22nd Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 22nd Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 22nd Guards Rifle Division (April 19, 1943 - 1946)

rdf:langString 22nd Guards Rifle Division (March 17, 1942 – November 16, 1942)

rdf:langString Riga

rdf:langString Col. Grigorii Ivanovich Panishev

rdf:langString Col. Nikolai Olimpievich Ruz

rdf:langString Col. Vasilii Ivanovich Morozov

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Karp Vasilyevich Sviridov

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 22nd Guards Rifle Division was unique in being the only Guards rifle division formed twice during the Great Patriotic War. It was first formed from the 363rd Rifle Division in March 1942. Soon after forming it provided a command cadre for the second formation of the 53rd Army in Kalinin Front. Later, in the fall of that year, the division provided most of its personnel and equipment to form the new 2nd Guards Mechanized Corps, and was then disbanded. In April 1943, a new 22nd Guards was formed from the second formation of the 150th Rifle Division in the Moscow Military District, and went on to serve for the duration in 10th Guards Army. This formation first saw service in Operation Suvorov, the summer offensive of Western Front that liberated Smolensk in late September, and then fought through the autumn and winter in grinding battles towards the city of Orsha. During the summer offensive of 1944 it helped break the Panther Line in western Russia and then advanced into Latvia, winning a battle honor for its part in the liberation of Riga, before ending the war in Lithuania, helping to contain the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket. It was disbanded shortly after the war.