170th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 170th Rifle Division was raised in 1939 as a standard Red

170th Rifle Division (15 Sept.
Army rifle (infantry) division, as part of the prewar buildup of the
Army. During July and August 1941, it gave very effective service in 1939 – 4 Oct. 1941)
the battles around Velikiye Luki until it was so severely depleted that 170th Rifle Division (31 Jan.
it had to be disbanded. A new 170th was formed between December 1942 – July 1945)
1941 and January 1942. From this point the division had a Active Sept. 1939 – July
distinguished but relatively uncomplicated combat path, fighting in 1945
the central part of the Soviet-German front. It was given credit for
the liberation of Rechytsa in late 1943, and ended the war in the Country Soviet Union
conquest of East Prussia. Branch Red Army
Type Division
Role Infantry
Contents Engagements Battle of
1st Formation Smolensk (1941)
Battle of Smolensk Battle of
Demyansk
2nd Formation
Pocket
Advance Battle of Kursk
Notes Lower Dnieper
Offensive
Operation
1st Formation Bagration
Lublin-Brest
The division was first organized at Sterlitamak in the Ural Military Offensive
District in September 1939, based on a cadre from the 98th Rifle Vistula-Oder
Division, as part of the major pre-World War II mobilization of the Offensive
Red Army. The division was mostly composed of Bashkir soldiers
East Prussian
and was commanded by Kombrig Tikhon Silkin.[1] Division
Offensive
headquarters and most units were based at Sterlitamak. The 422nd
Rifle and 512th Howitzer Regiments were at Belebey, and the 717th Decorations
Order of the
Rifle Regiment was at Davlekanovo. The 294th Light Artillery
Regiment was based at Miass.[2] Red Banner (2nd
formation)
On June 22, 1941, its main order of battle was as follows:
Order of
391st Rifle Regiment Suvorov 2nd
class (2nd
422nd Rifle Regiment
formation)
717th Rifle Regiment
294th Light Artillery Regiment Battle honours Rechytsa
512th Howitzer Regiment Commanders
210th Antitank Battalion[3] Notable Col. A. M.
commanders Cheryak
Battle of Smolensk Col. S. G.
Tziplenkov
As Operation Barbarossa began, the 170th was moving west from
the Urals as part of 22nd Army's 62nd Rifle Corps, to take up positions in the vicinity of Polotsk and
Vitebsk.[4][5] The division defended Sebezh on the Latvian border. At the beginning of July, retreating
Soviet troops came to Sebezh. On 3 July, German bombers destroyed the town. The 391st and 717th Rifle
Regiment moved to the Kuznetsovka railway station, while the 422nd Rifle Regiment stayed in place. For
two days, the division attempted to hold back advancing German troops. On 11 July, the division retreated to
positions around Zamość station. On 13 July, the division was ordered to attack. The division was initially
successful, pushing back German troops to Kuznetsovka station. However, the division was then forced to
retreat back to Idritsa due to German superiority in both numbers and firepower. Around this time, Major
General Silkin went missing and was presumed killed.[1] Colonel Nikolai Laksin took command of the
division.[2]

After taking Nevel on July 15, the German LVII Motorized Corps was ordered to capture Velikiye Luki.
This isolated thrust by one panzer and one motorized division took the city on July 19, but Soviet
counterattacks against the supply corridor, in part by the 170th from the west, forced the German forces to
give up the city and retreat.[6] On 20 July, the division became part of the 51st Rifle Corps and moved to
positions northwest of Nevel. The division was ordered to counterattack, but met strong resistance and was
stopped in the area of Hamchino. The division was surrounded on part of the Leningrad Highway, known as
the Nevel Pocket.[7] The division attempted to break out at Begunovo and Zabolote. The division was forced
to destroy equipment and suffered heavy losses in the encirclement. On 23 July, the remnants of the division
reached the area of Lake Urai and took up defensive positions. The division was again forced to retreat and
on 26 July moved to the Dokuhino area, where it absorbed the remnants of the 98th and 112th Rifle
Divisions. On 28 August the division was reported as having just 300 men with "...no equipment,
headquarters or staff". It was transferred to 24th Army in Reserve Front for rebuilding in September, but was
far from complete when the Germans launched Operation Typhoon. It was surrounded with its army north of
Spas-Demensk by 1 October, and was disbanded on 4 October,[2][4] due to a shortage of equipment.[8]

2nd Formation
A new 170th Rifle Division was formed at Molotov, once again in the Ural Military District, based on the
439th Rifle Division which was already forming up when re-designated.[9][10] The order of battle remained
mostly the same, with the following additions:

286th Antiaircraft Battalion

134th Reconnaissance Battalion
182nd Sapper Battalion
210th Signal Battalion

The howitzer regiment had been removed, and the standard artillery regiment retained the number of the
original light regiment.

