109th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

rdf:langString 109th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

rdf:langString 109th Rifle Division (January 29, 1942 – July 30, 1942)

rdf:langString 109th Rifle Division (August 6, 1942 – 1946)

rdf:langString 109th Rifle Division (April 15, 1939 – January 1940)

rdf:langString Leningrad

rdf:langString Col. Nikolai Pavlovich Krasnoretzkiy

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Nikolai Andreevich Trushkin

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Pyotr Georgyevich Novikov

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 109th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry division that was formed three times, briefly in 1939, during 1942, and again from 1942-45. The first formation of the division was converted to a mechanized division after about nine months. Its second formation served for six months in 1942 in the defense of the fortress of Sevastopol, in the southern sector of the siege lines. After being destroyed there in July, a third division was formed by re-designating an existing rifle division near Leningrad in August, and it successfully held its positions for nearly a year and a half, in spite of shortages of food and supplies due to the German/Finnish siege. The 109th then participated in the offensive that drove the Germans away from the city in early 1944, helped drive Finland out of the war, and then joined the offensive along the Baltic coast towards Germany. This third formation compiled an admirable record of service, but was disbanded in 1946.