88th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 88th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 88th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString Col. Efim Timofeevich Marchenko

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Boris Nikiforovich Pankov 10px

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Grigorii Ivanovich Vekhin 10px

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Vladimir Yakovlevich Vladimirov

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 88th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 99th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It would become one of the most highly decorated rifle divisions of the Red Army. The 99th had distinguished itself in the fighting around Stalingrad as part of 66th Army but was transferred to 62nd Army near the end of the battle and when that Army became the 8th Guards Army the 88th Guards joined the 28th Guards Rifle Corps and it would serve under these commands for the duration. The division inherited the Order of the Red Banner that the 99th had won in July 1941. The Army failed to penetrate into the Donbass in July, but when the offensive was renewed in August it joined the summer offensive through eastern Ukraine to the Dniepr River. In mid-October the division would win an honorific for its part in the liberation of Zaporozhye. Through the winter it would take part in the battles in the great bend of the Dniepr, now as part of 3rd Ukrainian Front. It soon also won the Order of Suvorov in recognition of its role in the fighting along the Inhulets River and the subsequent exploitation to the west. Following the liberation of Odessa in April 1944 it advanced into the estuary of the Dniestr River but, unable to find a viable crossing, backtracked to the north and then became involved in defensive fighting for a bridgehead south of Grigoriopol. After the Front went over to the defense the 8th Guards Army was transferred to 1st Belorussian Front where it remained for the duration. The 88th Guards earned another decoration for its part in breaking the German defense west of Kovel in the later stage of Operation Bagration and after helping to liberate the city of Lublin entered the bridgehead over the Vistula at Magnuszew in the first days of August. During the Vistula-Oder Offensive several of the division's regiments and other subunits were recognized with honorifics or decorations for their success in the advance into Poland. In early February the 88th Guards helped to expand a bridgehead over the Oder River near Küstrin and remained in that position until the final offensive on Berlin began in mid-April. The division and its units collected further honors during this offensive and ended the war in the center of the city near the Zoological Garden. The 88th Guards was assigned to occupation duty in the Soviet sector of Germany but was disbanded in early 1947.