79th Guards Rifle Division

79th Guards Rifle Division (Mar. 1943 – 1945)
20th Guards Mechanized Division (1945–1957)
27th Guards Tank Division (1957–1965)
79th Guards Tank Division (1965–1992)
Prewar photo of Maj. Gen. N. F. Batyuk
Active 1943–1992
Country  Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
Type Division
Role Infantry, Mechanized Infantry, Tank
Garrison/HQ Jena (1945–1992)
Engagements Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive
Battle of Berlin
Decorations

 Order of Lenin
 Order of the Red Banner
 Order of Suvorov

 Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky
Battle honours Zaporozhe
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Maj. Gen. Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk
Maj. Gen. Leonid Ivanovich Vagin

The 79th Guards Rifle Division was created on March 1, 1943 from the remnants of the 284th Rifle Division, in recognition of that division's stalwart defense against the German Sixth Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, in particular the Mamayev Kurgan hill and parts of the city's center. The 79th Guards continued a record of distinguished service through the rest of the Great Patriotic War, and continued to serve postwar, in several roles, until being finally disbanded in 1992.

It became the 20th Guards Mechanized Division in 1945, 27th Guards Tank Division in 1957, and the 79th Guards Tank Division in 1965. It served with the 8th Guards Army from 1943 until it was disbanded.

Formation

The 79th Guards was one of several Guards rifle divisions created in the aftermath of the fighting for Stalingrad. When formed, its order of battle was as follows:

  • 216th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1043rd Rifle Regiment
  • 220th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1045th Rifle Regiment
  • 227th Guards Rifle Regiment from 1047th Rifle Regiment
  • 172nd Guards Artillery Regiment from 820th Artillery Regiment.[1]

Nikolai Filippovich Batyuk continued in command, being promoted to the rank of Major General on March 1 as well. He remained in command until he died of illness on July 28 while his division was under Southwestern Front, fighting in the Donbass.[2]

At the same time the 62nd Army was renamed as the 8th Guards Army, and the 79th Guards remained in that Army, in 28th Guards Rifle Corps, for the duration of the war. After the death of General Batyuk, the command of the division passed to Col. Leonid Ivanovich Vagin, who was promoted to Major General on November 17. During 1943 and early 1944, the division fought through the deep south of Ukraine, and was credited with the liberation of the city of Zaporozhe in October, 1943:

"ZAPOROZHE"...79th Guards Rifle Division (Colonel Vagin, Leonid Ivanovich)... the troops who participated in the battles with the enemy, and the liberation of Zaporozhe, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 14 October 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvos from 224 guns.[3][4]

On the Path to Berlin

In a deliberate symbolic move the 8th Guards Army was then sent northwards to the center of the front, coming under command of 1st Belorussian Front; Stalin was determined that the Army that had defended Stalingrad would take part in the capture of Berlin. On April 25, 8th Army's final assault began. On that day, the division, backed by the 39th Guards, was ordered to surround and capture the Tempelhof Airfield, where it was suspected many German aircraft were hiding in underground hangars to fly out the Nazi leadership. After an assault crossing of the Teltow Canal the two divisions took the airfield and permitted no out-going flights. Early on May 2 the 79th intercepted a radio transmission in Russian:

"Hello, hello! This is the 56th German Panzer Corps. We ask you to cease fire. At 12:50hrs our emissaries will be at the Potsdam Bridge. Identification: a white flag. Waiting for your reply."[5]

The 79th Guards ended the war on these terms in the German capital in early May, 1945. It was then known as the 79th Guards Rifle Zaporozhe, Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov, Order of Bogdan Khmelynitskii Division. (Russian: Запорожье, орденом Ленина, орденом Красного Знамени, орденом Суворова, Орден Богдана Хмельницкого.)[6]

Cold War

In the fall of 1945 the division became the 20th Guards Mechanized Division, serving with the 8th Guards Army in the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany from 1954). In July 1956 the division became directly subordinated to 8th Guards Army, after the 28th Guards Rifle Corps was disbanded. The division was based at Jena. On 17 May 1957 it became the 27th Guards Tank Division. On 11 January 1965 it became the 79th Guards Tank Division, restoring its World War II numbering.[7] The division remained at Jena until July 1992, when it was withdrawn to Samarkand in the Turkestan Military District. It was quickly disbanded after arrival there.[8][9]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Guards Rifle and Airborne Units 1941 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p. 77
  2. ↑ David M. Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2009, pp. 752-53. www.generals.dk [see External links] states Batyuk was killed in action on this date, but Maslov does not list him among the fallen; Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals, ed. and trans. D.M. Glantz, Frank Cass Publishers, London, UK, 1998, p. xx. In Vasily Grossman's semi-autobiographic novel Life and Fate Batyuk makes use of a heart medication during the Battle of Stalingrad; Vintage Books, London, UK, 2006, p. 220
  3. ↑ http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/1-ssr-2.html. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  4. ↑ Sharp, "Red Guards", p. 77
  5. ↑ Battles Hitler Lost, Jove Books, New York, 1988, pp. 204-213
  6. ↑ Sharp, "Red Guards", p. 77
  7. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, pp. 201–202
  8. ↑ Feskov et al 2013, pp. 401–403
  9. ↑ Holm, Michael. "79th Guards Tank Division". www.ww2.dk. Retrieved 2016-03-07.

Bibliography

  • Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
  • 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. 325–26
  • Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner, The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. ISBN 0-89141-237-9.

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