245th Rifle Division
The 245th Rifle Division was formed in the Moscow Military District as a reserve infantry division of the Red Army just days after the German invasion of the USSR. It was based on the shtat of April 5, 1941 with modifications due to the emergency. Initially assigned to 29th Army in Reserve Front it was soon reassigned to 34th Army in Northwestern Front and took part in the fighting around Staraya Russa in mid-August before retreating eastward, where it was involved in the dismal battles around Demyansk through 1942 and into early 1943. After the German II Army Corps evacuated the Demyansk salient in February the division advanced with 34th Army back to Staraya Russa, planning to take it by storm, but this effort failed and the 245th was again faced with siege warfare that continued into October when it was moved west to join the 22nd Army and soon after the 3rd Shock Army in the fighting west of Nevel. Following a brief period for restoration in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command it was reassigned to 42nd Army in the last stages of the Leningrad–Novgorod offensive and served along the east shores of Lake Peipus during the spring of 1944. When the summer offensive into the Baltic states began the 245th was part of 3rd Baltic Front and advanced through Latvia and Estonia under several commands, winning a battle honor in the process. After the liberation of Riga in mid-October the Front was disbanded and the much-depleted division was available for deployment elsewhere. Prior to the invasion of Poland and Germany it was transferred to the 59th Army of 1st Ukrainian Front, where it took over the men, materiel, and battle honor of the 379th Rifle Division. In January 1945 it took part in the Vistula-Oder Offensive as part of 115th Rifle Corps, and later in the Lower and Upper Silesian Offensives. During the latter it was distinguished for its part in the capture of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin with the Order of the Red Banner, while two of its rifle regiments received decorations for their part in the fighting near Oppeln. The 245th ended the war near Prague; it would be disbanded during the summer.
Formation
The 245th began forming on June 26 at Vyshny Volochyok in the Kalinin Oblast. Once formed the division had the following order of battle:- 898th Rifle Regiment
- 901st Rifle Regiment
- 904th Rifle Regiment
- 770th Artillery Regiment
- 773rd Howitzer Artillery Regiment
- 301st Antitank Battalion
- 322nd Reconnaissance Company
- 411th Sapper Battalion
- 663rd Signal Battalion
- 276th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
- 241st Chemical Defense Company
- 310th Auto Transport Company
- 37th Field Bakery
- 90th Divisional Veterinary Hospital Later 368th)
- 3814th Field Postal Station
- 314th Field Office of the State Bank
Defense of Leningrad
On August 6 the 245th was reassigned, with 34th Army, to Northwestern Front. Three days later the German X Army Corps of 16th Army seized Staraya Russa, a vital transportation hub in a nearly roadless region. This left a 48km-wide gap between it and the II Army Corps at Kholm. In response to an overambitious plan proposed by Lt. Gen. N. F. Vatutin, the chief of staff of the Front, the STAVKA issued orders late that day: In the event, this plan was partly preempted when X Corps attacked toward Novgorod on August 10, disrupting the 11th and 48th Armies' attacks.34th Army, spearheaded by the 202nd and 163rd Motorized Rifle Divisions, which were now in 34th Army, joined the 25th Cavalry Division in a lunge that pushed 40km westward through the German defensive cordon and reached the Staraya Russa–Dno rail line early on August 14. This determined assault enveloped X Corps in Staraya Russa, separated it from II Army Corps on its right flank and threatened the rear of the main German panzer force advancing on Novgorod. The situation was restored by August 22 through the intervention of the LVI Motorized Corps and three days later the 34th and 11th Armies had been driven back to the line of the Lovat. Although suffering heavy losses the operation delayed Army Group North's drive on Leningrad for another 10 days which may have been decisive in keeping the city in Soviet hands.
Although the 245th survived this first battle, on August 28 Kombrig Korchits left his command and was replaced by Col. Vasilii Nikolaevich Nichushkin. Korchits took over the 182nd Rifle Division in January 1942, and then served as deputy commander of 34th Army beginning in August, when his rank was modernized to major general. He later served as chief of staff of 1st Shock Army until he was transferred to the Polish Armed Forces in the East in May 1944. He later filled many senior positions in the Polish military and government before returning to the USSR and retiring in 1954. Nichushkin held the position for just three weeks before he was replaced by Col. Fyodor Petrovich Ozerov, who had been serving as chief of staff of 34th Army; he was promoted to major general on October 7.
