230th Rifle Division


The 230th 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 joined the fighting front along the lower Dniepr River as part of 6th Army. After the German victory east of Kyiv, it retreated into the Donbas as part of 12th Army and spent the winter in the fighting around Rostov-on-Don. When the German 1942 summer offensive began, it was driven back, now as part of 37th Army, and largely encircled near Millerovo. While not destroyed, by late August it was so depleted that it was disbanded.
A new 230th was formed in late June 1943 based on a Siberian rifle brigade. After an inauspicious debut, the division was briefly removed from the fighting front for additional training. After returning, it soon earned a battle honor in the battles in the Donbas before advancing to the Dniepr River. Through this time it was part of 5th Shock Army and through most of the remainder of the war it would be under this command. In February 1944 it and its 9th Rifle Corps entered 3rd Ukrainian Front and remained there through the advance into western Ukraine and the fighting along the Dniester River and into Moldova. In early September, 5th Shock was removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and redeployed to 1st Belorussian Front in eastern Poland in preparation for the advance on the German capital. During the offensive all three of the division's rifle regiments were recognized for their roles in the fighting for East Pomerania, and the 230th as a whole was later decorated for its part in the battle of Berlin, while several of its subunits also received distinctions. In October 1945 the division began converting to a mechanized infantry division and served in this role near Moscow until it was disbanded in 1947.

1st Formation

A division numbered as the 230th began forming in March 1941 in the Odessa Military District but in April it was moved to the Kharkov Military District and disbanded to provide a cadre for the 4th Airborne Brigade.
Another division numbered as the 230th officially formed on July 10 at Dnepropetrovsk in the Odessa Military District. Its personnel were drawn from militia and reservists from throughout the District, which were 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:
  • 986th Rifle Regiment
  • 988th Rifle Regiment
  • 990th Rifle Regiment
  • 805th Artillery Regiment
  • 370th Artillery Regiment
  • 330th Antitank Battalion
  • 436th Antiaircraft Battery
  • 349th Reconnaissance Company
  • 552nd Sapper Battalion
  • 624th Signal Battalion
  • 327th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
  • 289th Chemical Defense Company
  • 718th Motor Transport Company
  • 374th Field Bakery
  • 54th Divisional Veterinary Hospital
  • 261st Field Postal Station
  • 827th Field Office of the State Bank
Col. Gavriil Antonovich Kutalev was appointed to command on the day the division formed, but he would be replaced on August 2 by Col. Fyodor Vasilevich Zakharov. This officer would lead the 230th for the remainder of its 1st formation and would be promoted to the rank of major general on May 21, 1942. By the beginning of August the Odessa Military District had come under command of Southern Front, and as of August 5 it was considered part of the active army. On August 31 the 230th was assigned to the 6th Army, which was rebuilding after having been destroyed near Uman at the beginning of the month.

Battles in the Donbas

By this time the 1st Panzer Group had occupied the bend of the Dniepr River opposite and south of Dnepropetrovsk, although an attempt to take that city was foiled in part because Red Army engineers had blown the dam and the hydroelectric station on August 18. The panzer group later shifted northwest and crossed at Kremenchuk, soon driving north to encircle and destroy most of Southwestern Front east of Kyiv in the first weeks of September. This disaster did not directly affect 6th Army and later in the month the 230th was moved farther south to join 12th Army.
While the German offensive focus now turned to Moscow and Leningrad, Army Group South was ordered to advance on Kharkiv, the Donbas and Rostov-na-Donu. Attacking from the march south of Poltava the 1st Panzer Army quickly smashed the defenses of 12th Army then raced on to Melitopol, encircling six divisions of Southern Front's 9th and 18th Armies on October 7. The panzers then pursued along the coast of the Sea of Azov, reaching the Mius River on the 13th before halting to regroup. As of the start of November the retreating 12th Army had just five weakened rifle divisions under command. During the pause in operations the Army took up new defenses along the Mius along with the escaped elements of the 9th and 18th and the newly arrived 56th Army. On November 21 the 1st Panzer Army captured Rostov but the thrust to reach the city opened a gap between it and 17th Army to the west that was soon exploited by 37th Army. Shortly after the 9th and 56th Armies attacked the southern and eastern flanks of 1st Panzer and by November 29 had cleared the city.

