16th Guards Rifle Division

16th Guards Rifle Division
16th Guards Rifle Division
	Major General Mikhail Pronin
Founded	February 16, 1942
Disbanded	September 1, 1960
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army; Soviet Army (after 1946);
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	World War II Toropets–Kholm Offensive; Battles of Rzhev; First Rzhev–Sychyovka Offensive; Rzhev–Vyazma Offensive; Operation Kutuzov; Battle of Smolensk; Battle of Nevel; Vitebsk–Bogushevsk Offensive; Operation Bagration; Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive; Minsk Offensive; Vilnius-Kaunas Offensive; Goldap–Gumbinnen Operation; Vistula–Oder Offensive; East Prussian Offensive; Battle of Königsberg; Samland Offensive; ;
Decorations	Order of Lenin; Order of the Red Banner; Order of Suvorov;
Battle honours	Karachev
Commanders
Notable; commanders	German Fyodorovich Tarasov; Sergei Alekseevich Knyazkov; Pyotr Grigoryevich Shafranov; Efim Vasilevich Ryzhikov; Mikhail Andreevich Pronin;

The 16th Guards Rifle Division was formed in February 1942 as an elite infantry formation based on a cadre from the 249th Rifle Division, it continued to serve in this capacity beyond the end of the Great Patriotic War.

It was redesignated while serving in the Kalinin Front, and it remained in the northern half of the front throughout the war. In the summer, it was assigned to the Western Front's 30th Army to the north of the Rzhev salient and took part in the stubborn and costly struggle for the village of Polunino just east of that town in August. It returned to the fighting in March 1943 in the follow-up to the German evacuation of the salient, then was reassigned to the new 11th Guards Army, where it would remain for the duration of the war.

During the summer offensive against the German-held salient around Oryol, it assisted in the liberation of Karachev and received its name as an honorific. By December, after fighting through western Russia, north of Smolensk, the division was in the 1st Baltic Front, attacking south towards Gorodok and winning the Order of the Red Banner in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to seize Vitebsk.

By the start of the offensive against Army Group Center in the summer of 1944, the 16th Guards had been redeployed with its Army to the south of Vitebsk as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain for the duration. Driving westward during Operation Bagration, the division helped to liberate the key city of Orsha and then drove on towards Minsk. With its Army, it advanced through Lithuania to the border with East Prussia, being further decorated with the Order of Suvorov for its crossing of the Neman River. As part of the East Prussian Offensive, the 16th Guards entered the heavily fortified region and helped gradually break the German resistance there, particularly at Insterburg and Königsberg, ending the fighting at Pillau.

The 16th Guards remained in the Kaliningrad Oblast well after the war, until they were finally disbanded in September 1960.