203 Infantry Regiment. Presentation for the local history conference "Times connecting thread" on the topic "203 Rifle Division"

With the help of the Ministry of Defense Russian Federation an electronic bank "The feat of the people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945" was created. which is located at podvignaroda.mil.ru, where you can find information about the exploits and awards of your fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers by name and surname. The search is based on military archival documents that have been digitized and entered into the site database.

How and where to look?

The site “The Feat of the People” is the most complete and up-to-date database on the participants of the Great Patriotic War - there is information about almost all the soldiers. At the first stage of digitization from 2010 to 2015, 30 million entries were made for awarding orders and medals "For Courage" and "For Military Merit", as well as information on 22 million orders Patriotic War I and II degrees for the 40th anniversary of the Victory, as well as 200 thousand archival files with a total volume of 100 million sheets!

Such a huge amount of work has been done for the main goal of the project:

The main goals of the project are to perpetuate the memory of all the heroes of the Victory, regardless of the rank, the scale of the feat, the status of the award, the military-patriotic education of young people on the example of the military exploits of their fathers, as well as creation of a factual basis to counter attempts to falsify the history of the War.

There are 3 main search options:

1. Search for people and their awards
2. Search for decrees and orders for awards
3. Finding data by place and time

To find a person, use the first search option, to do this, open the site http://podvignaroda.mil.ru/ and go to the "People and Awards" tab and enter the last name and first name of the person whose awards you want to find.

To search for decrees and data on the place of hostilities, we recommend using another site - "Memory of the People", which will be discussed below.

If you want to search by the number of the award, then this will not work, because award numbers are not indicated in the award documents.

If information about the fate of a person is not known, then the site "Feat of the People" will not suit you, because. it does not contain data on the dead or missing. Such information should be searched on the website www.obd-memorial.ru, trying different spellings of surnames and first names. wartime documents could contain errors in full name or date of birth.

Recall that the initiator of this project is the Department of Development of Information and Telecommunication Technologies of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and technical support is provided by ELAR. Thank you for this site!

Information is taken from two funds: the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (CA MO) and the Central Naval Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (TsVMA).

Memory of the people

Later, a more modern site was opened https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ "Memory of the People" with documents from the Second World War, which has a more pleasant design and, most importantly, more information, maps and historical data.

With the help of the “Memory of the People” portal, it has become even easier to restore the military path of your grandfather, to find documents about injuries and awards.

The Memory of the People project was implemented in accordance with the decision of the Russian Organizing Committee Victory of July 2013, supported by the order of the President and the Decree of the Government of Russia in 2014. The project provides for the publication on the Internet of archival documents and documents on the losses and awards of soldiers and officers of the First World War, the development of the projects previously implemented by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the Second World War OBD Memorial and the Feat of the People into one project - the Memory of the People.

On the page https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ops/ you can find plans for 226 operations with detailed diagrams on the map. Each page about the operation contains the names of the commanders and numbers of military units, as well as a description of the result of the operation.

Figure 1 - Modern map of military operations during the Second World War.

On the page https://pamyat-naroda.ru/memorial/ you can find military graves in your city. Just enter the name of the city and click the "Find" button. In total, information is contained on 30,588 burials around the world, except for the United States.

Figure 2 - Military graves with names and surnames.

The burial page contains information about its condition (good, bad, excellent), type of burial, number of graves, number of known and unknown buried. Also on the page is a list of those buried with names and dates of birth and death.

Many of our readers are interested in the question of how to restore biographical information about their relatives - participants in the Great Patriotic War. Time inexorably separates us from loved ones, sometimes before we were able to realize their merits. Sometimes our relatives pass away in our childhood or even before we are born. In addition, people who survived the war, as a rule, rarely talk about the past. But one day we understand that restoring the biographies of our dear relatives means paying a debt to their memory...

Our guest is a famous historian -, doctor of historical sciences, professor, Head of the Department of General History, Historiography and Archeology, Penza State University.

Sergei Vladislavovich, last years interest in genealogy has increased markedly. Why do you think?

Belousov S.V.: Genealogy is one of the historical disciplines that deals with the study and compilation of genealogies, ascertaining the origin of individual genera, families and individuals. The occupation of genealogy opens up very broad prospects. The life of a person and family is inextricably linked with the history of society and the state. A person is a witness to various epochal events, and sometimes a direct participant in them. Therefore, through the history of one's own family, one can come to the study of the Little Motherland and the history of the Fatherland.

For many people, the Great Patriotic War, which, no doubt, left its mark on the history of every family, becomes the starting point of a genealogical search. Establishment historical facts the participation of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers in the events of this heroic time allows us to come as close as possible to the issue of forming an active life position in the younger generation and, using the example of family history, to instill a sense of patriotism.

Do you think patriots are born or made?

Belousov S.V.: The etymology of the word "patriotism" goes back to Latin words“pater” (father) and “patria” (fatherland) and means the moral position of a person, which is expressed in love for the Motherland, pride in it, respect for its historical past and readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of its independence and freedom.

Patriotism cannot arise momentarily with the wave of a magic wand. Its formation is a long process in which everyone should be involved: the state, the school, public organizations, the media. But we must not forget that patriotism, an understanding of one's belonging to the Fatherland and its people, is brought up, first of all, in the family. Therefore, the importance of studying the history of the family, turning to the heroic past of our ancestors can hardly be overestimated.

How to establish the fate of a person who took part in hostilities or forged victory in the rear?

Belousov S.V.: The answer to this question is much more complicated than it might seem at first glance. Time is inexorable, and the events of that time are moving further and further into the past. In many families, the real events of the war, in which their ancestor took part, have long been intertwined with facts based on stories, memories, family traditions, which leads to the emergence of myths, and hence the distortion of reality. At the same time, information about a person, if preserved, is scattered across various archives. A genealogical search can sometimes take many years, and sometimes a fluke can immediately reward you for your efforts.

Where to start searching for information about relatives - contemporaries of the Great Patriotic War?

Belousov S.V.: Let's consider some aspects of genealogical search. After all, when starting to solve any search problem, it is necessary to have a given algorithm of actions. It is necessary to start the study by establishing the last name, first name, patronymic, year and place of birth of a person who participated in the war. Without this primary information, further search will be very difficult. The place of residence of a person on the eve of the war, for example, will help to find out which RVC he was called up to. Then all relatives should be interviewed in order to establish various facts from his life (for example, marital status, place of work, etc.), and familiarize himself with the preserved documents, letters and photographs. Their study can also provide the researcher with important Additional information about the person of interest. For example, an image on a photograph in military uniform can help determine the type of troops, rank and available awards, and the field mail stamp on the letter is the number of the military unit. The main task at this stage is to find out the number of the military unit in which the soldier was at least for some time. This, no doubt, will help in further searches.

How can the Internet help in finding information about a relative's military career?

Belousov S.V.: The Internet can provide invaluable assistance in collecting primary information, where there are military historical forums that can answer some questions of interest to the researcher, and various databases are located (for example, the structure of the Red Army on the eve of the war, tables of correspondence of field mail numbers to military units, locations and numbers
evacuation hospitals). See, for example, forums and materials posted on the sites soldat.ru, pobediteli.ru, etc. When studying the history of the participation of grandfathers and great-grandfathers in the Great Patriotic War, if their fate is connected with the history of the Penza region, you can use the information posted on the site ""Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten". The National Book of Memory of the Penza Region, which is administered by S.A. Dvoryankin.

It allows you to very quickly, online, find information about a soldier or participant in the Great Patriotic War (WWII) of 1941-1945, learn about his awards, military path, place of death and burial. The project was created with the support of .

