89th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 89th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString 89th Guards Rifle Division

rdf:langString Belgorod

rdf:langString Kharkov

rdf:langString Col. Aleksei Ivanovich Baksov 10px

rdf:langString Col. Ivan Alekseevich Pigin

rdf:langString Maj. Gen. Mikhail Petrovich Seryugin

rdf:langString Infantry

rdf:langString Division

rdf:langString The 89th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in April 1943, based on the 1940 formation of the 160th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It would fight its way into the heart of Berlin prior to the German surrender. The 160th had distinguished itself in Operation Little Saturn and the subsequent Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive and despite being partly destroyed during the German counteroffensive that retook Kharkov in March 1943 it was deemed worthy of Guards status. This redesignation also ended the situation where two divisions bearing the number 160th had been serving concurrently for 18 months. At the start of the Battle of Kursk the 89th Guards was in Voronezh Front on the far left flank of 6th Guards Army in reserve but during the fighting was transferred to the of 69th Army. When the Red Army went over to the offensive in early August the division was awarded one of the first honorifics for its part in the liberation of Belgorod and within weeks a further battle honor for helping to retake Kharkov. It then joined the summer offensive through eastern Ukraine to the Dniepr River where more than two dozen of its personnel became Heroes of the Soviet Union as a result of crossing operations near Kremenchug. Through the winter it would take part in the battles in the great bend of the Dniepr, now as part of the 37th Army of 2nd Ukrainian Front. During the advance through western Ukraine in the spring of 1944 to the Dniestr River the division was transferred to 53rd Army, still in 2nd Ukrainian Front, but the Front's first effort to penetrate into Moldavia was stymied. The second effort in August was a major victory and the 273rd Guards Rifle Regiment would be awarded an honorific. Following this the 89th Guards was transferred to the 5th Shock Army where it mostly served in the for the duration of the war. Prior to the Vistula-Oder Offensive that Army was itself transferred to 1st Belorussian Front. In early February the division 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. In November 1945 it began reorganizing as the 23rd Guards Mechanized Division but this short-lived formation was disbanded near Moscow in March 1947.