250th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 250th Rifle Division was formed from a cadre of NKVD border
250th Rifle Division
troops as a standard Red Army rifle division, very shortly after the
German invasion, in the Moscow Military District. It was one of a Active 1941–1946
series of similar NKVD-based divisions formed at that time. It Country Soviet Union
served in the heavy fighting around Smolensk in July, then later in
the defensive operations around Kalinin. During the Soviet winter Branch Red Army
counteroffensive it was part of the forces of Kalinin Front that drove Type Division
the German forces away from Toropets. In the initial phase of Role Infantry
Operation Bagration the division was given special recognition for
its role in the liberation of the Belorussian city of Bobruisk. The Engagements Battle of
250th had a distinguished career as a combat unit, ending its combat Smolensk (1941)
path in Berlin. Battle of Moscow
Demyansk
Pocket

Contents Battle of
Smolensk (1943)
Formation Operation
Combat service Bagration
Bobruysk
Into Germany
Offensive
Postwar
Vistula-Oder
References Offensive
External links Battle of Berlin
Decorations Order of the Red
Banner
Formation Order of Suvorov
2nd class
The 250th Rifle Division began forming within days of the start of
the German invasion on June 26, 1941, at Vladimir, in the Moscow Battle honours Bobruisk
Military District,[1] based on a cadre of 1,500 officers and men of Commanders
the NKVD Internal Troops.[2] The remaining soldiers and officers Notable Mjr. Gen. I. S.
came from the reserves. The NKVD order stated that the division commanders Gorbachyov
was to be ready for service by July 17; in fact it was ready ten days
Mjr. Gen. P. A.
earlier. Its order of battle was as follows:
Stepanenko
918th Rifle Regiment Mjr. Gen. M. A.
922nd Rifle Regiment Abilov
926th Rifle Regiment
790th Artillery Regiment[3]
308th Antitank Battalion
527th Antiaircraft Battalion
418th Sapper Battalion
670th Signal Battalion
329th Reconnaissance Company
The division was first assigned to 30th Army in Western Front. On July 21, the army commander disbanded
the 110th Tank Division and distributed its battalions to his rifle divisions; this battalion was supposed to
consist of two companies, one of ten T-34s and one of ten BT of T-26 light tanks, plus a command tank.[4]

Combat service
The 250th was almost immediately committed to heavy fighting north of Smolensk, in the course of which,
on July 26, the divisional commander, Mjr. Gen. Ivan Gorbachyov, died of wounds sustained in combat
south of Belyi.[5] In the course of this fighting, by Aug. 1 the three rifle regiments were reduced to the
following strengths:

918th: 727 men

922nd: 1,195 men
926th: 526 men

After about two weeks of combat, the division had lost about half its strength. As well, by Aug. 5 the tank
battalion was down to eight T-34s, one T-26, two BT-7s and six BT-5s, when the division was transferred to
29th Army. By early October the 250th had lost all its armor, and was reduced to 500 men fighting at
Olenino. It received 500 stragglers from the Soviet rear, but this did not make it a cohesive unit, and the
army did not consider the division a combat-effective unit during the following months.[6]

While retreating to the Kalinin area from Rzhev, the division became part of the newly formed Kalinin
Front, under command of Col. Gen. Ivan Konev. In spite of its combat status, in the dire circumstances of
the time, on October 15 the 250th was ordered to "stubbornly defend" its sector, alongside the 220th Rifle
Division, while other forces of the front prepared a counterattack against the German armor beginning to
move north of the city. On the 18th, Konev reported that both divisions were falling back under German
pressure. On October 21, the two divisions were assigned to 22nd Army, "to prevent an enemy breakthrough
to Torzhok". By October 23 the Germans were still advancing slowly, with much air and artillery support,
against the "skeletal" remnants of the division, but it was still offering resistance, and in the end the German
plan to advance from Kalinin was stymied.[7]