I will not talk for a long time about what a colossal work on digitization and clarification of data from the times of the Second World War was done - a really simply incredible amount of archival documents of various kinds was summarized and systematized.

I'd better immediately focus on how to use the portal and what information you can get about your relatives. Link to the official website of the Memory of the People: https://pamyat-naroda.ru/

Search for a soldier by last name

Once on the main page of the project using the above link, at the top of the browser window you will see the input forms:

• Surname, Name, Patronymic
• Dates of birth
• military rank

Pressing the "Advanced Search" button will open some additional fields: the place of service of the fighter, the dates of retirement / death, the number in the database:

Many are immediately frightened when they see how much there is to fill out, but, friends, it is not at all necessary to enter information in all fields! Fill in only those that you know, for example, full name and date of birth. Moreover, if you only know the soldier's last name and nothing else, it won't hurt you to use the site either!

• All results
• Commanders
• Awarded
• Dead and missing
• Book of Memory
• Military transit points

On the right side of the window, you will find a column with data sources where you can search: award documents, registration cards, casualty reports, hospital data, etc. You can mark only the sources you need, thus specifying the search conditions.

On a separate page (links will be in the search results) you can see information about each soldier's award: the name of the award, the date of the feat, who awarded it, the case number, etc. And of course, you can see the award list and even find out details about the most heroic deed:

You can download all the documents presented on the "Memory of the People" to your computer for free, for example, to place them in a family archive and pass them on to children and grandchildren. It is necessary that they certainly remember their relatives-heroes and the price they had to pay for the victory over the enemy!

Learn the combat path of a soldier

The portal has a very useful option called "Hero/Part Battle Path".

Right on interactive map(its scale can be changed, scrolled, etc.) you will see where the relative was born, where he was called up, where exactly he participated in the hostilities, what awards and medals he received for them, etc. You can find out additional information about each battle, see the combat log.

It is well known that after the end of the war of 1941-1945. many documents were lost, destroyed, fell into disrepair, etc. Looking at what detailed data the portal provides, and how wonderfully everything is done, one involuntarily arises a huge feeling of gratitude to all the participants in this project. It's just unbelievable how much data they systematized!

Find the burial site of a fighter

Go to the War Graves page and click the Refine button. A number of data entry fields will open:

• Cause of death or retirement (missing, killed, died of wounds, died of poisoning, etc.)
• Date of death
• Burial place
• Hospital number/name
• Camp

If you only know the last name, you can only enter it - just the more detailed initial data you enter, the more the search circle will narrow, and the more likely it is that you will quickly find the grave of your soldier.

On the left side of the page there will be a list of records found according to the parameters you specified, and all burial places are marked on the interactive map on the right. By clicking on any of them, a window will open with detailed information and a link to view the corresponding irretrievable loss report.

Friends, in addition to everything that I described above, "Memory of the People" contains a lot of other information about the Great Patriotic War. Here you can find out about the military operations carried out, see the offensive plans on the map, find out details about military units and formations, study their documents, etc. etc.

Detailed video instruction on how to use the service:

Good day!

I am the granddaughter of Dotsenko Artem Korneevich. My mother is Ekaterina Artemovna Zvonareva (maiden name Dotsenko), daughter of Artem Korneevich Found on the resource. Information that you can find your grandfather's award

Dotsenko Artem Korneevich Year of birth: __.__.1900

place of birth: Kirghiz SSR, Osh region, Uzgen district, s. Leninskoe

No. of award document: 55

date of award document: 08/01/1986 record number: 1514962302 Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class

But the fact is that we do not have grandfather's documents, according to the data, the award was in 86, grandfather died in 1988, but no one told us this. We then still lived in Kyrgyzstan, in the Osh region, but in Kochkor-ata, and in 1993 we moved to Russia.

In 86, grandfather and grandmother Dotsenko Irina Stepanovna lived in the village of Leninskoye near Uzgen, with their eldest daughter Sofya Artemovna, at that time they moved to her, since it was already hard for them, they were old at all, maybe that’s why they didn’t find her, unfortunately, they are no longer alive either. But the award was definitely not presented. We would have known it was a holiday.

Where we live now, my mother is alive, thank God, but then we left in a hurry, we lived in the Osh region, therefore, unfortunately, the documents were not preserved. I hope my mother has a birth certificate and a marriage certificate, I also have her now 701 years old.

And there is an error in the birth data, the grandfather was born in Ukraine, and during the war he moved his family to Kyrgyzstan with children, and he himself went to the front, either from Ukraine, or from Leningrad, And the data indicates his place of residence after the war and before death itself in 88.

Of all the grandfather's children, my mother and her brother Alexei Artemovich survived, but he is even older than my mother. Naturally, his last name is like that of his grandfather. Please tell me how they can get their grandfather's award? Or at least a document confirming that he was awarded, this is just a symbol, but very important. What needs to be done, I would very much like to please them, I already called my mother and said, she already burst into tears. Our grandfather was a human being, but before the war in Ukraine he fell under repression, later they released him and he volunteered, although they didn’t really want to take it, broke through, returned wounded, spent his whole life with pieces of iron from wounds in his leg and arm. He was very strong. We did not even think that a reward was possible, given the repression that preceded the war. Help.

If it is possible to find some more information about the military path of my grandfather and you can help, we will be very very grateful. There will be something to tell the great-grandchildren about the roots.

Connection history:

Formed in the Kuban, near the villages of Labinskaya, Kurganskaya and Mikhailovka, from February to May 20, 1942. The backbone of the 610th and 619th rifle regiments were front-line soldiers, and this circumstance was decisive for the entire future fate of the formation. It was the front-line soldiers who became the first and active assistants to political instructors and commanders, not only in educating unfired recruits, but also in combat training. The sergeants were not enough, and therefore junior commanders were trained directly in the regiments. Officers were selected from units, military schools, from the reserve and from the reserve of the North Caucasian Military District. The level of their combat training was very heterogeneous. But by mid-March 1942, the division was basically complete. Only with weapons at first things were unfavorable. For study, there were only four guns and four howitzers, six 120- and 82-millimeter mortars, and in the regiments - one hundred combat rifles and machine guns. The transport fleet consisted of five vehicles and ten wagons for each regiment.

In early May, a special commission, after conducting a review, recognized that the connection was ready to carry out combat missions. The division commander and commissar were warned that the missing weapons and transport would have to be received at the destination station.

In the second half of May 1942, the division, consisting of the 610th and 619th rifle and 1037th artillery regiments, was ordered to leave the Kuban. On June 1, she received an order to transfer to the Morozovskaya area at the disposal of the 7RA. The division numbered 12,798 people. By June 8, it unloaded in the area of ​​the Frolovo station of the Stalingrad region. Here the division received the missing weapons and transport. Here, at an accelerated pace, the training of personnel on the practical development of weapons and combat training was completed. There was a cohesion of parts and subdivisions.

Since June 14, it has become part of the 5RA. Since June 28, by order of the commander of the 5RA, he has been on the defensive along the Don River. By July 6, she took up defense along the Don River from the mouth of the river. Khoper to Kletskaya. The division's defense front was 93 km. The 197th division was defending on the right, there was no neighbor on the left. In the Serafimovichi area, the division held a bridgehead.

On July 15, she received an order to concentrate in the Kalach area (Voronezh region). By July 18, concentrated in the area of ​​Kalach. By July 23, she took up defense along the river. Don near Novaya Kalitva.

