376th Rifle Division

rdf:langString 376th Rifle Division

rdf:langString 376th Rifle Division

rdf:langString Pskov

rdf:langString Kuzbass

rdf:langString Col. Georgy Petrovich Isakov

rdf:langString Lt. Col. Dmitry Ivanovich Ugorich

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Nikolai Antonovich Polyakov

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 376th Rifle Division was raised in 1941 as an infantry division of the Red Army, and served for the duration of the Great Patriotic War in that role. It began forming in August 1941 in the Siberian Military District. It followed a very similar combat path to that of the 374th Rifle Division. It joined the fighting front in December with the new 59th Army along the Volkhov River and it continued to serve in the battles near Leningrad until early 1944. The division took horrendous casualties in the combat to create and hold open a passage to the 2nd Shock Army during the Lyuban Offensive and was itself partly or fully encircled at several times during this dismal fighting. The division finally left this region as it advanced during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive in January 1944 and in July won a battle honor in the liberation of Pskov, while its 1250th Rifle Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In October the 376th as a whole would also receive the Red Banner for its part in the liberation of Riga. The division ended the war in Latvia, helping to contain and reduce the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket, and was reorganized as a rifle brigade shortly thereafter.