The 250th spent the winter in Kalinin Front, and in April 1942 was reassigned to the newly-forming 53rd
Army in Northwestern Front, where it remained in the vicinity of Demyansk until February 1943.[8] After a
brief posting to 1st Shock Army in the same Front, in early March the 250th got new orders to re-deploy to
the new 2nd Reserve Army, in the Yelets, Lepetsk and Lebedian regions, in anticipation of the German
summer offensive.[9] In April, 2nd Reserve became the 63rd Army, assigned to Bryansk Front, and the
division was also assigned to 35th Rifle Corps, where it would remain for the duration. In this Front
(Belorussian Front after October 20) the 250th would take part in the difficult fighting through Bryansk and
towards the Dniepr River until February 1944.[10]

On February 18, 63rd Army was dissolved, and 35th Rifle Corps was reassigned to 3rd Army, where it
would remain for the duration. At the outset of Operation Bagration, on June 23, 35th Rifle Corps, under
command of Major General Viktor Zholudev, formed one of the two assault corps of 3rd Army, packed into
less than ten kilometres of front opposite the northern half of the sector held by the German 134th Infantry
Division. On the second day of the offensive, at 0400 hours, the assault force unleashed a massive 2-hour
bombardment on the defenders in the Rogachev area, but by 0800 only the first line of German trenches had
been taken, as bad weather had scrubbed the planned air support. As the weather cleared towards evening,
further lines were taken, and the 9th Tank Corps prepared to exploit a breakthrough. Northwest of Bobruysk
on June 26, the tankers cut the road to Mogilev behind the German XXXV Corps, with 35th and 41st Rifle
Corps close behind and the 134th Infantry shattered and in flight. On the following day Bobruysk was
surrounded, along with most of German 9th Army,[11] and it fell to the 250th to help clear and liberate the
city, for which the men and women of the division received the name of that city as an honorific. On Aug. 9,
the 250th was also awarded the Order of Suvorov II Class.[12]

Into Germany
Also, in August, the division, along with its army and corps, were transferred to 2nd Belorussian Front,
where it would remain for the next six months, assisting in the liberation of the remainder of Belorussia and
eastern Poland. It was still in this front at the outset of the Vistula-Oder Offensive in January 1945, but in
February was reassigned to 3rd Belorussian Front, fighting in East Prussia. In April, 3rd Army was once
again reassigned, this time to back to 1st Belorussian Front, in preparation for the assault on the German
capital. When the shooting stopped, the division was in the enemy's lair of Berlin, and the final full title of
its men and women was "250th Rifle, Bobruysk, Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Division"[13]
(Russian: 250-я стрелковая Бобруйская Краснознамённая ордена Суворова дивизия).

Postwar
The division moved to the Minsk Military District with the 35th Rifle Corps postwar. It was stationed in
Borisov and disbanded in June 1946, along with the rest of the corps.[14]

References
1. Walter S. Dunn, Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p 75
2. These may have been from the 54th Nerchinskozavodsk Border Regiment, since this regiment
was under the command of I.S. Gorbachyov at the start of the war:
http://www.generals.dk/general/Gorbachev/Ivan_Sergevich/Soviet_Union.html
3. Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed from June to December 1941,
Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Nafziger, 1996, p 45
4. Sharp, p 45
5. Aleksander A. Maslov, Fallen Soviet Generals, trans. and ed. David M. Glantz, Frank Cass
Publishers, London, 1998, pp. 13-14
6. Jack Radey & Charles C. Sharp, The Defense of Moscow 1941, Pen & Sword Military,
Barnsley, UK, 2012, p 18
7. Radey & Sharp, pp 71-72, 114, 137, 156
8. Sharp, p 45
9. Glantz, After Stalingrad, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2009, p 356
10. Sharp, p 45
11. Dunn, Soviet Blitzkrieg, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2008, pp 185, 189, 195, 197
12. Sharp, p 45
13. Sharp, p 45
14. Feskov et al 2013, p. 250

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.

External links
 Ivan Sergevich Gorbachyov (http://www.generals.dk/general/Gorbachev/Ivan_Sergevich/Sovie
t_Union.html)
Pavel Afinogenovich Stepanenko (http://www.generals.dk/general/Stepanenko/Pavel_Afinogen
ovich/Soviet_Union.html)
Makhmud Abdul-Rzaievich Abilov (http://www.generals.dk/general/Abilov/Makhmud_Abdul-Rz
aievich/Soviet_Union.html)

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