On August 16, an order was received to march to the left flank of 63A. Here the army was preparing to force the Don west. the mouth of the river Khoper. On August 20, the 14th Guards Rifle Division and the 197th Rifle Division began forcing the Don. On the night of August 23, she began to force the Don in the Verkh area. Matveevsky to the bridgehead occupied by units of the 197th division. Having advanced, it took up defense on the bridgehead in the area of ​​​​height. 226.7. 197sd defended on the right, 14gvsd on the left. On August 25, it went on the offensive in the direction of high. 236.7 East Berry. On August 26, the offensive continued. The enemy tried to go into counterattacks. Since lunchtime on August 26, enemy aircraft appeared in the air, bombing the combat formations of the division.

Breaking into the area high. 236, our fighters captured 3 75mm guns, 15 trucks and 4 motorcycles. Prisoners were also taken. On the night of August 26, an order was received to change the direction of the offensive to the west, to advance south. Berry. During the attack on August 26, the regiments occupied Yagodny and reached the outskirts of Bakhmutkin. All day the battle formations of the division were bombed by enemy aircraft. There was a gap in the enemy's defense. In the battles of August 25-26, more than 300 captured enemy soldiers were taken. Italian divisions "Sforzesco", brigade "March 23" and cav. the brigade lined up front from north to south from Yagodny to Rubizhny. The day of August 27 did not bring success to the regiments of the division. The enemy launched counterattacks, knocking out 610sp from Bakhmutkin and Yagodny. Repeated attacks to return these NPs on August 28 did not bring success. The division went on the defensive.

On August 31, Colonel Zdanovich G.S. was appointed the new division commander. Until the end of the war, he commanded the 203rd division. The battles on the bridgehead were very bloody. The losses of the division from 21 to 31 August amounted to 735 killed, 2123 wounded, 890 missing.

On the morning of September 1, Italian troops went on the offensive, delivering the main blow at the junction of 203 and 14gvsd. The offensive was accompanied by enemy air strikes. Especially got 610sp. The enemy with tanks managed to break through in separate units into the area of ​​​​height. 236, but the units that broke through were destroyed. The commander of 610sp was removed from his post, as he did not provide control in defensive and offensive battles. On September 3, the 203rd Rifle Division switched to a stubborn defense on the Serafimovsky bridgehead occupied by units of the 63rd and 21st armies, starting to build a developed two-echelon defense.

Since October 6, the division as part of 21A. On October 18, in order to improve the front line, she received an order to capture the high. 226.7 - app. Yagodny and Bakhmutkin. On the morning of October 19, after two five-minute artillery attacks, detachments of three rifle regiments allocated for battle went over to the attack on the heights. By morning, the detachments managed to capture the ridges of the height. Strong machine gun fire from bunkers on high and a counterattack by several enemy companies forced the detachments to withdraw from the high ground. The second attack took place at 12:40 after artillery preparation and volleys of RS. However, counterattacks by superior enemy forces did not allow our fighters to gain a foothold on the heights. The 45mm and 76mm artillery allocated to attack and support the infantry could not suppress the bunkers due to the high ridge height. The enemy, who had been on the defensive in this sector for more than two months, had greatly strengthened his line of defense. In the evening, the detachments suffered big losses were forced to retreat to ref. positions. Total losses 413 people were killed and wounded during the attack.

On October 31, the division became part of the new 5TA, and on November 6, it became part of the 1GvA (former 63A). On November 7, preparations for the offensive began. 203sd was supposed to cover the flank of the 5TA strike group with its actions. Initially, the offensive was scheduled for November 12, but soon, due to difficulties with the concentration of our troops and the supply of supplies, the offensive was postponed to November 19. At 06:30 on November 19, artillery preparation began, after which at 08:50 the attack of our troops began. The fighters started a fight to overcome engineering barriers and minefields. The Romanian troops fired heavily from all weapons at the targeted line. Heavy fog to 100 meters limited visibility, which reduced the effectiveness of artillery preparation. At 9:30-11:30 a second attempt was made to overcome the wire obstacles (three rows of wire). As a result of the battle, losses were already up to 50%. Until the end of the day, it was not possible to overcome the wire fence. Losses during the battle on November 19 amounted to 169 killed and 963 wounded. The 14th Guards Rifle Division, adjacent to the left, also had limited success during the attack, however, in the center of the defense formation on the bridgehead - in the sectors of the 47th Guards Rifle Division and 119th Rifle Division, the enemy managed to break through the defense. 1TK and 26TK were introduced into the defense, as well as cavalry corps rushing behind enemy lines. The attack on November 20, which began in the afternoon, was also unsuccessful. Losses amounted to approx. 200 people. The attacks on November 21 were just as unhurried. However, success was noted in the sector of the left-flank 14gvsd, due to a deep breakthrough in the enemy’s defenses in the sector of its neighbors on the left. Parts of this division, having bypassed the enemy's positions through the breakthrough sector, were able to knock him out from the important height 228, which in turn opened the enemy's flank in front of the 203rd division. Finally, on the afternoon of November 22, the Romanian troops began to withdraw from their positions. Pursuing the enemy, the regiments captured Rubashkin and Dubovsky. The opposing divisions of the 34th and 40th divisions of the 9th division of the Romanians were completely defeated, leaving many trophies in their positions.

By the morning of November 23, the 592nd and 610th regiments resumed their offensive and advanced another two or three kilometers. But the dense fire of the enemy forced the fighters to lie down. And at dawn the next day, having pulled up two incomplete infantry divisions, the Germans began to attack the combat formations of the division in open areas. On November 25-26, the situation at the front of the division was gloomy. Although the 610th regiment, in spite of everything, held its positions, the 592nd and 619th regiments were forced to retreat 500-800 meters and gain a foothold on new lines.

For the upcoming offensive in mid-December, a new 3GvA was formed, which was headed by Lieutenant General Lelyushenko. On December 13, having surrendered its sector, the division went east of the village of Krasnokutskaya to the Chir River and replaced the 159th rifle defending here. It was with this that her participation in the operation of the Southwestern Front began under code name"Saturn".

As part of the 3rd guards army the division with the attached 1243rd anti-tank regiment and two divisions of the PC received the task of destroying the enemy in the village of Krasnokutskaya, seizing the farms of Novaya Kultura and Golensky, and by the end of the first day of the offensive, go to the second branch of the Krasnaya Zarya state farm and Talova beam. The 159th was advancing on the right, and the 50th Guards Rifle Division on the left.

The Chir River, which had to be crossed, was only 20-30 meters wide, but it was covered with thin ice. The steep, precipitous shores were also iced over. On the western bank there were buildings turned by the enemy into firing points.

On December 14, units of the division took up their starting position for the offensive. Sappers dug descents to the water, prepared ladders, bridges and fascines. The soldiers stocked up with ropes and axes. On the morning of December 16, after a 75-minute artillery preparation, parts of the division went on the attack, forcing the river Chir sowing. Krasnokutskaya. As a result of a united attack on the left flank of the division, the 610th regiment occupied a mound one and a half kilometers from the Ilyavinov farm and captured ten anti-tank guns with a large number of shells. Losses amounted to 46 killed and 151 wounded.

On December 17-18, the division fought for Krasnokutskaya, but counterattacked by the enemy withdrew to the east. shore of Chir. The offensive in the 14SK sector developed slowly, but in the center of the army formation, where the 1GvMK was introduced into the breakthrough, complete success was achieved. The breakthrough of Russiyanov's tankers led to the collapse of the enemy front along the Don and the Krivaya River and the complete defeat of the retreating enemy units (mainly Italian and Romanian units interspersed with Germans). However, the fighting soon became more intense. Until December 20, the regiments attacked the enemy several times a day, although they were in dire need of ammunition. However, it was not possible to knock the enemy down from their positions and recapture the village of Krasnokutskaya. I had to transfer the 619th regiment from the right flank to the left in order to activate there fighting.

