214th Rifle Division

When the division arrived in Lt. Gen. F. A. Ershakov's 22nd Army the German Army Group Center had captured Vitebsk but the Army was attempting to hold what remained of the Dvina River line from the Polotsk Fortified Region east toward Haradok. The commander of Western Front, Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, issued orders late on July 12 for Ershakov to carry out a counterattack the following morning with the 214th and 186th Rifle Divisions and supporting artillery from the Haradok area south toward Vitebsk. This plan was stillborn when the LVII Motorized Corps, backed by the L and XXIII Army Corps drove the Army from its defenses along the Dvina northwest of Polotsk, cut it into two parts, enveloped its flanks and threatened both parts with encirclement. With only six divisions to defend a front 274km wide Ershakov was soon in full retreat as the panzers drove northward toward Nevel.[4]

Nevel was taken by LVII Motorized on the morning of July 16 which left four of 22nd Army's divisions (50th, 174th, 186th and 214th) cut off and isolated between that town and Vitebsk. As the German commanders debated the size of the encircled forces and exactly how best to deal with them while also carrying out their other objectives, the four divisions did their best to escape in the general direction of Velikiye Luki, aided by the difficult terrain in the region.[5] By July 19 the division had been subordinated to the 29th Rifle Corps of 22nd Army which also contained the 126th and 179th Rifle Divisions.[6] On that date the 19th Panzer Division had captured the city but overnight elements of 22nd Army attacked and overran the thin screen being held around Nevel by 14th Motorized Division, allowing the Army's encircled 62nd Rifle Corps to escape to the east. This pressure also forced 19th Panzer to abandon the city on July 21 and Ershakov triumphantly signalled the commander of 62nd Corps:

We have captured Velikiye Luki. 29th Rifle Corps (179th and 214th Rifle Divisions) are attacking toward Nevel to destroy the enemy and support your withdrawal... An automobile [truck] column (50 vehicles) with ammunition, fuel, and food is being sent to you in the Zui region [35km south of Velikiye Luki]...

He later reported that the division was attacking toward the north in the Poreche and Staraya Reka regions. This overlooked victory was the first large city liberated by the Red Army. Ershakov now attempted to create a new defense line along the Lovat River although his 51st Rifle Corps had been reduced to remnants.[7]

By July 23 the 214th was situated in the area of Rogatkino and Shchukino. As of July 31 it was operating at roughly half its original strength. In an operational summary by Western Front late on August 3 it was said to be under attack by two German infantry regiments at Lazava with unknown results. As the German forces regrouped to take back Velikiye Luki the division was transferred to 51st Corps and on August 21 was reported as operating in the German rear with two rifle regiments toward Novosokolniki in cooperation with a cavalry division. The German counterstroke was well underway by this point with the 19th and 20th Panzer and 256th and 102nd Infantry Divisions committed. Supply lines to 22nd Army were being disrupted the next day and at 1015 hours on August 24 Ershakov was forced to issue orders for his forces to break out in the direction of Toropets. In the plan for the breakout the 126th Rifle and 48th Tank Divisions were in the first echelon with the 179th and 214th in second, followed by what remained of 62nd Corps and the 170th Rifle Division as rearguard; the operation began at 2200 hours. The artillery and trucks of the 214th were stretched out on the road along its axis of attack and on the morning of the 25th came under heavy air, artillery and mortar attacks, causing considerable losses. The escaping force numbered from 15-20,000 men while another 25,000 of 22nd Army remained behind in small pockets south of Velikiye Luki and either fought to the death or surrendered over the following days.[8] By the end of the month the division was reduced to 2,500 men, with no heavy equipment left at all.[9] On August 29 General Rozanov was moved to command of the 253rd Rifle Division; he went on to serve as deputy chief of staff of 11th Army before being fatally wounded in August 1943. Col. Vasilii Dmitrievich Bunin was not appointed to lead the 214th until September 9.

In a report at 0300 hours on August 30 Marshal Timoshenko reported to Stalin that the remnants of the 214th and 48th Tanks (which had lost all its vehicles) were fighting north of Toropets as a combined unit along a line from Podroshcha to Mankovo. During the period from September 2-4 the 214th lost 148 men killed or wounded as the German forces were largely inactive. Over the following week the reorganising forces of 22nd Army struck back at the German forces advancing on Andreapol, with some limited success; the combined divisions attacked from the line of Zolotilovo–Safonovo–Zaprude and reached Berdovo by 1300 hours.[10]

Later in the month the 214th was transferred to 16th Army, still in Western Front.[11] It was there when the main part of Operation Typhoon began on October 2 although it was in the process of transferring to the sector of 19th Army. At this time its equipment consisted of 15 heavy machine guns, 96 light machine guns, two antiaircraft guns, eight field artillery pieces, eight mortars, and just 52 percent of its authorized motor vehicles. Given the German threat along the Vyazma axis the STAVKA was bringing in reinforcements from less active sectors. This movement, especially that of the vehicles with which the division was partly re-equipped, was spotted by German aerial reconnaissance near Yartsevo and this was followed by bombing and strafing attacks. During the day the German ground forces made progress in the direction of Bely and Kaniutino Station. On the morning of October 3 the commander of Western Front, Col. Gen. I. S. Konev, prepared to attack this penetration with his own forces from the south and elements of 30th Army from the north. The 214th, along with the 89th and 166th Rifle Divisions, supported by tanks and rocket artillery, was to destroy the grouping that had crossed the Vop River and reestablish the defenses along this line.[12]

