414th Rifle Division

rdf:langString 414th Rifle Division

rdf:langString 414th Rifle Division

rdf:langString Col. Georgy Gavrilovich Kurashvili

rdf:langString Col. Grigory Ivanovich Sherstnev

rdf:langString Col. Ivan Fedorovich Ioskevich

rdf:langString Col. Nikolai Georgievich Selikhov

rdf:langString Col. Pyotr Ivanovich Metalnikov

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Valerian Sergeevich Dzabakhidze

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 414th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army; very briefly in the winter of 1941/42, then from the spring of 1942 until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially considered a Georgian National division, having nearly all its personnel of that nationality in its second formation. After its second formation it remained in service in the Caucasus near the borders of Turkey and Iran in the 44th Army until the summer of 1942, when it was redeployed to help counter the German drive toward Grozny. As German Army Group A retreated from the Caucasus in January 1943 the division was reassigned to the 37th Army in North Caucasus Front, and during the fighting in the Taman Peninsula during the summer it served in both the 58th and 18th Armies, earning a battle honor in the process. It entered the Crimea during the Kerch–Eltigen Operation in November, and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner following the offensive that liberated that region in April and May 1944, fighting in the of the Separate Coastal Army. After the Crimea was cleared the Coastal Army remained as a garrison and the 414th stayed there for the duration of the war. Postwar, it was relocated to Tbilisi, being renumbered as the 74th Rifle Division in 1955 and disbanded the following year.