On December 23, the 592nd regiment captured the village of Krasnokutskaya, and the very next day, parts of the division began to pursue the enemy. On December 25, the division received from the commander D. D. Lelyushenko the task of reaching the area of ​​​​the village of Tatsinskaya and helping the tankers. To do this, it was necessary to make a 120-kilometer march to the south. By the end of December 27, the regiments were ordered to concentrate at the village of Skosyrskaya.

On December 29, the regiments, having repelled several enemy counterattacks, went on the offensive. On this day, it became known that the 1006th regiment of the 266th rifle division, on the way to the village of Skosyrskaya, was suddenly attacked by German tanks and retreated, having no connection with the division. Divisional Commander Zdanovich subordinated this regiment to himself and ordered the defense of the western outskirts of Grinev. By evening, the regimental commander found the headquarters of the 266th division, and the regiment left Zdanovich's control. So the command of the 203rd learned about the presence of a neighbor on the right.

The regiments had no ammunition and began to retreat. The remnants of the 592nd hastily left the Grinev farm and crossed to the right bank of the Bystraya. The forward units of the 619th and 610th regiments changed positions. On December 31, 1942, the division, having handed over positions to the brigades of the 1st mechanized corps of General Russiyanov, is withdrawn to the area of ​​the Petrovsky farm for rest and replenishment. Rifle companies were replenished by clearing the rear, reducing special forces, mortar and gun crews, and convalescent teams, all units were put in order, and regiments were replenished with ammunition.

Two hours before the new year, 1943, the regiments received a combat order: to take their former positions north of the Bystraya River. With the dawn of the first day of the new year, after the RS salvo, the division went on the offensive, shot down the enemy's outposts, and by 5 o'clock reached the northern bank of the Bystraya River. Ahead was the Skosyrskaya area. And when the neighbor on the left, the guardsmen of the 14th rifle division, approached the shore occupied by the division, the regiments received the task of advancing precisely in the direction of this large village.

At 7 o'clock, after a short artillery preparation and a volley of Katyushas, ​​the division went on the offensive and after an hour and a half captured the farms of Grinev and Nizhny Nikolaev. The enemy suffered significant losses and rolled back to Skosyrskaya. There he had well-prepared positions. Until January 8, 1943, inclusive, the division fought fierce battles for the liberation and retention of the village of Skosyrskaya, which was not only an important junction of dirt roads, but also a powerful enemy stronghold. In the Skosyrskaya area, the formation interacted with the famous tankers of the 24th Corps of the Guards, Lieutenant General Badanov, and was operationally subordinate to the corps. In difficult conditions, the regiments of the division, together with the tankers, were recaptured from the enemy settlements Zakharo-Oblivsky and Kryukov. The enemy retreated, clinging to every height. But the rapid advance of the regiments of the division forestalled its deployment at intermediate lines.

On January 16, the farms Mikhailovsky and Zarubin were liberated. Prior to this, parts of the division advanced along the Bystraya River. All the bridges on it were blown up by the Nazis, the ice was split by explosions, and numerous approaches were mined. And yet the river managed to overcome a decisive throw. This time the division was supported by tankers of the 25th Panzer Corps. On January 17, the regiments occupied the Krutensky farm, and the next day - Pogorelov. Here a new order was received - to surrender the Pogorelov farm to the 25th tank corps, and then through Oreshkin and Samborov to go to the Kalitvenskaya, Varguny area and further to the Seversky Donets.

This is how the battles on the outer front of the Stalingrad encirclement ended for the 203rd division.

By mid-January, the division as part of the 3rd Guards Army had gone far ahead of the initial lines on the outer ring of encirclement of the Stalingrad group of the enemy. And by February, when units of the army began successful battles in Ukraine for the liberation of the Luhansk region, they had already retired 400 kilometers from Stalingrad.

Having suffered heavy losses, the Nazis did everything to prevent a breakthrough of Soviet troops on the Seversky Donets, to withdraw their battered formations from the Don and the Caucasus. That is why the regiments of the division here met the most stubborn resistance from units of the 6th Infantry Division and the tanks attached to it near the Bogdanov farm in the northern bend of the river. The fighting here lasted almost three days and ended in a complete victory for the Soviet units.

Soon, in order to reduce the front, the command of the 3rd Guards Army regrouped its forces. The 203rd division was transferred to the area of ​​the city of Kamensk, west of the Millerovo-Kamensk railway, deployed three kilometers from the Seversky Donets and began to prepare for an attack. The next day, after a short fire raid, the regiments of the division attacked the enemy and entered the outskirts of Kamensk.

In addition to divisions, the 3rd Guards Army included many separate military units during this period. It was very difficult to manage them. Therefore, on the left flank of the army, three divisions were consolidated into an operational group, headed by Major General Dmitry Petrovich Monakhov. On February 7, units of the division, on his orders, handed over their defense sector to the 233rd Rifle and 54th Guards Rifle Divisions and received a new task. The regiments were to move along the very bank of the Seversky Donets, about a kilometer from the front line of the enemy, to secretly move further west, to the village of Gundorovka.

By the morning of February 9, the division, not noticed by the enemy, moved to the area of ​​​​the village of Gundorovka, where two Soviet rifle formations were already operating against the German infantry division, which had occupied a pre-prepared line, on very rugged terrain. On the same day, the 592nd regiment launched an energetic offensive from the southeastern outskirts of Podgornaya to the south, in the direction of the Belenky farm, and captured a height two kilometers north of the farm. To the left, the 610th regiment slowly advanced on the right flank to the eastern outskirts of the Belenky farm, and on the left it kept in touch with the 619th regiment, which was defending on a wide front from the village of Popovka to the Nizhne-Vishnevsky farm. Despite the massive enemy fire, by 4 pm the regiments had captured the southern slopes of height 115.5 and the western outskirts of Popovka and, thus, completed the task.

On the morning of February 10, the offensive of the division resumed. By the middle of the day, the 592nd regiment approached the crest of the slope, behind which lay the Belenky farm, and began to accumulate for the attack. But the Nazis preempted our fighters. After an unexpected and heavy artillery raid, about two battalions of German infantry rushed to the counterattack. Throughout the day on February 12, the division strengthened its positions, and the Nazis methodically carried out fire raids. The enemy tried at all costs to delay the offensive of the Soviet troops in the Donbass. The 3rd Guards Army, leaving the center and left flank to Voroshilovgrad, met stubborn resistance from several formations hastily drawn here, including two tank regiments of the SS Reich division.

The 203rd division was at the gates of Donbass. The waste heaps of the coal mines of Krasnodon were already visible in front of them ... Nearby, the 266th and 333rd rifle divisions, as well as tankers of the 23rd tank corps of General E. G. Pushkin, were aimed at this Ukrainian city.

After the liberation of Krasnodon, the division actively pursued scattered units and subunits of the enemy's 302nd and 304th infantry divisions in the direction of the city of Rovenki. By the evening of February 16, the division commander ordered the 592nd regiment to make a roundabout maneuver and hit the city from the northwest, and the 619th from the northeast. For three hours the 610th regiment could not move forward. And only when in the city itself the regiments started fighting, bypassing it from the north, and a powerful “hurrah!” began to be heard from the side of the station, the enemy left their fortified positions. By midnight, the city was completely liberated from the invaders. Rich trophies were captured - up to a hundred vehicles, a lot of weapons and equipment, warehouses with ammunition, grain, fuel. There were 15 aircraft at the airfield with minor damage. And they fell into the hands of the advancing units. During this period, the division became part of the 5th Panzer Army.

