*** Welcome to piglix ***

390th Rifle Division

390th Rifle Division
Active
  • 1st formation: August 1941 – June 1942
  • 2nd formation: November 1944 – late 1945
Country Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
Type Rifle division
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders

The 390th Rifle Division (Russian: 390-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the Second World War. It was formed twice, first in August 1941, and then destroyed in 1942 before reforming in 1944.

The division landed in eastern Crimea as part of the 51st Army during the Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation, which occurred in late-December 1942 and set off the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula. The landing operation aimed to relieve Soviet forces trapped in Sevastopol in southwestern Crimea, but a German counterattack in mid-January forced the Soviets, including the 390th division, to retreat eastward, leaving them cornered in the Kerch Peninsula. As a result of language problems due to lack of Russian speakers in the division, the 390th was made into an Armenian national division in February and given an Armenian commander. The division was destroyed in the final German offensive, Operation Bustard Hunt, in May, and officially disbanded soon afterwards.

The division was reformed in the Far East in November 1944 and fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria before being disbanded postwar in late 1945.

The division began forming as part of the Transcaucasian Front on 19 August 1941, under the command of Colonel Ivan Vinogradov at Makharadze. Out of 10,252 soldiers in the division when its formation was completed, 8,979 had never handled weapons. Most of its troops could not speak or understand Russian. The enlisted personnel of the 390th were mostly Armenian and Azerbaijani peasants, while junior and political officers were Russian and Georgian. On 23 November, it joined the 51st Army, and by early December the division command post was located at Taman on the coast of the Kerch Strait.


...
Wikipedia

...