The 251st Rifle Division was the seventh of a group of 10 regular rifle divisions formed from cadres of NKVD border and internal troops as standard Red Army rifle divisions, very shortly after the German invasion, in the Moscow Military District. It was largely based on what would become the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941, with several variations. It served under command of 30th Army in an effort to recover Smolensk in late July and in the Dukhovshchina offensives in August and September, and was quickly reduced to a much-weakened state. It was largely encircled in the initial stages of Operation Typhoon but sufficient men and equipment escaped that it was spared being disbanded. In the following two and a half years the division slogged through the difficult and costly battles around Rzhev and Smolensk as part of 20th Army, and later 31st Army, of Western Front, including several abortive offensives toward Orsha and Vitebsk in late 1943 and early 1944. At the start of Operation Bagration in June the 251st was serving in the 39th Army of 1st Baltic Front and it won a battle honor for its part in the liberation of Vitebsk. Following this victory it advanced into the "Baltic Gap" that had formed between Army Groups North and Center, entering Lithuania and winning the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the fighting for Kaunas. The division was transferred to 43rd Army and then 4th Shock Army as the Front advanced on Riga, and two of its rifle regiments received decorations for the battles for the Latvian capital. In the first days of 1945 the 251st was reassigned yet again, to the 2nd Guards Army of 3rd Belorussian Front, and served under this Army for the duration of the war. It, and several of its subunits, received awards during the East Prussian campaign, and ended the war in East Prussia. After the war the 251st was moved into the Caucasus region, and was finally disbanded in early 1947.
Formation The 251st Rifle Division began forming within days of the start of the German invasion on June 26, 1941, at Kolomna, in the Moscow Military District.Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 75 This was based on an NKVD order of that date: Its order of battle was as follows: 919th Rifle Regiment 923rd Rifle Regiment 927th Rifle Regiment 789th Artillery Regiment 309th Antitank Battalion 331st Reconnaissance Company 419th Sapper Battalion 671st Signal Battalion (later 671st, 429th Signal Companies) 269th Medical/Sanitation Battalion 249th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 61st Auto Transport Company (later 472nd) 308th Field Bakery 306th Divisional Veterinary Hospital (later 104th) 814th Field Postal Station 715th Field Office of the State Bank Maj. Gen. Filipp Yakovlevich Solovyov, an NKVD officer, was named divisional commander on June 30; he had previously led the 26th NKVD Rifle Division. The division was assigned to 30th Army of Western Front by July 13, less than three weeks after beginning to be formed. On its arrival at the front the unit did not make a favorable impression on the Army commander, Maj. Gen. V. A. Khomenko, who reported on August 5:
In this same report Khomenko stated in regard to his 250th and 251st Divisions that they had been required to move up to 350 km on foot to their concentration areas and "were taken from their assembly points in the very midst of assembly, and, incomplete, they did not approach being 'knocked together' and went into battle unprepared for combat." The two divisions had no howitzers at all, severe shortages existed in field guns and mortars, and ammunition of all types was short. He went on to note:Glantz comments that "These candid reports about the combat state of 30th Army will largely explain why 30th Army operates as it does during the Western Front's three counteroffensives during late July, August, and early September 1941. Given these facts, the army's performance was nothing short of amazing."Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 4
30th Army was first assigned to the Group of STAVKA Reserve Armies, and also contained the 242nd and 250th Rifle Divisions.Combat Composition of the Soviet Army, 1941, pp. 26, 31 On July 21 General Khomenko ordered each of his rifle divisions to receive a tank battalion from the 110th Tank Division. These battalions were supposed to consist of two companies, one of 10 T-34s and one of 10 BT or T-26 light tanks, plus a BT or T-26 as a headquarters tank, but by the date of the above report only one of these tanks remained.Sharp, "Red Tide", pp. 41, 46
Battle of Smolensk The 251st officially joined the active army on July 18, just over three weeks after beginning to form up. Three days earlier, the lead elements of 2nd Panzer Group's 29th Motorized Division had reached the southern part of Smolensk. Over the following days German pressure mounted against the three armies of Western Front, commanded by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, which were almost entirely encircled in that region. On July 19 the commander of the Group of STAVKA Reserve Armies, Lt. Gen. I. A. Bogdanov, was alerted by the STAVKA to begin preparing an offensive operation with his 29th, 30th and 28th Armies to rescue Timoshenko's force. The 30th, starting from its concentration area north of the Western Dvina River, was to advance toward Demidov.