On the morning of February 18, the 619th and 610th regiments cleared the village of Dyakovo from the Germans, and the 592nd regiment cleared Orekhovo and the Orekhovo-Vishnevetsky farm. Thanks to the help of tankers from the corps of Major General E. G. Pushkin, the Nizhny Nagolchik farm was taken. By the morning of February 19, after a heated battle, the 610th regiment occupied the Dubovsky farm, and in the evening - the village of Dmitrievka on the Mius River. Then the division hit the village of Bokovo-Anthracite, and the 619th regiment liberated it. The battalion of Major Vladimir Sergeevich Chernenko especially distinguished himself, having managed to break the fierce resistance of the enemy in the center of the city and occupy it. Subsequently, Chernenko became an honorary citizen of the city of Anthracite.

On the right bank of the Mius, about 75–90 kilometers from the Sea of ​​Azov, the regiments of the division came into contact with the Nazi 36th Infantry Division, which took up a very strong defense. Here they met the 25th anniversary of the Red Army. On the recommendation of the commander of the group, Major General Pushkin, Divisional Commander Zdanovich was awarded the order Red Banner.

The regiments of the division fought stubborn battles on the Mius until March 1, 1943. On that day, the division was replaced by the 266th rifle division. And the 203rd was given the task of making the transition to the north along the road, just five to eight kilometers from the front line of the enemy. Due to the stoppage of transport, a shortage of food and ammunition began to be felt. And yet, on March 5, the regiments reached a new line of defense. It passed along the slopes of a height of 323.0, stretched past buildings that stood separately in the steppe and rested on the western outskirts of the village of Tsentralno-Bokovsky. The 619th regiment was located in the second echelon at heights 233.1 and 252.5.

Taking advantage of the lull, the division was intensively engaged in combat training. About 1,200 new soldiers came to the division from the liberated regions of Ukraine. They also needed to get used to the new environment. From March 9 to March 11, one-day training sessions for mortars, machine gunners, and snipers were held in the regiments. The division commander held a lesson with unit commanders on the new infantry regulations.

On March 15, a detachment of the division advanced along the ravine one and a half kilometers deep into the German defenses, took up defenses and mined the road to Bokovo - Platovo in order to prevent the enemy reinforcements from approaching. At 6 o'clock, unexpectedly for the Nazis, another detachment began to advance from the rear to a height of 222.0. At the same time, battalions of the 619th regiment hit the same height from the front.

Taken by surprise, the enemy put up a desperate resistance. The battle lasted all day, and by the evening our soldiers occupied a small village and a height of 222.0. At the same time, about 150 Germans were killed and wounded, their weapons and documents of an infantry company were seized. The sabotage was generally successful. After the fighting in the Luhansk region at the end of April 1943, a lull suddenly came for the 203rd. Its units were redeployed to the reserve of the front for replenishment, and then sent to the construction of the Starobelsk fortifications. Construction work was combined with constant study of all departments. They worked 12 hours a day. Everyone worked - from a soldier to a staff officer.

Being in the reserve of the front from the end of April to July 31, the division almost completed the equipment of the Starobelsk fortifications. Here, its regiments were staffed to full staff, received vehicles, as well as small arms and artillery weapons improved on the basis of war experience. Firepower became one and a half times higher than during the first battle on the Don.

On August 10, 1943, the division again became part of the 12th Army of Major General A. I. Danilov, which operated on Southwestern Front and concentrated north of the village of Bogorodichnoye, in the Kharkiv region. On August 16, having completed the reconnaissance of the enemy's defense, units of the division go on the offensive. The division delivered the main blow on the right flank, together with the 333rd division. The 610th and 592nd regiments advanced on a front of one and a half kilometers, and the 619th on a front of up to two kilometers. They, in cooperation with the tank brigade, were ordered to advance on the western outskirts of the Naked Valley, having previously suppressed the enemy's firing points. During the day of stubborn fighting, the division occupied the Naked Valley and entrenched itself on the southeastern outskirts.

Since August 26, after the endless stubborn counterattacks of the enemy, by order of the army commander, the regiments went on the defensive and entrenched themselves on the occupied lines, but every night scouts went in search, snipers were active. On August 31, units of the division surrendered their defense sectors to neighboring units and were assigned to rest and replenishment.

On September 7, 1943, having made a short transition, parts of the division took up their starting position for an attack on the village of Krasnopolye Pervoye. The 156th motorized regiment of the 16th motorized division of the Nazis defended in front of the division's front. Full profile trenches were dug at the enemy, barbed wire entangled trees, blockages were visible on roads and clearings. Repeated attacks by our battalions did not produce results that day. The enemy began to withdraw only on the night of September 8. The pursuit was carried out in a southwestern direction. Success developed so quickly that the divisional commander ordered to reorganize from battle chains into battalion marching columns. By evening, the Germans had gathered forces in order to delay the advance of the 203rd with a counterattack. But their attempt was unsuccessful.

On September 10, the enemy offered strong resistance to our units at the line of Bogodarovo, Nadezhdovka, Pyatirechka. To knock him off this line, three rifle divisions were deployed - the 203rd, 79th and 333rd. The fierce battle lasted more than ten hours. As a result, the 79th Rifle Division occupied Bogodarovo, the 203rd - Nadezhdovka and the 333rd - Pyatirechka.

The retreating Nazis tried to linger near Pavlograd on the Samara and Volchya rivers. But the Soviet units did not give them such an opportunity. The 244th Rifle Division, interacting with the tanks, sought to cover them from the south. The 203rd advanced from the east, and the 6th Army bypassed the Germans from the north. Therefore, the enemy failed to gain a foothold near the city, despite massive air strikes. From 8 to 24 September, the division liberated dozens of large settlements in Kharkov and Dnipropetrovsk regions. On September 25, the division reached the left bank of the Dnieper, 20–25 kilometers north of Zaporozhye.

On the night of September 26, in the division's sector 40–45 kilometers north of Zaporozhye, the Dnieper was already forced by soldiers of the 333rd Infantry Division. And the commander of the army, Major General Danilov, ordered the regiments of the 203rd to help the 333rd expand the bridgehead. The 333rd division crossed the Dnieper in a bend. The 203rd approached the Dnieper to the left of the 333rd, and then, together with it, went to the river in a place inconvenient for forcing. Therefore, the army commander ordered the 203rd to cross the bay east of the Petro-Svistunovo farm on two motor ferries and boats. On September 29, the division crosses the water barrier and starts fighting for bridgeheads. The immediate task for the regiments is to capture the Skubov gully and subsequently reach the eastern bank of the Legkaya gully. To this end, the 333rd division advanced on the right, to the left - the 610th regiment, in the center - the 592nd, and to the left, along the coast, the 619th. On the night of October 4, by order of the commander, the division surrendered its defense sector to the 25th Guards Rifle Division of the 6th Army and on the night of October 5 returned to the left bank of the Dnieper.

Withdrawing to the rear, the division counted the losses. Less than half of the staff remained in the division. Many companies in the 619th regiment consisted of 12-15 riflemen and machine gunners. The next day after moving to the left bank of the Dnieper, the commander of the 12th Army, General Danilov, ordered: with one regiment to defend the left bank of the Dnieper from the village of Varvarovka to the offensive front, and with the rest of the division to attack Zaporozhye, covering the right flank of the army from a possible strike from the right bank.

