144th Rifle Division

The 144th Rifle Division was formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in September 1939 in the Moscow Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of later that month. It remained in the same District until the beginning of the German invasion in June 1941, initially as part of 20th Army. It was railed to the front, significantly understrength, in the last days of June, rejoining its Army, and was almost immediately pocketed near Smolensk. It took part in a counterattack which briefly retook the town of Rudnya, but rapidly lost strength in this precarious position. In the first days of August the remnants of the division emerged from the pocket and took up defensive positions along the Dniepr River for rebuilding. During August and September it was involved in several abortive attempts to retake Dukhovshchina, and the associated losses put it in a poor state to resist when the German offensive on Moscow was renewed in the first days of October. Still holding near Smolensk it did not come under direct attack but was deeply encircled and had to withdraw over 100km without adequate communications or supplies and only several hundred men escaped. This was enough to allow another rebuilding in early November before it was assigned to 5th Army, where it served through the defense of Moscow. In the same Army it took part in the winter counteroffensive, during which it assisted in the liberation of Mozhaysk. It reached the vicinity of Gzhatsk as the offensive wound down and remained there through 1942, taking only a limited part in the fighting for the Rzhev salient. At the beginning of March 1943 the salient was evacuated and during the pursuit the 144th was one of the first units into Vyazma, before coming up against the Büffel-Stellung at the base of the salient that brought the front to a standstill. The division was soon transferred to 33rd Army, still in Western Front. Under this command it fought through the Smolensk region again during August and September before becoming involved in the long and frustrating battles around Vitebsk through the winter and early spring of 1943/44, after which it returned to 5th Army for the duration of the war. As part of 3rd Belorussian Front it took part in the summer offensive that destroyed Army Group Center, then advanced through Lithuania. In the course of this advance it won a battle honor as well as the Order of the Red Banner for crossing the Neman River near Kaunas, and several of its subunits also won honors. In October it took part in the abortive offensive near Goldap and Gumbinnen in East Prussia, gaining the Order of Suvorov in the process. The 144th helped lead the Army's renewed advance into East Prussia in January 1945, gaining further honors in the process, and while it was not involved directly in the battle for Königsberg it took part in clearing the Sambia Peninsula before loading aboard trains for Siberia and the far east. When the invasion of Manchuria began on August 9 the division played another leading role in the advance on Mudanjiang and the battle for that city, and in the process won its final distinctions. It had a lengthy career in the postwar Soviet Army, remaining in the far east facing China until July 1956 when it was disbanded.