits gained additional honors during this fighting before the division was disbanded in the summer of 1945.
1st Formation
A division numbered as the 226th began forming in March 1941 in the Moscow Military District but in April it was moved to the Kharkov Military District and disbanded to provide a cadre for the 3rd Airborne Brigade.Another division numbered as the 226th officially formed on July 15 at Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, in the Odessa Military District. Its personnel were drawn from militia and reservists from throughout the District and was very short of heavy weapons and equipment of all kinds and had only about six weeks for organizing and training. Once formed, its official order of battle, based on an abbreviated version of the shtat of September 13, 1939, was as follows, although it would be modified, temporarily or permanently, on several occasions:
- 985th Rifle Regiment
- 987th Rifle Regiment
- 989th Rifle Regiment
- 875th Artillery Regiment
- 329th Antitank Battalion
- 409th Antiaircraft Battery
- 348th Reconnaissance Company
- 553rd Sapper Battalion
- 625th Signal Battalion
- 328th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
- 290th Chemical Defense Company
- 417th Motor Transport Company
- 298th Field Bakery
- 52nd Divisional Veterinary Hospital
- 986th Field Postal Station
- 833rd Field Office of the State Bank
On September 2, Colonel Chugunov was replaced by Kombrig Aleksandr Vasilevich Gorbatov. As his old-style rank suggests, this officer had been a victim of the Great Purge; he had been dismissed from the Red Army in September 1937, reinstated in March 1938, and then arrested in October of that year. Sentenced to 15 years imprisonment he worked as a manual laborer in the Kolyma gold mines until he was released and rehabilitated in March 1941. His rank would be modernized to major general on December 27.
Kiev Pocket
At the start of September the Southwestern Front was occupying a deep salient surrounded on three sides by German forces. Army Group Center's 2nd Panzer Group was already pushing south while Army Group South's 1st Panzer Group had forced a crossing of the Dniepr River at Kremenchuk, just northwest of the boundary between 6th Army and Southwestern Front's 38th Army. The situation reached a crisis on September 15 when the two panzer groups linked up at Lokhvytsia. With a huge gap ripped in the Red Army's front, 6th Army redeployed by forced marches to a line running northwest from Krasnohrad to the area northeast of Poltava. By the start of October the 226th was in the reserves of the rebuilding Southwestern Front.Second Battle of Kharkov
As the main German offensive focused on Moscow, Southwestern Front fell back toward Kharkiv, which fell to the German 6th Army on October 24. Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, who was now in command of the Southwestern Theatre, was ordered to establish a line from Kastornoye, along the Oskol River and then to the Mius River. At this time the 226th was in 21st Army of Southwestern Front as part of Operational Group , along with the 81st Rifle Division; by the beginning of December this Group also contained the 297th Rifle Division.In late December, as Army Group Center was being pushed back from Moscow, Timoshenko proposed an operation to retake the Oryol-Kursk region with the 21st and 40th Armies. When the offensive began on January 1, 1942, the objectives had been shifted southward to Oboyan and Kharkiv and over the next 70 days, while gaining ground, the two Armies were unable to reach the latter. Meanwhile, the 6th, 9th and 57th Armies broke the German front along the Donets and carved out a salient up to 75 km deep between Izium and Barvinkove.
During March the 226th was transferred to 38th Army. In the same month it took part in a battle to create a bridgehead over the Donets at Staryi Saltiv, due east of Kharkiv, but took heavy casualties in the process. This would serve as a springboard for the upcoming offensive. This was followed by a major regrouping of the forces of Southwestern Front, which was complicated by the arrival of the spring rasputitsa. Timoshenko submitted a plan to the STAVKA on April 10 which called for a two-pronged offensive to encircle and liberate Kharkiv; 6th Army would attack northward from the IziumBarvenkove salient while the 21st, 28th and 38th Armies would strike westward. The 38th Army strike force would consist of the 226th, 124th and 300th Rifle Divisions plus one regiment of the 81st Division. This would be backed by two tank brigades and almost all of the Army's artillery assets, while the remainder of the 81st and another tank brigade formed the second echelon.
When the offensive began on May 12 the strike force was deployed on the sector of Dragunovka, Peschanoe, and Piatnitskoe within the Staryi Saltiv bridgehead. The 226th was on the right flank, tying in with 28th Army's 13th Guards Rifle Division to the north. These divisions faced the 513th Regiment of the German 294th Infantry Division. Following a 60-minute artillery preparation, including a 15-20-minute air raid, the attack began at 0730 hours and gained up to during the day, with the 226th making the most progress and capturing Hill 124 in the process. It had the 36th Tank Brigade in direct support and by day's end had broken through the German tactical defense before beginning a pursuit of the defeated elements of the 294th and 71st Infantry Divisions and taking the key village of Nepokrytaya after a brief battle.
During the first half of the following day, 38th Army's shock group made impressive gains as the German lines fell back; taking advantage of this success the 13th Guards and 244th Rifle Divisions of 28th Army also advanced. However, starting at 1300 hours, a concerted German counterthrust, led by 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions and supported by three infantry regiments, struck the 124th and 81st Divisions "on the nose" and sent them reeling back. Under this pressure, the shaken rifle divisions withdrew as best they could to the Bolshaia Babka River. Overnight on May 13/14 the 226th retook Nepokrytaya and attempted to develop this success to Mikhailovka Pervaya. By morning the two panzer divisions had concentrated their main forces and at 1000 hours attacked toward Peremoga with air support. The division was forced to again abandon Nepokrytaya and withdraw to the Bolshaia Babka. While German efforts to reduce the Staryi Saltiv bridgehead were repulsed these reverses temporarily ended 38th Army's role in the offensive.
38th Army went back to the attack on May 18; the 226th and 124th Divisions gained up to 2 km and the depleted tank brigades were ordered to exploit, but this came to nothing. While this was happening a disaster was brewing in the IziumBarvenkove salient where three Soviet armies were encircled by May 24 and soon destroyed. The 226th escaped this fate, but had been significantly depleted during the offensive.
Operation Wilhelm
In the aftermath of the offensive the 28th Army took over responsibility for the defenses of the Staryi Saltiv bridgehead and the 226th came under its command. As a preliminary to the main German summer offensive Gen. F. Paulus, commander of 6th Army, intended to eliminate the bridgehead in a pincer attack in order to gain crossing points over the Donets. Altogether the bridgehead contained seven rifle divisions, all of which were understrength, backed by four weak tank brigades, three more rifle divisions and three cavalry divisions. The assault began early on June 10 and took the defenders by surprise. The four infantry divisions of VIII Army Corps took only two days to clear the bridgehead and capture Vovchansk. Meanwhile, the III Motorized Corps broke through the defenses of 38th Army to the south. Under the circumstances the 28th Army began retreating almost as soon as the German attack was underway. Rainy weather began on June 11 and this slowed the advance, along with defensive actions and counterattacks by the tank brigades. By the time the pincers closed on June 15 most of the Soviet forces had escaped, losing 24,800 men taken prisoner.On June 21 General Gorbatov left the division to take up the post of inspector of cavalry for Southwestern Front. He eventually became commander of the 3rd Army and commandant of Berlin postwar, and gained the rank of army general before his retirement, as well as being made a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was replaced by Col. Matvei Alekseevich Usenko. This officer had previously commanded the 1st Airborne Corps and the 2nd Cavalry Corps, but on May 16 had had his rank reduced from major general to colonel after having been given a suspended sentence for "unskillful command of forces" on April 9.