98th Rifle Division

98th Rifle Division (January 1939 - September 26, 1941) 98th Rifle Division (February 1942 - April 16, 1943) 98th Rifle Division (April 28, 1943 - July 1945)
Active	1939-1945
Country	Soviet Union
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Operation Barbarossa Battle of Smolensk (1941) Battle of Stalingrad Operation Little Saturn Siege of Leningrad Leningrad–Novgorod offensive Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha offensive Battle of Narva (1944) Baltic offensive Riga offensive (1944) Upper Silesian offensive Prague offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner (3rd Formation)
Battle honours	Ropsha (3rd Formation)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. Ivan Mikhailovich Antyufeev Maj. Gen. Akim Markovich Markov Maj. Gen. Mikhail Filippovich Gavrilov Col. Yosif Fyodorovich Barinov Col. Ivan Fedotovich Seregin Col. Nikolai Sergeevich Nikanorov

The first 98th Rifle Division was formed in the Ural Military District in January, 1939, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) that would become official the following September. It began moving west from the Urals just prior to the German invasion, assigned to the 22nd Army of the High Command reserve, and completed its arrival in the Polotsk area on June 20.

1st Formation

The division began forming in January 1939 at Ufa in the Ural Military District, based on the 253rd Rifle Regiment of the 85th Rifle Division. In November the division came under command of Col. Ivan Mikhailovich Antyufeev, and he remained in this position for a year, during which time his headquarters moved to Izhevsk. In December 1940 he was demoted to deputy command of the 95th Rifle Division, and Maj. Gen. Akim Markovich Markov took over the 98th. This officer had briefly served as deputy chief of staff of the Ural District for organizational and mobilization issues, and when the 51st Rifle Corps was formed in March 1941 he was given command, with the 98th as one of its divisions. Maj. Gen. Mikhail Filippovich Gavrilov, who had previously led the 83rd Mountain Rifle and the 182nd Rifle Divisions before becoming chief of the Novosibirsk Military Infantry School, took over the division. By the beginning of June the 51st Corps had the 98th, 112th, and 153rd Rifle Divisions under command. The first two had the 6,000-man establishment, while the latter was on the 3,000-man establishment; Markov noted that all three had "incurred significant personnel expenditures on internal and garrison service, which reduced their overall combat readiness." In order to complete to wartime strength the 98th and 112th received 6,000 reservists each, while the 153rd got 8,000, but many did not arrive until the Corps was already in battle. The Corps was assigned to 22nd Army, which in early July would come under Western Front.

On June 22 the 98th's order of battle was as follows:

• 4th Rifle Regiment
• 166th Rifle Regiment
• 308th Rifle Regiment
• 153rd Artillery Regiment
• 155th Howitzer Artillery Regiment
• 157th Antitank Battalion
• 285th Antiaircraft Battalion
• 76th Reconnaissance Battalion
• 84th Sapper Battalion
• 108th Signal Battalion
• 50th Medical/Sanitation Battalion
• 60th Motor Transport Company
• 785th Field Postal Station (later 480th)
• 229th Field Office of the State Bank

As the division unloaded at Dretun the Army commander, Lt. Gen. F. A. Yershakov, ordered his troops to take up planned positions on a defensive line along the right bank of the Daugava River from Krāslava to Drissa to Polotsk to Vitebsk, with the intention of preventing German forces from crossing the river. 51st Corps occupied the western end of this line.

Battle of Smolensk

On June 26 commandos of the Brandenburgers captured the two bridges over the Daugava at Daugavpils, permitting a crossing by the LVI Motorized Corps' 8th Panzer Division. This bridgehead was quickly expanded in order to attack the 112th at Krāslava, but that division put up firm resistance. 4th Panzer Group now sought alternative crossing points, including at Drissa and Ustye. General Gavrilov noticed the German concentration and moved his advanced forces back to the right bank before ordering the bridges blown but his sappers rushed the job and some men were cut off on the left bank. The German crossing attempts were stopped.

Battle for the Daugava

Overnight on July 2/3 the advance detachment of LVII Motorized Corps' 19th Panzer Division began an advance along the Sharkawshchyna–Dzisna road toward the Daugava, also searching for a crossing point. Dzisna fell in the morning but initial efforts to cross failed, largely due to effective artillery fire. During July 3/4 the panzer troops pushed east of Dzisna and put an assault group over to the right bank in inflatable boats. In the morning, with air support in place, a second wave began crossing. This area was defended by the 166th Rifle Regiment, which managed to hold against the first attack, but by 0830 hours three companies were in the bridgehead, which launched an attack that captured the village of Lunacharskoye. The inexperienced men of the 166th left their trenches and retreated. This failure was unexpected and placed both Markov and Yershakov in a dilemma, as neither 51st Corps nor 22nd Army had any reserves available. Yershakov's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. G. F. Zakharov, was forced to report to the headquarters of the new commander of Western Front, Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, as follows: "The enemy launched an infantry offensive east of Disna with up to a divisional strength, and by 12:00, he had managed to cross the river with a force of about two battalions. The results are still unknown, as communications have been disrupted." Zakharov requested a tank regiment and two squadrons of fighter planes, but no tanks were available.

German infantry continued to cross to the bridgehead, which soon expanded to a depth of 2-3km, including several commanding heights. At 1800 hours Gavrilov counterattacked with the forces he had on hand, backed by air attacks. 19th Panzer reported this was repelled with heavy Soviet losses. The German command now planned to cross another infantry regiment while also building a pontoon bridge. Any breakout from the bridgehead would threaten the supply lines of the 112th as well as the entire Corps along the Polotsk–Drissa highway and railroad. However, prisoner information now made clear to the commander of 19th Panzer, Lt. Gen. O. von Knobelsdorff, that he was facing a full division and not simply bits and pieces of defeated and retreating units. He therefore ordered his division over to the defense in order to consolidate and build up strength. Bridge building was suspended as the 98th's artillery fire remained effective.

Consternation over the German bridgehead caused the deputy commander of Western Front, Lt. Gen. A. I. Yeryomenko, to visit the 51st Corps sector on July 5. The commander of the 166th Regiment, Maj. K. A. Zainullin, was executed in front of his men. General Markov was heavily reprimanded for his failure to take effective countermeasures. Yeryomenko also intervened to halt the retreat of the 126th Rifle Division (11th Army, Northwestern Front) and put its remaining 2,400 men into line to the left of the 98th. Another counterattack by the 166th, now supported by elements of the 4th Rifle Regiment, was organized. This also failed and the 98th was forced to fall back on its left flank to a prepared line near Borkovichi station, currently held by the 110th Howitzer Artillery Regiment, which had lost all its guns in the retreat from Lithuania.

References

Bibliography

• Grylev, A. N. (1970). Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 49
• Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941–1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy. pp. 147-48

External links

• Ivan Mikhailovich Antyufeev
• Akim Markovich Markov
• Mikhail Filippovich Gavrilov
• Yosif Fyodorovich Barinov
• Ivan Fedotovich Seregin
• History of the 1st Formation of the 98th (In Russian)