The Zaporozhye bridgehead of the enemy occupied 40 kilometers along the front and 20 kilometers in depth. He covered the approaches to important economic regions - Nikopol and Krivoy Rog with their manganese and iron ores. Great importance also had the Zaporozhye railway junction, which provided the supply of German troops defending on the Molochnaya River.

To fulfill the combat mission, the 592nd regiment with one artillery battalion was ordered on October 6 to take up defense along the left bank of the Dnieper, in the Varvarovka, Kruglik sector (up to 15 kilometers wide), and the 610th regiment with two artillery battalions and special units of the division was ordered to deploy along the northern bank of the beam Superfluous, east of the Kruglik farm - for the offensive on Zaporozhye (the 619th regiment was taken into the reserve of the commander and put itself in order). The battle for Zaporozhye began for the division on October 9 with reconnaissance in combat, which was carried out by a reinforced rifle company of the 610th regiment. On the morning of October 12, the 610th regiment occupied the village of Andreevka, and later the Vilno-Andreevsky farm, and approached the Vilnaya River, which the army strike group had already crossed to the left.

By dawn on October 13, the infantry captured several mounds and came under heavy enemy fire from a height of 117.5. The enemy stubbornly defended this height, since it opened up a view of the area to Zaporozhye itself. The day before, the 619th regiment returned from the commander's reserve. The divisional commander ordered him to cross the Vilna in the sector of the 244th rifle division and, by dawn on October 13, deploy between the 610th regiment and the 333rd rifle division. According to the general signal, everyone was to advance on Zaporozhye.

On October 13, after a powerful artillery and mortar raid, the regiments began a fierce battle for every house in Pavlo-Kichkas and in village No. 8. By evening, these villages were cleared of the enemy, both regiments reached the Dnieper on the left flank, about a kilometer north of the Dneproges dam. By this time, the 592nd regiment, whose task was to cover the army from the right bank of the Dnieper, expanded its sector and reached out to the Podporozhny farm. On the morning of October 14, the 59th Guards Rifle Division broke through to the city center along with tank corps General E. G. Pushkin. By the end of the day, the enemy was defeated by the efforts of the 12th, 8th and 3rd Guards armies. Red flags flew over Zaporozhye.

On the same day, the division was given the honorary title of Zaporozhye.

On October 16, 1943, the division was tasked with capturing the power plant, the western end of the Dneproges dam named after V. I. Lenin, and holding a bridgehead that would provide their defense. On the night of October 25, the division begins the battle for a bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper, just a kilometer north of the Dneproges dam. On the morning of October 26, all the artillery of the division fired from the left bank on the enemy fortifications. Thanks to this, the 610th regiment, having gone on the attack, captured the first enemy trench in a section up to half a kilometer wide, 200-300 meters from the water. Enemy counterattacks followed immediately, supported by several tanks. They, too, were repulsed. On the night of October 27, two battalions of the 592nd regiment, led by its commander, Major Lemba, arrived in time to help the 610th regiment.

On the night of October 28, the landing of troops on the conquered bridgehead continued. Two battalions of the 619th regiment and the rest of the 610th regiment were transported there. Already in the morning, with the support of heavy artillery fire, the newly arrived soldiers went over to the attack and, after a three-hour battle, advanced 150-200 meters along the front and along the flanks. In response to this, the Germans counterattacked the division twice, but were repulsed, and the regiments entrenched themselves on the lines they had reached. On November 4, the Nazis received solid reinforcements, including more than a dozen tanks, and again rushed to the attack. Parts of the division held out, pushed the enemy back, and in the afternoon occupied another line of German trenches.

Thus, as a result of ten days of fierce fighting, it was possible to capture a bridgehead with a width of about one and a half kilometers and a depth of up to 800 meters, and gain a foothold on it. The balance of forces created on the bridgehead beyond the Dnieper did not promise prospects for a further offensive. Therefore, on the night of November 30, by order of the army command, the 244th division left the bridgehead, transferring its sector to the 619th regiment. On the night of December 2, the 619th regiment left the bridgehead, transferring the site to the 592nd. And on December 11, following the order, the 592nd regiment, quietly breaking away from the enemy, was the last to leave the bridgehead. He stayed there forty-six days and nights! The 619th regiment fought on the bridgehead for thirty-two days, the 610th for twelve days, and the 244th division for about thirty days.

On December 29, units of the division crossed the ice of the Dnieper. Having occupied the village of Novo-Kichkas, they began to advance on Khortitsa. On December 30, tirelessly pursuing the enemy, the 619th regiment connected with the 610th and 592nd regiments, who fought on the Rumovsky bridgehead and crossed the river a little earlier. The convoys, vehicles and artillery of the division crossed the bridge at the Razumovsky bridgehead.

Thus ended the third crossing of the Dnieper and the three-month struggle of the formations of the 6th Army and the soldiers of the 203rd Division to overcome the so-called Eastern Wall, declared impregnable by the Nazis.

On December 30, 1943, the Nikopol-Krivoy Rog offensive operation of the troops of the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian fronts began. In cooperation with the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, which included the 6th Army under the command of General I.T. Shlemin, were to cut off the enemy’s Nikopol grouping and destroy it.

In those days, the division received a solid replenishment from among the inhabitants of the Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk regions. For their training, officers and sergeants of two battalions from each regiment were withdrawn from the front line. Experienced soldiers began training with new arrivals near the village of Novo-Nikolaevka. Ten days later, the training of the new arrivals was completed, the replenishment was transferred to the advanced positions: the division had to advance.

On January 12, 1944, the division carried out an unsuccessful attack with the task of capturing the Novo-Ukrainsky farm and subsequently capturing Maksimov farms. After an unsuccessful offensive, the division goes on the defensive.

On January 30, the division, defending the former sector, strikes on a three-kilometer front in the direction of the villages of Sergeevka, New world; Simultaneously with the 60th Guards and 244th Rifle Divisions, she was tasked with defeating the enemy's Tomakov grouping, and then advancing on Nikopol. By 11 o'clock the 619th regiment had completely cleared Petrovka and entrenched itself on its southern outskirts. The 610th regiment also achieved success. The enemy began to withdraw from Sergeevka.

On February 5, 1944, the division occupied Elizavetinskiye Khutor and Yuzhnaya Tomakovka, and an hour later the 619th regiment captured the village of Borisovka. About fifty Nazis were taken prisoner here, and 15 vehicles with ammunition and various property were also captured. The next day, together with the 333rd Infantry Division, the regiments knocked down the enemy's cover and cleared Zakamenka, Gorodishche, and the Manganets station of the Germans, thereby freeing the region of manganese mines. On February 8, the 203rd, together with the 333rd division, as well as with the 5th motorized rifle brigade and other formations of the 3rd Guards Army, advancing from the Nikopol bridgehead, liberated the city of Nikopol.

In the future, parts of the division, after three days of stubborn fighting, occupied Grushevka, and soon the Grushevsky farm. Moving then to Sholokhovo, having rested a bit and put themselves in order, the division moved all the same impassable mud to the village of Bolshaya Kostromka. On February 16, around noon, units of the division knocked down enemy troops from an intermediate line and, curled up in battalion columns, began to pursue him.

On February 19, 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the 203rd division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for crossing the Dnieper, successful battles to take Nikopol.