The following day, on behalf of the STAVKA, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov sent a directive to Timoshenko, who was now acting as commander of the Western Direction. Four reserve armies, including the 30th (now designated as "Group Khomenko"), were to launch attacks toward Dukhovshchina and Smolensk along converging axes. Khomenko was to attack southward from the region southwest of Bely to reach the MaksimovkaPetropole line by the end of July 22 before pushing on toward Dukhovshchina the next morning. A report from 0600 hours on July 23 indicated that the 251st had reached the Belyi line. A further report two days later stated that the Army was engaged in fighting with German motorized infantry 2 km north of Chernyi Ruchei, and that the division (less one rifle regiment) was attacking from the Petropole line, 25 km south of Bely, as of 2000 hours to assist the 107th Tank Division on its left.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 5
In orders issued by Timoshenko at 0240 hours on July 26 the division was to attack toward Teribki and Baturino and capture the Pozhinki, Sukharevo, and Lelimovo region, 40 km south of that Bely. During that day and the next 30th Army recorded some tactical successes in advances of 5–15 km against the dug-in company-size battlegroups of 18th Motorized Division, On July 30 General Solovyov left the 251st and was replaced by Maj. Gen. Ivan Fyodorovich Nikitin. Solovyov returned to the front as commander of the 364th Rifle Division in September; he would later lead the 112th and 123rd Rifle Corps and be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. Nikitin had commanded the 58th Rifle Division prewar and had also served as a senior instructor at the Frunze Military Academy. By July 31 it was clear that the offensive to recover Smolensk and rescue the three nearly encircled armies there had failed, but had also forced Army Group Center's two panzer groups to a near standstill.
On August 1 Army Group Center began its final effort to seal off the Smolensk pocket and liquidate the forces within it. In a report issued by Timoshenko at 2000 hours on August 3 it was stated that 30th Army had attacked with its main forces in the morning, overcoming strong German resistance, with the 251st moving on Zhidki and Pochinok No. 2 against small groups of withdrawing German troops.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 7 As of August 5 the division had lost 3,898 officers and men killed, wounded or missing; the 919th and 923rd Rifle Regiments were down to just 247 and 379 men, respectively. In addition, the tank battalion had just one operational vehicle remaining.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 46
Dukhovshchina Offensives As of August 8 the divisions of XXXIX Motorized Corps which had been facing 30th Army had been relieved by the infantry divisions of 9th Army's V Army Corps. These divisions were very hard pressed to parry the attacks of Khomenko's forces and Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev's 19th Army east and northeast of Dukhovshchina. In the wake of these assaults the commander of Army Group Center noted "9th Army was also attacked; the day before yesterday the Russians broke through as far as the 5th Division's artillery positions." The chief of staff of OKH, Col. Gen. F. Halder, noted on August 11 in regard to these attacks:Timoshenko began planning for a renewed effort on August 14 which was intended to recapture Dukhovshchina en route to Smolensk. The STAVKA ordered this to be coordinated with Zhukov's Reserve Front on August 17 in order to engulf the entire front from Toropets in the north to Bryansk in the south. In the event, due to the chaotic situation, Timoshenko was forced to conduct the operation in piecemeal fashion and was unable to establish close cooperation with Zhukov.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 9
The operational directive set the goal of encircling and destroying the German 106th, 5th, and 28th Infantry Divisions and 900th Lehr Regiment through concentric attacks with two shock groups, the northern consisting of the 30th Army's 242nd, 251st and 162nd Rifle Divisions, 107th Tank and 45th Cavalry Divisions. The Army was to protect its right flank toward Bely with the 250th Division, penetrate the German defense and then commit the mobile forces to encircle the objective from the west. The attack sector was 17km wide from Markovo to Staroe Morokhovo, from 38km to 55km north of Yartsevo. The 251st, which had the support of two battalions of the 392nd Cannon Artillery Regiment and other supporting units, was to block the German center of resistance near Staroe Selo with two battalions, attack toward Shelepy and Pominki with its main forces, with the immediate mission of reaching the Staroe Sochnevo and Khadobuzha line, and subsequently develop the attack in the general direction of Verdino. The 107th Tanks and 45th Cavalry were to follow through the 251st's sector. The attack was to be preceded by a 45-minute artillery preparation beginning at 0900 hours. The shock group faced the German 106th Infantry, which was holding a sector roughly 16km wide.
General Khomenko launched his attack on time, despite not all of his forces having managed to reach their jumping-off points. Several units were fed in piecemeal, which in some instances worked to their advantage, since the artillery preparation had done more to alert German units than it accomplished in causing damage. While 19th Army managed to penetrate the German tactical defenses throughout its sector, 30th Army achieved far more limited results due to intense machine gun and mortar fire, backed by effective artillery fire on most sectors. The 251st, in common with the 162nd and 242nd, only advanced from 150m-400m, but the 107th Tanks, in cooperation with one regiment of the 162nd, was successful in penetrating the defensive line and exploited roughly 4 km deep. Timoshenko's headquarters reported at 2000 hours that the 251st had attacked in the Pochinoi 2 and Guliaevo sector and was fighting to capture Gordeenki from the north with its left wing.