338th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

In its first operation the division was assigned to the Army's shock group for an attack on the Naro-Fominsk - Kamenskoe sector at dawn on December 18. Each division of the shock group had 10 tanks in support. The German front along this sector had been in their hands for two months and was extensively fortified. After an hour-long artillery preparation the 338th's assault managed to liberate the village of Sliznevo on the east bank of the Nara River but got no farther that day or the following due to stubborn enemy resistance. No other units made appreciable gains, and 33rd Army's offensive was shut down on December 20.[3]

After regrouping, the 338th joined in an attack in January, 1942, straight west through the overstretched and depleted German 4th Army through Mozhaisk towards Vyasma. In February this penetration became a trap when a German counter-thrust cut off 33rd Army behind German lines. By April the Army was being slowly ground down in its positions in the woods east of Vyasma, dependent on small-scale air supply; the Army commander, Lt. Gen. Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov, took his own life to avoid capture when a breakout attempt failed.[4] Over the following months small groups and individuals of the 338th filtered through the German lines to rejoin the Soviet front. On May 24 the division was officially disbanded, and its survivors were incorporated into the 113th Rifle Division of the rebuilding 33rd Army.[5] Colonel Kuchinev was able to escape, with a small command cadre, and soon took command of the division's 2nd formation.

This brigade began forming in September, 1941, in the Oryol Military District, but like its "sister" 17th Brigade had to be evacuated eastwards in October as the German forces approached.[6] In late November it entered the reserves of Western Front, and arrived at the front in late December, joining the advancing 16th Army west of Moscow. In January, 1942 it was reassigned southwards to 43rd Army, still in Western Front, facing the enemy south of the Moscow - Minsk highway and west of Maloyaroslavets. The brigade remained in this Army until it was disbanded.[7]

Two months later the 338th was reassigned to 49th Army, still in Western Front.[8] During the German Operation Büffel and the Soviet follow-up in the Third Rzhev–Sychevka Offensive Operation, the division was part of an attacking force of about eight rifle divisions and seven tank brigades from 33rd, 49th and 50th Armies, plus two tank corps, that attempted to break through the new German lines at the base of the former Rzhev salient in the direction of Spas-Demensk.[9] In the course of this attack the 338th returned to 33rd Army for a few weeks; after this attempt failed due to appalling terrain conditions and strong German defenses it was moved back to the 49th. It remained there until September, taking part in the offensive that liberated both Spas-Demensk and, eventually, Smolensk.[10]

In September the division was moved back to 33rd Army and assigned to 70th Rifle Corps. On September 9, after exactly two years in command, Colonel Kuchinev finally passed the reins to Col. Nikolai Olimpievich Guz, who would hold them until mid-March, 1944. On October 3, Western Front began the first of a series of ill-fated offensives in the direction of Orsha. The 338th and its corps-mate, 371st Rifle Division, were deployed on the army's right wing between Lenino and Mikulino facing the German 95th Infantry Division. 33rd Army's attack faced stronger German defenses than its neighboring armies to the north, and by October 9 its assaults expired without any success. Over the following days 33rd and 49th Armies regrouped for a new offensive; the 338th remained in place for several days to conceal and protect the movements behind its lines. The new assault, which included the action known as the Battle of Lenino, began on October 12 but was once again stymied with limited gains and significant casualties, especially among the ranks of the Polish 1st Infantry Division.[11]

By November 14 the division, along with its Corps, had been redeployed to 31st Army, north of the Dniepr River, still on the Orsha axis. After a lengthy artillery preparation on this date, four armies of Western Front made yet another attack to the west. Assault and penal battalions of 10th Guards Army to its north advanced up to 2.5 km despite heavy fog that shrouded the battlefield; the 338th kept pace with an advance of up to 1.5 km, but the remaining divisions of its Army bogged down in the German forward security belt due to heavy machine gun fire. On November 17, 70th Corps, along with 15th Guards Rifle Corps spearheaded by units of 2nd Guards Tank Corps, wedged into the boundary between 78th Assault and 25th Panzer Grenadier Divisions north of the Orsha highway, but this attack also faltered. In five days of intense fighting the two Soviet armies managed to advance a mere 4 – 5 km, while the remainder of the Front's forces gained even less.[12]

In the following months the advance towards Orsha by Western Front was suspended in favor of the encirclement and reduction of Vitebsk. In mid-February, 1944, the Front commander, Army Gen. V.D. Sokolovsky, proposed a preliminary attack by elements of 5th and 31st Armies in the direction of Babinavichy, to draw German forces southwards from Vitebsk. By this time the 338th was in the 45th Rifle Corps of 5th Army. Under this plan the division would be part of a shock group attacking westward south of the Sukhodrovka River to outflank the German strongpoint at Vysochany. The attack, beginning on February 22, once again made very limited gains, in part because 3rd Panzer Army had shortened its lines around Vitebsk to free up reserves. By the end of this offensive, the division was down to a strength of just 3,605 men. In the following months Sokolovsky lost his job, and further attacks were suspended to prepare for a summer offensive.[13]

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• 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. 268–69
• Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1967). Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть II. 1945 - 1966 гг [Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part II. 1945–1966] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-06. Retrieved 2018-03-16.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)