On February 25, parts of the division as part of the 66th rifle corps Together with the 244th Rifle Division, which was advancing on the right, and the 61st Guards Division, which was moving to the left, they advanced 30 kilometers and liberated the settlements of Potemkino, Maryanovka, Vysokopole, and Neidorf. On the afternoon of February 29, the 203rd reached the Ingulets River in the area of ​​Suvorovo, Ivanovka, Krasny Yar and met heavy enemy fire. At night, the soldiers of the 610th regiment of the division, after a 20-kilometer march, entered the village of Krasny Yar. At this turn, the division had the task of forcing Ingulets, capturing the village of Sofiyivka and advancing further, to Ravnopolye.

On the night of March 2, they managed to find a ford and quietly cross the river, advance 200-300 meters in a dash and, under heavy enemy fire, gain a foothold on the right bank of the Ingulets. The enemy took hasty measures to strengthen his defenses and, furiously counterattacking, sought to throw our battalions into the river. The success of the division's operation was accompanied by the actions of the right wing of the front. After stubborn battles, it was there that the enemy’s defenses were broken through, and Pliev’s units went into the breakthrough, spurring their horses. On March 8, the cavalry struck in the rear of the troops operating in front of the division's front in the Bereznegovatoe, Snigirevka area. The Nazis were forced to maneuver units, removed some of them from their advanced positions. Then the 6th Army, which included the 203rd Division, went on the offensive.

On March 10, the 610th and 619th regiments shot down the enemy in the Orlovo area and, pursuing him, occupied Natalino, Blagodatnoye and Petrovsky, reaching the Ravnopolye-Novo-Bratsky line in the evening. Here the enemy met the advancing units of the division with strong frontal fire from Aleksandrovka and flanking fire from the left, from the northern outskirts of Novo-Pavlovka. In order to knock him off this line, the regiments attacked the enemy two or three times for three days, but only on March 13 did parts of the division push back the Germans and cross the Visun River near the village of Kaluzskoye on the move. By evening, the division reached the line northeast of the outskirts of the villages of Novoselki and Romanovka.

March 14, bypassing the advanced units of the enemy in the hollows, the division hit the flank and occupied Novoselki - a large fortified enemy knot. Then, in the same way, again going into the flank of the defending Nazis, acting together with the 244th Infantry Division, units of the 203rd forced the Germans to retreat from the village of Bereznegovatoe. The weather prevented the rapid pursuit of the enemy: it rained with snow for three days. And again, impenetrable mud delayed even regimental guns for one and a half to two days. On the evening of March 16, the division occupied the Greigovo railway station. Later, pursuing the Nazis, parts of the division approached Ingul by noon on March 17. On March 18, 1944, the 592nd and 610th regiments crossed Ingul on improvised means before dawn and, interacting with the 244th rifle division advancing from the right, drove the Nazis out of the village of Peresadovka.

It was only about twenty kilometers from Peresadovka to Ternovka, but fierce fighting went on in this area for five days. The terrain here was very hilly. The division's offensive zone was crossed by five deep beams, and the enemy defended behind each of them. The regiments of the division knocked down the enemy from six lines. The prisoners of the 156th separate motorized battalion showed that the Germans were withdrawing through Ternovka to the city of Nikolaev. The soldiers of the 203rd simply had to bite into the enemy's defenses, and the division suffered losses.

For five days, units of the division as part of the 66th Corps of the 6th Army made several attacks daily, but the progress was insignificant. On March 22, howitzer batteries finally approached and brought up ammunition. Only after the artillerymen destroyed 13 enemy machine-gun emplacements and suppressed 2 mortar batteries, did units of the 203rd advance to the outskirts of the village of Ternovka, which is 10 kilometers away. north of the city Nikolaev. However, the Germans put up even more stubborn resistance here: they had to have time to evacuate.

The nearest approaches to Nikolaev were defended from the north by units of the 302nd Infantry Division and a separate battalion. The enemy built well-equipped positions along the railway west of Ternovka, as well as on its northern and eastern outskirts. These fortifications seemed to block the entrance to the neck formed by the Southern Bug and Ingul rivers.

The division advanced from north to south along a three-kilometer front, together with the 244th Rifle Division on the right and the 61st Guards Rifle Division on the left. The regiments of the 203rd marched in one line: on the right - the 619th, in the center - the 610th and on the left - the 592nd. By the end of the day on March 27, the 619th and 592nd regiments, together with neighboring units, finally broke the resistance of the Nazis near Ternovka and the next day reached Ingul near the shipyard, on the northern outskirts of Nikolaev. With the help of local residents, the soldiers, without wasting time, began to cross on improvised means to the coast still occupied by the enemy. By dawn, there were already about five hundred fighters of the division. On March 28, the 5th shock and 28th armies cleared Nikolaev of the enemy.

On this day, by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, gratitude was announced to the troops participating in the battles for the liberation of the regional center of Ukraine and the large port of the city of Nikolaev. Among others, the 203rd division also received gratitude.

Immediately after the liberation of Nikolaev, the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, in cooperation with Black Sea Fleet launched the Odessa offensive operation. Its goal was to liberate the city and port of Odessa and defeat the southern wing of the Nazi front. The 203rd division, which was part of the 66th rifle corps of the 6th army, also took part in this operation. By the evening of March 28, the division concentrated in the village of Matveevka and began to prepare to force the Southern Bug. On the western bank of the Tiligul Estuary, the enemy put up strong resistance. On the night of April 2, units of the 244th and 333rd Rifle Divisions and the 61st Guards Rifle Division crossed the estuary in the Zlatoustovka, Lysenkovo ​​area, shot down the Nazis from the line and continued the pursuit on April 4. The 203rd division bypassed the estuary north of the village of Gulyevo, occupied the village of Shompoly and moved to Pavlinka. On April 6, units of the division, having overturned the enemy, approached the Kuyalnitsky estuary in the Ignatovka-Vandalinovka section.

Having overcome the Kuyalnitsky estuary, on April 7, the regiments of the division reached the swampy backwater of the Khadzhibeevsky estuary, which had only one bridge near the village of Bolshoe Festerovo. Here they were stopped by enemy fire. But under the pressure of the 8th Army, advancing to the right and a little ahead, the Nazis were forced to withdraw in a southwestern direction. On the night of April 8, the 610th and 619th regiments, pursuing the enemy, cut off a group of Nazis with a strength of up to two battalions near the village of Paliovo. In the ensuing firefight, some of them were destroyed, and the rest surrendered. The 66th Corps advanced on Odessa from the northwest. To enable the main forces to withdraw from the city, the enemy fought stubbornly here on the railway in the area of ​​the Vygoda station and to the east of it.

On April 9, units captured the village of Vygoda, but could not take the railway station. Then the corps commander, Major General D. A. Kupriyanov, maneuvered the 333rd and 244th divisions. Having found a gap in the enemy's defense, the troops of the corps easily overcame railway near Dachnaya station. The divisions were followed by two regiments of the division - the 610th and 619th. The detour maneuver of the hull did not go unnoticed. The enemy, under pressure from the 592nd regiment, left the Vygoda station, leaving a lot of military equipment in the cars that stood on the tracks. On the night of April 10, the regiments, pursuing the Nazis, approached the village of Dolnik, but, having stumbled upon intense rifle and machine-gun fire, lay down. By the morning of April 10, the regiments of the division pushed the enemy back to the western outskirts of Odessa and began to storm the city on the move.

The first of the 203rd division broke into Odessa streets early in the morning in the area railway station and factories 592nd rifle regiment. South of it, the 619th and 610th regiments advanced. Where overcoming resistance, where bypassing the fascists who had settled in the houses, the regiments of the 203rd Infantry Division captured the freight station by 9 o'clock, approached the passenger station by 11 o'clock, and soon after noon went to the seashore just a kilometer south of Otrada. Thus, by noon on April 10, Soviet troops cleared Odessa of the enemy.

