179th Rifle Division

The 179th Vitebsk Red Banner Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II.

179th Rifle Division
Active	1940–1948 (1st formation) 1953–1955 (2nd formation)
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Eastern Front (1941-1945) Operation Barbarossa Battles of Rzhev Battle of Smolensk (1943) Operation Bagration Riga Offensive (1944) Battle of Memel Courland Pocket
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours	Vitebsk

World War II

Formation

Established at Vilnius on 17 August 1940 as part of the 29th Lithuanian Territorial Rifle Corps on the basis of the 1st Infantry Division of the Lithuanian Army:

Lithuanian Army units from which the Soviet unit was formed	Soviet units
1st Division's HQ, Lithuanian Army's Staff	HQ
1st Division's HQ, Lithuanian Army's Staff, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Cavalry Regiment	215th Rifle Regiment
1st, 8th Infantry Regiments, 1st Cavalry Regiment	234th Rifle Regiment
2nd, 3rd Infantry Regiments, 3rd Cavalry Regiment	259th Rifle Regiment

Battles

With 29th Rifle Corps of 11th Army on June 22, 1941. Fought at Kalinin, Gomel, and Vitebsk; with 4th Shock Army of the Kurland Group (Leningrad Front) May 1945.

After World War II

It was reduced to the 27th Rifle Brigade in 1948 at Uralsk. It became a division again in October 1953.^[1]

In 1955, the division became the 4th Rifle Division at Buzuluk in the South Ural Military District.^[2]

See also

• List of infantry divisions of the Soviet Union 1917–1957