16th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 16th 'Lithuanian' Rifle Division


caption=Soldiers of the 16th Rifle Division enter the Lithuanian SSR in 1944.
dates= December 18, 1941 – May 1945
country= Soviet Union
branch= Soviet Army
type= Infantry
size= 10,250
nickname='Lithuanian'
battles=World war II
Battle of Kursk
Operation Bagration
Baltic Offensive
anniversaries=
decorations=
battle_honours=Order of the Red Banner
notable_commanders=Major General Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis (1943)
Major General V. Karvelis (1944–1945)
Major General A. Urbšas (1945–)

The 16th Rifle Division ( _ru. 16-я 'Литовская' стрелковая дивизия, _lt. 16-oji 'Lietuviškoji' divizija), was a formation in the Red Army created during the Second World War. The division was formed twice, and was given the title 'Lithuanian' during its second formation. It was originally established at Novgorod in October 1939. It was wiped out at Mga in 1941. Reformed and given the title 'Lithuanian', the division participated in several battles against Nazi Germany, including Kursk, Belarus, and the Baltic.

History

At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the 16th Rifle Division (I Formation) was part of North-Western Front's 27th Army, reporting directly to Army headquarters along with the 67th Rifle Division and 3rd Rifle Brigade. [Orbat.com/Niehorster, [http://orbat.com/site/ww2/drleo/012_ussr/41_oob/baltic/army_27.html 27th Army Order of Battle, June 22, 1941] ] As noted above, it was destroyed at Mga amid the first German drive on Leningrad.

Creation

When the 16th Division was reformed after its destruction, it was given the name 'Lithuanian' largely for political purposes. Lithuania, along with Estonia and Latvia, was only occupied by the USSR in 1940 and then again in 1944, thus the possibility of Lithuanian-German collaboration was very possible. Since the division was officially labeled "Lithuanian", there was hope that it would recruit citizens of the newly formed Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The decision on formation of the division was made by the State Defense Committee, on December 18, 1941. It was to be formed in the Moscow Military District, in the city of Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. [ [http://www.jewniverse.ru/RED/Shneyer/glava7kr_ar%5B2%5D.htm Арон Шнеер. Плен. Глава 7. 16-я Литовская дивизия ] ] Personnel was assembled from staff and remnants of the 184th Rifle Division (29th Rifle Corps) and any Lithuanian speaking refugees that were fleeing Lithuania after the German invasion. The officers of the division were by in large graduates from the Vilnius infantry academy, who were evacuated after the invasion to Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast.

Battle

Formation and training of the division came to an end by February 1943. The division entered the war on February 21, 1943 at Alekseyevka, 50km southeast of Oryol. This brought the division into the path of the Wehrmacht's "Operation Citadel", where it served with the 42nd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army, Soviet Central Front. In the first days of the battle, the 16th Rifle Division withstood the attack of the German 383rd Infantry and 18th Panzer Divisions, that were accompanied by 120 planes. [ [http://www.tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1943/19430701.html Combat Composition of the Soviet Army] , July 1, 1943 lists the 16th as part of 42nd Rifle Corps along with 202nd and 399th Rifle Divisions] After suffering serious losses, the Soviet armies eventually emerged victorious. During this battle a private named Viktoras Jacenevičius, was wounded, taken prisoner and then tortured to death by the Germans. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Following the victory at Kursk, the division was assigned to the 1st Baltic Front. On 1 June 1944, the division was directly subordinate to the Front, along with 47th Rifle Division. [ [http://www.tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1944/19440601.html Combat Composition of the Soviet Army] , 1 June 1944] Along with the three Belarussian Fronts, they invaded Belarus and much of Lithuania. On August 2, 1944, division had arrived at the suburbs of Šiauliai, which was home to their commander, Vladas Karvelis. The division was stationed there for one month, to receive reinforcements from Lithuanian forced-volunteers.In mid-August the city of Šiauliai was hit by a German counter-attack. The Nazi divisions were armed with 900 units of tanks and artillery. For three days the division persistently defended, and in the end the 16th Division emerged victorious. On October 31, 1944 the division was awarded an award of the Red Banner for successful operations on clearing Samogitia. On January 31, 1945, the Lithuanian division received orders to join the fight against the Germans in the Courland Pocket. The German resistance was incredibly strong and elements of Army Group Courland would not surrender to the Soviets until May 8 and 9 at the end of World War II in Europe.

The 16th Rifle Division was disbanded after the end of the war, but briefly reactivated in 1955 in the Volga-Urals Military District before being finally disbanded. [Feskov et al 2004]

tructure (World War II)

*156th Rifle Regiment (commander — Colonel, V. Luinia)
*167th Rifle Regiment (commander — Colonel, Vladas Motieka)
*249th Rifle Regiment (commander — Lieutenant Colonel F.Lysenko)
*224th Artillery Regiment (commander — Major, Povilas Simonaitis)
*Signal Battalion
*Field Engineer Battalion (commander - Major, Petras Ciunis)
*Anti-tank Battalion
*Mortar Battalion

Ethnic composition

As of January 1, 1943, of the 10,250 soldiers and officers of the division, 7,000 of them were ethnic Lithuanians and/or inhabitants of the Lithuanian SSR. The total ethnic make-up of the division was: 3720 Lithuanians (36.3%), 3064 Russians (29%), 2973 Jews (29%), and 492 of other nationalities (4.8%). Although other sources cite figures of 2378 Jews (23.2%) in the division, it is still the highest number of ethnic Jews amongst all divisions of the Red Army. [cite web |url=http://www.redstar.ru/2005/05/06_05/6_01.html |title=Литовцы стояли стеной |accessdate=2008-01-01 |work=Они Освобождали Родную Прибалтику ] Jews made 13% (136 persons) of all officers in the division and 34.2% of all soldiers in the infantry regiments. 12 soldiers of a division have been awarded the title, Hero of Soviet Union, of them, four were Jews: major Volf Vilensky, sergeant Kalman Shur, corporal Grigorijus Ušpolis and private Borisas Cindelis (posthumously).

Originally, commands and orders were given in the Lithuanian language. However over third of all soldiers in the division did not speak Lithuanian. More problems arose when officers from other divisions were sent to train and transfer their fighting experience to the soldiers of the 16th. Most of them had never heard a word of Lithuanian in their lives, and were mainly Russophone. For these reasons, the language of commands, orders and even conversation, became Russian.

ee also

*List of Soviet Union divisions 1917-1945

References

* [http://www.redstar.ru/2005/05/06_05/6_01.html Они освобождали родную Прибалтику]
* [http://www.unn.runnet.ru/rus/volgovyt/nizhobl/istor.htm#voina Горьковская область в годы Великой Отечественной войны]
* [http://www.russian-bazaar.com/cgi-bin/rb.cgi/f=vlul&auth=1&n=27&y=2002&id=vlul.2002.6.28.16.34.10.27.khronos.81.72&back=1 Национальные формирования в Красной Армии и в Вермахте]