83rd Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 83rd Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 83rd Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Aleksei Grigorevich Maslov

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Yakov Stepanovich Vorobyov 10px

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 83rd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 97th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. Throughout its combat path it was considered a "sister" to the 84th Guards Rifle Division. It was redesignated after the relatively minor battles along the front held by the 16th Army north of the Oryol salient during most of 1942 and into early 1943. Under a STAVKA directive of April 16 that Army was officially redesignated as the 11th Guards Army on May 1, 1943. The division was immediately assigned to the and it would serve under these commands for the duration of the war. It re-entered the fighting in July during the offensive for the liberation of the Oryol region. By early autumn the entire Army was moved northward, becoming part of the 2nd Baltic Front before moving to the 1st Baltic Front. The 83rd Guards saw combat in the slow and bloody battles east and north of Vitebsk through the winter during which it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and shortly after a divisional honorific. Early during the summer offensive against Army Group Center, now as part of 3rd Belorussian Front, the division further distinguished itself in crossing the Berezina River and liberating the city of Borisov, later receiving the Order of Suvorov. It then took part in the advance through Lithuania and into East Prussia, taking part in the siege and capture of Königsberg before moving with its Army to the Zemland Group of Forces and spending the last weeks of the war mopping up German resistance in the Baltic ports. Despite an admirable record the 83rd Guards was gradually disbanded from mid-1945 to mid-1946.