177th Rifle Division
Military unit / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 177th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army south of Leningrad in March 1941, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of September 13, 1939. As Army Group North advanced on Leningrad the division, still incomplete, was rushed south to the Luga area. In mid-July it helped provide the initial resistance to the LVI Motorized Corps which set up the counterstroke at Soltsy, the first significant check of the German drive on Leningrad. In August the German offensive was intensified and the defenders of Luga were encircled and forced to escape northward, losing heavily in the process. A remnant of the 177th reached Leningrad, where it received enough replacements to again be marginally combat-effective. In October to was moved to the Neva River line as part of the Eastern Sector Operational Group. After briefly coming under command of 55th Army it was moved across Lake Ladoga to join 54th Army. It remained in this Army, as part of Volkhov Front, almost continuously until early 1944, serving west of the Volkhov River. It took part in the winter offensive that finally drove Army Group North away from Leningrad and earned a battle honor for the liberation of Lyuban, where part of it had been raised in 1941. Following this victory it was reassigned to 2nd Shock Army in Leningrad Front, and took part in the unsuccessful efforts to retake the city of Narva, before being removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command in April for further rebuilding and replenishment. It returned to the fighting front at the beginning of May in 21st Army facing Finland. At the outset of the final offensive against Finland it was in 23rd Army in the Karelian Isthmus. During this operation it advanced through the central part of the isthmus against determined Finnish resistance. The division remained facing Finland until early 1945, when it was moved to Latvia and spent the remainder of the war containing the German forces trapped in Courland, eventually assisting in clearing the region after the German surrender in May. It was moved to the Gorkii Military District in August, and was disbanded there in April 1946.
177th Rifle Division (March 1941 - April 1946) | |
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Active | 1941–1946 |
Country | Soviet Union |
Branch | Red Army |
Type | Infantry |
Size | Division |
Engagements | Leningrad strategic defensive Siege of Leningrad Battle of Lyuban Operation Polyarnaya Zvesta Leningrad–Novgorod offensive Battle of Narva (1944) Continuation War Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive Courland Pocket |
Battle honours | Lyuban |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Col. Andrei Fyodorovich Mashoshin Col. Grigorii Ivanovich Vekhin Col. Anatolii Gavrilovich Koziev Col. Aleksei Yakovlevich Tzygankov Maj. Gen. Vasilii Mikhailovich Rzhanov |