Battles for Demyansk
Following the Staraya Russa fighting the commander of Army Group North, Field Marshal W. J. F. von Leeb, resolved to ensure that his right flank was secure before beginning the final push on Leningrad. Constant Soviet attacks from the Valdai Hills region enticed 16th Army to keep pushing farther eastward. Given the losses the 34th Army had suffered and the priority for Soviet reinforcements on the Moscow and Leningrad axes there was little it could do to stop this advance, although the 11th and 27th Armies held firm on the flanks. Demyansk was taken in early September, but by now the LVI Motorized Corps was in an absurd position at the end of a single 90km-long dirt road through swamps back to the railhead at Staraya Russa.LVI Motorized was soon withdrawn in preparation for the renewed offensive on Moscow, and was replaced by II Corps. As winter began to arrive in October the 16th Army's offensive came to a halt and a period of stalemate settled over the area. Once the German efforts to take Leningrad and Moscow were defeated the STAVKA began planning a general offensive to begin on January 10, 1942. 34th Army was now under command of Maj. Gen. N. E. Berzarin and was deployed in the central sector of the Front. It was tasked with encircling and destroying the German forces in Demyansk. Berzarin formed two division-sized shock groups to support the efforts of 11th and 3rd Shock Armies but otherwise to fix as much of German 16th Army in place as possible with diversionary attacks. The first shock group was based on the 254th Rifle Division which faced the weakened 290th Infantry Division. Beginning on January 10 the 254th infiltrated the positions of the 290th with ski troops through frozen marshes and cut the supplies of three company-sized strongpoints which were gradually eliminated by the rest of Berzarin's forces.
At the beginning of February, the 290th Infantry was still holding east of the Pola River but its II Corps and several other German units were vulnerable to encirclement at Demyansk. The bridge at Davidovo over the Redya River was the target for 11th Army's 1st Guards Rifle Corps and was taken on February 5, after which the Corps reached the village of Ramushevo on the Lovat three days later, cutting the last road to Demyansk. The 290th was virtually surrounded with Soviet ski troops operating freely in its rear. To avoid annihilation it was permitted to pull back south from the Pola. On February 25 the full encirclement of II Corps was completed. The STAVKA ordered that Northwestern Front should crush the pocketed force within four or five days; meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from Germany and the airlifting of supplies was well underway.
The German attempt to relieve the pocket, Operation Brückenschlag, began on March 21 but the linkup with the besieged grouping was not achieved until April 21. The so-called "Ramushevo corridor" was less than 4km wide and often under Soviet artillery fire so II Corps was still heavily dependent on air supply. During this period, on April 2 General Ozerov left the 245th; he was soon given command of 27th Army and would be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in September 1943, ending the war in command of 50th Army. He was replaced by Col. Vasilii Adamovich Senkevich who had previously served as deputy commander of the 188th Rifle Division. From May to October Northwestern Front made several attempts to sever the corridor. German engineers turned the area into a fortified zone, complete with deep barbed wire obstacles and extensive minefields. 11th Army was on the north side of the corridor while 1st Shock Army held the south side; 34th and 53rd Armies covered the remainder of the salient. On October 26 Colonel Senkevich left the division to attend the Voroshilov Academy; he would later serve in a variety of staff appointments. He was replaced by Col. Konstantin Timofeevich Ilyin, who had previously led the 1st formation of the 422nd Rifle Division and its successor, the 397th Rifle Division.
Operation ''Polyarnaya Zvezda''
The commander of Northwestern Front, Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, submitted yet another plan to liquidate the salient to the STAVKA on January 14, 1943. In a departure from the previous plans which focused on cutting the corridor, Timoshenko proposed to lead with shock groups from the 34th and 53rd Armies "in order to deprive the enemy of the opportunity to maneuver his forces." The 34th's shock group was to consist of the 245th and 175th Rifle Divisions, 161st Rifle Brigade, 60th Tank Brigade, and artillery support. The overall plan was approved on January 17, but before it could be carried out it was preempted by Marshal G. K. Zhukov's larger plan, Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda, for the destruction of Army Group North and the liberation of the entire Leningrad region.Unbeknown to the Soviet command, on January 31 the German High Command ordered that the Demyansk salient be evacuated, in the wake of the encirclement and upcoming destruction of 6th Army at Stalingrad. The division had been earmarked for Northwestern Front's part in Polyarnaya Zvezda, which began on February 15, but made only marginal gains against the 329th Infantry Division. Operation Ziethen began on February 17; 34th Army attempted to harass the withdrawing forces, primarily with ski troops, but the German withdrawal freed up the reserves they needed to reinforce their lines along the Lovat, and the "pursuit" through the devastated landscape achieved little.