How many divisions were transferred from Far East in 1941?

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Art
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#16

Post by Art » 05 Dec 2007, 16:49

Art wrote:(the source allocates 82nd MRD and 1st GMRD to rifle units and 107th MRD to mechanized).
I think one comment should be made in order to avoid confusion. There were two distinct types of units in the Red Army: motorized rifle divisions and motorized divisions. The former had the TOE similiar to usual rifle divisions but had all the horses substituted with automobiles.There were only two such divisions at the outbreak of the war - 36th and 57th in Mongolia. Apart from this 1st Moscow Divisions was officially called motorized rifle but in fact was formed according to the TO&E of the motorized divisions. The motorized divisions were the units of mechanized forces they consisited of two motorized rifle regiments, one tank, one artillery and a number of smaller units. So 82nd motorized divisions was reorganized as motorized rifle after the start of the war, and it was in this status when it was transferred to the West, 1st Guard MRD had the same organization too, but 107th MRD, though it was called motorized rifle too, was de fact a mechanized unit, since it had an organic tank regiment. This gives an explanation why the authors of the BSSA had allocated the first two divisions to rifle forces, and the third one to mechanized.

konev
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#17

Post by konev » 05 Dec 2007, 22:19

Art,

Don't forget about the 101 MRD (formerly the 101 TD) and the 112 MRD (formerly the 112 RD). The 101 should be considered a Motorized Division since it had the Tank Regiment while the 112 MRD should be considered in the same class as the 36 and 57 since it had 3 MRR and no TR.

I find it interesting that with the exception of the 4xx-series Rifle Divisions that made into the Operational Army, none of the others made into BSSA (whch at the least should have them for the 1 January 1942 section).

konev


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Re: How many divisions were transferred from Far East in 194

#18

Post by Kelvin » 04 Jul 2011, 09:13

Art wrote:Since the question about the transfer of Soviet troops from Manchurian frontier, its impact on the course of operations on Eastern Front in Autumn 1941 especially on the outcome of the Battle of Moscow, and its consequences for the defensive capabilities of the forces that remained on Far East theatre appears again and again, I decided to open a thread where some information on this subject will be presented.

Later only the units of the land forces of divisional size will be considered. If someone wants to give additional information, it will be greatly appreciated.

So the following number of divisions was present on the Far East theatre (this includes Far East Front and Transbaikal Military District) at the outbreak of the Soviet-German War:
23 rifle divisions (3, 12, 21, 22, 26, 32, 34, 35, 36 motorized, 39, 40, 57 motorized, 59, 65, 66, 78, 79 Mountain, 92, 93, 94, 101 Mountain, 105, 114)
One cavalry – 8th
4 tank (58, 59, 60, 61)
3 motorized (69, 82, 239)
Total 31 divisions.
The BSSA handbook erroneously states that 57th Tank Division was in the Transbaikal Military District on 22th June. In fact the division was allready in the process of detraining in the Ukraine.

The inmformation on the transfer and commitment to actions of the divisons is summarized in the table below. The information on the transfers is based on the published directives of the Soviet Supreme Command Stavka and General Staff. The "date of transfer" stands for the date when the respective directive was issued but not for the actual start of entraining. The difference between these dates was however not big, normally up to several days. The "commitment to actions" columns are compiled using various sources including the Issues 37 and 43 of "The collection of combat documents", operational reports of the Soviet General Staff published in the book "The Battle of Moscow", Olma Press, 2001; "Mechanized Corps of the RKKA" by E. Drig and several others. In many cases the precise day of commitment to actions couldn't be found, so the approximate date is shown.


Image

Some comments on the table:
1. 69th Tank and 69th Motorized Divisions upon arrival to European theatre were reorganized as 108th Tank and 107th Tank (later Motorized) respectively
2. 21st Rifle Division was sent to 7th Army from Ivanovo (Moscow Military District) on 21st September
26th Rifle was dispatched to North-West Front from Yaroslavl (Moscow MD) on 18th September.
3. 32nd RD was initially transferred to Arkhangelsk-Vologda, 114th to Kirov (Ural Military District). On 24th September 32nd which had already begun detraining was diverted to Volkhovstroy (west of Leningrad) and was substituted with 114th which was transferred from Kirov to Vologda. On 2nd October 114th was sent from Vologda to 7th Army. On 5th 32nd which by that time was subordinated to 4th Independent Army (Volkhov river) was sent to Mozhaisk.
4. 78th RD was committed to actions by parts. 4th November was the day when the first units of the division – 258th Rifle Regiment participated in combat.
5. 58th Tank Division arrived to the West Front in early November, but didn’t see active actions till 16th November.
6. On 20th October the order was given to transfer 94th Rifle Division to the West (deestination - Tambov) from Transbaikal Front. Later the division was substituted with 65 Rifle, but I couldn’t find the document with such an order.
7. 239th Rfiel Division was the former 239th Motorized .

So total 17 divisions were transferred, of them 14 existed in pre-war times. 6 divisions were transferred before the start of “Typhoon” operation, 11 after. Of the total number, 2 divisions were committed to actions in the Battle of Smolensk, 1 – on the North-West Front, 2 on the Svir River against Finns, 3 in the Tikhvin area, the remaining 9 in the Battle of Moscow.

Hi, Art, without significant threat in Turkestan and Caucasus from British India and Turkey respectively, any regular division existed in those two areas on the eve of Barbarossa ?


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Jeff Leach
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Re: How many divisions were transferred from Far East in 194

#20

Post by Jeff Leach » 04 Jul 2011, 17:58

I would suggest you examine the BSSA lists for the Transcaucasus MDs from 22 June 1941 to 01 August or 01 September and its pretty easy to see the reorganization and transfers that took place. I am not at home for about 10 days or so but if it is important I can post the data (transfers from the Transcaucasus MD to other MDs) because I have mapped the transfers and reorganizations given on the BSSA lists until 01 October 1941.


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