User:Kges1901/74th RD

The 74th Taman Rifle Division (74-я Таманская стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Soviet Union, active during the interwar period and World War II from 1924 to 1942.

Prewar service
The 74th Rifle Division was formed on 4 January 1924 as a territorial unit from a cadre drawn from the 22nd Krasnodar Rifle Division in the North Caucasus Military District. However, the division was not fully separated from the 22nd until 1 October 1926 by an order of the district, and on 14 December of that year received the Taman honorific in commemoration of the service of the 192nd Rifle Regiment of the 22nd Rifle Division on the peninsula during the Russian Civil War. Its first commander was former 22nd Division assistant commander Nikolay Veryovkin-Rakhalsky, who led it until he departed for a teaching position in late 1931. Veryovkin-Rakhalsky was replaced by division assistant commander Georgy Kilevein in November 1931, who commanded the 74th until he was arrested during the Great Purge on 17 May 1937.

By 1935 the division was headquartered at Krasnodar, assigned to the 9th Rifle Corps together with the 22nd Division. Its 221st Black Sea Rifle and 74th Artillery Regiments were also at Krasnodar, while the 220th Slavyanskaya Rifle Regiment was at Slavyanskaya and the 222nd Ust-Labinskaya Rifle Regiment at Ust-Labinskaya.

Colonel Fyodor Sheverdin was appointed division commander in February 1939.

On 12 June 1940, in preparation for the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, the General Staff ordered the transfer of the 74th and 164th Rifle Divisions to the Odessa Military District. There, the 74th joined the 55th Rifle Corps of the 9th Army together with 25th and 116th Rifle Division s, tasked with the southernmost sector of the Soviet advance. After Romania was pressured into handing over Bessarabia to avoid war, Soviet troops began advancing into the region as the Romanians withdrew, with the 74th advancing west to the north of the 25th. At 21:47 on 28 June, a battalion of the division crossed the Dniester at Akkerman. The 74th completed the crossing of the Dniester Estuary on 29 June and occupied the vicinity of Palanca, Karlovka, and Akkerman. To the north of the estuary, its 360th Rifle Regiment crossed the Dniester at 0300 and occupied the Khan-Kishlo region. The 78th Rifle Regiment of the division occupied Akkerman on 30 June and at 0300 the rest of the division entered Staraya Sarata, accomplishing its objectives for the annexation. During the day, 22 Romanian soldiers and an officer surrendered their weapons at the division headquarters. On the night of 2 July, a picket of the 360th Rifle Regiment was fired upon in the Dniester Estuary and two horses were wounded in the exchange of fire. On the next day, 1,203 soldiers, 130 horses and 16 guns from the division conducted a victory parade in Akkerman. After the completion of the occupation, the 9th Army headquarters was disbanded and the division continued as part of the Odessa Military District from 7 July.

World War II
When Operation Barbarossa began, the division was assigned to the 48th Rifle Corps of the 9th Army of the Southern Front. The division was later transferred to the 12th Army of the front. The division fought in the border battles, defending the east bank of the Prut against the German and Romanian attack northwest of Kishinev. The division then fought in defensive battles on the Dniester, Southern Bug, and the Dnieper. On 2 August Sheverdin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his leadership. In September in battle near Zaporozhye Sheverdin was slightly wounded in the leg. From late September to early December the division fought in the defense of the Donbass, the Battle of Rostov, and in fierce fighting in defense of the line of Zhovany, Nikitovka, western outskirts of Gorlovki, and Piatykhatky. In January the division participated in the Barvenkovo–Lozovaya Offensive, then went back on the defensive in the Donbass. In May Sheverdin was sent to receive further military education.

Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Balenko, a regimental commander of the 30th Mountain Rifle Division, became division commander on 26 May. The division fought in battles in the Don bend against the Axis advance in Case Blue north of Voroshilovgrad. The 74th later became part of the 37th Army of the front, and the army joined the Don Group of the North Caucasian Front on 29 July. During heavy fighting in the Donbass, Balenko was severely wounded and evacuated to a hospital on 12 August. By 11 August, the division was reduced to 200 soldiers, 22 guns, 30 anti-tank rifles, 20 82 mm mortars, and two 120 mm mortars. Most of 37th Army's divisions were severely understrength by then, but the 74th was one of those with the least personnel remaining. Its 6th Artillery Regiment was transferred to the 176th Rifle Division of the army on 14 August. With this transfer the 74th effectively cased to exist, but it was not formally disbanded until 27 September 1942.