353rd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

353rd Rifle Division (August 27, 1941 – June, 1946)
Maj. Gen. F. S. Kolchuk
Active	1941–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Rostov (1941) Operation Blue Battle of the Caucasus Donbass Strategic Offensive Battle of the Dniepr Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours	Dneprodzerzhinsk
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. Grigory Filippovich Panchenko Maj. Gen. Fyodor Samuilovich Kolchuk

The 353rd Rifle Division formed on August 27, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Krasnodar. It was assigned to the southern sector of the Soviet-German front, at first in 56th Army, and it would remain on this sector for the duration of the war. After assisting in the first liberation of Rostov-on-the-Don in late 1941, but in 1942 it retreated into the Caucasus region, and fought to hold the Axis forces from reaching the coast of the Black Sea. Following the retreat of the Germans and Romanians in the wake of their defeat at Stalingrad, the 353rd took part in the offensives that freed Ukraine in 1943 and 1944, winning a battle honor for the liberation of Dneprodzerzhinsk in October, 1943. In the summer of 1944 it participated in the offensive that finally drove Romania out of the Axis, and then advanced into the Balkan states. Shortly thereafter it was assigned to 37th Army, which was detached from the active army to garrison the southern Balkans, and the division remained on this quiet front for the duration of the war.

The division began forming on August 27, 1941, at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District. Its order of battle was as follows:

Col. Grigory Filippovich Panchenko was assigned to command of the division on the day it began forming, and he continued in command until May 7, 1942. The division was one of the first assigned to the 56th Army, which was itself forming east of Rostov, in Southern Front. It first went into battle in late November, taking part in the first liberation of Rostov, one of the key initial setbacks for the German invaders. In late December the division was transferred to 18th Army, in the same Front.

On May 8, 1942, Kombrig Fyodor Samuilovich Kolchuk took command of the 353rd. As his pre-war rank suggests, this officer had been caught up and "repressed" during the Great Purge of the Red Army in 1937-38. Kolchuk would be promoted to the rank of Major General on November 17, and would hold this command until May 30, 1944.