In the event the coordinator of the 19th Army forces, Lt. Gen. M. F. Lukin, chose to delay the counterattack until noon on October 4 but as the situation deteriorated with further German advances he put it back farther, to 0500 hours on October 5. Although Lukin's grouping inflicted a debatable number of casualties on the attackers its counterattack never got off the ground. That afternoon Konev reported to the STAVKA, among other claims, that the 214th had halted the German penetration on the left flank of 19th Army. Despite this optimistic report he was given permission to withdraw Western Front to a line from Rzhev to Vyasma, but his orders to 19th Army were not received until 0400 hours on October 6 and by this time the proposed lines of retreat were hopelessly compromised. At 1600 hours on October 7 it was reported that units of the division were crossing the Vopets River. General Lukin signalled the STAVKA directly at 1030 on October 8 (communications with Konev having broken down) that the remnants of the 214th had assembled in the woods northeast of Bogdanovshchina, but this report was not received until 1935 hours on October 11. By this time Lukin's grouping had linked up with the forces commanded by Lt. Gen. I. V. Boldin in an effort to break out of the encirclement. During the day the 214th, with one regiment of the 101st Motorized Division, had found a gap through the woods 1km north of Bogoroditskoe, but this was soon plugged by tanks and infantry and communications with them had been lost.[13] This effectively spelled the end of the division as an organized force, although it was not officially deleted from the Red Army's order of battle until December 27.[14]

Within 24 hours orders arrived from Stalin moving the 214th, along with the 229th and 29th Guards Rifle Divisions, to 62nd Army to defend the line around Stalingrad proper. Due to the growing crisis of the German advance toward the city, on July 12 these orders were countermanded and the three divisions returned to 64th Army, which was under command of Lt. Gen. V. I. Chuikov. By late on July 21 Chuikov had deployed the three divisions on his sector south of the Chir River and west of the Don along with the 154th Naval Rifle Brigade and part of 121st Tank Brigade. On the evening of the following day he reported that the forward elements of the 214th and the 29th Guards were engaging German forces along the Tsimla River. The 214th faced the 71st Infantry Division and by the end of the month had been forced back across the Don south of Nizhne-Chirskaya despite an attempt to counterattack on the 28th. Meanwhile, beginning on July 26 the 4th Tank Army began arriving to the north in the small bend of the Don.[18]

During the first ten days of August the 64th Army, now under command of Lt. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, was gradually pushed to the north and east, and by August 10 the division was helping to defend the lower reaches of the Aksai River. By this time the attacking 4th Panzer Army was broken and in need of reinforcements and replenishment. However the 4th Tank Army to the north was under heavy pressure from German 6th Army west of the Don, and by August 15 the 214th was being regrouped at Kotluban Station in preparation for recrossing the river at Vertyachy and attacking westward toward Rodionov. This effort faltered from the outset as the German forces continued advancing and constricting the Red Army bridgeheads on the west bank. By the end of August 16 the 4th Tank Army was effectively defeated and its remnants were fleeing east of the Don through those bridgeheads that were still held; before long it would be derisively referred to as the "4 Tank Army".[19]

While this was going on the 534th and 535th Regiments of VIII Army Corps' 384th Infantry Division stormed across the Don at Akatov and seized a bridgehead on the east bank. In what one German war correspondent described as "one of the most senseless actions of the war," for eight days this division, reinforced overnight on August 17/18 by elements of 389th Infantry Division, fought a vicious battle with the 214th, 39th Guards and 98th Rifle Divisions, supported by the 193rd Tank and 22nd Motorized Rifle Brigades and 468th Antitank Regiment. By the time the fighting ended the two German divisions had suffered more than 300 dead, only to see the Army commander, Gen. F. Paulus, abandon part of the bridgehead and conduct his main attack on Stalingrad farther south. During this battle the 214th came under command of 4th Tank Army.[20]

On August 21 the 6th Army began its drive to the Volga and Stalingrad from Vertyachy. The Red Army General Staff's report on the morning of the next day stated in part:

214th RD and 193rd TB fought a fierce battle with the enemy along a line from the Panshinka River to the western outskirts of Verkhne-Gnilovskii [5km south of Trekhostrovskaia and due east of Akatov] all day on 21 August. A battalion of enemy infantry with 8 tanks captured Verkhne-Gnilovskii and was advancing toward Panshino.

The report on August 23 noted that the two units were defending the line from Lake Krivoe to the northern outskirts of Verkhne-Gnilovskii. That day the floodgates opened and while the combat-effective elements of 4th Tank Army continued attacking at Akatov the main forces of XIV Panzer Corps rolled east and reached the Volga before nightfall. The 214th was driven north of this corridor and while two of its rifle regiments supported the remnants of the 39th Guards and the 98th Division on its northwestern face its third regiment helped the 35th Guards and 87th Rifle Divisions establish defenses between Kotluban and Bolshaya Rossoshka.[21]

Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov was made deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Armed Forces on August 26 and he soon arrived in the Stalingrad area to take overall charge of the defense. He saw the long German corridor from the Don to the Volga as vulnerable and he immediately began planning an offensive to cut it off. The main effort was to be made by 1st Guards Army beginning at dawn on September 3, but was preceded by a supporting attack by the 214th, 27th Guards and 298th Rifle Divisions on September 2 against the 384th and 76th Infantry Divisions. This failed miserably in the face of effective counterattacks. The 1st Guards' attack achieved only meagre success. The offensive was renewed on September 5 with 4th Tank Army attempting to reach Vertyachy. By day's end the 214th was reported as having reached the east bank of the Don near Lake Kalach by 2000 hours and then engaging in fighting on the outskirts of Verkhne-Gnilovskii. Although the offensive persisted until September 13 it had effectively stalled on its fourth day.[22]

• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967a). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть I. 1920 - 1944 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part I. 1920–1944] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow.
• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967b). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть II. 1945 – 1966 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part II. 1945–1966] (in Russian). Moscow.
• Grylev, A. N. (1970). Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 100
• Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941–1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy. pp. 209-10