Active 1 Mar 1943–46 Branch Ground Forces Size Division | Type Infantry | |
Engagements Donbas Strategic OffensiveIzyum-Barvenkovo OffensiveBarvenkovo-Pavlograd OffensiveLublin-Brest OffensiveKrivoi Rog OffensiveNikopol OffensiveBereznegovatoye-Snigirevka OffensiveOdessa OffensiveVistula–Oder OffensiveBattle of the Seelow HeightsBerlin Strategic Offensive | ||
The 74th Guards Rifle Division' was an Guards infantry division of the Red Army during the Second World War. Its full formal name was the 74-я Guards Nizhnedneprovskiy Order of Lenin twice Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Rifle Division. It was formed from the 45th Rifle Division on 1 March 1943. The division's entire World War II service was with the 62nd Army, later the 8th Guards Army.
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1943
In July 1943, participated in the battles on the outskirts of Izium, Izyum-Barvenkovo Offensive, in August 1943 in the Barvenkovo-Pavlograd Offensive, as part of the Donbas Strategic Offensive Operation . In the Lower Dnieper Offensive Operation crossed the Dnieper south of Dnipropetrovsk. During Nizhnedneprovskiy offensive forced the Dnieper to the south of Dnipropetrovsk. Then took part in the Krivoi Rog Offensive and Nikopol Offensive.
1944
During the Winter Spring campaign of 1944 the division participated in the Bereznegovatoye-Snigirevka Offensive and the follow on Odessa Offensive.
In July 1944 the division participated in the Lublin-Brest Offensive as part of the Operation Bagration and the beginning of the liberation of Poland.
1945
In January 1945 the division was part of the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the liberation of Poland.
In April 1945 it broke through enemy defenses at the Battle of the Seelow Heights, taking part in the Berlin Strategic Offensive.
During the war the division participated in the liberation of the cities of Izium, Nikopol, Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Poznan, Lodz, and taking Kustrin.
Postwar
The division was became part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany along with its corps and army, and was disbanded in the summer of 1946.