In February 1942, the division was deployed to the west, into the 58th Army of the Reserve of the Supreme
High Command, and in April it deployed to the front lines in the 34th Army of Northwestern Front. The
170th took part in the fighting around the Demyansk Pocket during the rest of 1942, either under command
of the 34th or the 11th Army. In January 1943, it was reassigned to the 27th Army, and in March was once
again in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding and a redeployment to the south.[11]

By the beginning of June, the 170th was assigned to the Central Front in the Kursk salient. The division
joined the 48th Army, and remained there for the duration, with the exception of a few months in early
1944.[11]
Advance
In January, 1944, the division became part of the 42nd Rifle Corps, where it would remain for the duration.
Belorussian Front was renamed 1st Belorussian in February. During the Soviet summer offensive, Operation
Bagration, the 42nd Corps was concentrated north of Rogachev to assist its partner 29th Rifle Corps and
units of the 3rd Army to break through the positions of the German 134th and 296th Infantry Divisions. By
late on June 24 this had been achieved, with the Germans overwhelmed and the 9th Tank Corps exploiting to
the rear. With the defenses of Army Group Center shattered, the division trekked westward towards Poland.

48th Army was transferred to 2nd Belorussian Front in the late autumn of 1944. During the Vistula-Oder
Offensive the 170th pushed on through northern Poland before the army was once again transferred to 3rd
Belorussian Front. The division fought in the East Prussian Offensive, and ended the war near Elbing.[12]

Five men of the division were named as Heroes of the Soviet Union, two of them posthumously. At the end
of the war the men and women of the division carried the full title 170th Rifle, Rechytsa, Order of the Red
Banner, Order of Suvorov Division. (Russian: 170-я стрелковая Речицкая Краснознамённая ордена
Суворова дивизия.) The division was part of the 42nd Rifle Corps, 48th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front
in May 1945.[13] The division was disbanded near Mühlhausen in July 1945.

Notes
1. "Biography of Major-General Tikhon Konstantinovich Silkin - (Тихон Константинович Силкин)
(1893 – 1941), Soviet Union" (http://generals.dk/general/Silkin/Tikhon_Konstantinovich/Soviet_
Union.html). generals.dk. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
2. Biryuzov, Yuri. "170 СТРЕЛКОВАЯ ДИВИЗИЯ (1-го формирования)" (http://www.bashpoisk.u
fanet.ru/articles/sd170/index.shtml) [170th Rifle Division (1st formation)].
www.bashpoisk.ufanet.ru (in Russian). Republic of Bashkortostan Search Teams. Retrieved
2016-02-15.
3. Charles C. Sharp, "Red Legions", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed Before June 1941, Soviet
Order of Battle World War II, Vol. VIII, Nafziger, 1996, p 84
4. Sharp, "Red Legions", p 84
5. David Stahel, Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK, 2009, map on p 238
6. Stahel, pp 260-61, and map on p 265
7. Glantz, David M. (2010-01-01). Barbarossa Derailed: The German advance to Smolensk, the
encirclement battle, and the first and second Soviet counteroffensives, 10 July-24 August 1941
(https://books.google.com/books?id=SDfInc6Gb40C). Casemate Publishers. p. 117.
ISBN 9781906033729.
8. Lopukhovsky, Lev (2013-08-01). The Viaz'ma Catastrophe, 1941: The Red Army's Disastrous
Stand against Operation Typhoon (https://books.google.com/books?id=ntzZAwAAQBAJ).
Helion and Company. p. 75. ISBN 9781908916501.
9. Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2006, p 99
10. Sharp, "Red Swarm", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From 1942 to 1945, Soviet Order of Battle
World War II, Vol. X, Nafziger, 1996, p 68
11. Sharp, "Red Swarm", p 68
12. Sharp, p 70
13. Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 1 May 1945

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