Having completed the battles for Odessa, the division concentrated in the village of Nerubayskoye to rest and put all units and subunits in order. On April 18, 1944, the 203rd, rested and replenished, made a new transition. This time - to the city of Tiraspol. The regiments were located along the Dniester. Moldavia lay ahead.

By the second half of April, the 82nd Rifle Corps of the 37th Army captured the bridgehead on the western bank of the Dniester near the villages of Kitskany and Kopanki, and the 203rd had to move on. In order to expand the bridgehead, the commander of the 6th Army, Lieutenant-General Shlemin, set the task: on the night of April 25, the 203rd and 333rd rifle divisions would break through the enemy’s defenses on the front up to three kilometers wide and capture the northern part of the village of Kirpatsen, followed by access to dominant height 141.1.

From 19 to 29 April, the division is fighting in this area. Through her actions, she helped expand and consolidate the bridgehead from which, in August 1944, the 3rd Ukrainian Front launched a grand offensive against Romania. The front command highly appreciated the fighting qualities of the soldiers of the 203rd division, and it was transferred to the 5th shock army, which was accepted into the 2nd Ukrainian front by R. Ya. Malinovsky. On May 9, 1944, the division commander received the first combat mission from the new army commander, Colonel General V. D. Tsvetaev.

In the middle of May 44g. 5UDA was preparing for an offensive operation to capture the bend of the Dniester south. Dubosarr. The main blow was delivered by units of 34GvSK (203, 243, 295 rifle divisions). 203sd by the beginning of the offensive consisted of 5861 people, had 8 122mm, 18 76mm, 12 45mm guns, 6 120mm, 24 82mm mortars.

On the morning of May 14 after 30 min. artillery preparations 243 and 203sd broke through the enemy defenses zap. With. Dorotsky and rushed inside the bend of the Dniester. By evening, almost the entire bend of the Dniester was in our hands. 203sd held the defense with one joint venture on the south-west outskirts of Dorotskoye and with the other came to the river bank in the Pereryt area. The offensive was supported by 135tbr from the 23TK. The tankers broke through to the enemy's crossing in the Pereryt area, but the Germans managed to blow it up. During the day, the regiment of the German 4gd was defeated. 67 prisoners were taken. The task set by Colonel-General Tsvetaev was completed: the Germans were basically knocked out of the ill-fated Dniester "bottle". However, it was not possible to completely clear the bank of the Dniester in the occupied bend. The enemy retained several bridgeheads to which he began to transfer reinforcements. Attacks by other divisions of the 5UdA to expand the bridgehead did not bring success, and units of the 203rd and 243rd divisions found themselves in a bend of the Dniester that was being shot through.

On May 15, from their bridgeheads, the enemy went on the offensive from the Dubossarsky bridgehead, pushing the 203rd regiments from the coast. 619sp was scattered. The division commander regrouped r dangerous area 610sp. Our units went on the counterattack. The division's retaliatory counterattack had some success. However, during our counterattack, as a result of a fire raid on the division's NP and an air strike, the division commander, Major General Zdanovich, and the commander of the 619th regiment were wounded. Yaremchuk. Many officers died in 619sp. The commander of 243sd 34GvSK was also wounded. Regiments 295 and 49gvsd also participated in repelling the enemy attack. On the evening of May 15, the Germans crossed the Dniester near Koshnitsa on the other side of the bend, blocking the road north to Dorotskoe. Thus, the supply lines of the division were cut. The enemy continued to advance from the Dubossarsky bridgehead to connect with the Koshnitsky bridgehead.

On May 17, the shock groups of the 49th Guards Rifle Division and the 135th Tank Brigade undertook an operation to defeat and eliminate the enemy's bridgeheads. The southernmost bridgehead at Pereryt was liquidated, Kosnitsky was greatly reduced in size. The Dubossar bridgehead could not be greatly reduced. The battles showed that the bridgehead pressed into the enemy defenses in the bend of the Dniester was shot through by the enemy and our units suffered unnecessary losses. The head was killed. regimental headquarters. Semenov, wounded headquarters 34GvSK and early. opera. department 5UDA. In total, losses amounted to 248 killed and 1285 wounded and continued to grow. Since the expansion attacks were unsuccessful, further retention of the bridgehead required large forces. The enemy pulled up a large number of artillery to the flanks of the bridgehead and prevented the supply of our units with fire. In fact, since May 18, the division was surrounded in the bend of the Dniester. An attempt to throw up a wagon train with food and ammunition on carts and armored personnel carriers was repulsed by enemy fire in the Koshnitsa area. Only two tanks managed to break. Considering all this, it was decided to break out of the encirclement. On the night of May 21, the division broke through the encirclement and left the enemy's ring. The losses of the 203rd Rifle Division from May 15 to 21 amounted to 259 killed, 1157 wounded, 684 missing. 15 76mm, 2 57mm, 6 45mm guns, 1 120mm, 11 82mm mortars were lost. Since May 22, the division was withdrawn to the reserve.

After leaving the encirclement and reorganizing, the division concentrated southeast of the city of Balti of the Moldavian SSR and became part of the 57th rifle corps of the 53rd army. Here, for two months, she improved the rear defensive position of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, conducted enhanced combat and political training, put together subdivisions, units, headquarters.

On August 12, 1944, the division, which was in the second echelon of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, reached the Prut River. Behind it lay a foreign land.

Later, participating in the Iasi-Chisinau operation, she fought on the territory of Romania, by the end of September 1944 she reached the border of Hungary, participated in the Debrecen operation and the Budapest strategic operation, participated in the Bratislava-Brnov operation on the territory of Czechoslovakia, crossed the Gron on March 25, 1945 .

She ended the fighting in the west on May 12, 1945, stopping in the city of Stemberg.

Transferred to Far East, on the territory of Mongolia in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe city of Choibalsan, advanced in the second echelon of troops during the Khingan-Mugden operation, entered into a breakthrough, ended the war in Port Arthur.

For excellent actions, the 203rd Rifle Division received 17 commendations from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and Suvorov, II degree, and was given the honorary name of Zaporozhye-Khingan. All parts of it are marked with government awards. For the exemplary performance of command assignments on the front against the Nazi invaders and the Japanese imperialists, 16,040 soldiers, sergeants and officers were awarded orders and medals, and 27 soldiers were awarded high rank Hero of the Soviet Union.

Commanders:

• Kashlyaev, Vasily Yakovlevich (04/20/1942 - 09/02/1942), colonel
• Zdanovich, Gavriil Stanislavovich (09/03/1942 - 05/18/1944), major general (wounded ~ 05/15/1944)
• Semyonov, Alexander Vasilievich (05/15/1944), colonel (NSh division, acting commander of the division, killed on the evening of 05/15/1944)
• Shorin, Vasily Ivanovich (05/17/1944), lieutenant colonel (killed a few hours later as a result of the bombing)
• Kolesnikov, Anton Mikhailovich (05/17/1944 - 05/19/1944), major (wounded during a breakthrough from encirclement), commander of the 592nd regiment, temporarily, by order of the corps commander, placed at the head of the division units located on the Dniester bridgehead)
• Zyuvanov, Vladimir Pavlovich (05/19/1944 - 05/28/1944), Major General
• Zdanovich, Gavriil Stanislavovich (05/29/1944 - 09/03/1945), Major General

Subordination:

	01.01	01.02	01.03	01.04	01.05	01.06	01.07	01.08	01.09	01.10	01.11	01.12
1941
1942