Case Blue

In January 1942 the 230th was reassigned again, now to 37th Army, where it remained into the spring. This Army largely escaped the defeat of the northern armies of the Front in the Second Battle of Kharkov, but was left facing the southern prong of the German summer offensive on an overextended frontage. The 1st Panzer and 17th Armies launched their attack on July 7. 37th Army was positioned south of the Donets and north of Artemivsk with four divisions, including the 230th, in the first echelon and one in reserve, supported by just 46 tanks of the 121st Tank Brigade, and was soon falling back north of the river and eastward north of Luhansk in the face of the advance by 1st Panzer. By dawn on July 15 the 3rd Panzer Division of 4th Panzer Army had linked up with 14th Panzer of 1st Panzer Army 40km south of Millerovo. This appeared to seal the fate of up to five Soviet armies, including the 37th, but the encirclement was never really closed; the cordon was porous at best as the German infantry lagged behind. Some remnants of 37th Army managed to escape eastward over the following days although German sources identified the 230th as one of the Red Army divisions "destroyed" in the pocket. As of July 25 a report of the defensive dispositions of Southern Front stated remnants of the division were still under command of 37th Army, helping to hold a sector 50–115km east of Rostov.
As of August 1 the 230th was part of the Don Operational Group of North Caucasian Front and was attempting to hold south of the Manych River against Army Group "A", but the Front's armies were too weak to do more than delay and degrade the German advance. Later in the month the division, now down to an effective strength of well under 2,000 personnel, was taking up positions along the Terek River between the German forces and the direct route to the Baku oil fields. As it was no longer combat effective the 230th was officially disbanded on August 23 to provide reinforcements for other units in the Front. General Zakharov had already been given command of the 2nd Guards Rifle Division and he would go on to lead the 22nd Guards Rifle Corps for most of the rest of the war.

2nd Formation

A new 230th Rifle Division was formed in the 1st Guards Army on June 29, 1943, based on the 229th Rifle Brigade, in Southwestern Front and was immediately assigned to the 33rd Rifle Corps.

229th Rifle Brigade

This unit was formed in March 1942 from military students and training units near Chita in Transbaikal Front. As a result, it was known both as the "Chitinskoi" brigade and as a Student brigade. In July it was shipped to the west and assigned to the reserves of Bryansk Front. At that time it had the following composition:
  • 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Rifle Battalions
  • 1 Mortar Battalion
  • 1 Artillery Battalion
  • Reconnaissance, Sapper and Signal Companies
In August the brigade entered the front lines in 38th Army, and in September during the fighting along the upper Don River it was shifted to 40th Army in Voronezh Front. By the end of October it was sent back to the Volga Military District to be rebuilt after heavy casualties in the largely fruitless attacks of the previous months. It returned to action in January 1943, now as part of Southwestern Front, just in time to swept up in the German counteroffensive at Kharkiv in February while serving with 1st Guards Army. When the fighting died down later that month the brigade was assigned to the 19th Rifle Corps in the same Army. This Corps was redesignated as 29th Guards Rifle Corps on April 16 and in May the 229th was moved to 33rd Corps where it remained until it was converted to the 230th Division.
Once it completed forming the new division had an order of battle similar to that of the 1st formation:
  • 986th Rifle Regiment
  • 988th Rifle Regiment
  • 990th Rifle Regiment
  • 370th Artillery Regiment
  • 330th Antitank Battalion
  • 349th Reconnaissance Company
  • 554th Sapper Battalion
  • 624th Signal Battalion
  • 327th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
  • 289th Chemical Defense Company
  • 418th Motor Transport Company
  • 555th Field Bakery
  • 54th Divisional Veterinary Hospital
  • 2049th Field Postal Station
  • 1268th Field Office of the State Bank
The commander of 229th Brigade, Col. Andrei Antonovich Ukrainskii, continued to lead the new division. The personnel were noted as being 60 percent of Ukrainian nationality, 15 percent Turkmens, and only about 25 percent Russians and Siberians. Given the origins of the 229th in Siberia it can be seen that well over half of the 230th were new to the unit and not part of the parent formation.